By Samsung announced its new flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus on August 7th. While the Note lineup has always been the pinnacle of Samsung’s innovation with smartphones, these new devices have attracted more questions than praise.
First, there are two device models – which is a first for the lineup – the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+, and while we wish that the physical sizes of the devices were where the differences ended, it gets more controversial.
The Smaller Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is Not(e) It
Samsung thought it was wise, not only to create a smaller variant of the Note10 but to also create an inferior one. We are calling the smaller Note 10 inferior because, as much as Samsung has included premium features on the device such as a great design, water resistance, wireless charging, a great camera and even the S-Pen stylus, the deductions are far much greater.
Start off your week with tech news recap and trending conversations in your inbox
Compared to the Note 10+, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is not only smaller in size (this isn’t actually an issue) but also has a lower quality display that maxes out at 1080p – we know we don’t really max out the quality of the plus variant either but it’s nice to have more pixels, the RAM has also been slashed significantly and even worse, there’s no micro SD Card slot on top of lacking support for the super-fast 45W charger.
Just Get The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
Admittedly, both devices have some compromises. For instance, the headphone jack has been thrown out the window, alongside the secondary selfie camera that we saw on the S10+ and even some design decisions leave us wondering what the goal was since Samsung has remapped the Bixby button to be the power button – which means it’s now on the left side of the phone with no button whatsoever on the right side. It will take some getting used to, especially considering that, by default, long-pressing the power button now calls up Bixby but this can be changed in the settings back to its default and expected behaviour.
To further dive into the differences between the two devices, here’s a truncated specification list with the items in bold highlighting where the differences lie:
| Samsung Galaxy Note 10 | Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 6.3" 1080p | 6.8" 1440p |
| Software | Android 9.0 Pie | Android 9.0 Pie |
| Network | 4G | 4G |
| Processor | Exynos 9825 | Exynos 9825 |
| RAM | 8GB | 12GB |
| Internal Storage | 256GB | 256GB |
| Main Camera | Triple 12MP(main) +12MP(telephoto) + 16MP(wide-angle) | Triple 12MP(main) +12MP(telephoto) + 16MP(wide-angle) + TOF 3D VGA Camera |
| Selfie Camera | 10MP | 10MP |
| Battery | 3500mAh | 4300mAh |
| Price | Kes.104,000 | Kes.120,000 |
Maybe Skip Them Both?
There’s already a section of Galaxy Note fans who feel that Samsung hasn’t done enough to warrant a purchase of the Note 10 devices, actually, some may argue that spending your money on the slightly older Samsung Galaxy S10+ is a far much better deal, considering it’ll cost much less.
However, the question of whether you should skip the Note this year totally lies on which device you’re coming from. If you have the Note9 or the S10+, then, by all means, skip this one but if you have anything from earlier on, then the Note10 series will feel like a worthy upgrade but then again, the money is yours, do as you wish, order that Note10+!
Images courtesy 9t05Google
Comments