First look: Samsung Galaxy S10+

SAN FRANCISCO - Samsung's Galaxy S10 series, the worst-kept secret of the mobile industry, was finally revealed officially on Wednesday (Feb 20).

While the new smartphones made a good first impression, there is a sense of deja-vu. Here's why.

The Galaxy S10 series consists of the 5.8-inch S10e, 6.1-inch S10 and the 6.4-inch S10+. A 5G model is also in the works.

While I had a brief hands-on with all the Galaxy S10 smartphones (except the 5G version), I spent the most time with the Galaxy S10+.

I must confess, I have always preferred smartphones with bigger displays, a thing that comes with age when your eyesight is failing.

Besides, the S10+ is the flagship of the flagship. It comes with all the bells and whistles, such as an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, dual front-facing cameras and triple rear cameras. That's why I can't take my hands off it.

But when I first held the S10+ in my hands, it felt familiar. In terms of overall design, it looks and feels like the Galaxy S9+ all over again.

Of course, the S10+ - like the other two models - now has the "trending" hole-punch camera. But it is deja-vu again, as the recently-launched Honor View20 has something similar.

Nonetheless, with the hole-punch camera (or dual cameras for the S10+), it allows the S10+'s front to have an edge-to-edge curved display.

And its 6.4-inch Amoled display looks utterly gorgeous. Any content viewed on this screen just looks fantastic.

In addition, I like the S10+'s rear triple-camera system, which is deja-vu again as a similar feature has been used in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the LG V40 ThinQ smartphones.

The triple-camera system allows you to switch the optical zoom from ultra-wide to telephoto mode (0.5x to 2x optical zoom). It gives you a lot of flexibility in composing photos, as you will not be losing image quality as a result of zooming in to your subjects.

While I will only be able to have a better gauge of the quality of the handset's photos when I get a review unit, Samsung smartphone cameras have always been right up there with the best, so I am not worried.

However, due to time constraints, I missed out on trying the dual front-facing camera of the S10+. Only the S10+ has such a camera system in the S10 series, and the major difference of this system is the addition of an RGB Depth camera.

As its name implies, the RGB Depth camera senses depth and allows for better live autofocusing as well as the bokeh effect. But it is similar to what we have seen on the Apple iPhone X series.

The S10 series now has the Wireless PowerShare feature that lets it wirelessly charge another supported device. But, again, I have seen this feature elsewhere - the Mate 20 Pro already has something like that.

I tried this feature with the S10+. Swipe down on the front screen to access the control panel, activate the Wireless PowerShare and place a supported smartphone, for instance an S10e, at its rear to start charging the S10e.

However, the Wireless PowerShare goes a step further by allowing the S10 smartphones to act like a wireless charging pad when connected to a regular charger. It charges itself as well as a supported device wirelessly.

There is one thing that Samsung has introduced in the S10+ in what is said to be a world first - its in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Other smartphones use in-display optical fingerprint sensors that recognise a 2-D image of your fingerprint. But an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor recognises a 3-D image of your fingerprint, which is thus more secure and less susceptible to spoofing.

I tried the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor during the demo, and it works as advertised. I could get to the main screen almost instantly when I placed my thumb on the display. The display will indicate where to place your finger or thumb.

Deja-vu might not be a bad thing, as it seems like Samsung has gathered all the best trending smartphone features and put them all into the S10+.