Galaxy Note10 debuts with striking new design, next level power

The plethora of leaks that have littered the internet over the past few weeks have undoubtedly stolen a lot of the thunder leading up to Samsung Unpacked, but that’s not to say that the new Galaxy Note10 is any less desirable or exciting. Freshly unveiled in New York, the iconic Note series continues to showcase the best-of-the-best technologies and features from Samsung, and is sure to appeal to its millions of loyal users and perhaps earn it millions more.

For the first time ever, the Galaxy Note10 comes in two sizes—the regular Note10 and the Note10+. The Galaxy Note10 features a brilliant edge-to-edge 6.3-inch Cinematic Infinity Display (2280×1080) which features a tiny cut-out camera on the top centre. The Galaxy Note10+ meanwhile sports a whopping 6.8-inch Cinematic Infinity Display (3040×1440), the biggest Note display ever. As you’d expect from Samsung, it’s a cutting-edge Dynamic AMOLED display with HDR+ certification and Dynamic Tone Mapping. It offers unparalleled brightness, sharpness, contrast , and colour accuracy.

Aesthetically, the Galaxy Note10 signifies a radical change, especially in terms of colour and design. The new phone keeps to its rectangular form factor, traditionally less curved than the S series. Its glass back features a stunning organic gradient, offered in three new colours Aura White, Aura Glow and Aura Black.

The venerable S Pen has a new unibody design and it continues to be the defining factor of the Note series. The new S Pen builds on the capabilities of the predecessor the Galaxy Note9—with Bluetooth Low Energy built-in, there’s now Air Actions that allow you to control certain aspects of the device using gestures. Samsung is providing developers with the Air Actions SDK so that they can create customised gesture controls for games and apps.

Samsung DeX continues to offer a desktop PC-like experience by simply plugging in a USB-C cable. It enables you to drag and drop files between devices, or use your favourite mobile apps with a keyboard and mouse.

The Galaxy Note series, just as the Galaxy S series has always featured strong “pro-grade” cameras, and it’s no different with the Galaxy Note10.

The Galaxy Note10 gets quad-camera system: 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, 12MP f/1.5-2.4 OIS wide camera, 12MP f/2.1 OIS telephoto camera. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Note10+ gets an additional VGA DepthVision (3D ToF) camera. The front is a 10MP f/2.2 AF camera. Sadly not a dual-camera like the Galaxy S10/S10+.

First introduced in the Galaxy A80, the Galaxy Note10 gains Live Focus Video, which lets you add depth-of-field adjustments to your video on-the-fly.

The new Zoom-In Mic feature will be useful for content creators, working like a boom mic—it amplifies audio in frame while reducing background noise.

Already with hardware OIS, the enhanced software-based Super Steady mode helps stabilise footage further and now works even in Hyperlapse mode.

The Video Editor can be used with the S Pen, or if you want even more control over your video projects, there’s Adobe Premiere Rush on the Galaxy Note10.

Gamers and vloggers will appreciate the new Screen Recorder that can easily capture action on screen with picture-in-picture reactions.

A nifty new tool is AR Doodle and 3D scanner. AR Doodle lets you customise your photos with dynamic drawings, effects and animations, using the S Pen. Thanks to the Galaxy Note10+’s DepthVision (3D ToF) camera, you can take a scan of an object and instantly turn it into a movable 3D rendering.

Another new camera feature is Night Mode on the front-facing camera, something I’m personally eager to test out.

Under the hood, the Galaxy Note10 features the new 7nm Exynos 9825 coupled with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. Samsung has now made 256GB the base storage option on both the Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy Note10+.

In terms of battery, the Galaxy Note10 packs a 3,500mAh battery while the Galaxy Note10+ gets a 4,300mAh unit. The Galaxy Note10 supports up to 45W wired charging capability as well as Wireless Powershare, first introduced in the Galaxy S10 series. It allows you to wirelessly charge the Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Buds or another Qi-enabled device with the Galaxy Note10.

For cool gaming performance (or even when you’re creating content or work), the Galaxy Note10 features the world’s slimmest vapour chamber cooling system. The AI-based Game Booster optimises performance and power consumption depending on the game you’re playing. With PlayGalaxy Link P2P streaming service, you can pick up where you left off on any PC game and continue playing on the move with no need for local storage.

Connectivity-wise, the Galaxy Note10 comes with all the bells and whistles including Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/b/ac/ax, LTE Cat.20 (5G for select markets), Bluetooth 5 and USB-C.