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Introduction
When Samsung launched its Galaxy S10-lineup last year, the Galaxy S10e immediately positioned itself as the budget alternative to the expensive vanilla S10 and S10+. But it also filled an overlooked niche - compact flagships. Now with the release of the Galaxy S10 Lite, things start to get a bit confusing. Because we all thought the S10e was the light model. And if you look at the S10 Lite's specs sheet closely, you'd notice that there's nothing Lite about that phone.the
In fact, we expect the S10 Lite to perform better than its full-fledged S10 siblings in some scenarios. Battery life and charging are two of them as the S10 Lite comes with a generous 4,500 mAh unit and supports up to 45W fast charging over the USB Power Delivery standard. Those are some features that are missing from the Galaxy S10-lineup's specs sheet.
The S10 Lite also comes with a 6.7-inch screen which makes it the largest S10 devices in the roster (the S10+ is 'only' 6.4 inches).
And we've all heard and seen the stories about the Snapdragon 855's ISP being better than Samsung's one on the Exynos so it's going to be interesting to see how it performs against the S10, for example. Also, the S10 Lite adopts the popular 48MP sensor with pixel-binning that everyone uses and this is the first time we see this sensor coupled with a high-end hardware.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite specs
- Body: Glass front and back, metal side frame
- Screen: 6.7-inch, 20:9, FHD+ (1080 x 2400px), Super AMOLED Plus
- Rear camera: Primary 48MP, 1/2" sensor size, 0.8µm pixels, f/2.0 aperture; Ultra wide-angle: 12MP, f/2.2 aperture, 12mm; Macro: 5MP, 1/5.0" f/2.4; LED flash; 2160p@60fps video recording
- Front camera: 32MP, f/2.2 aperture
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855: Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.78 GHz Kryo 485), Adreno 640 GPU
- Memory: 6/128GB or 8/128GB UFS 2.1; microSD card support;
- OS: Android 10; Samsung One UI 2.0 on top
- Battery: 4,500mAh, 25W/45W USB PD 3.0 charging
- Connectivity: Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB-C; 3.5mm audio jack
- Misc: Under-display optic fingerprint reader, NFC, no 3.5mm audio jack.
Despite its differences, we can see how the S10 Lite fits in the family by providing a bigger screen than the S10+ while offering most of the features the other S10s have. And we don't think the S10 Lite will cannibalize the sales of the rest of its family. Currently, the phone sells for around €650 - just as much you'd pay for the S10+ - while offering features that are more in line with 2020. Of course, there are some trade-offs that need to be considered.
There's one moderately big setback with the current camera setup, though - there's no telephoto. We have a capable ultra-wide snapper and a promising 5MP dedicated macro camera in addition to the main 48MP and that's a pretty big oversight in our books. One would argue that a proper 2x telephoto camera would be more beneficial than the macro. After all, we've seen pretty decent telephoto units on much cheaper devices so we can't think of a reason why would the S10 Lite settle for less.
Now let's get familiar with Samsung's newest mainstream flagship phone.
Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
The handset comes with the usual user manuals and a USB-C to USB-C cable for charging and data transfer. That's because it has to support the USB Power Delivery 3.0 charging standard with the included 25W brick in the box. Keep in mind, though, that if you don't have a PC with USB-C connector or a USB-C to USB-A cable, you can't connect the phone to your computer unless you get an extra cable.
Aside from that, you also get a pair of AKG-tuned wired USB-C earphones included in the retail box.
Design and ergonomics
In terms of design, the Galaxy S10 Lite departs from the rest of the S10 family. The back is easily distinguishable due to the camera module design while the front looks a lot like the Galaxy Note10-series with the Infinity-O display design.
Anyway, the build is nothing short of premium. We've got the usual glass sandwich chassis but we have no information regarding which Gorilla Glass version Samsung has used. If the OEM used Corning's glass at all, of course. But our wild guess is that it has a previous version of Gorilla Glass. Maybe it's 5. Maybe there's no Gorilla Glass at all.
Either way, the handset feels nice in the hand. There are no sharp or protruding edges, the screen is ever so slightly curved to sides to seamlessly transition into the frame - most of you would love the idea of a Samsung flagship with a flat screen - and the same goes for the back panel. Still, the handset is pretty slippery like every other glass phone but at least the fingerprints and smudges aren't as visible on the black version we got.
