Samsung Galaxy Note 10 vs Note 10 Plus review

Price When Reviewed

Samsung Galaxy Note 10: $949

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+: From $1,099

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy Note 10

Retailer

Price

$240.00

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Samsung

$949

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Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

As the rumour mill predicted, there are two Samsung Galaxy Notes to choose from this year. Well there are actually three if you want 5G but we’ll explain that later. We spent some time with the phones ahead of Unpacked, so here we compare the Note 10 and Note 10+ to explain how the specs differ and which one you should buy.

Never has the Note range offered a choice like this, so those always finding the device too big will now have something more compact available. The Note 10+ is where all the best specs are found though.

Samsung has brought the phablet more in-line with the Galaxy S10 models.

Price

It’s probably no surprise to find out that both Note 10 phones are expensive. The regular Note 10 model will cost you £899/$949, and if you want to get the 10+ it jumps up to £999/$1,099. Throw in 5G and it jumps even higher to £1,099/$1,299 – with extra jumps if you want to up your storage.

The phones are now  on sale now at Samsung. You can also get the phone from various places like  Amazon,  Carphone Warehouse,  EE,  Vodafone,  O2,  John Lewis and  Argos.

Design & Build

Like so many smartphone line-ups, the Note 10 and Note 10+ are essentially the same phone when it comes to design. One, the plus model of course, is bigger than the other.

Some key things to point out, regardless of which one you choose, is that the Note 10 now has the power and volume buttons on the left of the phone. This makes it easier for left-handed users and right-handers can use their index finger.

There’s also no headphone jack so the only physical port is USB-C. Samsung this is due to slimming the phone down and will provide USB-C headphones. Both phones have the S Pen and offer an IP68 dust and waterproof rating.

Really what you’re choosing in the design area is how big you like a phone to be. The Note range has always been one of the biggest phones on the market but the regular model feels distinctly normal in size.

This is namely thanks to tiny bezels, and so even the Note 10+ with a 0.5in large display doesn’t feel crazy – it’s a very similar size to the Galaxy Note 9.

You’ll be able to choose Aura Glow or Aura Black colours for either device, but the Aura Pink is limited to the regular Note 10 and Aura White is a Note 10+ exclusive colour.

Specs & Features

As we mentioned above, the Note 10s have different screen sizes. The regular is 6.3in and the Note 10+ is a fair amount larger at 6.8in. Those tiny bezels mean they feel much smaller than you might expect though.

Both uses a Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display with HDR10+ support. However, the Note 10+ has a higher resolution so the pixel density is more impressive at 498ppi compared to 401ppi if this bothers you.

We’d argue that the size is much more important than a few pixels – both screens look stunning.

When it comes to the core internals, the Notes run on the same processor (Snapdragon or Exynos depending on market, with the UK getting the latter), but the regular model only has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The Note10+ has 12GB of Ram and the option for 512GB. It’s also the only one with a microSD card slot, which is an unusual move for Samsung.

Moving onto photography and the camera setup is almost identical with a triple rear array (regular, ultra-wide angle and telephoto) and a punch-hole camera at the front.

However, the Note 10+ has a couple of extra sensors which Samsung dubs ‘Depth Vision’ to help with Live Focus effects and the like. The regular Note 10 can do the same stuff, only with software.

Being a larger device, the plus model has more space for a battery so it’s 4300- compared to 3500mAh in the regular model. The Note 10+ also has faster charging at 15W wireless and up to 45W via cable (although that charger is sold separately). The regular Note 10 is limited to 12- and 25W respectively.

We mentioned at the beginning that there are actually three Note 10 models and that’s because although the Note 10+ supports 5G, it doesn’t come as standard. There is a 5G variant if you want to get on the latest network.

That covers the main differences between the two Note 10 phones. Here’s a specs table so you can see some more details:

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Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy Note 10

Retailer

Price

$240.00

View Deal

Samsung

$949

View Deal

Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide