When Apple celebrated the tenth anniversary of the iPhone in 2017, the Californians indulged in an anniversary model, the iPhone X. Samsung goes one step further and introduced three anniversary smartphones in San Francisco on Wednesday evening, the Galaxy S10, the S10 + and the S10e , I got all three models in advance in London in the hands.
The top models of this triple row are the Galaxy S10 and the S10 +. Only two things distinguish the two: The S10 has a 6.1-inch screen, the S10 + is 6.4 inches in size. In addition, the S10 has a simple selfie camera, while the S10 + also has a depth sensor built-in. The latter is used to create a so-called bokeh effect in selfies, so to make the background appear blurred. The first try it worked quite well.
A highlight in the literal sense are the screens of the two anniversary Samsung, because they can shine very brightly. This could benefit the readability of sunlight, which I could not verify in the London winter weather. On the other hand, it can be used to improve the appearance of HDR movies that you can watch with the Galaxy S10 and the S10 + not only on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but can also record itself with the built-in camera.
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Galaxy S10: These are the new Samsung smartphonesThe resolution of the selfie camera is 10 megapixels, which is good, but not crucial for selfies. What is more important is that their f / 1.9 photosensitivity should enable us to take photos in poorly lit environments.
The three from the photo department
On the back there are now three cameras on both new Galaxys. Something like that has been known since last summer by other manufacturers. A pioneer of such a combination was Huawei's Mate 20 Pro, which impressed me during the test with its photographic capabilities, from telephoto to wide-angle to super wide-angle.
That's the Mate 20 Pro
Huawei Mate 20 Pro: The design is reminiscent of Samsung's Galaxy S9 with its rounded edges.
The top of the screen houses the 3D face recognition sensors. If you do not like the necessary notch, you can hide this screen area.
The dark blue back of the review sample is dominated by the quadratic camera triplet and flash.
Depending on the incidence of light, the three-dimensional coating shimmers and reflects differently on the reverse side.
The OLED screen is 6.29 inches tall and has a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels.
The Mate 20 Pro is charged via USB-C. Unusual is the placement of the SIM card drawer in the lower area.
Huawei delivers the device from the factory with 128 GB. You can expand the memory only with such new Nano memory cards with up to 256 GB capacity.
At the top you will find a microphone and an infrared transmitter. This allows the smartphone to be used as a remote control.
The square camera layout is unusual. A 40-megapixel wide-angle lens, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens and an ultra-wide-angle lens with 20 megapixel resolution to the side.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, Huawei's camera app often recognizes what is being photographed and adjusts the camera accordingly. But sometimes she is wrong.
A special feature is the monochrome mode that Huawei has been cultivating for years and that has also worked well on the Mate 20 Pro.
Of course, the release of portraits is less successful, even with such simple minds as this one.
This automatic desaturation of the background, which emphasizes the motif of the selfie, has been better.
This has worked well with the P20 Pro, but is still fascinating with the Mate 20 Pro: In "night mode", the camera makes impressive long-term exposures.
The outstanding feature of the new camera is its wide zoom range. It ranges from such extreme wide-angle to ...
... a fivefold zoom. Both photos were taken from the same location.
Fine, if you frequently take screenshots: Knock twice with your ankle on the screen, then you have the picture. Not new, but useful.
With Android 9 Pie also features such as this object recognition come to the Huawei phone. In the test, however, this did not always work out as hoped.
The new face recognition is reminiscent of Apple's Face ID. Just like on iPhones, the user's face is captured and stored in three dimensions.
Since the Mate 20 Pro is very peculiar: As soon as you cover the upper sensor bar, this note lays over the entire screen.
Brand new: The fingerprint sensor is hidden under the glass of the screen.
In the so-called performance mode you can get the last bit of performance from the device, but this is associated with some disadvantages.
Charging is fast with the included power supply. About 50 minutes are enough for a full battery charge. For the power supply is also a thick knocker. For comparison, we have an iPhone power supply wrong.
