Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 is expected to come with radical new camera and sound technologies
The Note 10 and Note 10 Pro are likely to come with lots of cameras and lots of exciting imaging features
Three-stage variable aperture - a logical next step for Samsung's camera hardware
When the Galaxy S9 and S9+ were unveiled last year, most shutterbugs focused their attention on the latter model's dual shooter rear setup. But in addition to hyping that fairly obvious upgrade, Samsung took a lot of time to advertise a less conspicuous camera enhancement. Namely, you might remember that both the S9 and S9 Plus came with something called Dual Aperture.
Samsung's Dual Aperture feature made its debut on the Galaxy S9 and S9+
In a nutshell, that meant the two phones could automatically switch between F2.4 aperture for photos taken in bright environments and an F1.5 shooting mode when detecting poorer lighting conditions (for instance, at night). The same neat trick was implemented into the primary camera of the Galaxy Note 9, as well as the entire Galaxy S10 family, but according to "Samsung China engineers", the Note 10 aims to go to the next level by adopting three-stage variable aperture.
While it naturally remains to be seen how that will work in real life, we expect the upgrade to further improve imaging versatility, producing sharper snapshots in intermediate use cases and not just extreme low-light or super-bright scenarios. All in all, this is yet another reason to be excited about the photography prowess of Samsung's next big thing. Let's just hope both the Note 10 and Note 10 Pro will integrate the super-advanced feature rather than the latter model exclusively getting it at a potentially much higher price point.
Sound on Display tech - inching closer to the bezelless dream
Yes, the Note 10 bezels are likely to be even thinner than that
That could only mean one thing, specifically that the Note 10 will come without a physical, traditional earpiece on Samsung's path to a truly "full screen" design. Taking a page from the LG G8's playbook, the phone might use its entire display as a speaker, vibrating to produce sound. While undoubtedly cool, the aptly named Sound on Display (SoD) technology is not necessarily good news for audiophiles. At least not yet.
The LG G8 ThinQ sports Crystal Sound OLED Speaker technology
Even with a bottom-firing Boombox speaker, the LG G8 ThinQ failed to wow us in terms of audio quality, as the screen vibrations were simply too quiet to help deliver crisp stereo sound. That obviously doesn't mean the Galaxy Note 10 will have the same problem, but typically, groundbreaking features like this come with initial trade-offs, so you may not want to get too excited just yet. Especially when also considering the near-certain absence of a headphone jack.
Things that are NOT allowed: