Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy S10+ - the fourth phone in his Galaxy experience - from the new display, the punch out camera, to the oddities with the fingerprint sensor, battery certainty, signal reliability, and so much more!
Episode Summary
00:00 | Intro
01:54 | Pricing
Pricing3 variantsS10e – $750S10 – $899S10+ – $999ColorsBlack, white, flamingo, and ???Base models come with 8gb ram and 128gb storageVs Note 9; the pricing is even further out of control; it’s the inevitable ASP price creep syndrome nowMy pricing:Pre-order via BestBuyTurned in my purchased-last-february S9+ for $550 creditPaid a hefty… not really; $50806:38 | Display, Fingerprint Sensor, Cameras, Storage
DisplaySize 6.4’’ displaySpecial featuresIntegrated fingerprint sensor; more on this laterUp to 1200 nits of brightnessPhysicalsLook and feel, build qualityWhen I first held it, it was adorably light; I was used to holding this glass brick in the Note 9 so this was a differenceThe side metal is aluminium this time – not sure what it was before, but previously the metal band around feld “stronger”The Note 9 was very Square; very hard edges – this is much more rounded on the top/bottom left/right sidesPortsUsual ports; type c + headphone jackSpeakersSame speaker configuration; stereo in top front and side bottomThe top speaker is tucked between the glass and the top bezel; it’s okayButtonsBixby button is still here but with partial remap maybe not totally uselessThe power button is said to be too high up on the S10+ modelFingerprint sensor; under the screenI registered 4 unique fingers; previously on the Note 9 I had only the index-fingers registered, I’d never use my ThumbI could unlock the phone smoothly while it was coming out of pocket without looking; with this new scanner since it’s in the screen, I can have to guess more which means accuracy is downYou can unlock from AOD but you have no visual indicator where the sensor is; it’s not in an obvious place, where the android home button isOn the AOD, they need to put some kind of reference point down there; allegedly scared of burn in though; even it’s not the finger print visual, even an empty circle, anythingCamera3 cameras on the back2x, 1x and “1/2x”The 2 cameras on the frontHow is itSpecial modesNotable featuresSpecsCPUSnapdragon 855RAM8gbStorage128gb base model + I added a 128gb SD card; what is storage and why do I need it?21:28 | Android
Wow, Android, what happened to you? Now running with Pie and One UI, the “Samsung Experience” that made from the S8 line to now so successful software wise is gone; replaced with this strange interfaceList items are often smushed cards or elongated pillsEverything is so bright, AMOLED chuckles in the distanceThe utilities that Samsung Experience is well known for is for the most part still here26:10 | New Launcher, Software
Updated side-by-side app switcher; always defaults to the previous app which is useful but also annoying since I was trained by previous versions to swipe anywayRaise to wakePossibly the most annoying new feature, every time I touch the phone, no matter if I’m just repositioning it to still see the time on the AOD better; it thinks I want to play and it wakes upDouble tap to wake; not used yet but we’ll seeAODStill present, still configurableIcons hangout in color now; this might be done to help keep the AOD pixels from burning out just their “white” pixels, but it makes things harder to seeAll of the sounds changed again! Oh no, I was so used to the regular and common and consistent Samsung Experience sounds!Other notable features; obviously none from the Note 9 more than the PenEveryone is freaking out how poorly the Face Unlock feature secures the phone; the Iris scanner is gone and while I didn’t use it previously, I do like Face Unlock, for those times my hands are in gloves or any number of convenient times; I turn this off when I travel – it’s not secure, of course33:38 | Battery
4100 mahChargingUsual charging modes; cable and wirelessPlus a useless gimmick feature, “reverse charging” that every reviewer has tentpoled; that stops here36:17 | Signal Strength
39:09 | Conclusions
40:25 | Ending
Attributions
Free Music Archive: Beat Doctor – Organic (electric edit)Copyright
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This episode of Second Opinion has a Fringe episode. You should really listen to The Fringe #525: SO #61 — The Edges, The Rim!
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