Characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
It is the resolution that interests designers and developers the most because it determines the breakpoints and the definition of media queries. In general we only talk about this resolution. For the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite it is :
- 412 pixels width
- 914 pixels height ⚠️ the height is indicative because the Safari browser, Chrome, etc. reduce the visible area
ℹ️ Some analytics tools only display the manufacturer resolution (below) and not the one presented above, so be careful when interpreting the results.
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Pixel density
On the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite it is 2.625
If you want to target devices with at least this pixel density in CSS, you can use this media query.
@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.625) / CSS /
Also in javascript, it is possible to retrieve the value of the pixel density.
window.devicePixelRatio // Which will return the figure 2.625
Manufacturer resolution Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
Given the pixel density this gives:
The S10 Lite offers a great battery, wonderful display, great camera, usable user interface, and ticks off pretty much every boxes you’d look for.
February is generally the time when Samsung releases its S-series flagship devices at its flagship Galaxy Unpacked event. This year though, Samsung decided to mix things up a bit. In mid-January, it announced two ‘Lite’ devices called the Galaxy S10 Lite and the Note10 Lite. The timing was certainly a surprise, given that the S20 launch was just around the corner.
I think it’s safe to say that this is Samsung responding to the tectonic shifts in the smartphone market space where its offerings are undercut by OnePlus at the higher end of the segment and Xiaomi (Redmi) and Realme at the lower end. In 2019, which saw a 29 percent jump in premium smartphone sales over last year (a record), and it wasn’t Samsung’s S-series or Note-series that graced the top of the charts. The leader in this segment in India was OnePlus.
Samsung S10 Lite pricing starts at Rs 39,999 for the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant.
Before the new Lite models, Samsung only offered the A series phones, which were, obviously, not capable of dethroning OnePlus. Samsung did release the Galaxy S10e alongside the S10 and S10 last year, but it clearly wasn’t enough.
Enter the Galaxy S10 Lite, which starts at Rs 39,999 for the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant.
Let’s see if Samsung’s bet will pay off with this close-to-flagship offering at a not-so-flagship price, at least by Samsung standards.
Build and Design
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite comes in three colours: Prism Black, Prism Blue and Prism White (Thanks Samsung, for those simple names) I am reviewing the Prism Blue variant, which does look gorgeous. Thanks to a thickness of just 8.1 mm, the phone manages to look quite sleek and it weighs just 187 g, which provides just the right amount of heft to the device.
While the front face sports a 6.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED Infinity O display, the back is a material that Samsung calls ‘Glastic’ and comes with a 2.5D curve. It’s an amalgamation of glass and plastic and while it is in essence polycarbonate, it could easily be passed off as glass.
The rear glastic is a smudge magnet for sure, and thanks to that slightly raised rectangular camera module, some amount of dust does tend to collect around its edges.
There is no clarity on whether the phone employs Gorilla Glass (GG) at all in the construction and a quick online check reveals that it’s an older version of GG on the display. The rear glastic is a smudge magnet for sure, and thanks to that slightly raised rectangular camera module, some amount of dust does tend to collect around its edges, which is difficult to get rid off easily.
As it’s plastic, it is vulnerable to scratches if you carry keys in the same as your phone, so get a transparent case for sure.
Frankly, there doesn’t seem to be a reason to have such a huge rectangular camera module, as the three cameras could have easily just been embedded in a vertical strip module with the flash unit placed outside it. It does make the S10 Lite stand out, but doesn’t appear to serve any other purpose. Thankfully, an aluminium frame is employed, which nicely merges with the front and the rear of the phone. The antenna cut lines are clearly visible.
There is no 3.5 mm audio jack on the S10 Lite, but it sports a USB Type-C charging port, a single downward firing speaker, and it’s water resistant. In terms of grip, the curvature of the rear panel helps, and it’s less slippery than some of the glossier devices I’ve used. One handed use is possible to an extent thanks to the One UI 2 software running atop Android 10 on the S10 Lite, but you will most likely require two hands to use it comfortably.
