Those who couldn’t afford the Samsung Galaxy S10, don’t fear. The company is coming out with a more affordable model – the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite. With many of the features remaining the same, there are some nice touches to the product, justifying the release of yet another ‘affordable flagship’. This was quite unexpected since the Samsung Galaxy S10e was released just last year as an affordable alternative to the S10. In fact, the company even released a Lite Note model.
The price of the S10 Lite has not yet been mentioned. However, chances are high that it will be priced lower than the Galaxy S10e. Samsung has also not mentioned the country where the smartphone is likely to be released first. Since it could come with a Snapdragon 855 chipset, signs point to a US release. There is also likely to be an Exynos chipset version for the European countries. Or, Samsung might just decide to go ahead with the Snapdragon chipset worldwide.
Design And Display
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite does not give off the feel of a premium phone compared to the existing S-series phones. It is larger in size when compared to the S10 and even the S10 Plus. It is pretty similar to the S10 Plus 5G model. The most prominent feature of the smartphone is that it replaces the horizontal rear camera strip for a solid rectangular lens block. The screen is crisp and sharp with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen. It is Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080). Similar to the S10e smartphone, the S10 Lite doesn’t take up with the curved waterfall edges either. At the front is a punch-hole for the front-facing camera. Don’t worry, it is much smaller now. Again, it is at the centre instead of the usual top right. To put it simply, this new model by the company is basically a simplified version of the S10 Plus. Some luxury features have made their way here and the product ended up as a mid-range model.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite boasts of three cameras in its rear suite. The phone does not have any telephoto lens and the company does not seem to have thought of it either. Instead, you will see there is a 5MP Macro lens for up-close photography. This is ideal for clicking bugs, flowers, and more. This addition suggests that the developers took feedback from the users with regards to the camera. Requests poured in from those who want to shoot wider and closer-in, but not from further away. Looks like Samsung has listened to them after all. The 48MP main lens comes with a Super Steady OIS. The selfie camera has a 32MP sensor, but we do not know yet how the images will turn out despite the impressive camera specs.
The rear camera has a noticeable bump. The back also has “Super Steady OIS” stamped on the back to boast about its wonderful optical stabilisation. While it is super and steady, there are many other devices out there that offer OIS camera units. The 48MP main sensor is designed to get more resolution than the standard S10. The default method uses four pixels and combines them into one to get better colour, sharpness, and detail in the image.
Coming to the standard and ultrawide camera, we don’t see it giving S10 Lite the same kind of versatility that the S10 Plus was used to. The newer model also doesn’t come with an optical zoom. It only has a dedicated macro lens. While it does work well, it doesn’t seem to offer enough to justify its retention. One nice touch here is the presence of the 32-megapixel resolution on the front camera, which is something new for a Lite model.
Performance And Battery
Coming to the specs and performance of the Galaxy S10 Lite, it is reasonably good enough for a mid-range flagship. However, it does not have anything that can compete against the 2020 flagships. The phone naturally runs on the Snapdragon 855 chipset. The smartphone comes with an 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, which is good enough for most users, including watching movies, using the internet, taking photos, and more. Coming to the battery, the S10 Lite features a massive 4,500mAh one. This even surpasses the S10 Plus’ 4,100mAh battery.
The reason behind the larger battery in the Lite is that it is bigger than most S10 variants. This makes more space for a battery. Except for the S10 Plus, most S10 variants didn’t have sufficient battery life to make it last through the day. The Lite’s 4,500mAh is a surprise for a Lite model, especially considering the premium ones are short of battery! Although the model is a Lite variant, there is nothing all that light about it. It runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, similar to the other S10 models. The phone runs on Android 10 software with Samsung’s UI 2 skin. The experience was smooth and fast, and no major issues were apparent during use in the demo mode.
Verdict
While we know a lot of the specs of the Galaxy S10 Lite, it is still hard to predict if the phone is good value for money, without having any idea of its price. However, with new features, a larger size, and a huge battery, the smartphone is certain to attract attention. Many are also wondering if the upcoming Galaxy S11 series will get its own affordable ‘e’ version, which could make the S10 Lite model get pushed aside.
While the smartphone features decent specs and is likely to make a bang if it were launched separately and not part of the S10 series, it is impossible to predict just how well it would be received as a Lite version of S10. However, it has many points in its favour. A larger screen, a better battery, Snapdragon 855 processor, a good enough camera, and so much more make up the S10 Lite smartphone. I think all we can do for now is to wait and watch.
