Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ Review

The review has been updated to reflect changes to the in-display fingerprint reader performance after a software update and to include comments regarding our experience with the Galaxy S10.

phone for the first time. It was all the way back in 2010: when MP3 players were still a thing, 4G phones were a rarity, and I had just beaten Plants vs Zombies on my 9-inch netbook. As someone who wasn't as involved with mobile tech as I am now, I was blown away by the phone's slim, elegant design, and the large, vivid display was like nothing I had seen before.

Since then, Samsung has been wowing the crowds with a new Galaxy S flagship every year, ultimately establishing itself as an innovator and a leader on the smartphone market. The

are the culmination of the company's efforts – packed with beautiful, edge-to-edge Infinity displays, versatile triple cameras, and a futuristic in-screen fingerprint scanner. Indeed, these are phones built for anyone who demands the very best – and doesn't mind spending at least $900 on getting it. But is one of these the right phone for

? I spent over two weeks with them to help answer that question.

While it is true that most modern smartphones look more or less identical, there's no denying that the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ are beautiful phones. Straight lines, gentle curves, and polished surfaces blend together in a device that's a pleasure to admire. The only "distraction" comes in the form of an array of sensors and cameras at the back, but it grew on me quickly.

All of the Galaxy S10 and S10+ colors look lovely in person. We have the Prism White Galaxy S10+ here for review, and light playfully bounces off of its shiny surface, reflected in a different hue when the phone is held at the right angle, reflecting a shade of fiery orange. Meanwhile, the Prism Green Galaxy S10 doesn't have the same light-bending effect, but the reflections have a striking depth to them. Seriously, it is sad to know that the glow of most Galaxy S10 phones would eventually end up obscured by a case.

But protecting your Galaxy in one way or another would be a good idea. As the case was with previous Galaxy models, the back and front sides of the S10 and S10+ are made of glass, and even though Samsung has made the jump to the tougher Gorilla Glass 6 on the front, we can't imagine it lasting forever, even when the phone is held together and protected by a sturdy metal frame. In fact, the screen on our unprotected S10+ is already scuffed up from daily use. On the other hand, all Galaxy S10 models are IP68 certified, meaning that they are highly resistant to dust and water ingress.

We must point out that all Galaxy S10 models come with a pre-applied screen protector – a thin film of plastic, basically. While it scratches easily, having some protection is always better than leaving your pricey new gadget exposed – especially during the first few days when you haven't bought a case for it yet. The protector is easy to peel off once you're ready to remove or replace it. That moment will come sooner if you don't have a case on your S10, judging by the way the protector on our naked S10 is already starting to peel off at the corners. 

UPDATE: Soon after this review was first published, Samsung pushed a software update that improved the performance of the fingerprint reader significantly. Its performance still isn't perfect and can be affected by factors like how dry your skin is, but with both the Galaxy S10 and S10+, I've been getting accurate readings 9 out of 10 times.  

Face recognition is the only other lock method on the Galaxy S10+ relying on biometric data, but it's of the basic kind. There's no 3D face-scanning action going on, meaning that face unlock on the S10+ isn't as secure as Face ID on the iPhone. Iris scanning is no longer available, and frankly, we don't miss it.

Display and camera cutout

As you'd expect out of a high-end phone, the screens on the Galaxy S10 and S10+ looks gorgeous, stretching from one corner to the other. Samsung had to think out of the box to achieve this level of immersiveness, as only trimming the bezels from all sides wouldn't have been enough. As a result, we got Samsung's Infinity-O display, instantly recognizable with its small cutout in the upper corner. This is where the front-facing camera resides. Is having a hole for the camera better than a notch? Well, this one's up for debate. You could say that Samsung's approach is a tad less distracting than a notch when watching full-screen video, while the uninterrupted status bar allows for more than three notification icons to fit up there (if you enable this option in Settings>Notifications>Status Bar). On the other hand, having a dark circle or oval in the upper corner throws off the symmetry of Samsung's design.

