Galaxy A70 or Note 10 Plus – Which big screen phone should you consider?
So the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Plus just got launched and although it’s not yet available, I was privileged to get the Note 10 Plus for review. I also got the Galaxy A70 about a month ago and I gave reasons why you should go for the A70 rather than the S10.
So in this review I’ll be comparing the Note 10 Plus to the Galaxy A70 and telling you what their differences are, which you should go for and who both phones are for.
Now this comparison isn’t meant to test speeds and all that. We know the Note 10 Plus is a more powerful device. This comparison is to help you decide based on value, functionality and personality which smartphone is best for you.
So how do you compare two smartphones that are quite different in terms of price, performance, cameras and feature set?
Well let’s start with the release dates and Price.
Round 1 – Price
The Galaxy A70 was released in March of 2019 and costs N120, 000 which translates to $330 which quite a lot of people can afford and may not put a major dent in their account. Multiply this by 3.5 and you get the price of the Galaxy Note 10 Plus that’s $1100. Now this isn’t what a lot of people can cough up for a phone. So if you’re on budget or know you have other pressing needs that kind of money would solve. Stay humble and go for the Galaxy A70. It’s still a very good phone and you get a lot for your money. More on this later.
However if you know and I mean if you know you you’ve got money to spare and shelling out $1100 won’t put a dent in your BA (Bank Account), and you believe you need all the glitz and whistles the Note 10 Plus comes with, then by all means, go for the Note 10 Plus, it’s a very new device launched this August and there’s a lot of reasons why you’d want to go for the Note. More on this as well.
Round 2 – How do they compare/match up
Well, here are the things that are a bit similar on both phones. They both have screen sizes larger than 6.6 inches, they both have battery capacities larger than 4000 mAH, they both have screens that are 1080p or higher, they both have triple camera setups at the rear and single cameras in front and they both run on Samsung’s One UI. Both phones also run on Android Pie 9.0 and that’s where most similarities end.
A70 vs Note 10 Plus
Now for most people, who are not tech heads or simply do not need the kind of speeds or power the note 10 Plus offers, you’d be perfectly fine with the Galaxy A70. It’s got a beautiful Glastic design that feels and looks good – premium even. And the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 5.
This is however in contrast to the Note 10 plus’s Glass and metal unibody design. The Note 10 is protected by Gorilla glass 6 in the front and back of the device and is very delicate. You’d definitely need to rock a case on your Note 10 if eventually you choose to buy it. For the A70 not so much.
You’d find an in-display fingerprint scanner on both devices. The Note 10 uses the Ultrasonic technology while the A70 uses the Optical technology. It’s much faster and secure on the Note 10.
The Galaxy A70 supports most network bands from 2G to 4G and has very decent speeds. It however does not support CDMA networks like the Note 10 Plus and does not compare to the Note’s incredible Cat 20 speeds. And one more thing the Note 10 support the incredibly elusive Band 28. So for those of you who are on Glo’s Band 28, Rejoice!
Round 3 – Performance
With regards to performance on both devices, the Note 10 Plus takes a huge step forward here. For its processor, it sports the Snapdragon 855 with Adreno 640 GPU for the USA and China markets and the Exynos 9825 with a Mali Mali-G76 MP12 GPU for other markets. These processors are miles apart from the Snapdragon 675 and Adreno 612 SoC and GPU found in the A70. To give perspective, on this, the Note 10 Plus scored 341,466 in Antutu, while the A70 scored 176,833.
You have 12GB DDR4 RAM versus 6GB DDR3 on the A70. You got a base storage of 256GB UFS3.0 storage against 128GB UFS 2.0 storage on the A70
Gaming on the Note 10 was incredibly smooth, had no lag or stuttering and the graphics were amazing. Thanks to the 1440p WQHD screen on the Note 10. You can also down-sample your resolution on the Note 10 to 1080p or 720p. You’re stuck at 1080p on the A70. Both screen look really good to be honest and you’d only notice how much better the Note 10’s screen is when you lay them side-by-side.
In terms of battery life, both phones offer great battery life with the batteries lasting you a full day or moderate to heavy usage and you can charge both at 25watts. Although you can go further on the Note 10 if you’ve got a 45watt charger.
Round 4 – Camera
Cameras on these devices are great with the ones on the Note offering better photos and video quality. If you’re looking to take your photo and video game to a much higher level you may want to consider the Note 10 Plus, as it offers better results. Dynamic range is much better on photos and it’s got a super steady video mode that’s just absolutely insane.
For specs, the Note 10 Plus sports a 16MP wide angle, a 12MP telephoto and a 12MP main camera at the rear. There’s also a Time of flight camera for depth calculations and also for use in some AR functions. The A70 sports a 32MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide sensor and a 5MP depth sensor.
For the selfie camera, the Note 10 plus sports a 10MP f2.2 sensor, while the A70 sports a 32MP F2.0 sensor. The Note 10 Plus’s selfie cam shoots up to 4k at 30FPS, while the A70’s shoots up to 1080p at 30FPS.
Other stuff
So a couple of things that exist on the Note 10 which you wouldn’t find on the A70 are, IP69 water resistance rating, support for Samsung DeX, a Stylus and dual stereo speakers. Unfortunately Samsung decided to remove the head phone port from the Note 10 which I’m a huge fan of. The Galaxy A70 however retains the headphone port and is made from plastic which is more reassuring in the event of a drop.
Conclusion
As much as a lot of people would like to own the Note 10, it may be impractical for them to do that, Samsung understands this and that’s why they created the really popular A-Series smartphones. So you can get most of the features of the Flagships for much less.
For those who need the flagship Note 10s and S10s, you’d be getting a nicer design, better feeling and performing smartphone, water resistance and great gaming experience, better video viewing experience and smoother software performance. Overall thing are just a little nicer on the flagships.
Whichever you’re able to afford, you’d be getting brilliant smartphones in your pocket.
I hope this review was worth it and I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please like and share this article
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Cheers
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