Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus launched, pre-order starts today

The South Korean giant finally took the wraps off the much awaited Samsung Galaxy S10 series. The 10th iteration of Samsung’s Galaxy Series smartphone includes the Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Plus and Galaxy S10E. As a Successor to last year’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, we also have the affordable Galaxy S10E in tow.

The new Galaxy S10 series is the result of the company’s years-long effort to eliminate bezels and increase one-handed use. The Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10 Plus features a 6.1 and 6.4-inch display respectively. Though the screens are larger than the predecessors, the phone size is just a tad more. In fact, the Galaxy S10 Plus is slightly shorter than the S9 Plus despite having a 0.2 inch larger display.

The displays are identical with 1440-pixel full 19:9 OLED panel with Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED branding. The screens come with a punch-hole cutout that holds the front camera. The S10 has a circular one while the S10 have a wider hole for two front cameras.

There is also a new in-display fingerprint sensor that uses ultrasonic waves. The company claims that it is the most advanced sensor on the market and more reliable, harder to spoof and to have a higher performance than the optical-based scanners. The body is made of Aluminium with curved sides though the S10 Plus will also be available with a ceramic back option.

The smartphones house the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and Samsung’s Exynos processor in some regions. It features between 8GB and 12GB of RAM and up to 12GB internal storage with further expandable memory option. The S10 Plus goes as high as 1TB internal storage.

In the optics, both the smartphone feature a triple camera setup with a 12MP wide-angle lens, 12MP telephoto lens and an ultra-wide 16MP lens. There are a couple of new features like the “Scene Optimizer” that can identify 30 different settings and a “Shot Suggestion” feature to fix poorly framed photos. There is 4K UHD recording support and can also record in HDR10+. On the front, there is a 10MP sensor while there is an extra 8MP sensor on the S10 Plus. Though the Portrait Mode feature is also available on the S10, it will not be as advanced like on the S10 Plus.

The smartphones run on Samsung One UI on top of Android 9 Pie. The “un-programmable” Bixby button is still there and comes with new routines. The S10 gets a 3,400 mAh battery while the Plus variant gets a 4,100 mAh battery. They come with Wireless Charging support and have the ability to charge other secondary devices like the new Galaxy Buds wireless headphones through the rear panels. Connectivity options Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, LTE Cat.30 and 2Gbps LTE which is not 5G to be clear.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus will be available for pre-order from February 21 and will start shipping from March 8. The S10 and the S10 Plus will come at a starting price of $899.99 and $999.99 respectively. As a part of a pre-bonus offer, customers will be getting a pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds. It will be available to all four major carriers in addition to Samsung and other retailers.