This week the latest Samsung smartphones land in South Africa.

The Galaxy S10e, S10 and S10+ (note we are not getting the S10 5G) will all be available at local retailers from 8th March but pre-orders are currently open if you want to beat the rush.

We’ve been lucky enough to have a Samsung Galaxy S10+ in our possession since the handset was announced last month. Our full review is coming shortly but if you want our initial thoughts – it’s great.

The display is huge, the hole-punch front-facing camera is barely noticeable, and the primary rear camera is superb. The battery life is good as well but we’ll dive into specifics when we publish our review.

Today however, we won’t be talking about what you can expect from the handset but rather what you should be prepared for when you pick up your handset later this week.

How much data you should have

A new handset means updates, lots and lots of updates. Those with uncapped Wi-Fi should be fine as relates to data but if you are running on prepaid you might want to know how much data you’ll need to update the handset.

In terms of Android, Samsung and Google Play store app updates we consumed roughly 600MB of data after booting up the Samsung Galaxy S10+.

Your mileage may vary drastically depending on how many apps you use and if you use the app we’re about to mention

Use Samsung Smart Switch

Given how often we switch between review handsets here at Hypertext, we’ve grown somewhat accustomed to re-downloading the bevy of apps we use on a day-to-day basis.

Samsung offers up a rather nifty app in Smart Switch which allows you to copy data from your current handset to your new handset.

The process is absolutely seamless when switching to a new Samsung handset and our data was fully copied across – sans passwords and usernames for apps – within 30 minutes.

Use Samsung Smart Switch, it will save you a headache.

Building off of this, do not factory reset your current handset until you are comfortable that you will not need any data off of it. Trust us, resetting Steam Guard authentication has been a massive pain.

Spend some money on protection

Samsung does include a gel cover with the Galaxy S10+ – or at least our device had it in the box – and it works but it’s hardly giving us peace of mind.

Our advice is to take a stroll around the store you’re purchasing the handset from and look for a cover you like that is also going to protect the gorgeous screen you’ll soon be gawking at.

We highly recommend something from Samsung itself. We understand these covers are pricey but we’re still using the Clear Stand Cover on our S9 and it has survived many a drop.

If your device doesn’t come with a screen protector get one and ask the store to apply it for you. Yes, you can do this yourself but why do it when somebody who does it daily and probably better than you could can?

Expand the memory

While our Galaxy S10+ has ample 128GB internal storage we can already see it filling up as we snap pictures and download more apps.

For this reason we’re seriously considering a microSD card for expanded storage. While you’re spending money on the handset you might want to consider it as well, especially if like us you hoard apps and photos on your device.

Samsung does also include a USB 1.0 to USB Type-C converter in the Galaxy S10’s box which you could use to plug a thumb drive into your handset in a pinch but it’s probably best to just bite the bullet and get a microSD card.

Wireless charging

One of the stand-out features in the Galaxy S10 family is Wireless Powershare. This feature allows you to wirelessly charge devices such as the new Galaxy Buds.

But what if you want to wirelessly charge your device?

You’ll want a wireless charger which is rated for 15W to get the best bang for your buck. This is the same power that the included wall-wart puts out so charging time should be similar.

On that note, we recommend keeping tabs on how warm the device gets while charging wirelessly. We’re not saying something bad will happen but it’s best to keep an eye on these things.

Later this week we’ll also be looking at some apps that you should download as soon as you can for your Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone so be sure to check back here later in the week for that.