OCTOBER 2019 PCWorld 39pleasurable Android skins I’ve used, rivaling
even the Pixel phones for out-of-the-box
smoothness. Controls are smart, gestures are
intuitive, and it feels like an elegant, modern
operating system built for the hardware that
runs it. If you’re upgrading from a Note 5 or a
Galaxy S7 that’s still on Touchwiz, the
difference will be visually striking and
probably a bit jarring (particularly if you turn
on the ultra-black Night Mode, but you wont
need to use it for very long to see just how
much of an upgrade it is.
The Note 10+ has a 4,300mAh battery, a
touch smaller than the 4,500mAh battery in
the S10 5G, but still impressively large. The
size translates into fantastic battery life that will
easily get you through a full day. I never had
to plug in my Note 10+ during my two weeks
of testing, even after long days of work andThe shape might have worked with
previous Notes, but on the 10+, the form very
much dictates your grip, making it somewhat
less comfortable to use than other big-
screened handsets. As someone who loves
giant phones, I think I’ve finally met my limit of
what my hands can handle.
IMPRESSIVE STORAGE,
SPEED, AND BATTERY LIFE
The Note 10+ uses the same Snapdragon
855 processor as the Galaxy S10, which is to
say it’s basically the fastest phone you can
buy. The newer 855+ processor might beat it
in some tests, but the 12GB of RAM and
super-speedy and spacious 256GB of UFS
3.0 storage puts the Note 10+ ahead of its
855 peers. Apps launched incredibly fast and
didn’t need to reload nearly as often, and the
recent apps screen
was populated with
nearly 50 screens.
And the vapor
chamber cooling
system that seemed
like a gimmick on
paper actually did
keep the phone
noticeably cooler than
other 855 handsets.
Even before
Android 10 arrives,
One UI on the Note
10+ is one of the most The Note 10+ is pretty much the whole package—but you’ll have to pay for it.