Galaxy S10 update will add Note 10 features including enhanced gallery, more

Damien Wilde | Nov 11 2019 - 5:18 am PT

Despite only having a few months between their respective launches and having some distinct similarities, the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note 10 do differ in many ways. Samsung has decided to close that gap a little by giving the Galaxy S10 some of the Note 10’s enhanced features.

Samsung confirmed in an official blog post just what will be making the jump from the Note 10 to the Galaxy S10 — with some welcome additions including enhanced Wi-Fi sharing, smart gallery, and more.

Samsung Electronics has announced a fresh software update for the Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+ and S10 5G that introduces more powerful Galaxy Note10 features to the flagship lineup. Now, in addition to enjoying the diverse range of Note10 features that were added in the S10’s most recent update, users will be able to access all-new smart multimedia and Wi-Fi functions that streamline connections and take content creation to the next level.

When using the stock Samsung Gallery app, you can quickly search for your favorite photos and videos using keywords. You can use keywords like “cats” or “dogs” much like you can already do with Google Photos and you’ll get an updated pane with all tagged images and videos.

The new ‘Media’ options within the quick settings panel will now give you recommendations for music and videos. This enhanced view pane also gives you the ability to control your other wirelessly connected devices such as Samsung Smart TVs and wireless speakers.

A solid feature coming from the Note 10 to the S10 is the Auto Hotspot function. This allows any devices logged into the same Samsung account as the hotspot generating phone the ability to automatically connect wirelessly — making it far easier to share a Wi-Fi hotspot.

One of the other notable Note 10 features coming to the S10 is the AR Doodles. This allows you to draw things within a 3D space in videos and anything drawn will be held in position — even if you move. That isn’t the only camera feature coming, as the Live Focus, Live Focus Video, and Night Mode for the front camera is coming.

For the active smartphone videographer, you’ll also get the Super Steady video mode that mimics GoPro stability using OIS and EIS. These camera video feature might come in useful as DeX is also getting an update with improved support for video editing with all of the new tweaks that are currently only on the Note 10.

Considering that the S10 and Note 10 share many of the same internals, the fact that features are now making the jump is a nice move by Samsung. It’s similar to what Google is doing by giving older Pixel phones many of the new features that have been added alongside the Pixel 4. It’s worth noting that some of you may have already received the update that enables the new tweaks — with the rollout still continuing and varying region by region.