What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or the Pixel 4?

In 2019, we have seen some really good tech advancements in mobile phones, maybe some revolutionary ones. The phones that we have on top are these four. So, it's a pretty common question that if you're buying a flagship phone, which one should you go for. Now, the answer to this really depends upon the user preferences, but still, a sort of a guide wouldn't hurt.

iPhone 11

Very new addition to Apple's iPhone lineup. It's actually three phones this time. The iPhone 11, 11 Pro and the 11 Pro Max.                            

iPhone 11

The iPhone 11 is kind of the successor of the iPhone XR. It has a 6.1 inches LCD display with a resolution of 828x1792 pixels, an aluminium frame with a glass back and it is IP68 water and dust resistant, it comes with the Apple A13 Bionic chip and 4 gigabytes of RAM. The phone has a dual rear camera setup, a standard 12 MP camera and a 12 MP wide angle camera, it also has a 12 MP selfie camera, which can capture wide angle selfies, portraits and can record slow-motion and 4k videos, and that is really awesome. They've upgraded the battery too, now it's 3110 mAh and with that the phone also supports fast charging with an 18 W charger, which by the way is not included in the box (such an Apple thing to do), but that's only for the iPhone 11, they do include it with the pros. The iPhone 11 starts at $699.

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

iPhone 11 Pro/Pro Max

The iPhone 11 Pro is a smaller, lighter and more comfortable phone than the iPhone 11, it also has a stainless steel frame over the aluminium one on the iPhone 11. The iPhone 11 Pro has a 5.8 inches OLED display with a resolution of 1125x2436 pixels and 800 nits of max brightness, whereas, the iPhone 11 has 625 nits of max brightness. Another thing the 11 Pro has that the 11 does not is a third f/2.0 2x telephoto camera. 

The iPhone 11 pro max just has a bigger 6.5 inches screen with a resolution of 1242x2688 pixels, and a much much bigger 3969 mAh battery. The iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999 and the Pro Max starts at $1,099.

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

Overall, these are great new phones from Apple, but what I'd say is that if you're an android lover, you just can't like iOS as much, or if you have an iPhone Xs then there isn't much difference, you would probably like to wait for the 2020 iPhone, otherwise, you can totally get one of these phones, they're awesome.

Galaxy S10

In 2019, Samsung has launched three phones in the S series the S10e, the S10 and the S10+. The S10e is clearly Samsung's answer to the "budget" iPhone XR and is a pretty interesting phone.

Galaxy S10e

The Galaxy S10e starts at $749. It has a 5.8 inches AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080x2280 pixels. The phone comes with a 3100 mAh battery, Android 9.0 with One UI and the processor is Exynos 9820 or Snapdragon 855, depending upon where you live. You get 6 GB RAM with 128 GB storage or 8 GB RAM with 256 GB storage in the more expensive version, with that, it has up to 512 GB expandable storage and also a headphone jack. The phone has a dual camera setup which includes a 12MP, f/1.5-2.4 wide standard camera and a 16MP, f/2.2 ultrawide camera, on the front is a 10MP, f/1.9 wide camera. The phone has a side mounted capacitive  fingerprint scanner, instead of an under display, ultrasonic sensor, which honestly is better than the ultrasonic one.

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

Galaxy S10/10+

The Galaxy S10 is the 2019 flagship from Samsung and is starting at $899. It is slightly bigger than the S10e but much more loaded. It has got a 6.1 inches AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440x3040 pixels, yeah, that is much higher. It does come with the same OS and processor as the S10e, but this one comes with a 3400 mAh battery and 8 GB RAM with 128 or 512 GB storage, again expandable up to 512 GB. The Galaxy S10 comes with three cameras, the extra one here is a 12MP, f/2.4 2x telephoto camera. It has a single front facing camera same as the S10e. The phone has an under display, ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, a heart rate sensor and good news, a headphone jack. 

The S10+ just has a bigger 6.4 inches display, with the same resolution, a bigger 4100 mAh battery and a second 8MP, f/2.2 front camera. You can also pick a 12 GB RAM version of the S10+ with 1 TB storage. The S10+ starts at $999.

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

This year too Samsung has done a really good job with their phones. S series phones are the phones that I personally totally prefer over every other phone. These are probably the phones that come with the most features out of the bunch, they are everything that you'd expect them to be and more for that price point. These are well loaded, powerful phones and since One UI, Samsung phones have been really good software wise too. These phones are good at everything now, the software, the hardware, quality, features, etc. Same goes for the Note series, if you're a power user. These, I can safely say, are the overall best phones in the market and I don't think you'd regret getting one of these.

Galaxy Note 10/10+

Every year Samsung launches two flagship phones, one at the beginning of the year and one towards the end. The first phone is in the S series, which we have already talked about, the second phone is in the Note series, which is for power users. Note phones are like the most loaded phones in the market, with top of the line specs these also do a lot of extra stuff. Every year Samsung launches a single Note phone but this year we've got two Note phones, the Note 10 and the Note 10+.

