For some, the addition of an ultra-wide camera to the Galaxy S lineup with the Galaxy S10 may not have been as much of a highlight as the Instagram integration that Samsung announced for the flagship. The Instagram integration on the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ works in two ways: You can take a photo with the camera's dedicated Instagram mode and directly upload it as a story, and you can also upload images from the Gallery app to your feed or post it as a story with the Instagram shortcut.
The Instagram camera mode isn't as good as it could be, mainly because it doesn't give you the same high-quality pictures that you get from the camera's standard shooting modes. It's still neat to be able to take photos and upload them to Instagram right from the phone's camera app, but that dedicated Instagram share button is even more useful. I don't post stories on Instagram, only pictures to my feed, and I love how the Instagram shortcut in the gallery lets me go to the app with two taps, without having to use Android's standard share functionality.
I didn't really think much about the Instagram integration at first, though. I'm not what you'd call an avid Instagram user and mostly just put up pictures of my car every few weeks, so while I saw the attraction of an Instagram shortcut in the camera and gallery, I didn't really pay it much heed. But that changed as time went by and I started using that shortcut more and more, and it made me realize how features that can seem trivial at first can make a difference to your user experience.
In fact, I think that shortcut is making me share more pictures on Instagram, because I now see the social network's icon every time I'm browsing the gallery. And I shudder to think how much I'd be using it if I spent more of my free time going out of the house, which would probably result in me taking more photos I would want to put up online. Not that there's anything wrong with posting pictures on social networks, but I've never been a huge fan of doing that, something that might change thanks to the Galaxy S10's Instagram integration.
What about you? Do you regularly use the Instagram camera mode and/or gallery shortcut?
SamsungGalaxy S10e
SamsungGalaxy S10
