The Samsung Note10 and Note10+ were released on August 7 boasting all the specifications of a flagship smartphone. Originally launched in 2011 the Note10/10+ come with the most significant change for the product line up. There are now two devices, the larger 10+ and the smaller and cheaper Note 10.

The Note, from inception, was designed to sit above the Galaxy S line, having faster, better processors, a larger form factor and the built-in S Pen. A lot of that hasn’t changed. Common across both phones is the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, or Samsung Exynos 9825 chip-set, the loss of the headphone jack, wireless charging and sharing, in-screen fingerprint sensor, and an S Pen.

Beyond smaller similarities, the Note10 and 10+ are significantly different creatures. The 10+ has a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen, internal storage up to 512GB, up to 1TB of expandable storage, a larger battery and 12GB of RAM. The camera setup on the 10+ carries a 3D depth sensor alongside a triple camera array consisting of a wide-angle 12-megapixel unit, an ultra-wide 16-megapixel unit and a telephoto 12-megapixel unit.

The front-facing camera is a 10-megapixel unit and the phone records 4K video. The Note 10 makes do with a lower resolution 6.3-inch AMOLED screen, 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM in a smaller chassis. Compatibility with upcoming 5G networks is available in applicable markets.

Note functionality has been taken up

a notch with the S Pen. Anything written on the screen can be converted to

text. The S Pen now operates like a remote, using a variety of input methods.

Click or gesture to zoom the camera, flip through photos, edit video and

control music volume.

The split in the product line has created a very strange upgrade path for the Note. Power-users wanting to remain at the cusp of smartphone technology should head straight for the Note10+, those still holding on to their Note9 might have to take a hard look at the Note10.

The Note10 has a faster chipset, a better camera, a more compact and lighter chassis, but the older phone wins out in some serious areas. The Note9 has a larger screen, 6.4-inches to the Note10’s 6.3-inches, along with a higher resolution and pixel density. It can be had with double the internal storage and the same amount of RAM. The Note10 has no expandable storage while the Note9 can handle 512GB. The older phone has a larger battery, 4000mAh to 3,500mAh on the Note10.

As with modern devices, it’s not all

in the figures. Using the latest chipset, screen and Android operating system,

the Note10 is claiming more efficiency than the outgoing phone thus the lack of

need to max out its specifications, especially in the face of the more powerful

Note10+. The key upgrade elements for the Note10 are features like the

in-screen fingerprint sensor, Wireless PowerShare, the extra functions of the S

Pen, and ultimately the better camera performance.