Mini was yesterday: The Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite are here
After Plus comes Lite: Samsung is adding a Lite model to both the Galaxy S10 and the Note10. While the purpose of one smartphone is immediately obvious, it is more difficult to understand how Samsung intends to convince with the other - even after I was able to hold both devices in my hands.
While the Galaxy Note10 Lite is a much cheaper way to get a smartphone with a pen, the Galaxy S10 Lite is very similar to the conventional S10 apart from the camera and is apparently even more expensive - at least if you compare the recommended retail price of one with the street price of the other.
Galaxy Note10 Lite: The S Pen at a favourable price
The fact that Lite does not mean Mini becomes clear when you look at the Note10 Lite. At 6.7 inches, its display is larger than the touchscreen of the Note10 and only 0.1 inches smaller than the Note10 Plus. The Super AMOLED display has a resolution of 2400×1080 pixels and is therefore also between its siblings. This is easily sufficient for a sharp, detailed display and the colours are the usual vibrant. There is a hole in the display for the front camera and no cut-out connected to the frame. The fingerprint sensor is located under the display.
As with the Note10, the S Pen is the main reason to buy the Note10 Lite. The stylus no longer has gesture control on the cheaper smartphone, but can still be used as a remote control by pressing its button. In my opinion, this is no great loss, as gesture control requires very accurate execution and is therefore of little use in everyday use.
While the Note10 Lite's 4300 mAh battery has the same capacity as the Note10 Plus, Samsung has saved on memory. The RAM is only six gigabytes instead of eight and the storage capacity is reduced from at least 256 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes. However, you can still expand it with a microSD card. Samsung uses the Exynos 9810 chipset, which is also used in the Galaxy S10.
For photos, the Note10 Lite still has a triple camera with a wide-angle and telephoto lens. The resolution is twelve megapixels in each case. The wide-angle camera on the Note10 has a higher resolution of 16 megapixels - but this does not automatically mean better pictures. This also applies to the front camera, which has a resolution of a whopping 32 megapixels.
The Galaxy Note10 Lite may no longer offer the best of the best in some areas, but it still has very good features overall. My initial impression is that you can save money without hesitation and don't necessarily have to go for the more expensive Galaxy Note10 Plus.
Galaxy S10 Lite: mechanical image stabilisation
With the Galaxy S10e, Samsung had directly added a small and affordable variant to the Galaxy S10. However, it doesn't seem to have been as convincing. At least the S10 Lite is not smaller and is not an economy version either. At 6.7 inches, its Super AMOLED display is even larger than that of the Galaxy S10 Plus. The resolution is lower at 2400×1080 pixels, but this is not a problem when looking at the display. The screen is rich in detail and the colours are vibrant. It does not have a notch, but a hole for the front camera and the fingerprint sensor is located in or under the display.
The special feature of the Galaxy S10 Lite is the so-called "tilt module" in the camera. This allows the camera to move and perform mechanical image stabilisation for videos. The lens can move up to three degrees. Up to UHD resolution, it replaces the software solutions that Samsung has previously installed in its smartphones.
The triple camera has resolutions of 48 (main), 12 (wide-angle) and 5 megapixels (macro camera). With the main camera, four pixels are always merged into one and the photos end up with a resolution of 12 megapixels. Unlike the S10 Plus, the front camera only has one lens, but has a significantly higher resolution of 32 megapixels.
Samsung uses the still very powerful Snapdragon 855 as the chipset and provides it with eight gigabytes of RAM. Unlike the S10 (Plus), the Galaxy S10 Lite is only available with 128 gigabytes of storage. You can increase the capacity with a microSD card. The battery has 4500 mAh - an even higher capacity than the Galaxy S10 Plus.
The Galaxy S10 Lite is not worse than the S10, it's different. And if its retail price doesn't drop quickly, it's even more expensive than the Galaxy S10. This leaves only the mechanical image stabilisation for videos as an argument for the Lite version and therefore a very small target group.
Price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite should be available in the first quarter of 2020. Samsung has not yet been more specific. While you can choose between "Aura Glow", "Aura Black" and "Aura Red" for the Note10 Lite, the Galaxy S10 Lite comes in "Prism White", "Prism Black" and "Prism Blue".
The recommended retail prices in Germany are 599 euros for the Galaxy Note10 Lite and 649 euros for the Galaxy S10 Lite. Samsung has not yet been able to name prices in francs for Switzerland. <p
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.