Galaxy Note 10 Plus review: The most premium Android phone for your money

Samsung makes glorious telephones that examine almost each field of what you’d need in a tool: a transparent, sensible display. Great cameras. Strong battery life. But it has been years since all the person elements have come collectively in a manner that makes me sit again and say, “Wow.” The Galaxy Note 10 Plus does that. This is not only a telephone that has all of it — it is a telephone I genuinely need to use. The Note 10 Plus is the full bundle and the perfect telephone Samsung’s made in years.The prismatic Aura Glow shade I examined is totally placing to take a look at, the options are almost all best-of-breed and Samsung has even labored to shut the hole between its digicam instruments and camera-centric rivals just like the Huawei P30 Pro and Google Pixel 3. The Note 10 Plus additionally fixes my two main complaints about spring’s Galaxy Note 10 Plus (which continues to be an amazing telephone): the in-screen fingerprint reader is dramatically extra correct this time round, and the digicam’s devoted night time mode improves photograph high quality in low gentle.Even the Note 10 Plus’ greatest drawbacks are straightforward sufficient to swallow. There’s no headphone jack (Samsung was one of many final main holdouts). You might must relearn how you employ the facility button to show off the telephone and take screenshots. The depth-sensing digicam would not do a lot. And it is costly — beginning at $1,100 (£999, AU$1,699) with a 5G model prices $1,300 (£1,099 or AU$1,999).
Keep in thoughts that the Note 10 Plus is not a mainstream telephone. It nonetheless targets energy customers who need a huge gadget and can truly use the included S Pen stylus. It’s overkill for individuals who need a smaller telephone or are utterly uninterested within the stylus.Samsung additionally launched a smaller model of the Note 10, which has a 6.3-inch display and prices $150 lower than the Plus, coming in at $949. Samsung additionally pulls again on the specs (e.g., much less RAM, no microSD card storage), however it could possibly nonetheless do 90% of what the Plus mannequin can do. I’ll begin reviewing that one quickly. Scroll to the tip for a full specs comparability.
If you are on the fence, do not forget that the iPhone 11 (seemingly due in September), Google Pixel 4 and Huawei Mate 30 Pro (seemingly coming in October) are across the nook. But for the primary time in a very long time, I can say to energy customers: Why wait? The Note 10 Plus is excellent, and price shopping for. What’s on this overview: Read on for the perfect and worst of the Note 10 Plus, then stick round to find out about how good the brand new digicam options are, life with out the headphone jack, gesture controls, all-day battery life and the way it compares to different rival telephones.View full gallery Just take a look at this magnificence.
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Best Note 10 Plus featuresSophisticated, squared-off design with Gorilla Glass 6 on either side.Prismatic Aura Glow and Aura Blue (US-only) backing.Symmetrical front-facing digicam placement.Fast, correct in-screen fingerprint reader.Snappy efficiency with the Snapdragon 855 chipset.Excellent pictures, with fairly good standalone night time mode (extra beneath).Camera software program like built-in video editor and portrait mode video are well-executed.S Pen stylus is snug and simple to make use of; fewer unintended key presses.Gesture navigation with the S Pen is smart.Fast wired and wi-fi charging (25-watt and 15-watt, respectively).New display recorder app is a pleasant contact — you may seize audio, too.Samsung DeX is simple to arrange on Windows and Mac.Link to Windows works as marketed to reflect choose content material from Note 10 to Windows 10 PC.View full gallery The S Pen is snug to carry and use.
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Worst Note 10 Plus featuresNo 3.5-millimeter headphone jack.AR digicam solely works with one underdeveloped app (3D scanner to come back).Power/lock/Bixby button on the left makes powering off and taking screenshots tough at first.Yes, you are going to need a case.It’s a smudge magnet — you may must continually clear the telephone.View full gallery Your USB-C port and headphone jack are actually one and the identical.
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Photo high quality, night time mode, portrait video, video enhancingCameras: 16-megapixel extremely wide-angle lens12-megapixel wide-angle lens (primary, dual-aperture digicam)12-megapixel telephoto lensDepth-sensing digicam10-megapixel front-facing digicamThe Note 10 Plus has the identical primary cameras because the Galaxy S10 Plus (it provides that depth-sensing lens), however Samsung’s put a whole lot of effort into enhancing the telephone’s software program, and that goes an extended approach to making the telephone simpler to make use of for taking pictures.  View full gallery The Note 10 Plus has a 3D depth-sensing digicam to associate with the principle three.
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Daytime pictures is superb, however the devoted night time mode is the place Samsung actually steps it up. This mode, discovered within the digicam app, takes just a few seconds to course of a photograph, actually drawing out colours and particulars from a darkish scene. I want Samsung would add a count-down clock, so you know the way lengthy to carry the telephone nonetheless, however pictures taken on this mode could make an enormous distinction. Samsung’s shade processing can overbrighten in some night-mode situations, the place auto mode truly produces a extra pleasing, higher-contrast picture — so do not plan to make use of it each time. The Note 10 Plus additionally does fascinating issues with video. Live Focus video mode provides a depth impact to video, and you’ll select amongst 4 filters for each your entrance and rear cameras. Jawlines and extremities can blur, and a few of my curly hair smeared into the background, however the deal with the face within reason good. Another new function turns up the quantity on the supply of music whenever you zoom in. I examined this out on 4 completely different musical acts and… John Travolta (seen doing the twist right here). Called zoom-in-audio, it really works as marketed, however some situations are more practical than others. It’s onerous to reposition the main target as you zoom and picture high quality suffers whenever you zoom in too intently. Applause throughout for the baked-in video editor that permits you to add musical tracks, trim and add textual content. It’s nice to have the ability to rapidly produce a easy video on-device and share it out instantly.AR Doodle is a function that bought a whole lot of press when it first got here out, as a result of it is distinctive and highlights the facility of the S Pen. You hop into video mode and might report a brief video of your self, another person, or a scene on the planet round you (it seems to outing after a minute). For instance, I had enjoyable embracing my punk aspect, and skywriting over the San Francisco skyline.