Samsung unveiled its latest flagship smartphone last night in a jam (un)packed event last night. Although most of it was actually leaked weeks before the announcement, it is great to see Samsung officially launching its latest flagship, this allows us to properly comment over whether or not it is a good buy in 2019.
Now that the dust has settled and we know all the details about this new flagship by Samsung, let’s see whether you should be buying this device in 2019 or not. Here are 5 reasons why we think you shouldn’t:
1. Little late to the game
I am sorry, but wasn’t Samsung supposed to be first to the game when it came to new features? Mainstreaming large phones with Note series, paving way for smaller bezels through Infinity Displays and waterproofing phones when the industry wasn’t paying attention to them, Samsung usually brought about spectacular new design and ideas, while others followed suit.
It seems that S10 is more about catching up than innovating. We have already seen nearly all the groundbreaking features in other devices, released months before Samsung Galaxy S10. Let’s take a quick look:
- Three camera setup: Huawei P20 Pro says hi from 2018
- In display fingerprint reader: Huawei Mate 20 Pro, OnePlus 6T
- Wireless powersharing: Mate 20 Pro again, really, there might be a pattern here
- 1000 dollar price tag for S10+: Yeah iPhone did that first, Ha!
2. Let’s talk about that price tag
Smartphones are going through a weird phase at the moment. At one end of the spectrum, we have manufacturers like Samsung and Apple, who are, for some unknown reasons (well not unknown, R&D, tariff war between US and rest of the world and other assorted reasons), are constantly hiking their prices, while manufacturers like Xiaomi and OnePlus are providing similarly specced devices at a much lower cost.
A few years ago, a 700 dollars price tag was normal for flagships, but nope. Now every big company has to have a 1,000 dollar flagship phone. You can blame Apple for demonstrating that consumers are willing to pay for such a huge price tag, but we consumers have to be responsible too.
OnePlus 7 will be released in a few months time and apart from a few gimmicky features, it will be almost as good as S10, and two-thirds of its price. Xiaomi is constantly pushing out smartphones at a much more competitive price point too, which is another good option for countries where OnePlus phones are not officially available.
3. You will be pretty late at getting software updates
Talking about OnePlus as an alternative to S10, if you opt for a device like OnePlus, which has a truer to stock Android experience, you will be getting quicker software updates too. It took Samsung nearly half a year to release Android Pie to their last year’s flagship phones, something which doesn’t seem it would change with this new generation of smartphones by Samsung
4. The Infinity-O display could be more annoying than the notch
The Infinity-O display is great, it’s a huge marvel of engineering. Cutting a precise hole on a display like that is no laughable matter, but is it really that much better?
According to first-hand impressions, S10 and S10+‘s camera hole sits much deeper than some notches. This results in the notification bar to become taller than usual, cutting into the available screen real estate. Wasn’t that the whole point? To maximize screen real estate?
Something like OnePlus 6T’s notch would be a much better solution until we can figure out where to put that damn selfie camera.
5. In display fingerprint sensors are still not good enough to be the only unlocking method
There comes a point in every feature’s life where it transforms itself from a gimmick to a useful feature. Usually, it is around when it is better than other alternatives available. Unfortunately, for in-display fingerprint sensors, it is still not true. Rear mounted fingerprint sensor are still far more reliable and faster than the new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
In-display fingerprint sensors are definitely the future, and they are bound to get better which each generation. However, it would have been super helpful if Samsung had another biometric unlocking mechanism if the new fingerprint sensor wasn’t up to your liking. But they have even dropped their retina scanner (which, to be honest, didn’t really work that well to begin with), leaving users at the mercy of only the new fingerprint sensor.
So these were a few reasons why we think skipping Galaxy S10 and looking at some other options would be a wise decision this time around. What are your thoughts on the new flagship phone by Samsung?