While we are still on the back design, we can't miss addressing the elephant in the room - the oval-shaped rectangle. It does give the phone that distinct look but it's also hard to argue with the fact that the bump doesn't have to be that big. There's a second column on the right reserved just for the LED flash and the Super Steady OIS inscription. But we guess, once the S20 series is out, this would make the S10 Lite appear more in line with the latest flagships.
Luckily, the camera bump isn't as big as one would expect. It protrudes just a little and due to its design, it doesn't cause the phone to wobble as much when placed flat on the table.
The side frame is made of metal with a glossy finish perfectly blending with the rest of the handset. On the left you will find the SIM card tray, the right side houses the power button and the volume rocker while the bottom makes room for the USB-C connector and the loudspeaker grille. The 3.5mm audio jack isn't there, though.
As we already pointed out, the front of the phone looks a lot like a Galaxy Note10+ without the curved side edges. The frame is super thin from all sides except for the bottom bezel. It's still impressively thin but it's a tad thicker than the rest of the bezels.
The punch-hole for the front-facing camera in the center is also quite small and it's close enough to the top border so it doesn't eat away too much of the screen real estate. We find it less obtrusive than a standard or a minimalist notch and most probably won't be an issue for most of you too.
And as far as handling goes, the S10 Lite is an unwieldy phone with a tall 6.7-inch screen, it's really hard to use with just one hand. It also tends to be top-heavy meaning that when you hold the phone, it will tend to lean forward. Interestingly enough, the overall weight of the handset is 186g, which is surprisingly light for a big-screen phone with a huge 4,500 mAh battery. To put things into perspective, the Note10+ and the OnePlus 7T Pro have roughly the same screen diagonal, smaller batteries but weigh around the 200g mark.
Flagship-grade Infinity-O Super AMOLED Plus display
Screens have always been one of the centerpiece features of Samsung smartphones and that's true even for its low-end and mid-range phones. Most of the company's handsets feature OLED screens and the Galaxy S10 Lite offers one of the best-in-class solutions. It's not the so-called Dynamic AMOLED display the high-end S10 and Note10 lineups have. This one they call Super AMOLED Plus. We don't know what the "Plus" is for but we suspect it's because of the HDR10+ certification. The Note10 Lite, for example, has the same 6.7-inch panel but caps at HDR10 support and there's no "Plus" in its name. Oh, and we've checked - both the Netflix and YouTube apps recognize the phone as HDR10 capable.
Specs-wise, the display isn't anything out of the ordinary - a tall 20:9, 6.7-inch panel with 1080 x 2400px resolution and a small punch-hole in the upper-center of the screen for the front-facing camera. Our tests revealed excellent sunlight legibility as it can go up to 400 nits in manual mode but when the Max Auto kicks in, it can get up to 705 nits - enough to deplete your battery in a matter of minutes but also makes everything on the screen visible even on a bright sunny day.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 400 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 705 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 410 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 622 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 427 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 597 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 743 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 385 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 793 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 500 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 708 | ∞ | |
In terms of color accuracy, the display is just as impressive. The handset ships with the Natural mode by default, which produces an average dE2000 of just 1.4 while the maximum dE2000 is as low as 2.7. Switching to Vivid mode will produce more saturated, AMOLED-like colors with boosted reds, greens, cyans, and yellows. The white color is also a bit blue-ish. The average dE2000 is 4.6 and goes as high as 10.2.
Battery life
Battery life probably makes the best case to opt for the Lite version instead of choosing one of the "real S10s". Due to its size, the S10 Lite can hold a significantly bigger battery than its siblings and offers a 4,500 mAh unit. Coupled with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 chipset, the S10 Lite performed exceptionally well in our battery tests scoring high on our screen-on and screen-off tests. The web browsing one could have been just a tad better for the offered battery capacity but the standby test was on par with the current flagship phones on the market.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
And fast charging hasn't been overlooked either. As we've mentioned in the previous pages, the device supports up to 45W of fast charging over USB Power Delivery 3.0 as long as the charger or the power bank support the PPS standard. The same goes for the 25W speeds but that's provided by the included brick in the box. And don't forget the USB-C to USB-C cable too, as it's essential for the Super Fast charging to work.
So when all criteria are met, you can top up the phone from flat in just 62 minutes while the first 63% can be reached within 30 minutes. Keep in mind, though, that the 45W charger won't have a huge impact on the charging speed as we've already established with the Galaxy Note10+. Besides, the 25W charger is already doing better than its rival proprietary chargers that are capped at 30W or even 40W.
Audio quality
We moved on to testing the audio output of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite via its USB-C port. The phone doesn’t have a dedicated 3.5mm audio jack so we used the official Samsung dongle, but if you happen to have a different adapter your experience might vary.