In any case, Samsung's unorthodox solution hasn't broken the looks or functionality of any apps or games we've run on the Galaxy S10+ so far. They simply ignore the cutout and the area to the side of it, with rare exceptions such as Google Maps and Cut the Rope 2 stretching all the way up to the top of the screen. The front camera can be "hidden" by applying a black background to the status bar, but that doesn't look pretty.

Camera cutout aside, the screens on the Galaxy S10 and S10+ look brilliant! By default, both are set to a resolution of 2280 by 1080 pixels to save battery and improve performance, and that's how I used the phones throughout most of my testing without any issues. But for maximum sharpness, the screens can be set to their native resolution of 3040 by 1440 from the display settings menu.

Color reproduction is highly accurate when the screen is in Natural mode, as confirmed by our measurements. But if you prefer punchier colors, there's also the Vivid display mode, which adds a hint of saturation without overdoing it. There are no other display modes available, and we don't think that more are needed.

Display measurements and quality

Outdoor visibility with the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ is excellent, which should come as no surprise when the screens gets even brighter than those on the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy Note 9. At night, activating the blue light filter reduces the shades of blue that might mess up your sleep. This filter has been improved on the S10 series and has less of an impact on color reproduction. And a new Dark Mode replaces white backgrounds in apps with black ones to reduce eye strain and save battery.

Familiar features like the handy Always On Display are also present. As before, it shows the time, date, battery level, and notification badges when the phone is in standby. You can have the AOD shown all the time, but to save battery, you may turn it off or have it only show briefly when you tap the screen.

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Software and interface

One UI – this is the name of Samsung's new user interface, and the changes that it brings aren't merely visual. Based on Android 9.0 Pie, it adds extra features like Digital Wellbeing and Lift to Wake, but most importantly, the software has been rethought at its very core. It is built around the idea of making today's huge smartphones less cumbersome to use, which is a step in the right direction in a time when 6-inch screens are the norm. To achieve its goal, Samsung has tweaked many of its stock apps to bring actionable elements, such as buttons and menus that you need to tap on, down to the bottom half of the screen. Sure, it's a simple concept, but it works! Reaching that text message or that photo at the very top of the list is now only a matter of bringing it down closer to your thumb with a swipe.

Some UI screens – the call log and contacts list, for example – have yet to be affected, and there's still no easy way of pulling down your notifications panel from any screen. But all in all, it is great to see Samsung improving the very foundation of its software experience, and we hope that others take note of its efforts.

Night Mode is another welcome addition to Samsung's software experience. When the mode is enabled, white backgrounds in Samsung's apps are replaced with dark ones, which saves power and puts less strain on your eyes. It even works in Samsung's web browser! However, Night Mode does not affect third-party apps like Facebook Messenger or Instagram. It does not apply to Google's apps like Gmail or Chrome either. Of course, if a third-party app has its own built-in dark/night mode, you're free to use that instead. Night Mode can be set to activate automatically after sunset, but I chose to leave it on all the time simply because I like the look of it.By default, the Galaxy S10 and S10+ come with on-screen buttons for navigation, but those who are feeling adventurous may turn those off and use Samsung's gesture-based navigation instead. The idea is simple: you swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen in the spots where the classic on-screen buttons would normally reside. A longer swipe up from the middle activates Google's assistant. You can switch between two apps with a single action by swiping from the middle to the side.

That's cool and all, but what's the point? Well, since there is no navigation bar at the bottom, you do gain a small amount of screen space for apps and games to expand into. Also, exiting out of full-screen apps is done with a single action. Other than that, there are no major practical benefits to Samsung's gestures, and so far, they don't feel any more convenient to use than the classic on-screen buttons, not to mention that a thicker case may make them more difficult to execute. On a related note, Samsung's official cases are shaped in a way that accommodates gesture navigation. 

Gesture navigation

Elena Rostova

Lead Health, Wellness & Medical Journalist

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Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.

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