Three New Samsung Galaxy S10’s coming to Australia

I’ll tell you one thing – Samsung didn’t save anything for a later date, and there’s going to be a hell of a lot of Samsung products launching in the next four months including three new flagship smartphones coming to Australia on March 8th.

Instead of the “usual” Galaxy S smartphone and a plus variant, this year there will be three Samsung Galaxy S smartphone variants, and when you take into account the colour and storage sized ivariations there are 16 to choose from.

The “standard” Galaxy S10 will start at $1,349 in Australia, available in Green, Black and White in either 128GB or 512GB configuration.

Moving up a notch, the S10+ is also coming in three colours in the 128GB version for $1,499, but if you step it up further to 512GB you’ll get it in Ceramic Black or Ceramic White for $1,849.

The Telcos won’t stock it on a plan, but Samsung will sell you a 1TB version in Ceramic Black or White for $2,399.

Perhaps, though not officially acknowledging the high price of Smartphones which really kicked in last year, there’s a third variant coming to Australia – the Galaxy S10e. Also in the three basic Green, White and Black colours this guy will set you back $1,199

Here’s how they compare:

	Galaxy S10	Galaxy S10+	Galaxy S10e
Dimensions	70.4 x 149.9 x 7.8mm / 157g	74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8mm / 175g	69.9 x 142.2 x 7.9mm / 150g
Display	6.1 inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 19:9 550ppi	6.4 inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 19:9 438ppi	5.8 inch FullHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 19:9 522ppi
Camera	Triple Camera with Dual OIS Telephoto 12MP, Wide-Angle 12MP, Ultra Wide 16MP Front: 10MP	Triple Camera with Dual OIS Telephoto 12MP, Wide-Angle 12MP, Ultra Wide 16MP Front: 10MP with RGB Depth Sensor 8MP	Dual Camera with OIS Wide-Angle 12MP, Ultra Wide 16MP Front 10MP
Memory	8GB Ram 128GB or 512GB MicroSD Expandable up to 512GB	8GB/12GB Ram 128GB, 512GB or 1TB MicroSD Expandable up to 512GB	6GB/8GB Ram 128GB or 256GB MicroSD Expandable up to 512GB
Battery	3,400mAh	4,100mAh	3,100mAh

There’s a few key features worth pointing out on these specs and devices ahead of a full review.

Dynamic AMOLED Display

Samsung reckon this is their best display ever, “Verified by DisplayMate” it gives the “world’s most accurate colours” on a mobile device.  It’s said to work very well in harsh sunlight.

With a peak brightness of 1200nits, it should look great – and in my first look, it sure bloody does.  There’s also blue light reduction and HDR10+ certification.

Bottom line, it looks sick.

Full-Screen Experience

Now look, lets all be honest, the “infinity display” Samsung are know for was hardly a “full screen” experience, it had a bezel top and bottom, and I don’t care what you say, that stood out.

Now, those edges are pushed up and down, with a very narrow (but still defined) top and bottom edge, but a new “hole punch” screen.  This means the camera sticks through the screen.

Looks nice, but I’m not convinced it won’t create the same useless space at the top edge of the screen with information packed alongside it.  The same way a “notch display” puts stuff left and right of the notch.

It’s a dual camera oval cut out on the S10 and S10+, and a more minimal tiny circle only on the S10e’s single lens front camera.

Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor

Oppo and Huawei have under-screen fingerprint sensors, and let me tell you, I love it on the Huawei Mate 20.

Samsung call theirs Ultrasonic – this reads the “3D contours of your physical thumbprint” or fingerprint.  For improved anti-spoofing.  Not that I’ve heard a lot of issues with fingerprint spoofing – but, sounds good.

Setup for the fingerprint seemed as normal on any other device, but let me tell you the unlock is faster than the Huawei Mate 20 by a Long way – so that’s my first big impression.

The Camera

Triple Lens – nope, not new, but new for Samsung.  They’ve gone with Telephoto and Wide Angle because it adds a lot to the options for the photographer.

The on-screen menu for that avoids the 0.6x, 1x and 3x style zoom levels and just goes with a tree, set of trees and a close up tree menu.  Looks good, easy to use.

Those trees also appear on the sliding scale when you do a manual pinch and zoom.

The Ultra Wide is a 123 degree view, Standard is 77 degree with the Zoom at 45 degree.

Video now has a SuperSteady mode for the best possible stabilised video on the go, while there’s also advanced image recognition with 30 scenes built in and a neural learning engine moving forward.

WiFi

While it’s not a big deal yet, it won’t be Long before we’re all talking 802.11ax – or Wifi 6 as it’s called.  The next standard in WiFi – and the S10 is ready for that.

Wireless Charging

Yep, still wireless charging built into them all, but on the S10 range you have Wireless Powershare too – so you can charge a mate’s phone by placing it on the back of yours.

Only got one charger?  Charge your S10 and throw your mate’s on the back, they both get charged.

5G

Oh yes, there’s 5G too.  But not on the S10, S10+ or S10e – that’s on a whole other phone, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G – that’s coming later in the year – details on that soon on EFTM.com

S10e?

What you miss with the S10e is the fingerprint reader under the screen, instead its on the side power button – plus the high end triple lens camera on the back.

On the front it’s a single lens camera too, as is the S10. The leap up to the S10 is pretty dramatic for the small price differential, but the non rolled edged screen is also going to be appealing to some.

Samsung see this range as the culmination of 10 years of Smartphone innovation, Garry McGregor from Samsung Australia excited to bring the product to market. “The new Galaxy S10 line will offer four unique variants of the Galaxy S10, so Australians can find the exact device that’s right for them. Across the portfolio, we’re delivering the latest innovation in display, camera and performance that consumers want and expect from Samsung.

“The Galaxy S10 range is designed and engineered for those who want a next-generation, premium Galaxy experience: A re-engineered dynamic display, camera technology that makes it easier to take amazing photos and performance that’s optimised for the way we use our phones today.”

You can pre-order from 9am this morning with stock and shipping of devices starting March 8th.

Anyone who pre-orders a Galaxy S10 through any channel, Telco or Retail – will get a free pair of Samsung’s new Galaxy Bud earphones (Worth $249) too – so some pre-order incentive there!

Trevor Long travelled to San Francisco as a guest of Samsung Australia