Samsung has launched this year’s supercharged Galaxy Note, and this time there’s a standard and a Plus model to choose from. The new phones come with yet more features for the S Pen stylus, improved performance and upgraded cameras, making them Samsung’s most powerful flagships yet.
The first difference between the Note 10 and the Note 10 Plus is the screen size and resolution – 6.3 inches and 1,080 x 2,280 pixels versus 6.8 inches and 1,440 x 3,040 pixels. The Plus has an extra lens on the rear camera too, which serves as a depth vision sensor that should mean sharper focus and better bokeh effects. Both handsets have a 16 MP ultra-wide lens, a 12 MP wide-angle lens, and a 12 MP telephoto lens around the back.
You get 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage with the Note 10, and 12 GB of RAM and either 256 GB or 512 GB of storage with the Note 10 Plus. There’s also going to be a special 5G edition of the Note 10, which bumps up the RAM to 12 GB. This time around only the Note 10 Plus has a memory card slot for expanding the storage. As expected, the Snapdragon 855 CPU is providing top-notch performance under the hood.
Design-wise the emphasis is again on a huge screen with minimal bezels (there are virtually no bezels at all on the curved glass sides), though this time the cut out front notch has been moved to the center of the display, rather than being positioned up in the corner as it was on the Samsung Galaxy S10 phones.
The S Pen stylus is once again one of the major stars of the Galaxy Note show, and it comes with some extra tricks for 2019. Those extra tricks include Air Actions, as Samsung is calling them, which mean you can control the phone with gestures away from the screen – you can even draw objects in 3D space, should you need to. As with last year, you can use it as a remote control for the camera and media player apps as well.
Another significant upgrade comes in the form of Samsung DeX, which is the ability to use your phone to power a basic desktop operating system. Previously this has involved connecting a Galaxy handset to a monitor, but now you can hook the Note 10 phones up to any Windows or Mac laptop as well, to access your phone apps and your files. It might just make switching between mobile and desktop devices a little bit easier.
All the usual Galaxy Note ingredients are included again, including wireless charging, fast charging, and full IP68 waterproofing, but the 3.5-mm headphone jack gets dropped for the first time. If you want to connect up headphones, you’ll need to go for Bluetooth ones or connect them via the USB-C port.
The Note 10 is yours for US$949, with the Note 10 Plus $150 more expensive at $1,099 for the 12 GB RAM / 256 GB storage option, and $1,199 for 12 GB RAM / 512 GB storage. Pre-orders are already open, with shipping from August 23. The choice of colors is black, pink and “Aura Glow” (a blue to white gradient), with the Note 10 Plus adding a white option as well.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 brings a new S Pen and a choice of two models [New Atlas]