Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite review
Introduction
What is a Samsung Galaxy Note to you? If you understand it to be an ultra-high-end smartphone with a stylus, then the latest Galaxy Note10 Lite will have you disappointed. Not on the stylus front – it’s got an S Pen alright, but on the top-level hardware. Let’s try and figure out what the Galaxy Note10 Lite is and isn’t.
It isn’t a true flagship, that should be evident. For one, it’s powered by a two year-old chipset – yes, it’s a high-end chipset, but it’s still from the S9 times. Then there’s the display, a FullHD-only AMOLED that is just Super, but not Dynamic, and not even Plus like on the Galaxy S10 Lite.
A few other top-tier niceties are gone as well – there’s no IP rating on the Galaxy Note10 Lite and no Gorilla Glass is mentioned explicitly, a single speaker fires out the bottom, wireless charging coils are missing, and the fingerprint reader is a bit slower than the one on the flagships. Storage is UFS 2.1, unlike the Note10’s speedier 3.0 and there less of it – 128GB is the only option, which is half the real Notes’ standard equipment, while RAM is an unthinkable (/s) 6 gigs in the base trim, 8GB tops. So no – not a flagship this one.
But… it does have the S Pen, and styluses are hard to come by in today’s smartphones. Perhaps best of all, the Lite comes with the biggest battery on a Galaxy Note (smartphone, the Note tablets don’t count) – a 4,500mAh powerpack managed to fit in here despite the S Pen silo getting in the way. The Note10 Lite is also packing a really promising camera system with a standard trio on the back (wide, ultra wide, short tele) and a big sensor/high-res selfie unit.
Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite
- Body: 163.7×76.1×8.7mm, 199g; aluminum frame; Aura Glow, Aura Black, Aura Red color schemes.
- Screen: 6.7″ Super AMOLED, 1080x2400px resolution; 20:9 aspect ratio; 394ppi; HDR support.
- Chipset: Exynos 9810 (10nm): Octa-core (4×2.7GHz Mongoose M3 & 4×1.7GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G72 MP18
- Memory: 6/8GB RAM, 128GB built-in UFS 2.1 storage, shared microSD slot.
- OS/Software: Android 10, One UI 2.0.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 12MP, 1/2.55″ sensor, f/1.7 aperture, 27mm equiv. focal length, dual pixel PDAF, OIS. Telephoto: 12MP, 1/3.6″, f/2.4, 52mm, PDAF, OIS. Ultra-wide: 12MP, f/2.2, 12mm (123° FoV), fixed focus.
- Front camera: 32MP, f/2.2, 25mm, 1/2.8″, 0.8µm, fixed focus; 2160p@30fps video recording.
- Battery: 4,500mAh, 25W fast charging over Power Delivery 3.0 (25W charger supplied in the box).
- Misc: S Pen stylus; optical under-display fingerprint reader; NFC; single bottom-firing loudspeaker.
Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite unboxing
Lite as it may be, this Galaxy Note10 comes in the same box as its more premium stablemates. Inside it, you’ll find a lot of the same accessories too. A 25W charger promises speedy top-ups and the Power Delivery happens over the included USB-C-to-C cable. A Note-specific set of S Pen tips with a tool to replace them is also part of the bundle.
A few things have gotten the ‘lite’ treatment. For one, it’s not the nice AKG-branded headset with the braided cables you’d get with the flagships, but a less fancy-looking pair of earbuds instead in the Note10 Lite’s box. Gone are the USB adapters the were a part of the Note10’s reatail bundle, too.