Features
Display: 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display
Resolution: 1,080 x 2,400 pixels at 395 PPI
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (1x Kryo 485 @2.84 GHz, 3x Kryo 485 @2.42 GHz and 4x Kryo 485 @1.78 GHz)
GPU: Adreno 640
Storage: 128 GB expandable up to 256 GB
Cameras: 48 MP primary (f/2.0) with Super Steady OIS 12 MP ultrawide (f/2.2) 5 MP Macro (f/2.4)
Front camera: 32 MP f/2.2
Audio Jack: None
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Display
With the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite, we get the largest display on an S10 branded device. The flagship S10 was 6.4-inches, the Lite is 6.7.
While the 1,080 x 2,400 pixels resolution on such a large display may not be that pixel packed, it gets the work done. The Super AMOLED display ensures that contrast is great, brightness is good, and there is no colour shift when you see the display from an angle. Sunlight legibility is top notch as well. The auto-brightness ensures that the display brightness adjusts seamlessly with changing ambient lighting.
Galaxy S10 Lite sports a 6.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED Infinity O display.
I enjoyed watching HDR10 content on Netflix and YouTube on the S10 Lite. The image quality was superb and despite the glossy display, the visibility of darker scenes didn’t turn the display into a mirror. The Infinity O display doesn’t interfere with viewing video content as such.
You can set the display to look natural or if you like punchy colours, set it to vivid. Natural mode was what I stuck with. There’s an Always-on display option as well, and you can set the size of the app grid on the home screen (between 4×4, 4×5, 5×5 etc).
Considering the number of phones that launched last year with a 90-Hz, and more recently, 120-Hz display, the 60 Hz one on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite feels like it’s a little behind the times. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Samsung’s ceding ground to its rival, namely OnePlus 7T. To be fair, the slower refresh rate won’t bother you if you’ve never used a 120 Hz screen, but if you have, as I did very recently, the difference is significant, especially in certain apps.
Performance and Software
With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset powering the phone and 8 GB of RAM under the hood, there isn’t anything that slows the phone down. Some of you may bring up the Snapdragon 855 on the OnePlus 7T, but the real life difference is barely noticeable. Yes, there is a slight drop in Geekbench 5, AnTuTu, 3D Mark and other benchmark scores. But as we’ve always said at tech2, benchmark numbers should just be taken for reference purposes. For a device that has ‘Lite’ in its nomenclature, the performance is anything but lite.
Animations are smooth, app switching is quick and the device just feels fast overall. Call quality is top notch and even the mono speaker is plenty loud if you are in a room. The only thing that is noticeably on the slower side is unlocking the device especially when using face unlock and the optical fingerprint scanner. It’s criminal to have a delay when unlocking the phone with such specifications, especially seeing that lock icon unlock! It’s downright slow. An update to fix this should be released pronto.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite review
When it comes to gaming, PUBG Mobile, Mortal Kombat 11 and Asphalt 9 played fabulously. There weren’t any noticeable frame drops. But the phone’s rear side does warm up, and the metal edges, especially around the power button, do heat up, but not uncomfortably so. At no point did any app crash mid-way because of heating up. Temperature control is great if you are not gaming.
There is no 3.5 mm audio jack on the S10 Lite, but it sports a USB Type-C charging port.
The phone runs on Android 10 with a One UI 2 skin atop it. One UI clearly has brought in a lot of improvements over the former Samsung Experience and TouchWiz UI. It really helps a lot with one-handed operations as the menus are much easier to reach in the lower half of the display. It’s certainly a much more refined version of the interface and the response is great. Barring phone unlocking using biometric that is.
Nandini had done a detailed review of One UI, so I won’t delve too much into it. But some of the major new updates that One UI 2 brings to the table include:. A new interface for the screen recorder which also lets you annotate and include your video using the front camera along with a floating control panel which isn’t included in the final recorded video System-wide dark mode Slight change to the camera user interface which now has additional features under the tab App permissions dialog opens up at the bottom of the display, so that you don’t have to readjust the way you hold the phone just to respond to this pop up Always On display has more options for showing watch faces.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite sports a triple rear camera setup with a 48 MP primary camera with f/2.0 with SuperSteady OIS; a 12 MP ultra-wide sensor with an f/2.2 aperture with 123 degree field of view, and a 5 MP macro lens with an f/2.4 aperture. On the front, there is a 32 MP camera for selfies, which is slotted in the Infinity O display.
Both the primary camera and selfie camera employ pixel binning. If you want full 32 MP (on the front) and 48 MP (on the back), then you will have to select the option which says 3:4 with H, which implies the highest resolution. By default, the Photo mode will shoot 8 MP images on the front and 12 MP images on the rear camera.