Comfortable, but slower, the battery can be filled with wireless charging stations.
You can even turn the Mate 20 Pro itself into a wireless charging station. Then many accessories or even ...
... to charge an iPhone with it.
Similarly, the camera triplet Galaxy S10 and S10 + is now built. A 12-megapixel wide-angle camera with a good light sensitivity of f / 1.6, a 12-megapixel telephoto with f / 2.4 and a 16-megapixel ultra wide angle with f / 2.2 to the side.
This combination should significantly expand the photographic possibilities of the two smartphones compared to their predecessors. At the pre-appointment in London, this could hardly be estimated. The cameras work across all zoom levels quickly and well, as the achievable image quality is, only a detailed test can show. I'm really looking forward to trying out the Super Night Shot mode, which allows exposure times of up to 40 seconds at night and on a tripod.
Fingerprint with ultrasound
A real peculiarity is the new fingerprint scanner, the Samsung built into the two devices. It is invisibly integrated into the screen, which is already familiar from other devices like the Mate 20 Pro. Samsung's version, however, seems to work more reliably as it scans the finger with ultrasound. It's not that fast, but it always worked when trying it out.
Common is Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 + that both are powered by a new Samsung processor, the Exynos 9820. The manufacturer promises, he brings about one-third more power than its predecessor, but need 15 percent less energy. Only in Samsung's home country of South Korea and the US, however, a processor by Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 855, is used instead.
The little one's finger belongs to the side
The same processors are also in the Galaxy S10e, whose acronym "e" according to Samsung for "essential", that is "essential". By and large, the hardware of this model is identical to that of S10 and S10 +.
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From left to right: Galaxy S10 +, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e
Its screen is slightly smaller at 5.8 inches and less high resolution at 2280 x 1080 pixels - but still very sharp. Also, it has a conventional fingerprint sensor, which, as in the past with Sony smartphones, laterally integrated into the frame. In contrast to S10 and S10 +, where the screen bends laterally into the case frame, the display is flat here, the frame clearly visible. In addition, there are only two cameras in his back instead of three cameras. A year ago that was still top class, it is not bad today.
To top class also includes that the new devices can be charged wirelessly. And they like to share, at least their energy. If you put them on your stomach, they become wireless chargers, which in turn can charge other gadgets. For example, the new wireless headphones Galaxy Buds. Power Share is what Samsung calls it.
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Charge the Galaxy Buds wirelessly
In terms of memory expansion, Samsung takes full advantage of all three new smartphones. You can afford it, after all, the memory chips are built in-house. So all three new Galaxys come with at least 128 gigabytes (GB) of memory. The S10 and S10 + can be purchased for an additional charge with 512 GB. The top version is a Galaxy S10 + with a terabyte (TB) of memory. That you can expand the memory for all three by up to 512 GB, in this case probably no longer necessary.
It is necessary, however, to deal with the prices. The Galaxy S10e costs 749 euros and is available in white, black, green, blue and yellow. The S10 is, apart from yellow, in the same colors, but it costs with 128 GB of memory 899 euros, with 512 GB of memory 1149 euros. It gets even more expensive with the Galaxy S10 +, which is delivered in Germany in a particularly hard ceramic case and costs € 1249 in the "small" version with 512 GB. For the preliminary top model with 1 TB of storage you have to fork out 1599 euros.
For now, because yet another model of the series is being developed, the Galaxy S10 5G. When it comes on the market in the summer, it should be equipped with 5G technology. It also gets a larger with 6.7 inches screen and a quadruple camera with 3D depth sensor. Its memory will be 256 GB in size and not expandable.
As beautiful and powerful as the Samsung Jubilee Smartphones are, really new is there, apart from the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, little to discover. Triple cameras have long had others and even the so-called powershare function was available earlier. But what Samsung can score with are excellent screens, flawless workmanship, lush memory and good design. However, Samsung fans will have to nibble at the prices.