Let's talk about the Note 10 first, the Note 10 is a slightly smaller and more comfortable one of the two, which is a good step from Samsung as people who like smaller phones can now get a Note too. The phone has a 6.3 inches dynamic AMOLED display  with a resolution of 1080x2280 pixels, with that you get a 3500 mAh battery with 25W fast charging support and you get an Exynos 9825 processor or a Snapdragon 855 processor if you live in USA or China, the phone comes with 6 GB RAM and 256 GB storage with no expandable storage and no headphone jack, which is an unusual thing done by Samsung, and not a good step. In the camera department, the phone has a triple camera setup, which includes a 12MP, f/1.5-2.4 wide camera, a 12MP, f/2.5 2x telephoto camera and a 16MP, f/2.2 ultrawide camera. Now, having a 16MP ultrawide camera is a plus point over a 12MP as it would give better photos with less distortion. On the front, the phone has a 10MP, f/2.2 camera. They have removed the heartrate sensor from the phone, but another feature that the phone has this year reverse wireless charging, which the S10 too has. Now, reverse charging means that the phones can wirelessly charge another device with wireless charging capability, through contact with the back of the phone. The Note 10+ is slightly bigger and a bit more capable phone than the regular Note 10. It has a 6.8 inches dynamic AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440x3040 pixels, a bigger 4300 mAh battery with 45W fast charging support, which is pretty insane, and with that there are two storage options, that are, 12 GB RAM with 256 GB storage or 12 GB RAM with 512 GB storage, the phone also has up to 1 TB of expandable storage but no headphone jack. Both of these phones come with Android 9.0, the Note 10 is placed at $949, the Note 10+ is placed at $1,099 and the 512 GB variant is placed at $1,199.

Now, both of these phones are again really good phones and there are substantial upgrades from last year's Note 9, for example in the battery, the storage, the screen, the S pen, etc. but I think it's still a step down from the Note 9. Now, I know there is more RAM, more battery, and more cameras, but the Note 9 has more things that would matter more than the things I've mentioned above. The Note 9 has a headphone jack, which you don't get in either of the 2019 Notes, you don't get expandable storage in the Note 10, which you do get in the Note 9, you also have a capacitive fingerprint scanner in the Note 9, which is way better than the ultrasonic one on the Note 10s, you also don't get the iris scanner or the heartrate sensor that the Note 9 has. I think that the things the Note 9 has are way better and more useful than the things that the Note 10s have. So, if you have a Note 9 or a Note 8 and it's in good condition, then you should not upgrade to a Note 10, or if you are thinking to get a Note 10, you should really consider a Note 9 instead of a Note 10, you would get it for way less money and definitely get more value for your money. The 2019 Notes are good phones, but I'm kind of disappointed in them cause they don't have a lot of good stuff and look more like a downgrade instead of an upgrade.

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

Pixel 4/4 XL

The Pixel 4 is placed at $799, for which it comes with a 5.7 inches POLED display with a resolution of 1080x2280 pixels, a Snapdragon 855 processor with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage or 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage with no memory card slot or headphone jack. The phone has a 2700 mAh battery with 18W fast charging capability. At the back of the phone there are two cameras, a 12MP, f/1.7 wide camera and a 16MP, f/2.4 2x telephoto camera, yes, no wide angle camera. On the front, we get a 8MP, f/2.0 wide camera and a depth sensor. The Pixel 4 XL has a 6.3 inches POLED display with a resolution of 1440x3040 pixels and a bigger 3700 mAh battery, at the price point of $899. One peculiar thing about these phones is that they have a radar. These are the first phones to have a built in radar, it does add up to the functionality a little bit, but not much. It only adds up to the speed of the facial recognition system and adds some gesture support to the phone. As you reach for the phone, the radar detects your hand and activates the facial recognition system, so by the time you lift the phone, it's already looking to read your face and it makes the unlocking process really fast. The gestures it brings include mid air hand movements to set off the alarm or control the music playback and little stuff like that, but your hand needs to be really close to the top of the phone while you do it.

The Pixel this year has been kind of an uninteresting phone and an interesting disappointment at the same time. A lot of people had expectations from it and it kind of blew it away. The Pixel lineup might not be having the flashiest specs of them all, and the Pixel 4 might even look like the worst competitor in this list, which it kind of is, to be honest. But Pixels have their spot for a different reason, that is, the software, and mind you, the software on these devices is really good. We all know about the really awesome camera software on the Pixel devices, which gives its photos a huge advantage over its competitors'. That is pretty much it. The camera and the software are the things that the Pixel did the best at, but this year they managed to suck at the camera, as per most reviews. All that makes the Pixel 4s a bit overpriced phones and even more difficult to recommend.

What Should You Buy? iPhone 11, Galaxy S10, Note 10 or The Pixel 4?

Conclusion 

So, we have seen some good flagship phones in 2019, but not all of them seem to be worthy upgrades from their previous versions. Only the the iPhone 11s and the Galaxy S10s look like good upgrades. The other two phones are clearly not as good and are out of the competition. The best 2019 phone, according to me, would be the S10. It is clearly the better choice than the other three in the list. It is the phone that has great specs, great cameras, great design and build quality, it gives the best features, the best utility and would give the best overall experience being the all-rounder phone that it is and at a very reasonable price. The iPhone 11 is right behind the S10 and to be honest if you love iOS and don't like Android so much, chances are you're gonna love the iPhone more.