On the video front, both the front and rear cameras support 4K 30/60 fps. With the rear camera you will get the SuperSteady OIS mode with resolution locked to 1080p. You can also shoot Super Slo Mo at 960 fps at 720p resolution.
Daylight photos come out well with great dynamic range. When viewed on the phone’s display things look tack sharp, but on your monitor’s display when you pixel peep, especially in the non-centre portions, you do tend to notice aggressive noise reductions algorithms at work. This reduces the natural texture on everyday objects.
The sharpness drop off in the bottom right hand corner when viewing the image at full resolution was quite noticeable. Centre-sharpness is good in most daylight situations. Turning off the scene optimiser did sharpen things up a touch. But on the phone’s display or for sharing on Instagram or. the daylight image quality is great.
The dynamic range in daylight shots is quite good. The ultra-wide lens shows extreme bending around the edges, so if you’re taking a group photo, please ensure everyone is in the centre of the frame.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite does a great job with low light photos. This has been a hallmark of flagship Samsung devices and the S10 Lite continues that trend. It’s only when you pixel peep that you notice that details are softened. The noise-reducing algorithms do continue to be in overdrive mode. There is a nightscape mode as well, which lights up a dark scene quite well, but ensure your hands are steady. It still doesn’t beat the gold standard in low light photography in the sub 50k price segment — the Pixel 3a/3a XL. The ultra-wide camera in the night mode delivers images with noticeable noise and which are slightly less brighter than the primary camera.
Selfies in daylight come out well with a good level of detail. But there is a noticeable skin smoothening when you zoom in a bit, which isn’t desirable. The camera does tend to expose for the face, thereby washing out the background in some scenarios. Low light selfies are usable but relatively noisy.
Portrait mode shots do a good job and you get many options to play around with the background and adjust the way it looks. Edge detection is a bit of a hit and a miss.
The onboard 5 MP macro camera does a good job of shooting detailed images. You just need to ensure there is enough light around. I even shot some macros with ambient street light and they turned out quite well. The resolution of 5 MP is much better than 2 MP that is present on most phones offering a macro lens. Video quality is quite good during daylight. You can shoot at up to 4K 60 fps thanks to the presence of the Snapdragon 855 chipset. Details are quite good during daytime and it gets progressively bad as light levels drop. I didn’t notice much distortion when panning during daytime. When shooting after sunset, video gets softer, with noise clearly visible. Live FOCUS (portrait mode) is present on the S10 Lite, which is a good thing to have.
Samsung S10 Lite supports SuperSteady OIS which forces the video resolution to 1080p if you’re sitting in 4k. While the video is steadier as compared to regular video shooting modes, I noticed a certain level of softness to the overall video quality even during daytime. At evening and night time, the video becomes a noisy mess, making it useless despite being able to offer good stabilisation.
Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite sports a whopping 4,500 mAh battery, making it the S-series phone with the largest battery. Despite the large battery, the phone doesn’t weigh a tonne. With two email accounts on sync; constantly buzzing Slack, Telegram and WhatsApp, a couple of hours of listening to podcasts, an hour of video streaming, hours of web surfing, 30 mins of gaming, and clicking around 30–40 photos/videos per day, I could easily get around a day and a half of use. On weekends, when my usage is lighter, I could get around two days easily. The average screen in time I got was above 4–5 hours.
The Galaxy S10 Lite sports a whopping 4,500 mAh battery, making it the S-series phone with the largest battery.
The S10 Lite comes bundled with a 25 W charger with power delivery support. It takes under 75 mins to charge the S10 Lite. I had a OnePlus fast charger lying around, but when I tried charging with it, the charging time showed 7–8 hours to go, and other ridiculous figures. With the Google Pixel charger, fast charging is supported.
Word of advice: don’t misplace the bundled charger.
Verdict and Price in India
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite is a wonderful phone… that should’ve come out much earlier.
It would’ve been the best response to the OnePlus 7/7T series when those had launched last year. At Rs 40k, the S10 Lite may be affordable by Samsung’s standards, but it’s still Rs 5k over the OnePlus 7T (Review) which offers a 90-Hz display, slightly faster processor, glass back, and is an overall great device in itself. OnePlus has a stranglehold in this segment, which is hard to overcome. Unlike the Rs 50k plus segment where Rs 5k here or there doesn’t matter much, the sub 40k space is still what I’d call price conscious.
