After the announcement of the Galaxy Note 10 at Unpacked, there was no mention of the IR Blaster being brought back. In fact, there’s a new feature called “Zoom-in mic” that can amplify audio from a certain area where you zoom into while taking a video. People believed that this hole was used as a third mic for the “Zoom-in mic” feature for better audio capture quality. This wasn’t the case either.

According to a confirmation by Samsung, the hole at the top of the Galaxy Note 10 is a speaker that replaces the stereo given off by the earpiece on the Galaxy S10 and other handsets. The earpiece on the Note 10 is so thin that it’s impossible to know it exists unless you have quite an eye to look for it.

Are you disappointed about no IR Blaster being included on the Galaxy Note 10? We here honestly don’t mind but I’m sure its a welcomed feature.

Now don’t get too excited because all these colors are not available here in the USA as of now. As far as we know, we don’t know if they will ever arrive. The only available options in the USA currently are the Glow, White, Black, and Blue on the 256GB options for the Note 10+. The 512GB models are only limited to Aura Black. Maybe Samsung is trying to play it safe with the colors on a high capacity phone due to not knowing which color would be in high demand.

While we were able to get our hands on every color released in the USA at the Samsung store located in the Americana here in Los Angeles, we have quite a few thoughts. The Aura White is a generic white colored phone that looks the cleanest of them all, it reminds me of a Galaxy S4 with a creamy finish. Aura Blue was more of a purplish-blue hue depending on how light was hitting and reflecting upon the back. It was able to even show anywhere from a light blue to a darker deep sea blue as well. We took a look at the Aura Black and it reminded us of any black colored phone that we encounter daily, nothing special about it but it does keep the style going for the phone for someone who wants a simple color.

The color that caught our eyes was the Aura Glow which is a light refracting color as stated in Samsung Unpacked. The original color you see upon inspection is a silver color that resembles a mirror. Once any sort of light reflects the phone, you have rainbows converging all over which results in a beautiful colorful madness that would be sure to keep everyones eyes peeled onto your phone.

Have you pre-ordered the Galaxy Note 10 yet? Which color would you get?

As we know, Samsung has held out quite some time and did not cave into removing the jack even though other companies had followed Apple’s footsteps back with the iPhone 7. Is bluetooth the future at this point? We do know that Samsung has improved the headphones included with the Galaxy Note 10 as SamMobile has pointed out. These new headphones will include active noise cancelling through the USB Type C connector with the Galaxy Note 10. A dongle will be available for purchase through Samsung for $14.99.

We also have learned through a confirmation with Samsung that the removal of the 3.5mm jack apparently had some good influence on the phones design. This included a 100mah larger battery packed into the phone along with an improved haptic system. We also have a speculation that the 3.5mm headphone jack removal allowed for a smaller bezel on the chin which even beats the iPhone XS in terms of thinness.

Only time will tell if Samsung will bring back the headphone jack if consumers choose to protest by not purchasing the Galaxy Note 10 and voicing their opinions out. But the real question is, was it time?