When hooked to an active external amplifier the Galaxy S10 Lite was nicely loud and posted excellent scores top to bottom.
Headphones didn’t bother it much either with a well-contained increase in stereo crosstalk the only observed change. A very solid performance overall.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.04, -0.17 | -93.7 | 93.7 | 0.0016 | 0.0013 | -94.7 | |
| +0.05, -0.16 | -93.8 | 93.7 | 0.00327 | 0.021 | -71.6 | |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -92.9 | 92.7 | 0.0015 | 0.0074 | -89.4 | |
| +0.05, -0.05 | -92.7 | 92.5 | 0.0017 | 0.037 | -73.0 | |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -92.2 | 92.0 | 0.0015 | 0.0079 | -92.7 | |
| +0.06, -0.03 | -91.9 | 91.7 | 0.0020 | 0.037 | -77.0 | |
| +0.03, -0.05 | -93.0 | 92.8 | 0.0015 | 0.0070 | -94.3 | |
| +0.06, -0.03 | -92.7 | 92.5 | 0.0044 | 0.044 | -87.2 | |
| +0.22, -0.23 | -98.8 | 96.2 | 0.014 | 0.0092 | -45.4 | |
| +0.59, -0.20 | -93.9 | 93.9 | 0.020 | 0.516 | -42.0 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -90.5 | 90.4 | 0.0014 | 0.013 | -93.0 | |
| +0.14, -0.23 | -90.4 | 90.3 | 0.0046 | 0.211 | -47.0 | |
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Android 10 coupled with in-house One UI 2.0
Compared to the first iteration of One UI, the second version isn't all that different design-wise. Most of the changes come with Android 10 and are under the hood. For example, now apps will ask your permission to use location on the background or you can limit them to only when using the app in the foreground. Of course, you can also deny them accessing your location as a whole.
Another big change that came with Android 10 is the system-wide dark mode. The latter was available in the previous version of One UI too but it was limited to the system apps and menus. Now, it extends to third-party applications that support it such as Instagram, Gmail, Chrome, etc.
Lock screen, home screen, recent apps, notification shade
The most notable change of all, however, is the gesture-based navigation. In the previous iteration of the software, Samsung offered the standard software button setup and the custom-tailored Samsung swipe-up gestures. Now you have a third choice - the default Android 10 gestures. Swipe from the bottom takes you back to the Home screen, swipe and hold summons the recent apps menu and swipe from the left or right bezel acts as a back button. Unfortunately, there's no quick switch between the current app in the foreground and the previous one.
Navigation gestures
But in typical Samsung fashion, there's some additional customization for the gestures. You can adjust the back gesture sensitivity, which would affect how close you have to swipe from the bezel to execute the gesture. This one is particularly useful when using a case that doesn't allow you to swipe directly from the side frame.
The next on the list is the biometrics. Samsung has made a decision to switch to an optical fingerprint reader for the Lite version in favor of the ultrasonic fingerprint reader used on the previous models so far. This might be all due to budgeting or due to the fact that the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner technology just can't deliver great user experience. Almost all of the rival optic solutions perform sensibly better than the original S10 and Note10 series in this regard. And what about the S10 Lite? Well, it appears to be marginally better than the ultrasonic readers we've tried.
It's a tad faster and slightly more accurate but all the animations are what slows it down. We've had the same problem with the Note10 and the S10 when we reviewed them last year. Once the reader recognizes your fingertip, it would unlock the screen and then you'd have to wait for the unlocking animation to do its job along with the short delay right before the animation starts. Additionally, if you set the Always-on screen to show upon a single tap, you'd have to wait even longer for the fingerprint area outlines to appear. It can take up to a second for the area to illuminate. This issue has also been around since the first S10s and still hasn't been fixed. Not to mention that the illuminated area is hardly illuminated and it's hard to see it in a bright environment.
Biometrics and Always-on display options
Of course, you can shave off some of the unlocking time by setting the Always-on display option to always visible. The fingerprint area will always show while a double tap will light up the whole screen. All in all, the whole unlocking experience leaves something more to be desired.
There are a couple of more useful options in the Always-on settings menu that let you choose the style of the Always-on display, schedule it or even let the phone adjust the brightness depending on the surrounding environment.
And another minor annoyance we had with the software was the power button. If you hold the power button to restart or turn off the phone, it will instead summon Bixby and that's the default option out of the box. Luckily, Samsung gives you the option to disable summoning Bixby with the power button but we were puzzled at first.
