[red-beard]

So, for the first time ever, I signed up to have the phone delivered on "opening day".

The deal, I did the standard S10 with 128MB of storage, direct from Samsung, setup for T-Mobile. Samsung took my old S8 in trade and gave me the S10 with the new Samsung Buds. Net cost was around $650.

General

Compared to the S8, the phone is about 2mm wider and 2mm longer, and maybe 1/2mm thinner. The S10 screen is brighter and even more vivid than the S8. The "edge" is less curved on the S10 than S8, making the grip a bit easier. Screen is almost edge to edge and has a "hole" in the upper right corner for the camera. This is only noticeable if you are using a light background. Buttons are in the same place and it is still using the USB-C, and retains the headphone jack. It has 2-way wireless charging (seems like a gimmick).

The good:

CPU is noticeably faster. I do not detect any lag. The "minimum" storage is 128GB and you can add a 512GB micro-sd card. The triple camera looks funky, but the camera app switches seamlessly between them for the best zoom. Setup was simple with side-synch and the included connector. You do have to re-input the mail settings to get them to work. And I like the new UI. it is not so different from the previous UI. It is not 5G, but it does have access to the 600 band, which is not heavily used, making connections faster if the local tower has 600.

Facial recognition is MUCH BETTER than iris scanning. It opens the phone easily.

Samsung included a plastic screen protector. While not great, it does help and is so thin it seems integrated into the phone.

The bad:

The finger print sensor is now on the front. An icon shows up for where you should press. I setup facial recognition, so I rarely use the fingerprint system. The fingerprint seems slow. There are videos showing the speed on the on-switch S10E vs. the ultrasonic. Personally, I became very used to the rear fingerprint sensor and naturally held the phone with my finger on there. I think Samsung would have better off putting the sensor on the button for every phone.

The price: $899 for a phone seems crazy!

Otherwise, it seems very similar. Is it worth upgrading? It is pretty pricey. My wife is on the fence. She is fine with her S8. She may opt for the 10E. There are definitely some internal upgrades coming for the Note 10 (different RAM and some other faster, lower power things). And of course, 5G. 5G is an option, but it is not out yet, and it is a 4th version of the phone.

Bonus round: Samsung buds.

Good: They work. They are more compact than the air pods. No "stick" dropping out of your ear, so a little less noticeable (although maybe you are supposed to notice the air pods and how cool they are!). They also fit very snuggly, making ambient noise less and allowing lower sound levels. The case has a 2-way wireless charger, wireless charging the buds, but also being able to be wirelessly charged. It also has a USB-C charging port. Sound is excellent. Samsung also gave a wired headset which works great. Honestly, I prefer my large, Bluetooth, noise canceling headphones.

Bad: While cheaper than air pods, they are still $169. I would have preferred an option of a $169 discount than being given the buds. Also, while more compact than the pods, they are still a fair size. Until the batteries are better, we're stuck with these kind of things.