Samsung considers update to add two key features to the Galaxy S10 line

According to a tweet from tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce), Samsung is considering a couple of firmware based changes to the Galaxy 10 series that should excite owners of these phones. The tweet says that the president of Samsung Greater China, speaking at a conference, spoke about hiking the quick charging capabilities of the handsets in the line to 25W. Strangely, Samsung already offers 25W charging on its mid-range Galaxy A70, Galaxy A50 and Galaxy A30 phones, but not on its currently released flagship models. We should point out that the Galaxy S10 5G, a completely different phone specs-wise than the 4G LTE version of the Galaxy S10, will launch with 25W charging functionality this summer.

Just a few days ago, Xiaomi introduced its 100W "Super Charge Turbo" charger that will take a battery from 0% to 100% in just 17 minutes. And if you can't wait, a 7-minute charge will take a smartphone battery from 0% to 50% in only 7 minutes. Oppo's SuperVOOC charges at 50W while the foldable Huawei Mate X will charge at 55W when released later this summer.

The other new feature that the Samsung executive talked about sending to the Galaxy S10 line via an update is Super Night Mode. Similar to the Night Sight feature available on all three generations of Pixel phones, Super Night Mode would allow Galaxy S10 users to shoot photographs in dark and low-light conditions without using the flash. Currently, Sammy's new flagships have something called Bright Night, but this doesn't get turned on and off when needed like the Pixel's Night Sight. Instead, Bright Light is part of the Scene Optimizer AI tools that automatically detect what the subject matter is of a picture being taken, and adjusts the camera to optimize the results. If the Screen Optimizer realizes that a picture is being in the dark, it will have the camera take a longer exposure to let in more light. While that is partially how the Pixel's Night Mode works (AI is used to add certain details), Samsung's Bright Night requires a photo to be taken in almost complete darkness in order to turn on. Another drawback is that it is up to the camera, and not the user, to activate it.

Huawei also has a similar low-light photography feature on the P30 Pro called Night mode. We recently put it to the test against the Pixel 3 and the Galaxy S10. Our conclusion was that the P30 Pro system outshines the other two in low-light photography, with the Pixel 3 second and the Galaxy S10 in third place. Perhaps the recent unveiling of the Huawei P30 Pro was the impetus behind the comments made by Samsunbg's China-based executive. After all, the P30 Pro has the aforementioned Night mode, and its battery can charge at 40W. While Huawei's new phones are essentially a non-factor in the U.S., they are strong competition for the Galaxy S10 line almost everywhere else.

While there is no word on when these features could be pushed out to Galaxy S10 owners in the form of an OTA update, it might be sooner than you think. As we pointed out earlier, the 25W fast charging capability is already in use on the company's new Mid-range Galaxy A phones, and much of what a Super Night Mode would do is already part of the Galaxy S10 camera's Bright Light. Still, for many who just shelled out big bucks for the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+, these features can't arrive soon enough.