Considering it’s Samsung, give it a few months and the Samsung S10 Lite should come around the Rs 35k price point. If you weren’t born under the right stars and constellations, and don’t have the right kind of debit/credit card, it won’t be easy shaving a few thousand bucks off the price of the device.
The S10 Lite offers a great battery, wonderful display, great camera, usable user interface, and ticks off pretty much every boxes you’d look for. Yes, there has been cost cutting to some extent in the form of going for a plastic back (Samsung may call it glastic, but it’s still plastic) but it’s not a deal breaker. If you want a flagship phone and can live with a generation old chipset (frankly, it doesn’t matter in real life usage), the Galaxy S10 Lite comes highly recommended.
It’s great to see Samsung get off its high horse and offer a true flagship response to the OnePlus. The Samsung A-series is no match for this segment, which is now also seeing some good products from players such as Realme and Redmi, and Samsung is finally competitive here.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Review
Does the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite offer you all the benefits of a true flagship without the burdensome price?
By Peter Phelps Contact via Contact via linkedin
- Verdict
- Pros and Cons
- Key Specifications
- How we tested
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
- Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
- Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite?
- Trusted Score
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite is a puzzling addition to the range, but it’s a good performer especially when it comes to processing power and battery life.
Key Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite was a surprise when it launched, and we’re still scratching our heads trying to make sense of it.
Arriving on the scene almost a full year after the mainline Samsung Galaxy S10 series and only around one month before the Samsung Galaxy S20 series was announced, it seemed an unusual tactic.
Frankly, it doesn’t bear a strong relation to either of these flagship series, and should instead be considered in its own right as a competitor to some of the best mid-range phones like the Xiaomi Mi 9 or the OnePlus 7T.
The Galaxy S10 Lite boasts a triple camera led by a 48-megapixel sensor, a 6.7-inch screen, a Snapdragon 855 processor, and a 4500mAh battery. These are seemingly strong specifications, but does it have the overall performance to match?
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite – Design
Immediately catching the eye, the Galaxy S10 Lite has a smooth, pearlescent sheen across the back panel which reflects the light for an attractive and noticeable finish. There’s a black rectangular camera module in the upper left hand corner for contrast (similar to the Samsung Galaxy S20), while the cool metallic sides provide a premium feel.
The screen is large, measuring 6.7-inches, with a minimal bezel around the sides and a small hole-punch cut-out at the top for the selfie camera. Though both the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus have curving displays, the S10 Lite’s display is flat. The speaker is housed at the base of the phone. There’s no headphone jack, but there is a slot for a MicroSD card.
Overall, it’s an attractive design with a touch of class that does belong with its true flagship cousins – if you were to just look at it, it’s not at all obvious that this is a ‘Lite’ version rather than a premium phone.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite – Screen
The Galaxy S10 Lite’s AMOLED screen measures 6.7-inches with a 1080 x 2400 resolution, which ensures that it’s clear to read, although it’s not super sharp and the colours never really ‘pop’ out of the screen in the same way as the best on the market. The display is capable of very high brightness levels, although it does lack the enhanced refresh rates recently adopted by some flagships.
There’s a small hole-punch at the top of the screen that houses a 32-megapixel selfie camera, and surely some users will object to this interruption in the display, but I didn’t find it to be intrusive in the screen, even when watching a feature-length film.
Overall I was satisfied watching content on the screen though it certainly doesn’t rank among the best screens you can get. Playing games was particularly enjoyable, as the large screen was immersive, and it was comfortable to hold in landscape orientation. The display might not be stunning in itself, but it certainly does the job.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite – Performance
The Galaxy S10 Lite runs on a Snapdragon 855 processor, a chipset that powered many of 2019’s best phones. At launch it was the best Qualcomm could offer – but it’s since been surpassed by both the 855 Plus and the new 865. Nonetheless, it’s still a very powerful processor.
In our benchmarking tests, the results of which are below, it goes toe-to-toe with an all-out flagship, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
| Geekbench 5 Single Core | Geekbench 5 Multi-Core | Sling Shot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1 | Antutu 3D Bench | |
| Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite | 717 | 2611 | 5569 | 447505 |
| Huawei Mate 30 Pro | 749 | 2910 | 5654 | 452421 |
Everyday tasks where accomplished with ease, and I did not experience any stuttering or sudden app shutdowns. Games also ran very smoothly on high settings. This device should deal with pretty much anything you throw at it.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite – Software and features
The base software here is Android 10, with OneUI 2.0 overlaid. I liked this interface, which is intuitive and features large, clear icons. It still does have quite a few pre-installed apps, but unlike some rival brands around this price, you can at least hide them away in the app drawer.
As already mentioned, there’s no headphone jack on this smartphone – and unfortunately Samsung has bundled in a really cheap set of USB-C earphones that offer horrendously tinny audio playback. Hopefully you’ve already got a pair of USB-C or Bluetooth headphones – if not, you’ll have to fork out more money to buy some.
There’s both an in-screen fingerprint screen and a face unlock option if you want biometric access to your phone. I found face unlock to be very unreliable and when I used it, and more often that not I was relegated to using the traditional PIN-entry method, however the fingerprint scanner worked very well.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite – Camera
The Galaxy S10 Lite has a triple rear camera – the main sensor has a 48-megapixel resolution, then there’s a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and it’s completed with a 5-megapixel macro lens. Is it one of the best camera phones around for the price?
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite main camera shot
In the above image taken in daylight by the main camera, detail capture is strong. Generally colours were fairly muted with the main camera.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite main camera
Overall the camera performance was not bad, but I felt that the images looked slightly overexposed and lacking depth of colour, and nowhere was this more clear than when shooting in low light.
Night Mode Off (left); Night Mode On (right)
The first example, above, shows relatively little difference between shooting without Night Mode (left) and with Night Mode (right); the signage on the stadium is more legible, but the colours look more washed out.
Night Mode Comparison: Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite (left) / Huawei Mate 30 Pro (right)
To really demonstrate how this low-light shooting is lacking, the above images compare the same shot taken by the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, both with Night Mode on; Huawei’s effort provides far more depth of colour compared to the somewhat anaemic S10 Lite’s result.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite ultra-wide camera shot
The wide angle lens offers a useful option when you want to take a “step back” from the subject and expand your field of view. This lens does distort the image somewhat, which negates the realism of the photo, but sometimes it can be a neat effect to emphasise scale.
Shots with the ultra-wide camera reproduce more vibrant colours than the main camera, and its inclusion certainly adds welcome versatility to the device’s photographic arsenal.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite – Battery life
The battery has a 4500mAh capacity, which is a considerable size, matching the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and beating all other handsets in the S10 range.
After streaming a 96-minute film, the battery was cut down from full to a still-healthy 88%. It lasted through a busy day of travel and tourism, when I used the camera and Google Maps and other demanding apps frequently, but I did have to put it on charge before heading out later in the evening. This device should easily last you through a working day, and then some.
Charging is also one of the phone’s strong points. Going by our results it should take you not far over an hour to charge the phone from zero to full. Here’s the full breakdown of the charging times:
| “>Time (minutes) | “>Battery Percentage |
| “>0 | “>18% |
| “>10 | “>38% |
| “>20 | “>57% |
| “>30 | “>75% |
| “>40 | “>90% |
| “>50 | “>97% |
You won’t be let down by the battery on this device, and it charges right back up in short order too. These are two of the strongest reasons to recommend the phone.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite?
If you are prepared to part with a decent chunk of cash, but haven’t quite got the funds for a top-flight flagship, then you should consider the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite.
Among this class of phones it has great performance stats, an attractive design, a very good battery and strong fast-charging – but we’ve seen better cameras around for the same price, such as the Xiaomi Mi 9 and the Google Pixel 3a.
How we test phones
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite vs Galaxy S10: What’s the difference?
Samsung is set to unveil its Galaxy S20 smartphone this week, but if you don’t have flagship cash to spend, then maybe the Galaxy S10 Lite will be more compelling.
Just released in the UK last week, the Galaxy S10 Lite is a trimmed-down edition that opts for some (but not all) lower-end components and has a cheaper price tag to boot. How big of a difference is it, really, and is it worth the savings given the changes?
Here’s a look at how the Galaxy S10 Lite compares to the standard Galaxy S10.
Design: Glass or plastic?
You might be wondering: why doesn’t the Galaxy S10 Lite look all that much like the Galaxy S10? And the answer is… honestly, we have no clue. While there are similarities, the Galaxy S10 Lite hardly seems like a direct descendent (or sibling even) of the standard model.
