Page 36 - PCWorld (September 2019)

REVIEWS HANDS-ON: SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 10+

ways: the elimination of both the Bixby button leaving the right side completely smooth. It’s
and the headphone jack. an odd sensation that will take some serious

Samsung has finally succumbed to getting used to, but it wouldn’t be a Samsung
iPhone-led peer pressure, dumping the flagship without at least one head-scratching

legacy port from one of its flagship phones. design decision.
That’s probably not going to sit too well with
Note fans, and it’s definitely surprising that GESTURES WITH A WAND

Samsung chose this phone as the sacrificial The S Pen slot remains in its usual spot in the
lamb and not the Galaxy S. bottom right corner, and like prior Note
Samsung said the headphone jack was updates, the S Pen brings some new tricks to

removed to make the device more compact, the party. The stylus itself has gotten
and at 7.9mm, there’s no denying its thinness. something of a revamp, with a new unibody

But it’s actually a tenth of a millimeter thicker shell and a slightly more ergonomic design.
than the S10, so clearly there just wasn’t room It’s the same size as before and just as skinny,
for two holes on the Note 10 anymore. And but holding it in a position to use the button

Samsung wasn’t about to sacrifice the Note definitely feels more natural.
10’s identity—the S Pen—for a legacy audio Samsung has leveraged the Bluetooth chip
jack. To compensate, Samsung is providing a that was introduced with last year’s Note to

pair of AKG USB-C earbuds in the box, but if pump up the Note 10’s remote powers. In
you’re planning on using a pair of wired addition to launching apps and pausing

headphones, it’s BYOD (bring your own music, you can also wave the Note 10’s S Pen
dongle). to do things like change the camera mode
The loss of the Bixby button

probably won’t be lamented by
Note fans, but it’s no less of a

surprising decision. As with Bixby
itself, the dedicated button on
Galaxy phones has been around

since the S8, but with the Note 10,
Samsung has dumped it in favor of

a customizable power button.
Curiously, it’s in the same spot as
the Bixby button, below the

volume rocker on the left edge, The S Pen has some new tricks on the Note 10.

36 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2019