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Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, and S10e, so similar and yet Different enough to be confusing.
You're only going to buy one of these phones, so which one is it going to be?
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First, let's look at what all three phones have in common.
Slim bezels and a glossy finish.
Android Fi with Samsung's one UI on top.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor inside, a headphone jack and waterproofing.
And my new favorite feature wireless power share which is the ability to charge another device using the phones battery reserves.
All of the phones will take portrait photos and automatically optimize settings for a scene using AI software.
They also take portrait mode selfies from the 10 megapixel front facing camera.
Camera so really you can't make a major mistake because all these phones are so good.
But now for the fun part which is really drilling down to see how they're different and exactly who each phone is for.
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Let's start at the top with the Galaxy S10 plus This is the largest and most expensive of them all.
It has a 6.4 inch screen and a 4100 milliamp battery.
There are also two cameras up front.
You're getting an additional 8 megapixel lens there.
Battery life is a standout.
It's phenomenal and In both our lab test and in real world observation.
I could wake up at 6 a. m. and stay up past midnight without worrying that this phone would die on me.
The two biggest downsides however, are the in screen finger print reader, which seems to hardly ever unlock for me on the first try, and the fact that there's no stand alone night mode setting on the camera.
Night mode setting isn't a deal breaker for me, but if Samsung had this it's camera would be more in part with one of it's biggest rivals, the Huawei P30 Pro The Galaxy S10 Plus is pricy.
Starting at $1,000 for the 128 gigabyte model and going up from there.
There's also a 512 gigabyte and one terabyte model.
Those last two come with sturdier ceramic backings that were more durable in our drop tests.
One way to get around the storage cost is to get the smallest configuration and add up to 512 gigabytes in micro SD storage.
Okay, so that was the Galaxy S10+.
Now let's hop over to the other end of the spectrum which is the Galaxy S10e.
This is a significantly smaller phone with a 5.8 inch screen.
The on-screen keyboard feels more compact, but I have smaller hands so I actually liked that.
The S10e has a flat screen rather than curved, but with such slim bezels I found it easier to tap along the edges then on the curved screen display.
The fingerprint reader on the S10e is different, too.
It lives on the side of the screen instead of underneath it.
This is great if you're right-handed.
Can't speak for lefties.
Because it's smaller, the S10e has a smaller battery capacity and therefore, the shortest battery life of all three of these phones.
But it still lasted a full day on a single charge.
You'll just wanna keep an eye on things for the days that you use your phone heavily and either bring a charging cable, an external battery pack or turn on power saving.
That's honey.
Also has the fewest number of cameras with two on the back and one on the front.
Remember you have access to almost all the same core features as the S10 plus.
So unless you absolutely need a separate telephoto lens.
You're not missing much.
There's no real loss by slashing that second front facing camera either and I don't think most people will notice.
Since the S10E starts at $750 for the 128 gigabyte version, it's also the most cost effective.
In my opinion gives you the most bang for your buck.
If you're storage hungry, you'll top out at the 256 gigabyte version, but you still have that external storage option to give you a bump.
Finally, we get to the Galaxy S10, which is basically the S10 Plus just smaller It's still pretty big with a 6.1 inch screen, still has a great battery life, though it is a few hours short of the S10 Plus in our video loop test.
And it has that single 10 megapixel camera up front.
We don't get a ceramic finish or that terabyte storage option either, but let's be honest, for most people, that's overkill anyway.
The same issues with a fingerprint reader still apply here too, but you can shave $100 off the starting price to pay 900 bucks rather than 1000.
And it's a bit smaller if the plus is just too big for you.
So who are these phones for?.
If your budget is flexible and you cherish a larger screen, absolutely get the Galaxy S10+.
It's fantastic all arounder and battery life can't be beat.
If you like a smaller phone or you really wanna save some cash then hands down get the Galaxy S10e.
You're not missing any innovating features by buying it and it's the best value of the three phones.
If it werent for slightly shorter battery life it might actually be my favorite.
And what about the regular Galaxy S10?
It's a little bit caught in the middle really between two phones with clear identities.
With only 100 dollar difference, which is not great savings by the way, there's really no compelling reason to buy it instead of the S10+.
The S10's battery will last you a little bit longer, and you can fit a little bit more in the screen, but there's no distinct advantage to having that telephoto lens on the back unless you really really like telephoto.
However I do think that the S10 could see some great promotional pricing down the line.
Like a buy one get one or some other deep discount.
If that's the case, buying it would make a lot more sense.
All right, there's one last question we have to answer today, and that is what about the Galaxy S10 5G and the Galaxy Fold, and should you wait for those?
The Galaxy S10 5G is arriving this summer that we know.
It's got a 6.7 inch screen and it's even larger than the Galaxy S10 Plus.
We don't know how much it will cost, but it will be more expensive than the Plus and you'll also have to pay for a 5G plan on top of that.
I actually saw the S10 5G, but I haven't reviewed it yet.
So from where I'm sitting, unless you're really interested in being on the cutting edge of 5G, it's probably safe to skip this one because of price and because of the big question mark over the quality of early 5G network speeds.
Qualcomm is also releasing a better 5G chip later in the year, which will make 5G phones slimmer and work on more networks.
I'd wait for that As for the Galaxy Fold that one's actually right around the corner.
It sells on April 26th for nearly $2,000 for the 4G version, and the 5G version coming later.
Yeah it seems cool, it seems really cool even, but it's seriously expensive, and I haven't seen it in the flesh.
So it's impossible to tell how it's all gonna come together.
These are early days for foldable phones, and if you're not ready to take that risk then there's nothing wrong with hanging back a year or two and seeing how everything pans out.
If foldable phones truly are the future then by the time that you're ready for a new device, more of those kinks will have been worked out and prices should Should've come down.
I hope I've answered your questions about which Galaxy S10 phone to buy.
If you have any more questions, you can hit me up on Twitter, at @JayDelcourt.
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