The Galaxy S10, of course, has the punch hole in the upper right corner of the display, while the S10 Lite puts it at center-top, like the Galaxy Note 10. The S10 Lite seems to have less bezel around the screen too, and it’s a flat panel, unlike the curved S10 screen.
And on the back, the S10 Lite gets a big vertical camera bump on the upper left corner on a plastic back, while the S10 had a horizontal one set on glass. These are very different phones!
Screen: Larger, but lower-res
Continuing the trend of significant differences, the Galaxy S10 Lite’s screen is actually larger – it’s 6.7in as opposed to the S10’s 6.1in screen.
It is lower-resolution, however: the Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O screen is 1080p resolution, while the Galaxy S10 goes sharper at QHD. Bigger might not be better in this case, but at least bigger is… bigger.
Camera: A different trio
Beyond the difference in how the back triple-camera setup looks on both phones, there are key differences in the types of cameras you’ll find here.
The Galaxy S10 has a great setup with a 12MP main wide-angle camera, a 12MP 2x zoom telephoto lens, and a stellar 16MP ultra-wide shooter. The S10 Lite, on the other hand, opts for a 48MP main wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 5MP macro lens.
Our experience with Samsung’s recent mid-range phones suggests that the 48MP camera will be pretty good, albeit likely not on par with the GS10’s 12MP equivalent. The addition of “Super Steady OIS” could help make a difference, though. And the macro lens is totally different, designed for super close-up shots. Will it make for a more versatile trio?
Обзор Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
Performance: Pretty close
Here’s one area in which Samsung didn’t do much trimming. The Galaxy S10 has the speedy Exynos 9820 flagship processor in the UK, while the Galaxy S10 Lite uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip that was used for the standard S10 in other parts of the world.
In fact, the Snapdragon 855 puts up better benchmark scores, although it’s not a dramatic difference. The base GS10 Lite edition has 6GB RAM as opposed to 8GB on the Galaxy S10, although there is a pricier 8GB RAM version of the GS10 Lite as well.
Battery and perks: capacity, no wireless
Samsung has shown a curious tendency to put larger, longer-lasting batteries in its cheaper mid-range phones, and that’s true here too. While the 3,400mAh battery of the Galaxy S10 typically provided a solid full day’s usage, the larger 4,500mAh cell of the Galaxy S10 Lite is sure to give you more hours to play with.
Thanks to the plastic backing, however, the Galaxy S10 Lite doesn’t have any kind of wireless charging capabilities, while the main S10 has both wireless and reverse wireless charging included–the latter letting you top up another wirelessly-chargeable phone on the back.
Both ship with 128GB of internal storage and offer microSD support for expandable storage, so it’s all even there. Samsung also offers a version of the standard S10 with 512GB of internal storage if you want a lot more onboard space to work with.
The Galaxy S10 Lite curiously loses the 3.5mm headphone port that’s still included on the Galaxy S10, plus the Lite version has no water resistance rating (the S10 is IP68).
Verdict: A tough sell?
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite is definitely an appealing option, finding the middle ground between full-bodied flagship and glossy mid-ranger… but the timing is very curious.
It just released at a price of £579, which is a fair bit less than the £799 starting price of the year-old Galaxy S10. However, a quick glance at Amazon shows that the Galaxy S10 can be purchased for £595 or potentially less right now, and the impending Galaxy S20 announcement means that the S10 price is likely to sink further very soon.
We haven’t issued a verdict on the Galaxy S10 Lite just yet, but based on our experience with the standard S10 and the spec and feature differences here, we would absolutely pay another £15-20 to get the flagship Galaxy S10 over its tweaked, trimmed-down Lite edition.
Right now, the value difference doesn’t really add up – but if the Galaxy S10 Lite quickly drops in price and puts more distance between it and the Galaxy S10, then it might prove to be an appealing option in the months to come. Keep an eye out.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite vs Galaxy Note 10 Lite: What’s the difference?
With two new Lite versions joining the Galaxy S ang Galaxy Note family, what’s the difference and which should you choose?
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With two new Lite versions joining the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note family, it’s obvious that Samsung wants to appeal to a wider range of buyers with devices that are more affordable than the original models.
But, apart from the S Pen on the Note 10 Lite, what’s the difference between these two new Samsung Galaxy handsets?
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
What’s the same?
