Friends+Design
- Clean and simple design - manages to look and feel like a high-end device (though, it uses a 'Glastic' polycarbonate back)
- The front looks striking and modern, thanks to the single punch-hole 'Infinity-O' panel with very narrow bezels and a thin chin at the bottom
- Relatively light-weight at 186g for a phone this big
- Both the in-display fingerprint sensor & face recognition are quick at unlocking the phone
- The back panel is quite glossy and hence a fingerprint and smudge magnet
Display
- Excellent, crisp and bright 'Super AMOLED+' display with Full HD+ resolution - it excels at producing punchy colors and has good viewing angles
- The panel also supports HDR 10+ and Widewine L1, which makes the S10 Lite an absolute delight to stream HD movies and shows on popular OTT platforms such as Hotstar and Netflix
- The display remains at 60 Hz refresh rate while the competition has moved to more futuristic 90 or 120 Hz displays like the ones in the OnePlus 7T and the ROG Phone 2
Software
- Samsung's second generation of its One UI based on Android 10 is one of the better, more clean and streamlined Android UIs around, and is well optimised for large modern displays (like this one)
- Apart from facilitating fluid animations and gesture controls, the UI also brings support for Samsung’s ecosystem of apps and services, including Bixby (Vision, Lens Mode, Routines), the full version of Samsung Pay and Samsung Health - there’s also support for the defense-grade security platform Samsung Knox
Performance
- Blazingly fast, power packed performance with the super fast flagship Snapdragon 855 - the device is arguably even more powerful than the company’s current flagship Note 10 and S10 series - opening apps or loading a game, the phone feels snappy, and even heavy-duty games such as PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty run at the highest graphic settings on the device
Camera
- Very good triple camera setup - at the heart of its above par optics performance is a 48MP primary lens + a 12MP ultra-wide lens + a 5MP macro lens
- For all intents and purposes, the primary lens is the star of the show here - it is capable of clicking some stunning shots during day time - the shots produce impressive levels of detail and dynamic range, under well-lit situations, putting this camera at least on par with the flagship devices from Samsung
- Low light performance is equally capable of surprising the user - shots come out looking crisp and with a good amount of detail and colour accuracy, this might be because of the Super Steady OIS which helps save low light shots which would have otherwise been ruined by a slight movement of the hand
- There is also a wide-angle and a macro-lens - both perform quite well during situations where the lenses are fed with enough light, the images look vivid and capture accurate colours and details - the two cameras provide the user with extra framing options which are high in quality
- Portrait mode or Live Focus works well, with good edge detection, detail and colours - you can change the background bokeh effect for some interesting results
- The 32MP front camera captures 8MP oversampled photos, which look good, with punchy colours and good amounts of detail - Live Focus is available here too, so you can play around with different bokeh effects - the front camera is pretty capable under artificial light too
- Video quality is also good and the Super Steady mode help in recording very smooth videos
- Overall, the Galaxy S10 Lite offers very capable cameras and the image quality on par with other phones in this price segment
Battery
- Brilliant battery life, thanks to the optimised OneUI and the flagship Snapdragon 855 - on moderate use, the S10 Lite will easily give a day and a half’s worth of use
- Very Fast Charging with the impressive 25W Charger (and support for an insane 45W Fast Charging), it tops up the phone’s battery to the brim in about 70 minutes
Verdict
- The Galaxy S10 Lite represents great value for money, something that you won’t generally get to hear about Samsung’s devices too often - from the cameras to the battery and overall performance, the phone impresses every step of the way, making it one of the best buys in the smartphone market right now
- It is slightly more expensive than its closest competitor, the OnePlus 7T, which offers high refresh-rate display, a more premium glass and metal body, stereo speakers, a telephoto camera, and a more current processor - also, the base variant of the Asus ROG Phone 2 is also available at similar price, and offers much better gaming features
