GoPro Hero 10 – A more responsive screen is the standout upgrade

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but being easier to use and a more responsive touch-screen really does make the GoPro Hero 10 a dramatically better camera than any that have come before it. Yet it also proves just how hard it is to innovate when the technology has peaked to exceptional levels.

When GoPro released the Hero 9 with it’s full colour front screen last year, I thought they’d nailed it. This was a product hard to fault.

The challenge for GoPro to improve on that again reminds me of the same challenge faced by Apple in releasing a whole new phone range every year. Samsung found a way around that by branching out into Foldables, while continuing to innovate on their flagships incrementally.

When it comes to tech specs, the GoPro Hero 10 absolutely does what a new generation device should, it ups the game.

Still photos are now 23MP up from 20 on the Hero 9.

Video records at 5.3k/60 up from 5k/30, while 4K is up to 120fps from 60. 2.7K kicks at 240fps up from 120.

GoPro’s outstanding stabilisation technology known as HyperSmooth gets a new version (4.0) offering levelling at up to 45 degrees.

Perhaps the sleeper upgrade is the still-frame grabs you get from your recorded video. These are now 19.6MP from a 5K 4:3 video, and 18MP from a 5.3K video.

Just as Apple needs to sell their processor and what it can do, when people don’t really care about that detail, GoPro’s problem this year is that their best improvement is the processor.

The GoPro System on a Chip that’s been in every GoPro since 2017 is known as the GP1. A new GP2 chip offers a range of important updates to both the video and photo quality, but for me, it’s all about the speed.

If you’ve used one of the GoPros with a touch-screen on the back, here’s something I guarantee you’ve suffered from. Lag. You touch, you swipe, you try to slide a control – it doesn’t respond. It’s always been a bit frustrating, but I think we’ve all kinda just lived with it.

No more. Nope.

With the GoPro Hero 10 the touch-screen is utterly responsive and you never feel like you have to swipe again or push harder – it just works.

In true GoPro lingo, it’s described in the company’s own release as “Wicked Fast”. Sick huh:)

Because of the GP2 chip the front LCD also has a higher frame rate so the picture looks smooth and natural and Wi-Fi transfers to your phone are 30% faster.

In my testing, the 45 degree hyper-smooth is the most noticeable upgrade for regular users looking for an improvement in the videos you shoot. But the faster interface is the best upgrade overall.

The Hero 10 is the exact same size as the Hero 9, and will fit into any existing Mod accessories you have.

GoPro Hero 10 Black is available for $599.95 and just like last year the pricing includes a one year subscription to the GoPro cloud services.

If you don’t want those (why would you not take a free subscription?) you have to pay $749.95.