I am seldom found without my phone about my person. It is my portable office, my camera and my invisible reins linking me to my growing children. As such I expect a lot of it and care for it as if it were my eighth child.
To be honest, most phones nowadays are similar in many ways so it's important to identify what features you prioritise before being faced with a sometimes bewildering choice in the phone showroom.
I want a good, no a great camera and I want the phone to feel and look good in my hand. Obviously I need it to have plenty of room for social media apps, photos and videos but that's pretty much a given with most high-end smartphones.
This week I got to try out the new Samsung Galaxy S10 via Three UK at a foodie event where Heston Blumnethal was showcasing the range of top notch Everdure barbecues he designed with Kettler. All the images in this post were taken using the Samsung phone which was loaned to me for the event.
It's credit to this nifty piece of kit that I picked up how to use it under an hour and that's with me switching from my usual iPhone to the Samsung which runs Android 9.0.
Heading off to the event at The Sipping Room at Canary Wharf I could not resist snapping scenery along the way. The Galaxy S10 has a 10MP selfie camera on the front and a triple camera on the back - a 12MP telephoto camera, a 12MP wide angle camera and a 16MP ultra-wide camera.
Add to this a wide range of settings and effects you have got some serious picture-taking kit in your hand. Talking of hands, this phone felt good in my hand. Not too heavy but solid enough to feel secure. My only complaint was that my greasy BBQ rib-grasping fingerprints soon detracted from the beautiful Prism Green back of the phone. Luckily a quick wipe across my dress had it sparkling again.
I'm not usually a big fan of effects built into a camera. I usually shoot then edit afterwards using software on my laptop or within social media platforms if necessary, but the S10's range of effects was easy to use and apart from making it quick and easy to go from shot to social media, it was lots of fun playing with them too.
There was a choice of "modes" which were easy to flick between.I particularly liked" Live Mode" and the "Food" mode which allowed me to focus on the area of the plate I wanted to stand out with a simple in and out pinching motion.
The camera even offers inspiration for less confident photographers with AI which cleverly identifies what you are trying to photograph and will help you choose the best shot. I was amazed it recognised my cocktail as a drink and focussed on it, and also picked a shoe out of a shot and put up a little picture of a shoe asking if that's what we were photographing.
There's a "Pro Mode" too for people who actually know about apertures and the like but I was content to point and click with the help of this smarter than smart smartphone and think considering I'd only had the S10 in my hands for a couple of hours, my photos came out pretty well.
So. The big question.
Would I trade my iphone Xr for the Samsung Galaxy S10?
Well to be fair, I thought I had kicked my long-term iphone obsession previously for a Oneplus 5, then a 6 mainly because I refused to pay the price of the iPhone X. However although I adored the Oneplus there isn't a decent smart watch yet that will work with it, certainly not one as good as my beloved Apple watch.
So, I reluctantly switched back to iPhone and my watch and although I love the watch, I hate the iPhone. I'm not impressed with the camera, the phone itself doesn't excite me and for some reason I lose phone signal all the time even in my own home where all the other phones we've owned have had signal, and it rarely matches the Oneplus which my husband now uses when it comes to mobile data connectivity.
So yes - I'd trade the iPhone for the Samsung in a heartbeat. I'd probably go for the S10+ because I like a larger phone but having said that with its impressive screen coverage sans notch the S10 would probably be perfectly fine even for my failing eyes.
Add to that the stunning designs of the Samsung smart watches and the ability to pile the watch and wireless earbuds on top of your phone to charge them and I'd be happy to swap both Apple phone and watch for the Samsung versions.
Disclaimer: I was loaned a Samsung S10 by Three UK for an event for the purpose of showcasing its camera. I chose to write this honest review.
To be honest, most phones nowadays are similar in many ways so it's important to identify what features you prioritise before being faced with a sometimes bewildering choice in the phone showroom.
I want a good, no a great camera and I want the phone to feel and look good in my hand. Obviously I need it to have plenty of room for social media apps, photos and videos but that's pretty much a given with most high-end smartphones.
This week I got to try out the new Samsung Galaxy S10 via Three UK at a foodie event where Heston Blumnethal was showcasing the range of top notch Everdure barbecues he designed with Kettler. All the images in this post were taken using the Samsung phone which was loaned to me for the event.
It's credit to this nifty piece of kit that I picked up how to use it under an hour and that's with me switching from my usual iPhone to the Samsung which runs Android 9.0.
Heading off to the event at The Sipping Room at Canary Wharf I could not resist snapping scenery along the way. The Galaxy S10 has a 10MP selfie camera on the front and a triple camera on the back - a 12MP telephoto camera, a 12MP wide angle camera and a 16MP ultra-wide camera.
Add to this a wide range of settings and effects you have got some serious picture-taking kit in your hand. Talking of hands, this phone felt good in my hand. Not too heavy but solid enough to feel secure. My only complaint was that my greasy BBQ rib-grasping fingerprints soon detracted from the beautiful Prism Green back of the phone. Luckily a quick wipe across my dress had it sparkling again.
I'm not usually a big fan of effects built into a camera. I usually shoot then edit afterwards using software on my laptop or within social media platforms if necessary, but the S10's range of effects was easy to use and apart from making it quick and easy to go from shot to social media, it was lots of fun playing with them too.
There was a choice of "modes" which were easy to flick between.I particularly liked" Live Mode" and the "Food" mode which allowed me to focus on the area of the plate I wanted to stand out with a simple in and out pinching motion.
The camera even offers inspiration for less confident photographers with AI which cleverly identifies what you are trying to photograph and will help you choose the best shot. I was amazed it recognised my cocktail as a drink and focussed on it, and also picked a shoe out of a shot and put up a little picture of a shoe asking if that's what we were photographing.
There's a "Pro Mode" too for people who actually know about apertures and the like but I was content to point and click with the help of this smarter than smart smartphone and think considering I'd only had the S10 in my hands for a couple of hours, my photos came out pretty well.
So. The big question.
Would I trade my iphone Xr for the Samsung Galaxy S10?
Well to be fair, I thought I had kicked my long-term iphone obsession previously for a Oneplus 5, then a 6 mainly because I refused to pay the price of the iPhone X. However although I adored the Oneplus there isn't a decent smart watch yet that will work with it, certainly not one as good as my beloved Apple watch.
So, I reluctantly switched back to iPhone and my watch and although I love the watch, I hate the iPhone. I'm not impressed with the camera, the phone itself doesn't excite me and for some reason I lose phone signal all the time even in my own home where all the other phones we've owned have had signal, and it rarely matches the Oneplus which my husband now uses when it comes to mobile data connectivity.
So yes - I'd trade the iPhone for the Samsung in a heartbeat. I'd probably go for the S10+ because I like a larger phone but having said that with its impressive screen coverage sans notch the S10 would probably be perfectly fine even for my failing eyes.
Add to that the stunning designs of the Samsung smart watches and the ability to pile the watch and wireless earbuds on top of your phone to charge them and I'd be happy to swap both Apple phone and watch for the Samsung versions.
Disclaimer: I was loaned a Samsung S10 by Three UK for an event for the purpose of showcasing its camera. I chose to write this honest review.