3838 DECEMBER 2019DECEMBER 2019||COMPUTER SHOPPERCOMPUTER SHOPPE |ISSUE 382
THATPLUSSYMBOLisn’t atypo; there
really is aneven bigger versionof Samsung’s
annual phablet update, so if you don’tfancy
spending £869 on the Galaxy Note10, you
can drop £999 on the Note10+ instead.
That’s quitethe surpriseforSamsungto
keep up its voluminous sleeves, especially as
this is the firm’s best-looking smartphoneto
date. It has an enormous 6.8in display–with a
higher resolution than thatof the 6.3in Note
10, at 3,040x1,440–asw ell as aglossy Gorilla
Glass rear,rounded silver-tinted edges and
corners, andfour cameras neatly arranged in
avertical line on the back.
WAVINGTHEWAY
Despitethe huge screen–which also has an
in-displayfingerprint sensor,aNoteseries
first –the Not e10+ doesn’tfeel particularly
hefty .Itw eighs amanageable 196g and
measures 162x77x7.9mm, which isn’t that
much bulkier than most flagship
smartphones. The only things we didn’t like
about the design are the removaloft he
3.5mm headphone jack, and how thetopand
bottom edges are square and sharp; the latter
can dig intoyour handabit toomuch.
The signatureSPen stylus is still here,
slotting neatly intothe bottom-right corner.
It’s hadaminor upgrade,too,with what
Samsung calls ‘AirActions’: performing
gestures with the stylus, almost like a
magic wand, will perform certain actions in
compatible applications. In the camera app,
forinstance,you can switch between
shooting modesby holding theSPen’s
button and waving it from sideto side.
Alternatively,waggle your hand up and
down and the app will alternatebetween
the front and rear cameras, and you can
also rotatethe stylus clockwise or anti-
clockwiseto zoom in and out.
It’s certainlyaneat little party trick, and
it definitely comes in handy when
your phone is mounted on a
tripod or outof arm’s
reach. We only wish
you had greater
control with the
zoomingfunction
–att he moment,
you can only zoom
in and out in small
0.1x increments, which is
rather slow.
SAMSUNG Galaxy
Note10+
★★★★★
£999•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
BiggerisbestfortheNot e10+,aluxury
phabletthatexcelsinalmosteveryarea
ANDROID9.0 SMARTPHONE
The SPen isn’t just about waggly
gimmicks, however,and is actually a
tremendously useful note-taking device.
With upto 10 hoursof standbytime,you can
scribbleeven while the phone is locked, and
use it to outline aspecific portionof the
screen that you wantto screenshot.Youcan
also use theSPen to highlight extractsof a
web page or document in orderto translate
the text to your desired language.
CONNECTINGTHE DOTS
It’s worth noting that although the Galaxy
Note10+ has asharper screen than the
2,280x1,080 Note10, it’s notacase of the
pricier version getting an upgrade,asi t’s the
standard version gettingadowngrade.
Previous Notehandsets have used QHD
displays all the wayback to 2014; something
to consider,ify ou’re lookingto upgrade
from aprevious model.
In any case,the Dynamic AMOLED
panel in the Note10+ performs very well.
Colour reproduction is superb,striking a
perfect balance betweeneye-popping
saturation and colour accuracy.Itr eached
96.2% of the sRGB colour gamut in the
Natural screen profile,and brightness
peaked atasearing 715cd/m2 with the
auto-brightness setting engaged.
There’s supportforHDR 10+too, so
movies and TV shows on Netflix and Prime
Video that support this standard look
spectacular.Colours seemto leap
from the screen and, because it
uses AMOLED
technology,you
can expect an
impeccable,inkyblack
level response and
essentially perfect contrast.
TOPOFTHE CLASS
Both the Galaxy Note10+ and the standard
Galaxy Noteare the first phonesto be
poweredby Samsung’s own Exynos 9825 chip,
which is built usingamore efficient 7nm
manufacturing process, and consistsof a
quad-core Cortex-A55, dual-core Cortex-A75
and another dual-core custom CPU.
