Ars Technica reviews Samsung’s Galaxy S10+ flagship: Too many compromises at too high a price

“Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S smartphone line is back with the Galaxy S10 and S10+,” Ron Amadeo writes for Ars Technica. “The Galaxy S10 firmly fits into the Galaxy S8 family tree, but with new display and fingerprint technology, the S10 represents the biggest design upgrade since that release in 2017.”
“As usual, Samsung is gunning for the title of ‘spec-sheet champion’ with the Galaxy S10, and the company is turning in devices with bigger displays, bigger batteries, faster SoCs, more RAM, and more storage. This is one of the first devices that gives us a look at the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC,” Amadeo writes. “The Galaxy S10+ can hit even more stratospherically high configurations — and prices — that would rival some laptops, topping out at 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage for a whopping $1,600.”
“Since this is a Samsung phone, let’s talk crapware! This is an unlocked phone direct from Samsung, so with no carrier involvement, this is as good as it gets. Despite being a premium, $1,000 smartphone, the Galaxy S10 comes loaded with ads, even my unlocked version,” Amadeo writes. “There are apps from Flipboard and Spotify as well as a unremovable version of Facebook. McAfee Anti-virus is baked into the operating system as ‘security,’ and the Samsung Gallery app wants to share my location with Foursquare. The storage management settings, which is just a simple file-cleanup app, is ‘Powered by Qihoo 360,’ a Chinese security company. A caller-ID feature built into the phone app is provided by a company called ‘Hiya.’ … [Samsung’s One UI is] a messy pile of apps from Google, apps from Samsung, and apps that basically boil down to Samsung selling space for rent on your $1,000 smartphone. There is a clear priority here: Samsung’s interests are valued over the interests of the user.”
“I think when you are charging $900-$1,000 for an Android phone, you ought to be able to offer the whole smartphone package. But Samsung’s cluttered software and its historic inability to deliver the latest functionality and security improvements in Android make the Galaxy S10 a tough sell at this ultra-premium price point,” Amadeo writes. “High prices come with high expectations. You’ll have to accept a lot of compromises with the Galaxy S10, and I just don’t see a reason to.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Gimmicky junk loaded with junkware that simply cannot compete with Apple’s clean iPhone XS Max with its unparalleled Apple A12 SoC and pristine, unified, coherent ecosystem.
It’s not just a collection of hardware bullet points, although Apple does very well on that front, too – it’s the full experience. And, the more you add to it – Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple Music, iCloud storage, HomePod, AirPods, etc. – the better it gets!
Android settlers cannot even come anywhere near to the experience that’s delivered by the Apple ecosystem. The best that those who settle for Android phones can manage to cobble together is downright pitiful in comparison to what any Apple iPhone user has by default. — MacDailyNews, April 10, 2019
SEE ALSO:
Three simple reasons why I won’t downgrade to an Android phone – April 10, 2019
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]