Cut to the beginning of this decade – Samsung launched its first Galaxy device in June 2010. Back then Google’s Android was a fledgeling OS and Nokia with its Symbian OS was still the market leader. On February 20, 2019, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S10, it’s 10th Galaxy device. Through this decade Samsung would become the Android flagship to beat and also added the Galaxy Note Series that gradually made large screen smartphones the norm.
Samsung Galaxy S: The first smartphone I ever reviewed. Samsung dazzled us with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display that was a big deal at that time. We certainly didn’t do Netflix back then and barely watched videos on our phones.
Samsung Galaxy S3: This was one of the best-selling smartphones of all times and catapulted Samsung into the big league. The device built on the success of its predecessor – the S2, with an 8MP rear cam and was also the first Samsung device to sport an HD screen (1280 x 720 pixels was cutting edge at the time).
Samsung Galaxy S4: Stuck to the winning formula of the S3 in terms of design but made huge hardware changes that consolidated Samsung’s position. The rear cam was bumped up to 13MP, an octa-core processor and 2GB of RAM gave it wings while the Super AMOLED 5-inch full HD screen (1920 x 1080 pixels) pushed the display into new territory.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: Samsung launched Note Edge with a curved screen before this device but the S6 Edge was the real deal – a gorgeous blend of metal and glass as Samsung ditched the plastic back from the S4 and S3 days. It wasn’t just the dual curved display but the staggering colours that packed way over 500 pixels per inch.
Samsung Galaxy S7: Samsung quit playing the megapixel game and focused on what really counts – great pictures. The S7 addressed a key challenge for smartphone cams – lowlight photography. The device featured a dual pixel rear camera virtually ensuring much better images in low light. The S7 also added a motion panorama mode that allowed users to snap sweeping live panoramas of cityscapes that can be converted into short videos and exported to other devices.
Samsung Galaxy S8: Changed the way we look at our smartphones; literally. With an edge-to-edge, infinity display that barely wasted any screen real estate, the S8 set the benchmark for smartphone displays. It’s probably the time that we started ditching our tabs for large screen phones and the S8 (and the larger S8+) offered a truly immersive multi-media experience.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 series:
It’s actually four phones. And three that consumers can pre-order straightway in India. The S10+ sits at top of the heap and brings three key updates. First what Samsung calls the Infinity-O display that sets a new benchmark for smartphone displays with its unique cut-out or punch-hole for the dual front cam. This 6.4-inch display (1440 x 3040 pixels) crosses the 90% screen: body ratio threshold. The device’s other big talking point is the ultra-sonic in-display fingerprint sensor – the first in a smartphone. This one’s clearly a notch above sensors that are currently available on smartphones. Samsung’s flagship cams have always stood out, the S10+ features a 12MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP telephoto lens and a 16MP ultra-wide lens with a wider field of view. The device’s dual selfie cam combines 10MP lens and an 8MP lens with a depth sensor.
Other cool touches include reverse wireless charging and a host of AI modes and scenes on the camera. The S10+ is a hardware powerhouse. The top-end version packs a whopping 12GB of RAM and 1TB of Internal memory. Add the Micro SD card slot and you could have a little over 1.5 TB of storage on your phone – yes, that is insane. The Galaxy S10 comes with a slightly smaller 6.1-inch display and with only one front cam while the S10e that is clearly targeted at the iPhone XR comes with a 5.8-inch display and dual rear cam. Samsung also unveiled the formidable S10 5G version with a 6.7-inch display that won’t be available till the second quarter of the year.
Watch this space for our deep-dive review shortly.
Pricing for the S10 series in India:
- Galaxy S10+ will be available in 1 TB, 512GB and 128 GB storage variants and will be priced at INR 1,17,900, INR 91,900 and INR 73,900 respectively. The 1 TB and 512 GB variants come in luxurious, ceramic white and ceramic black colours respectively. The 128 GB variant will come in premium prism black, prism white and prism blue colours.
- Priced at INR 84,900 Galaxy S10’s 512 GB variant will be available in prism white colour, whereas the 128 GB variant will be offered for INR 66,900 in prism black, prism white and prism blue colours.
- The Galaxy S10e comes in a 128 GB storage variant in prism black and prism white colours. It will be priced at INR 55,900.
Pre-orders open today in India at www.samsung.com/in/smartphones/galaxy-s10/buy/
