The ultimate flex is to own the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus. Not only does it cost as much as a kidney, but its looks are to die for. Read ahead as we run through everything you need to know about the former flagship.
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The S10 Plus is a huge phone. Even though it’s gigantic, it’s not impossible to use due to its ergonomic design. However, we have a problem. Its edges are tapered, resulting in your palms being poked and probed, which I’m sure you’re not a fan of.
Being a former flagship, it’s no surprise that the Samsung device comes with a serious glass back. You get Gorilla Glass 5, so have fun trying to scratch it up. Not all variants of the S10 Plus come with a glass back, however. Before you get worried, know that some of them come with something better, ceramic rears. The ceramic versions just ooze opulence and are much harder than their Gorilla glass counterparts.
The phone’s not only big, it’s heavy. However, lifting it won’t be an arm workout. It’s only 175 grams, which is the standard for more expensive devices. As you can imagine, the ceramic variant is much heavier. It’s 198 grams.
There’s a triple camera set up on its rear that you’ll love. Now, you’re probably wondering if there’s a camera bump. Samsung did a good job making the S10 Plus flush.
Going around the phone, you’ll notice a specific button for Bixby. We’re here for it, except for the fact that we mistook it for the volume rocker too many times to count.
Being so expensive, you’d expect Samsung to ditch the headphone jack. They decided not to, being the much-needed cherry on top.
At first glance, the phone looks like it doesn’t come with a fingerprint sensor. Don’t panic. Flagships these days have them built-in, and the S10 Plus is no different. Just so you know, it’s incredibly fast and so is its face unlock.
We just have to talk about the beautiful colours that the S10 Plus comes in. There are 10 to choose from, which means the sky’s your limit. Whatever you do, grab a shade that comes with the prism effect. You’ll get a pearl-like opulence that will make your S10 Plus look like the most expensive phone in the world.
If not for the S20 Plus, the S10 Plus would be the largest S phone on the market. Its screen is a whopping 6.4 inches.
Having such a large display, it would’ve been a waste if the device didn’t come with an impeccable viewing experience. The phone doesn’t disappoint as it rocks a dynamic AMOLED screen. It’s more vibrant than a Super AMOLED, having deeper blacks and whites.
The S10 Plus is insanely detailed. You’ll need the strongest magnifying glass in Sri Lanka to notice any blurriness. After all, its screen resolution is a jaw-dropping 1440 x 3040 pixels. Although amazing, there’s something even better – the S10 plus comes with an 88.9% screen to body ratio. This means it’s pretty much all screen, no bezel. A lot of this is due to the absence of a notch. Instead, there are cutouts for its selfie camera by the side. It’s an HDR10+ device too. So, it checks all the right boxes.
If you’re wondering how durable its front is, the S10 Plus rocks a Gorilla Glass 6 display. Trying to dent its back is hard, but its front is even harder.
The S10 Plus’ battery is not that big. However, it’s a giant by the S series’ standards. It’s 4100 mAh, beating the 3500 mAh battery on the S9 Plus. It’s 2020 and the S20 Plus exists. Its counterpart has a much better 4500 mAh unit.
Samsung says that the S10 Plus can last a day or more. This is pretty accurate. This isn’t too bad considering it has a powerful screen to feed. If you’re worried about its battery life, the phone comes with a myriad of power-saving modes.
There’s a 15 W fast charger that takes the S10 Plus from 0-100% in about 2 hours. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. It comes with wireless charging, but most importantly, the device can act as a charging mat. So, does it charge all phones? The answer is yes.
You get Android 9 out of the box. Being a former flagship, it’s no surprise that the S10 plus received the Android 10 update.
In terms of its processor, you get the Exynos 9820 chip. It is one of the fastest CPUs on the market. As a result, the S10 Plus is extremely snappy. It can handle whatever you throw at it, especially in terms of games. Having such a powerful processor and screen makes the S10 Plus any gamer’s dream.
Your S10 Plus’ speed also depends on the memory variant you get. You can choose from 128 or 512 GBs, even 1 TB of space. The 1 TB variants have the ceramic backs. Even though you get enough storage space, the Samsung device has a microSD card slot. RAM wise, you can choose between 8 and 12 GBs.
Before the S20 came around, the S10 Plus had the best S series camera on the market. Pictures are as colourful, sharp, and detailed as you’d want. For its price, you’d expect superior low light capabilities. It’s far from bad, but it’s disappointing when compared to competitors like the iPhone XS max.
Let’s talk about its camera specs. You get a 12 MP (wide) primary sensor, a 12 MP (telephoto) secondary lens, and a 12 MP (ultrawide) tertiary camera. Having such an ultrawide lens, the S10 plus can shoot in a 123-degree field of view.
Unlike the S10, you get a dual camera set up in the front. We don’t think that the extra front camera makes much of a difference. In case you’re wondering, its front camera set up includes a 10 MP (wide) primary sensor along with an 8 MP (wide) one.
So far so good, but let’s look at some of the S10 Plus’ alternatives.
The S20 Plus is a gigantic phone. After the S20 Ultra, it’s the largest S series device on the market. It rocks a 6.7-inch display, leaving you struggling even if you have larger hands. Thankfully, it has rounded edges, so no more poking and probing.
Having such a large display, you can expect an excellent viewing experience. The Samsung device comes with a 90.5% screen to body ratio. In terms of its screen resolution, it’s pin-sharp at 1440 x 3200 pixels.