Advanced options and gestures
Aside from the unlocking experience and the default Bixby option, everything ran smoothly without any hiccups, hangs or freezes. And we didn't expect less too - we've got one of the most powerful chipsets from last year under the hood paired with an even more polished version of Samsung's brand new One UI so expect smooth sailing when it comes to performance convenience, customization options.
Performance
The "Lite" part in the name would lead you to believe that Samsung has cut some corners to deliver a more wallet-friendly package but performance definitely isn't one of the compromises the company had to make. The handset runs one of the best chipsets from last year even if's not the latest. In fact, we'd say that if the chip affects the price so much, we would still choose the Snapdragon 855 over the Plus version. After all, the difference is just a couple of added frames in games and benchmarks due to the higher clocked GPU in the Snapdragon 855+. Even more so, the Snapdragon 855 offers superior graphics performance compared to the Exynos 9820 chipset ticking inside the rest of the Galaxy S10 smartphones. This doesn't apply if you are based in China or the US as those markets got the Snapdragon 855-powered S10s.
Anyway, we know what to expect from the Snapdragon 855 in terms of raw performance as we've seen it in other phones as well. It employs an octa-core CPU with 1x Kryo 485 core running at 2.84GHz, 3x Kryo 485 cores at 2.42GHz and 4x Kryo 485 cores ticking at 1.78GHz. The Adreno 640 takes care of the graphically-intensive tasks.
The S10 Lite's Snapdragon 855 is also aided by 6 or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal, expandable (via microSD) storage. The version we tested has 8GB of RAM. And here's how it fares against the competition.
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
2858 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
2732 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
2521 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
2241 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
2190 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
2027 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
2027
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S10+
827 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
819 - OnePlus 7T
776 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
738 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
694 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
688 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
688
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
485585 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
459497 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
452400 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
401208 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
399901 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
341212 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
341212 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
256717
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
48 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
43 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
42 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
33 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
29 - Huawei P30 Pro
29 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
29 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
28 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
17
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
41 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
34 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
29 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
28 - Huawei P30 Pro
27 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
25 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
25 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
23 - Xiaomi Mi Note 10
15
3DMark SSE OpenGL ES 3.1 1440p
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
6296 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
5641 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
4889 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4420 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
4215 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
4015 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p
Higher is better
- OnePlus 7T
5540 - Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
4892 - Samsung Galaxy Note10
4862 - Samsung Galaxy S10+
4295 - Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
4231 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
3706 - Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
3706
Triple-camera setup with a dedicated macro lens
The main camera is supposedly the star of the show, however, as Samsung's Super Steady OIS technology promises an impressive combination of software and hardware stabilization. We've seen the Super Steady Video Mode in action in previously reviewed Samsung devices and it works really well by producing gimbal-like action videos. This is the first time we see the tech making its way to a big sensor with pixel-binning tech. As for the lens itself, it's optically stabilized (well, duh) and it has a f/2.0 aperture.
The ultra-wide camera is nothing special - 12MP with f/2.2 aperture with a proper ultra-wide 123-degree viewing angle.
As we've said in the introduction, the only change we would have made to the camera setup is adding a 2x telephoto camera. We find it more useful than a macro camera. That doesn't mean that the macro lens is bad, though. It's 5MP (competing brands usually settle for 2MP macro cameras) and it appears to be capable of taking some crisp closeup shots.
The front-facing camera is 32MP with f/2.2 aperture and it also makes use of pixel binning outputting 8MP photos. As long as you choose the option not to crop your selfie photos. W
Camera menus
The default camera's UI is the same as before - swipe left or right to switch between modes and tap in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder to adjust some additional settings.
Under the "More" sub-menu, you will find the Macro, Pro, Super slow-mo, Hyperlapse, Night and Food modes. You can add them and re-arrange them to your liking for quick access in the viewfinder carousel. Unfortunately, the Pro mode offers you to take control of only three settings such as exposure, white balance, and ISO. There's no manual autofocus and no shutter speed setting as well.
You do get the flagship feature of Live focus video, though, as the Snapdragon 855 chipset is perfectly capable of handling the real-time background processing.
And now off to the fun part - the camera samples.
Daylight samples
In a usual Samsung fashion, the S10 Lite delivers punchy colors during the day with good dynamic range. However, there's some noise in some rare occasions in uniform areas of the scene but the more pronounced issues during the day are the visible sharpening halos and the edge to edge sharpness varies. In most cases, the lower-left corner of the scene would turn out soft.
