For the first time ever, Samsung’s Galaxy Note series takes the split path, coming out with a pair of Note 10’s that are different in size and more. Today we’re going to talk about those differences and see just which Note 10 is right for you (if you’re looking for one, or both.)
Design Language
The new Notes’ design language did not deviate too far from the Note 9, retaining nearly the same body with changes to the camera placements, buttons and the omission of the 3.5mm audio jack, a first in the Note series. The rear fingerprint reader has been axed too, in favor of a more updated ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader as seen on the Galaxy S10.
Displays and sizes
Obviously the Note 10s are different in size from one another, especially the displays:
- Galaxy Note 10 – 6.3 inches, Dynamic AMOLED+, 1080 x 2280 pixels (90.9% screen-to-body ratio), (401 ppi)
- Galaxy Note 10+ – 6.8 inches, Dynamic AMOLED+, 1440 x 3040 pixels (91% screen-to-body ratio), 19:9 ratio (498 ppi)
On paper the Note 10 noticeably packs less pixels than the Note 10+ , you’ll barely see a difference given that there’s a .5 inch difference between the two, so it’s no loss here except for resolution. Both sport a dynamic AMOLED+ panel that are HDR10+ compliant and protected by the same Gorilla Glass 6.
In the front both devices sport a new centralized punch-hole selfie-camera.
- 12-megapixel dual-aperture lens
- 16-megapixel wide-angle lens
- 12-megapixel telephoto lens
- 10-megapixel front-facing camera
The one up the Note 10 + has over its younger brother is the addition of a fourth 3D depth-sensing camera that boasts superior portrait videos and a new feature called AR Doodle, allowing users to use the S Pen to personalize photos with dynamic drawings, effects and animations in real-time. Performance and Storage
The Note 10s differentiates themselves in this aspect, with the constant being just the processor:
- EMEA – Exynos 9825 Octa (7 nm), CPU: Octa-core (2x 2.73 GHz Mongoose M4 & 2x 2.4 GHz Cortex-A75 & 4×1.9 GHz Cortex-A55), GPU: Mali-G76-MP12
The duo comes with the following RAM and Storage configurations:
- Note 10: 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, no microSD
- Note 10+: 12GB RAM, 256/512GB storage, microSD
The Note 10+, being the superior model, comes with 12GB of RAM whereas the Note 10 falls abit short with 8GB. The Note 10 + comes in 256GB / 512 GB options and the Note 10 comes in only 256GB. The final differenciation here is the MicroSD card slot which is only on the Note 10+, but even with all these factors in play we’d only suspect that the end user experience will pretty much be the same. Both notes feature next-gen UFS 3.0 storage, delivering twice the speeds of UFS 2.1 as seen on the S10 series.
Battery and Charging
- Note 10: 3500mAh
- Note 10+: 4300mAh
As tradition follows, the bigger sized model always comes with a bigger battery capacity. The Note 10+ and the Note 10 has a 800mAh difference, in which again we’d suspect that battery life would be similar with the Note 10+ having the slightest of advantage over its younger brother.
- Galaxy Note 10 – 25W fast charging, 20W wireless charging
- Galaxy Note 10+ – 45W fast charging, 20W wireless charging
Charging speed definitely deserves a core mention here as Samsung has finally stepped up from their 15W wired charging speed to 25W-45W on the Note 10 series. The Note 10 is able to only support up to 25W fast charging, whereas the Note 10+ can go up to 45W, if you purchased the 45W charger standalone as the included charger is only 25W. Both devices support 20W wireless fast charging. The 45W ‘super-fast charging’ claims a full days worth of juice from just a 30 minute charge.
The S pen
Compared to the Note 9’s picture taking S Pen, the Note 10’s S pen has been updated with an accelerometer based gesture control known as ‘Air’ actions. With Air actions you can navigate around your phone with simple gestures while holding the S pen like a motion control. For example, flicking can help you swipe through photos, and drawing circles gives you the ability to zoom in and out when you’re trying to take a picture.
So, which Note 10 is for you?
There’s no other obvious answer than : Your call.
Even though bigger is better, the extra features you get on the Note 10+ may not be a need for everyone as some people prefer the younger brother for its smaller form factor, affordability and simplicity. Both have similar specs except for storage and RAM, which can be negligible as 256GB is considered plenty for the common user. Processing power is basically the Galaxy S10, and both 8GB and 12GB of RAM can handle anything you throw at it since the OS has always been known for stability and smoothness.
If you’re buying it for the S pen, then you can’t go wrong with either one, but of course the Note 10+ wins ahead due to more screen real estate to draw on and AR doodling as a new medium of creativity.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 (256GB): RM 3, 699
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (256GB): RM 4, 199
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (512GB): RM 4, 799
Our review will come soon, so please stay with us till we let you know what we think on ZenTheGeek!
