Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite review

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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: 163.7x76.1x8.7mm, 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 (4x2.7GHz Mongoose M3 & 4x1.7GHz 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.