Samsung Galaxy S10 128GB Prism Black Sim-Free Smartphone (International Model)

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One UI’s aim is to make the software elements more accessible on larger screens. Apps that feature multiple input options towards the top – messages, for example – are pushed to the bottom, so you don’t need to dislocate your thumb trying to reach them. The majority of Samsung’s own apps have been updated to benefit from this design, and it does make navigation easier. Is a 'punch-hole' camera more or less distracting than a notch? From our time with the Samsung S10 so far, we'd say less. It sits comfortably to the right in the notification bar, providing plenty of space for the time, battery and connectivity icons, as well as any notifications you may have.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Mobile Phone; Sim Free Smartphone - Prism Samsung Galaxy S10 Mobile Phone; Sim Free Smartphone - Prism

With Samsung opting to use its own chipset, rather than the Qualcomm standard, there’s the worry that its latest phones might underperform when compared with its equally pricey alternatives. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case in testing, as the 2.84GHz chipset managed to hold its own not only against the Snapdragon 855, but also against Huawei’s Kirin 980 and Apple’s A12 Bionic, too. The hole in this 'punch-hole' display is extra-large, as Samsung dropped in two front cameras to take better portrait selfies than the single-lens Galaxy S10 and S10e front cameras.Good news, we’ve not found it too distracting. Sold? To complicate your buying decision, the Galaxy S10 5G is an even bigger and better S10 phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus is even more premium as a Samsung smartphone, and if you've got all the money in the world, the foldable Samsung Galaxy Fold is also available to buy – to say nothing of the S20 line and its incremental imrpovements.The Galaxy S10 has a 6.1-inch, 19:9, 3,040-by-1,440-pixel screen. It's the same "dynamic AMOLED" panel as on the other S10 models, and it has the same gorgeous colors and relatively high brightness. The pixel density at maximum resolution (551ppi) is invisibly tight.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Review: Is this the finest Samsung phone?

The Galaxy S10e is cheaper and almost as good, while the Galaxy S10 Plus is the phone you’ll want if you can handle its price and screen size – and that’s to say nothing of the Galaxy S10 5G and the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which started at an even higher price. The main rear camera is an optically stabilised 12-megapixel sensor, with an aperture that can shift between f/1.5 for night shots and f/2.4 for the day. There’s an ultra-wide, 16-megapixel f/2.2 sensor, too, and a stabilised 12-megapixel telephoto sensor for zooming. Still, the S10’s bokeh effects are every bit as good as its rivals, only being slightly beaten out by the P30 Pro and its dedicated ToF sensor. This added sensor gives a cleaner finish and a more accurate cut around details like glasses and hair.

Design

The only downsides are the occasional mistake – for example, recognising a glass building as the sky and giving it an unnatural blue cast – and that its Super Night Shot mode doesn’t seem to be quite as powerful as the ones seen on the Google Pixel 3 or Huawei Mate 20 Pro, with no way to manually turn it on. Battery life on the 3,400mAh cell was slightly shorter than the other Galaxy S10 models, at 10 hours, 54 minutes in our video rundown over Wi-Fi. It's still very good battery life, and I've been impressed by the S10 family's standby time —the phones leak relatively little battery power over several days. Camera

Samsung Galaxy S10 Review | PCMag Samsung Galaxy S10 Review | PCMag

The S10’s dimensions are 149.9 x 70.4 x 7.8mm (and it weighs 157g), so it’s only marginally taller and wider than the S9 with its 5.8-inch screen, and noticeably thinner and a bit lighter. It's possible to use the Samsung S10 one-handed, with the curved edges on the front and rear helping to give the effect that the phone is narrower than it actually is.It’s all designed to achieving that impressive 93.1% screen-to-body ratio on the front of the phone. And, frankly, we like it a bit better than a traditional notch. So far, only the selfie camera on devices like the OnePlus 7 Pro offer a cleaner-looking alternative on a very similar curved display. But Samsung's punch-hole won't bug you after a couple of hours with the Galaxy S10. There isn’t a more complete flagship Android phone you can buy right now than the Samsung Galaxy S10 – and its two biggest competitors are, at this moment, the smaller S10e and the pricier S10 Plus. It’s a clever addition but like the in-display fingerprint scanner, it needs a bit more work. It’s super-slow to charge, and you need to turn it on every time you want to charge a device. The Galaxy S10’s benchmarks lead to the superb performance Samsung’s screens are so good "our competitors are even using them", Samsung brand manager Paul Guzek told TechRadar, an all-too-obvious dig at Apple. It's hard to disagree.