Samsung’s efforts to bring the S-series flagship specs to a broader audience by trimming some of the flashier elements could pay off, especially in markets that shy from the skyrocketing price tags of the top-tier Samsung handsets. The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite hybrid-SIM 128GB – blue (UK version) looks like it could be pitched as a capable phone that’s priced to rival the cheaper beastly flagships coming out of China, yet retains the Samsung brand’s polished reputation. Reveal more in Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite hybrid-SIM 128GB – blue (UK version) review.
It’s also, however, a phone with an appeal that overlaps that of the S10e and the higher-specced Samsung Galaxy A-series of phones. We anticipate that the S10 Lite’s identity will be embodied by its large size and lower cost, but unless Samsung strategically chooses to limit regional availability of its two ‘lite’ phones, the S10 Lite, as good as it is, might get lost in the mix. Discover details in Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite hybrid-SIM 128GB – blue (UK version) review.
Specifications
Features
- Features: ANT+
- Built-in Sensors: Fingerprint Reader, Gyroscope/Accelerometer, Proximity Scanner
- Physical Keyboard: No
- Home Button: Software Button
- Fingerprint Reader: Display
- Water Resistant: No
- Shock Resistant: No
Communication
- SIM Card: Nano-SIM
- Dual SIM Card Slots: Yes
- Hybrid Dual SIM Slot: No
- GPS: Yes
- Positioning System: A-GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, GPS, Galileo
- Communication Standards: 2G, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth Version: 5.0
- Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 1 (802.11b), Wi-Fi 2 (802.11a), Wi-Fi 3 (802.11g), Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
- SAR-Value: 1.52 W/kg
Camera
- Built-in Camera: Yes
- Front Camera: Yes
- Number of Back Cameras: 3
- Number of Front Cameras: 1
- Camera Resolution: 48.0 MP
- Camera Resolution (Front): 32.0 MP
- Max Frames Per Second: 960 fps
- Max Video Resolution: 2160p (4K)
- Max Aperture: 2.4
- Camera Features: Auto Focus, Flash/Light, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
Connections
- USB: Yes
- USB Type: USB (Type C)
- USB Version: 2.0
- Headphone Jack 3,5mm: No
Processor
- Processor Speed: 2.84 GHz
- Processor Cores: Octa Core
- System on Chip (SoC): Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
- Graphics Processor (GPU): Adreno 640
- MemoryRAM: 6 GB
Display
- Screen Size: 6.7 inches
- Screen Resolution: 1080×2400
- Pixel Density (PPI): 394
- Screen-to-body Ratio: 87.8 %
- Screen Type: AMOLED
- Secondary Screen: No
- Touch Screen: Yes
- Active Digitizer: No
- HDR: Yes
- Power source: Battery Capacity (mAh)4500 mAh
- Exchangeable Battery: No
- Wireless Charging: No
- Fast Charging: Yes
- Storage: Internal
- Memory Size: 128 GB
- Memory Card Reader: Yes
- Memory Card Type: microSD
Price & Availability
The S10 Lite’s $650 price is $200 cheaper than the S10 Plus, but only a $100 savings off the S10. A budget-minded shopper could turn to the Galaxy S10e for $599, though the S10 Lite will likely appeal to users who prefer bigger screens and longer battery life.
Samsung just announced a $650 price for the Galaxy S10 Lite. You’ll be able to buy the phone directly from Samsung as well as from Amazon and Best Buy starting on April 17. At Samsung, you can take $250 off the price with an eligible trade-in. Best Buy is also taking $200 off with qualified activation of the phone. At Amazon, you can get a free pair of Galaxy Buds with purchase.
In an age where flagship phones approach $1,000, $650 may seem like a bargain. But there’s more to the S10 Lite’s price than there seems at first glance, especially given what’s happened since we first saw the Galaxy S10 Lite during CES 2020 in January. At the time Samsung hadn’t announced pricing or availability, but we had hoped to see a price cut from what the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus cost.
A lot’s changed in the months since we had our hands-on time with the S10 Lite. For starters, Samsung introduced a new round of flagship phones, the Galaxy S20 family. And with built-in 5G plus big camera improvements, those new phones command a high-price — $999 for the S20 and eye-popping prices of $1,199 and $1,399 for the Galaxy S20 Plus and Galaxy S20 Ultra, respectively.
In an unusual move for Samsung, the company kept the S10 lineup around and cut prices by $150 on those older models. The S10 now costs $749 while the S10 Plus has a starting price of $849. You can likely find more discounts on those phones depending on where you shop.