Before we get to the differences, let’s just run through those things that aren’t different.
Both push the cameras into a black unit the corner and the overall measurements are close. although the Note 10 Lite is a little heavier.
Both come with a 6.7-inch Infinity-O display at 2400 x 1080 pixels (394ppi) with the same selfie camera at 32-megapixels and some of the core specs like storage and the 4500mAh battery and charging are the same. Likewise, they will both off the same Samsung One UI sitting on Android 10.
What’s different?
Physical design
The Galaxy Note 10 Lite isn’t that light at 198g; it’s bigger than the S10 Lite in all dimensions and some of that’s going to come down to having to accommodate the S Pen. As both these devices have the same size display, it’s the S10 Lite that packages things in a little tighter, with smaller bezels.
When it comes to colours, the S10 Lite will come in Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue, while the Note 10 Lite will be Aura Glow, Aura Black and Aura Red, so the Note offers the more exciting colours.
The display
While the resolutions are the same, these displays appear different in Samsung’s details. What’s the difference between AMOLED and AMOLED Plus? Samsung says that Super AMOLED Plus creates a more ergonomic design by using a flexible OLED, although it appears that both these display are flatter then the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy Note 10 models, with less curve around the edges.
The Galaxy Note 10 Lite supports the S Pen. and that means that the display is able to detect and react to Samsung’s stylus, making it a lot more versatile.
But one detail that we’ve spotted is that the Super AMOLED Plus of the Galaxy S10 Lite supports HDR10, but there’s no mention of that for the Note 10 Lite. That means the S10 Lite could have a better performing display.
Core hardware
- Galaxy S10 Lite: 7nm octa core (2.8GHz 2.4GHz 1.7GHz)
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite: 10nm octa core (2.7GHz 1.7GHz)
Samsung has confirmed that the Note 10 Lite will be powered by the Exynos 9810, and that the S10 Lite will run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 platform like the Galaxy A90 5G (although the S10 Lite isn’t a 5G handset).
Indeed, Samsung may offer different hardware in different regions, something it has long done on its devices. There may also be differences in RAM to support this, with the UK getting the 8GB version, while the Note 10 Lite is listed as 6GB.
What does this all mean? It looks like the Note 10 Lite is using slightly older hardware than the Galaxy S10 Lite and it might mean that the Galaxy S10 Lite is the slightly better performer, or the device that looks more favourable to customers.
Different cameras
- Galaxy S10 Lite: 48MP, 12MP, 5MP (main, ultra-wide, macro)
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite: 12MP, 12MP, 12MP (main, ultra-wide, telephoto)
The arrangement of cameras on the two devices is rather baffling because they head off in completely different directions. The only camera that’s the same on both devices is the 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide. Otherwise the Note 10 Lite camera arrangement is similar with the original Note devices, with a 12-megapixel main and 12-megapixel zoom camera.
The Galaxy S10 Lite has a camera arrangement that’s similar to the Galaxy A90 again, with a 48-megapixel main camera. This is supported by Super Steady OIS to remove shake. It then offers a 5-megapixel macro lens. something that the Note 10 Lite doesn’t have at all.
The S Pen
Of course, we can’t talk about these two devices without mentioning the S Pen. The S Pen defines the Note series from Samsung, and in this case you get the Bluetooth Low Energy-equipped S Pen, giving you some remote control over your device.
Naturally, it’s a great experience for those wanting to input text, but with wider Air Command support, you’ll be able to do a whole lot more, like innovative screen capture and interactions. Naturally, the Galaxy S10 Lite doesn’t have any of these features.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite
Conclusions
Looking at the specs, these phones are actually completely different. Different core hardware, different camera arrangement and a different experience. About the only thing that’s the same is the word Lite in the name.
At first glance the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite looks like the better device. We suspect the display will be better and that it will have more power on offer. The cameras might also give this phone the edge, but we’ll have to test those to get a better idea of what’s on offer. We’d also say that the Galaxy S10 Lite looks favourable against the Galaxy S10e. and priced at £579 it’s cheaper than the S10e was at launch.
The Galaxy Note 10 Lite appeal is very much going to come down to price. and that’s just £529. The Note 10 is expensive and this is basically giving you those S Pen functions at a more attractive price. If you’re looking at these two handsets and you’re not an S Pen fan already, then we suspect the Galaxy S10 Lite will be the better option.