Main camera daylight samples
Main camera daylight samples
The ultra-wide camera was a surprise though as it offers similar rendition to the main camera with punchy colors and impressive dynamic range. Still, we find it a bit on the soft side, at least compared to the main camera, but that's a re-occurring theme with ultra-wide cams, even in the top-tier segment. The lens correction is doing a pretty good job, however, especially considering the wide 123-degree field of view.
Ultra-wide daylight samples
Low-light samples
The low-light performance is looking rather good with a few exceptions. Color saturation appears to vary from scene to scene, and overall it's looking a bit soft. We noticed that the HDR engages in almost all of the night scenarios and it seems that it's doing a really good job too. You can see lots of detail in the highlights and shadows are well-developed in most cases. Light sources are also handled well.
Main camera low-light samples
The dedicated Night mode, on the other hand, isn't doing a great deal here. It does restore a bit more detail in the shadows but doesn't seem to be helping with the highlights and the light sources. It also adds a lot of grain in the photos, mostly in the dark areas so we don't think it's worth the trade-off. We find the Night mode a bit too conservative and we can't say it improves the overall picture quality. The standard HDR mode does a pretty good job on its own and you don't have to hold your breath several seconds to ensure a proper image stacking for the Night mode.
Main camera Night mode samples
Things change when you switch to the ultra-wide camera. The Night mode photos just look better with a bit more sharpness despite the added noise. The photos are still generally soft and there are visible artifacts in the neon lights. And once again, you can expect the HDR to deliver wide dynamic range in the ultra-wide stills as well.
Ultra-wide low-light samples: Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode
You can head off to our photo compare tool to do some more pixel peeping and compare the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite performance to every other smartphone we've tested.
Galaxy S10 Lite against the Galaxy S10+ and OnePlus 7T in our Photo compare tool
Macro samples
The macro camera on the S10 Lite is definitely one of the good dedicated macro camera implementations, especially compared to most of the Chinese brands employing those 2MP sensors. The 5MP macro snapper on the S10 Lite delivers sharp and punchy images and detail is quite impressive, even for a 5MP sensor. The only downside is the lack of autofocus so some of the photos may turn out blurry, especially when trying to capture, let's say a flower on a windy day.
Macro samples
Portraits
For the lack of dedicated depth sensor, the phone does a pretty good job of separating the subject from the background. The faux bokeh effect is looking really nice even when more complex background is introduced to the scene. Portraits look sharp and have natural-looking skin tone.
Portrait samples
Selfies
The overall selfie quality is good - nice colors and good dynamic range. Sharpness is also on par with most selfie cams but we feel that it could have been just a tad better for a 32MP sensor binning at 8MP.
Selfies: Normal • Cropped • Normal • Cropped • Normal • Cropped
Naturally, the edge detection isn't the best too but we don't expect it to be perfect in the selfie mode either. If you stick to a more uniform background, the results may be good.
Portrait selfies
Video recording
Having a flagship SoC, the phone is capable of recording 4K videos up to 60fps and slow-motion videos up to 720@960fps. Live focus videos are also an option - a feature that has been around since the Galaxy Note10 and Note10+. There's also this thing called Super Steady OIS that's supposed to help you capture well-stabilized 4K and Full HD videos.
Let's start with the 2160p video shot with the main camera. The level of detail is really good, there's no noise and colors are lively.
The 1080p video, on the other hand, isn't looking all too well in terms of detail and sharpness - it's a lower resolution after all. But the overall rendition is the same as on the main camera.
To our surprise, the ultra-wide camera can shoot in 4K and is looking really good. Sharpness and detail are impressive and it's comparable to that of the main camera. It's important to note that this is one of the few phones that can record 4K videos with its ultra-wide unit.
When it comes to stabilization, the main camera offers OIS for its Full HD and 4K videos. Samsung markets the feature as Super Steady OIS that should combine the well-known Super Steady software stabilization introduced with the original Galaxy S10-series and the hardware optical stabilization. The end result, however, doesn't seem to be all that different from the standard stabilized 4K video. So we can't really tell what the Super Steady OIS really means or what its benefits are.
Switching over to the Super Steady video recording mode, we can clearly see the phone using its ultra-wide camera, cropping out the excess around the center and producing a gimbal-like action video. But as we noted earlier, the Super Steady feature has been introduced with the original Galaxy S10 lineup and doesn't seem to be benefiting from the Super Steady OIS feature in this particular case.
All in all, the Super Steady OIS remains as one of those mystery features that manufacturers market but don't' seem to be doing anything useful.