In terms of its front, you get Gorilla Glass 6, which you know we love. What’s even better is that you get the glass on its back too.
The panel on its screen is better as well. Instead of a regular Dynamic AMOLED, you get a Dynamic AMOLED 2X. This results in the best colour accuracy you’ll ever see. What’s more, it comes with HDR10+ too. What more could you want?
Out of the box, you get Android 10, so waiting for the update won’t be an issue. What about its processor, you ask? Well, you get the Exynos 990 that out beats the 9820 any day of the week.
In terms of its memory variants, you don’t get that many options. You can get 128 GB of space and 8 GB of RAM. If this wasn’t enough, know that it comes with a microSD card slot.
Battery-wise, the S20 Plus is barely better, coming with a 4500 mAh unit. However, it comes with a better fast charger. It’s capable of 25 W fast charging, taking the device a little over an hour to go from 0-100%. Like its counterpart, it can also be used as a charging mat.
Being a new and improved version, it’s obvious that the S20 Plus would come with a better camera. It has 4 on its rear. Surprisingly, its primary sensor isn’t the largest, but its secondary camera is. It’s 64 MPs.
In terms of its front camera, its set up is a single 10 MP camera. Even though it has fewer pixels, it still captures vivid shots. You might not even notice a difference.
The Xiaomi device is really heavy. But it’s the good type of heavy as it makes the phone feel like a million bucks. This is what you want as the Mi Note 10 Pro is not the cheapest phone on the market. If you’re wondering, it’s 208 grams.
Similar to the S10 Plus, you get a Gorilla Glass 5 back.
It also doesn’t have the smoothest edges. We’re certainly not fans of this. We are fans of its display, however. The Xiaomi device has an AMOLED display. Colours are bright but not as vibrant as in the S10 Plus. Its display is detailed but it’s not as impressive either. The Mi Note 10 comes with a 1080 x 2340-pixel screen resolution, after all.
Speaking of its display, you’re probably wondering how big it is. The Xiaomi device rocks a 6.47-inch display. Considering that it’s larger and has a less than average screen resolution, we don’t know what to think.
It comes with a great screen to body ratio though. You get 87.8% of the screen, which is to die for. In terms of what glass shields its display is, it’s Gorilla Glass 5.
Moving on, you get Android 9 out of the box. Being a flagship, the Mi Note 10 Pro received the Android 10 update. Being a flagship device, it’s also no surprise that it comes with a great processor. However, the Snapdragon 730G chip is no match to the S10 Plus’ 855.
What about its memory variants? You only get one. It comes with 256 gigs of space and 8 GB of RAM.
There’s a 5-camera set up with the primary sensor being 108 MPs. Front camera-wise, you get a 32 MP single set up.
To top it off, you get a 5260 mAh battery. Considering that it doesn’t have the most powerful, getting 2 days out of it is more than possible. However, users have reported that its battery gets eaten up at times, which is an issue the S10 Plus doesn’t struggle with.
We just have to talk about its fast charger:
It’s 30 W and takes the phone from 0-100% in a little over an hour.
Thought that the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro was heavy? Well, the iPhone 11 Pro MAX exists. It’s 226 grams and will leave you with an arm work out. Being so heavy, you’d expect it to be durable. Although it doesn’t rock Gorilla Glass, the glass on its back is super strong – at the time of its release, Apple said it was the strongest around.
So, how big is the device? The iPhone 11 Pro MAX is a 6.5-inch phone. No surprise, it comes with a killer display. The iPhone has a Super Retina XDR OLED screen. Although it sounds fancy, it’s an OLED that is capable of HDR10 content. It’s also known to be very bright, having an 800 nit maximum brightness. That’s great but the S10 Plus does all of those things too, and is brighter, coming with a 1200 nit display.
The iPhone’s screen is more convenient. Whether you’re snacking on Murukku or a can of Pringles, your fingers are probably oily. The Apple device comes with an oleophobic screen. How great is that?
Something that’s also great about its screen is its smoothness. It’s 120 HZ, making transitions buttery.
Onto its processor:
The iPhone comes with a beast of a CPU. The A13 chip runs laps around the Snapdragon 855. The memory variant you get affects how fast your iPhone will be. That’s why you have quite a few memory variants to choose from. These are 64, 256, or 512 GB of space along with 4 GBs of RAM. Unfortunately, you don’t get a microSD card slot, which is a bummer.
What’s also a bummer is its battery. The iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with a 3969 mAh unit. Having such a powerful screen to feed, the phone can last for about a day. The Apple device comes with 18 W fast charging, taking the phone from 0-100% in a little over an hour, which we’re fans of.
Of course, it comes with wireless charging as well. But it can’t be used as a charging mat.
Camera-wise, you get a triple camera set up. They’re 12 MPs each, so colours are not as dynamic. The phone can capture much more detail, however. The camera’s AI offers a softened look to everything you capture, enough and more people love it.
Without a doubt, the S10 Plus is one of the best flagships Samsung has ever released. It looks stunning, which we think is reason enough to spend on it. This is especially true for the ceramic version as not only does it look great; it comes with something that no other phone has.
Let’s not forget that the S10 Plus rocks a breath-taking display. Performance-wise, it’s incredible too. Its camera is amazing, but its battery isn’t anything to write home about. Although a great purchase, its competitors excel at certain things more than it.
It’s still crystal clear that the S10 Plus packs a punch. However, the newer S20 Plus is Samsung’s current golden child.
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