Samsung Galaxy phone comparison
| Galaxy S10 Lite | Galaxy Note10 Lite | Galaxy A71 | Galaxy S10 | |
| Display Size | 6.7″ FHD+ | 6.7″ FHD+ | 6.7″ FHD+ | 6.1″ WQHD+ |
| Display | Infinity-O Super AMOLED Plus | Infinity-O Super AMOLED | Infinity-O Super AMOLED | Infinity-O Dynamic AMOLED |
| Rear Camera – Primary | 16 MP | 12 MP | 64 MP | 12 MP |
| Rear Camera – Ultra Wide | 12 MP | 12 MP | 12 MP | 16 MP |
| Rear Camera – Zoom | 2x zoom | 10x zoom | 8x zoom | 2x zoom |
| Rear Camera – Fourth | 5 MP Macro | – | – | – |
| Front Camera | 32 MP | 32 MP | 32 MP | 10 MP |
| Battery | 4,500 mAh¹ | 4,500 mAh² | 4,500mAh³ | 3,400 mAh⁴ |
| RAM | 8GB | 6GB | 6GB | 8GB |
| Internal Storage | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB |
| Security | In-screen fingerprint scanner | In-screen fingerprint scanner | In-screen fingerprint scanner | In-screen fingerprint scanner |
| (Battery disclaimers) | ¹Rated (minimum) at 4,370mAh | ²Rated (minimum) at 4,370mAh | ³Rated (minimum) at 4,400mAh | ⁴Rated (minimum) at 3,300mAh |
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite hybrid-SIM 128GB – blue (UK version) review
Dimension
- Height: 162.5 mm
- Width: 75.6 mm
- Depth: 8.1 mm
- Weight: 186.0 g
Design and display
The Galaxy S10 Lite is a massive 6.7-inch smartphone that is larger than even the 6.4-inch Galaxy S10 Plus. Samsung made some trade-offs for that big screen, though: The S10 Lite’s display is lower-res (full-HD+) than the S10 Plus (wide quad HD+), it’s Super AMOLED rather than Dynamic AMOLED and the materials are a little less premium (a glassy plastic rather than glass).
| MAXIMUM BRIGHTNESS HIGHER IS BETTER | MINIMUM BRIGHTNESS (nits)LOWER IS BETTER | CONTRAST HIGHER IS BETTER | COLOR TEMPERATURE (Kelvins) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite | 671 (Excellent) | 1.6 (Excellent) | unmeasurable (Excellent) | 6760 (Excellent) |
| Samsung Galaxy S10+ | 753 (Excellent) | 1 (Excellent) | unmeasurable (Excellent) | 6632 (Excellent) |
| Apple iPhone 11 | 682 (Excellent) | 2.08 (Excellent) | 1:1590 (Excellent) | 6922 (Excellent) |
| LG G8X ThinQ | 630 (Excellent) | 3 (Excellent) | unmeasurable (Excellent) | 6458 (Excellent) |
The S10 Lite comes in three shades: Prism White, Prism Black and an elegant Prism Blue. All three are incredibly fingerprint magnets, if that kind of thing is important to you.
Cameras
The Galaxy S10 Lite sports a triple-lens array, like the Galaxy Note 10 Lite also announced this past January, but the two cameras are very, very different.
The Note 10 Lite’s cameras are a little more conventional (wide, ultra-wide and telephoto). We’re curious to see how the S10 Lite’s macro results fare against the incredible photos we’ve seen from the Google Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 Pro.
The S10 Lite sports a 48-megapixel wide-angle lens with Super Steady optical image stabilization, a 12-MP ultra-wide-angle shooter and, interestingly, a 5-MP macro lens for shooting subjects at close range.
Good news if you’re getting the S10 Lite: It will pick up some of the software features Samsung introduced during the Galaxy S20 launch. Thanks to a software update, you’ll get the outstanding Single Take feature, which captures multiple shots at once using the phone’s different cameras. Additional photo features include Pro Video, which gives you more control over settings, and Night Hyperlapse for time-lapse videos in the dark.
Battery
Like the Galaxy Note 10 Lite, the S10 Lite has an absolutely gigantic 4,500 mAh battery. The Galaxy S10 Plus sports a 4,100 mAh battery and lasted 12:35 on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test. With a less battery-intensive display, we expect the S10 Lite so turn in an impressive performance — hopefully enough to include it on our list of best phone battery life.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite hybrid-SIM 128GB – blue (UK version) performance review
The 855 processor also powers the S10 Plus, and that phone was one of the top-performing Android flagships of 2019. Since then, of course, Qualcomm has come out with the Snapdragon 865, which is the chipset powering this year’s Galaxy S20 family.
The Galaxy S10 Lite packs in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chipset but lacks the Galaxy S10 Plus’s productivity-oriented storage (256GB) and RAM (up to 12GB) options. The S10 Lite announced in January offers 6GB or 8GB of RAM and just 128GB of storage — the version available to U.S. shoppers features 8GB of memory.Advertisement
The S10 Plus starts with 8GB of RAM, which contributes to its blazing fast performance, but the S10 Lite shouldn’t lag that far behind.
Outlook
The Galaxy S10 Lite’s battery and processor could put it ahead of the Android competition. An ultra-low price would seal the deal.
We’re curious to see how the S10 Lite’s cameras, particularly the outlandish 48-MP wide-angle lens and the 5-MP macro lens, stack up against the device’s pricier predecessors, especially with the promised software update introducing some of the features that impressed us when we reviewed the Galaxy S20.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite hybrid-SIM 128GB – blue (UK version) Customer review
Good quality and good price!
Love this phone! Have had no problems with it so far and have had it almost a month. It comes with usb c earphones and a charger (being usb c to usb c). It has amazing cameras both front and back. The sound quality from the 1 speaker is obviously not surround but is still good quality. I bought a case for it which I recommend as it is has no grip without one. But the phone is a great upgrade!
And its just as good as the s10. Definitely worth it for the price! I don’t think it has wireless charging (though that’s what I’ve heard, I haven’t checked). I didn’t want to buy the expensive s10 so and for the price range I had, this phone definitely was the best choice.
UPDATE: I’m not sure how but the phone has got a small but noticeable scratch on it. I was reluctant to get a screen protector because of preference, and all my other phones have never scratched before (I’ve never used screen protectors and never had a problem until now). I recommend getting a screen protector!