Here's a glimpse of how the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite compares to other smartphones in our Video compare tool.
2160p: Galaxy S10 Lite against the Galaxy S10+ and the OnePlus 7T in our Video compare tool
Competition
We started this review with the notion that the Galaxy S10 Lite is more of a flagship device than a mid-range one because the current price of the handset matches the S10+'s price tag of around €650. Also, it falls perfectly into the "flagship killer" category where OnePlus, Xiaomi and Realme reign. But as we went along with our testing and assessment, we understood why Samsung has put the "Lite" in the name.
Let's start with the most obvious alternative to the S10 Lite and that's the S10+. And the S10+ puts things into perspective. It has similar battery life, same generation SoC (Exynos 9820 vs Snapdragon 855), a curved screen and far better camera experience. Things may not be so clear-cut though because if you don't care as much about the battery, the Galaxy S10 Lite provides a handful of tangible advantages over the S10+ such as the larger screen (a flat one at that in case the curved design is a turn-off), the longer battery life, the faster 25W fast charging, and the faster and more accurate under-display fingerprint reader.
Samsung Galaxy S10+ • Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
Another viable option from Samsung's camp is the Note10 Lite that came out with the S10 Lite. And to our surprise, the Note10 Lite makes a compelling point not to get the S10 Lite. It has a telephoto camera, better overall camera performance, similar battery life, a 3.5 mm audio jack and an S-Pen. Sure, the chipset falls short in terms of future-proofing in 2020 but it's more than enough for day-to-day productivity. It's a full-fledged Note on the cheap while the S10 Lite's edge is the slightly brighter screen that supports HDR10+ and delivers better gaming performance.
Moving away from the Korean manufacturer's portfolio, we can't miss mentioning the OnePlus 7T. An excellent all-rounder that's not only cheaper than its Korean contender but it's also slightly faster, delivers good battery life, fast charging and far superior camera performance and versatility. Oh, and don't forget the smooth 90Hz OLED that 7T has to offer while surpassing the S10 Lite's display in terms of peak brightness at the same resolution.
OnePlus 7T • Xiaomi Mi Note 10
And while we are in this strange "affordable flagship" category, Xiaomi's recently introduced Mi Note 10 springs to mind. It's as Samsung took Xiaomi's approach with the Mi Note 10 and flipped it at 180-degrees. While Samsung's competitor has the flagship SoC behind the wheel and an excellent OLED display, the Mi Note 10 settles for a mid-range chipset but offers flagship-grade camera versatility and quality. The display and battery life are in the same category as well so it's really up to you which aspect of these phones you prefer the most. The choice between Xiaomi's MIUI and Samsung's One UI 2.0 is going to play a deciding role too.
Verdict
Looking at the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite as an isolated phone, it's an easy recommendation. It has a flagship SoC, fairly capable camera setup, good screen, long battery life and impressive fast charging. It checks all the boxes for a flagship device while asking a little less than a new top-tier phone would.
But this is never the case in a competitive environment such as the smartphone market. The existence of the OnePlus 7T and the Galaxy S10+, which is a year-old device now and can be found at an attractive price, make the case for the Galaxy S10 Lite a hard one. The camera performance is somewhat disappointing compared to most of the contenders, it lacks the 3.5 mm audio jack and its screen is not necessarily the best on the market. Sure, it's extra-large, but there are cheaper phones with high-refresh-rate OLED screens with similar or even better image quality. Take the Realme X2 Pro, for example.
The fingerprint reader performance is also something to look out for with the S10 Lite - while improved compared to all other Samsung flagships, it's still a bit behind the competition. The lack of stereo loudspeakers might put off some potential buyers browsing the market in the €650 territory.
All in all, the Galaxy S10 Lite acts like a flagship device with a high starting price tag but fails to deliver in some key areas in which the "flagship killers" have it all. Overall, it's a great phone but it's not particularly competitive at its launch price and at this particular point in time.
Pros
- Extra large AMOLED with HDR10+ support, flat one at that
- Excellent battery life
- Surprisingly light for its footprint and battery size
- Competitive fast charging solution
- 4K video capture is nice and the ultra-wide camera snaps good stills during the day
- This is Samung's fastest and most accurate under-display fingerprint reader yet (albeit still a bit behind the competition)
Cons
- The overall main camera performance is lacking and we're missing the telephoto lens
- No 3.5 mm audio jack
- The Super Steady OIS seems to be a hollow marketing talk for now
- No stereo loudspeakers, no water-proofing
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