Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus Long Term Review

In August 2019 the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ was launched. I pre-ordered mine and got it in early September. Fast-forward one year later is the Note 10 plus still worth it? Before starting this review. I tell you that, if you are looking for one of the best mobile for gaming, please check this mobile.

Now with the Note 20 Ultra, the regular Note 20, the S20 FE, there’s surely plenty of options to choose from. If you’re a fan of the Note series, the Note 10 plus is probably your best choice if you don’t want to spend much going for the Note 20 ultra.

I believe this is a much better buy than the regular Note 20. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus remains as one of the best designed smartphones to date. Very slim bezels, center cut-out for the selfiecamera, no massive camera bump like the current Samsung flagships. I got the aura black variant but used a Dbrand matte skin to help with grip. I also use the Samsung S View case but it feels better and more convenient without it.

The only feature the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus lacks for a 2020 flagship is a high screen refresh rate. It has a 60hz display. You still get that quad hd dynamic amoled display which is very high quality and definitely still among the best on any smartphone at the moment. Protected with gorilla glass 6 on both the front and the back. For media consumption you still get quite the experience with the curved display, you also have that dual stereo speakers to compliment.

The Note 10 plus launched with the Snapdragon 855 or the Exynos 9825 processor depending on your region, 12 gigs of ram 256 gigs of base storage. I have the Exynos variant.
While there have been recent disparity in performance between the snapdragon and Exynos variants of Samsung’s flagships, All through my usage with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus, it never felt like my device was lacking  in performance. It’s still as good and as fast as it was when I purchased it. Battery performance is still very good. It supports up to 45 watts fast charging, but I use the 25 watts charger that comes in the box and it is just enough.

The Note 10 plus was the first Samsung device to ditch the headphone jack, so keep that in mind, no headphone jack. I don’t miss it like I thought I would though. It launched with Android 9 but it’s currently running on Android 10 and it has also gotten OneUI 2.5 update which brought Wireless DEX support and a host of other features, keeping it current with the newer Samsung flagships software-wise. With Samsung recently announcing up to three years software updates for their devices the note 10 plus included, is scheduled to get android 11 and Android 12 updates.

That is to say, if you’re purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus right now, you’re going to get two more software updates, keeping the device relevant for longer time. Personally the Note 10 plus is likely going to be my daily driver for the next one year, at least until there is a proper implementation of the under display selfie camera for the note series, assuming Samsung does not kill off the note series before then. The note 10 plus has wireless charging, though I prefer wired charging because it is faster, but I’ve used the reverse wireless charging  feature occasionally when I forget to charge my galaxy buds. It has come in handy more than I initially thought it would.

The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on
the display has improved significantly, it has become more responsive than it was at launch.

There is no talking about a samsung galaxy note device without mentioning the S pen. It is what makes the device noteworthy. Personally I choose the Note series because of the S pen and I always use it. Mostly to take notes, and on a few occasions for media control due to its bluetooth functionality. It also comes in handy when you want to take selfies and you don’t want to stretch all the way up to the volume keys or strain your thumb to reach the shutter.

Let’s not forget that the Note 10 plus is also ip68 water and dust resistant and so is the s pen.The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus still remains an amazing device, able to play high graphics games at max settings with no heating issues and no lags. It may lack a high screen refresh rate but it exceeds expectations on every other aspect. 12 gigs of RAM is more than enough for a fluid experience, and so is 256 gigs of base storage which is expandable. I have a 128gb SD card inside my device but I barely had use for it.

Now let’s talk about the cameras of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus. How has it fared over time? Unlike the newer Samsung flagships, It does not have a zoom camera nor the ability to shoot in 8k, but what it can do it does flawlessly. Over time I’ve taken selfies, portraits and all sorts of shots, until now the camera still amazes me. It still stands as one of the best smartphone cameras. It shoots up to 4k60fps on both front and rear cameras, and it has optical image stabilization.

Now if you’ve been following this channel for a long time you’ve probably already seen the quality that comes out of this camera. These are some of the videos I made using the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus, though with a little color correction. Without mentioning you’re going to think it’s a DSLR. With the recent OneUI update, it brought pro video mode which gives you more control with DSLR-like features for better video recording.

Now, a summary of all of this is that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus still remains an amazing device even after a year, and it can continue to remain so for the next two years. Great software support up to android 12, great display, great design, great camera performance, and great all-around performance. Now is this a device you should consider buying right now in 2020, even with all the plenty options available? Definitely!

I personally recommend buying this over the regular Note 20, and you can get this for cheaper the only advantage the regular 20 has over the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus is the Snapdragon 865+ processor which you’ll barely notice the performance difference. Both have a 60Hz display, and this one has a quad hd display. Now if you do decide to purchase the Note 10+, or the regular Note 10 or any of the Note 20 series. If you are interested in reading technology related articles then you can check out this website.