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The transition phase between two technology standards is nothing but a muddy water. We saw the format wars like the one between HD-DVD and Blu-ray to claim the throne as the successor to the DVD standard.
The story is kind of similar in the world of cellular connectivity. LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and 4G is almost synonymous for regular users, but the standard needed to compete with other candidates, such as UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) and WiMAX.
Fortunately, the evolution of 5G was much more streamlined than its predecessors – thanks to the interoperability between hardware vendors and standard makers. Some carriers did try to push ‘fake’ 5G to lure customers, but the plan got spoiled.
While every major OEM became the part of the 5G master race, Samsung took the pole position and announced a special 5G variant of their 2019 flagship Galaxy S10 series back in February.
The Galaxy S10 5G model was built upon the foundation of the S10 Plus variant. A region specific Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 or Samsung Exynos 5100 5G modem coupled with a larger battery (4,500 mAh) and a dedicated T0F sensor make it one of a kind flagship phone.
Due to the limited availability of consumer grade 5G cellular networks, Samsung announced to release the 5G capable Galaxy s10 in select regions. While South Korea got the Exynos powered variant in early April, US users needed to wait a bit more.
Days before the official US release, Android Headlines leaked the official renders and speculated the release date. Verizon became the exclusive partner to carry the phone for a limited period of time.
The preorders started at the last week of April. The early adoption rewards included a pair of Galaxy Buds, a Samsung wireless charging battery pack and a water bottle (?) with an estimated value of $225.
The carrier finally started to sell the beastly phone to regular customers since May 16 (yesterday). 20 US cities are part of the 5G network of Verizon (Ultra Wideband), where customers can unleash the true power of their Galaxy S10 5G.
The launch comes on the heels of Verizon’s announcement of 20 U.S. cities that will get 5G Ultra Wideband service in 2019. They are: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City and Washington DC.
(Source)
Initial user reports regarding network connectivity are highly positive. For example, Verge’s Cris Welch was able to achieve over 1 Gbps download speed with his unit.
However, Korean Galaxy S10 5G users reportedly have faced numerous connectivity issues, especially 5G to LTE (and vice-versa) switching glitches, with the initial firmware builds.
In areas where 5G signals are not detected, the Galaxy S10 5G is expected to be automatically switched to an LTE signal, connecting to the internet, but it was continuously disconnected, they said. They complain that that they have to reboot several times to connect to the network again.
Pushing day-one patches is nothing new in the smartphone world, and Korean Galaxy S10 5G already got couple of them for fixing existing issues as well as bringing new features. The Verizon models should also be greeted with series of update patches in a typical manner.
Once again, XDA user iBowToAndroid initiated a repository of flashable firmware builds for the US Galaxy S10 5G variant. The internal version number of this model is SM-G977U, while the Korean models are labeled as SM-G977N.
Users can download the packages from this thread. The build number of the current software version is G977UVRU1ASE8, which has been compiled in this month (the letter ‘E’ denotes the fifth month aka May).
The packages are ready to be flashed using ODIN or open source alternatives like Heimdall. User can also use apps like Frija to track and download these updates manually.
Have you got your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G edition yet? Comment below.
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S10 5G
Kingshuk De
896 Posts
I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.
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