Best Samsung Galaxy S10 review.

Best Samsung Galaxy S10 review.

The Galaxy S10 is Samsung’s middle-of-the-road top-end phone, featuring a large screen in a pretty compact body for those who don’t like the current breed of massive flagship superphones.

The regular, non-plus versions of Samsung’s Galaxy S line have always been the sweet spot between size, price and performance. They offer big, beautiful screens in bodies that are practically tiny by today’s giant-phone standards.

The Galaxy S10 isn’t all that small, of course, measuring 70.4mm wide and 149.9mm tall with a stunning 6.1in QHD+ AMOLED screen. It’s about the same size as Apple’s iPhone XS

Its size and weight make it one of easiest top-end phones to handle and pocket. Not once did the Galaxy S10 feel liable to being dropped, even when using it one-handed in packed trains.

The design of the Galaxy S10 is attractive, particularly in its pearlescent white, but doesn’t rock the boat. The front is glass; so is the back. They both curve at the edges to a thin polished metal band. The screen has a small circular cutout through which the selfie camera pokes.

The display also hides Samsung’s ultrasonic fingerprint scanner for unlocking the phone with your thumb on the screen. Arguably the most unusual aspect of the Galaxy S10 is the existence of a headphone socket in the bottom – a rare sight for a top-end smartphone in 2019.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.1in QHD+ AMOLED (550ppi)
• Processor: Samsung Exynos 9820 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
• RAM: 8GB of RAM
• Storage: 128GB + microSD card
• Operating system: One UI based on Android 9 Pie
• Camera: rear triple camera, front 10MP selfie-camera
• Connectivity: dual sim, LTE, wifi, NFC, Bluetooth 5, wireless charging and GPS
• Dimensions: 149.9 x70.4 x 7.8mm
• Weight: 157g

Performance

One UI is a big upgrade over previous versions of Samsung’s software, refocused around making phones with large screens more usable. While more beneficial for thethe S10 still benefits from generally having the top half of the phone for viewing information and the bottom half for touch-based interactions.

That puts menus, buttons and other touch-interaction points in easier reach of your thumb. Others are doing similar with Android, including Google, but Samsung is the most successful to date – something Apple and its back button in the top left of the screen should take note of.

One weak point compared with competitors is Samsung’s gesture navigation system, which simply replaces the standard back, home and overview buttons with swipe pads that do the same thing in the same place on the screen. It’s less ergonomic and fluid than rival systems such as that used by OnePlus, Huawei or even Google’s upcoming Android Q.

Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant is serviceable, but not as good as Google Assistant, often failing to understand what is said, so is safe to just avoid.