Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite review: Get it for the S Pen

When information technology was revealed that Samsung would be making two versions of the Galaxy Notation flagship in 2019, one of them a bit more affordable than the other, nosotros idea it made sense. With flagship smartphone prices constantly on the rise, the smaller Notation 10 was a great option for those who wanted the S Pen experience. Of course, at a starting price of $950, the Milky way Notation ten was anything but affordable, and it seems Samsung understood that.

Which is probably why the Korean giant was also working on bringing the S Pen experience to an even lower price point in the meantime. The Milky way Annotation 10 Lite went official a couple of weeks ago as the virtually affordable version of the Galaxy Annotation x. It features the same S Pen that debuted with the Galaxy Notation 9, and Samsung has reduced the cost of entry by reusing some old components, like the Note 9'southward Exynos 9810 processor and the Galaxy Notation 8's rear photographic camera.

The Notation 10 Lite is besides equipped with a few modern features, similar an Infinity-O display, an ultra-wide camera, 25W super fast charging support for its 4,500 mAh battery, and the latest software out of the box. Does all of it come together to form a package that is worth the asking price? Let'due south find out.

Galaxy Annotation 10 Light blueprint

The Galaxy Annotation ten Low-cal's front end side is covered with a (half-dozen.7-inch) Infinity-O display with a dial pigsty in the center and tiny bezels. Since information technology isn't a flagship telephone, the Annotation x Lite'south bezels are slightly bigger at the top and bottom than the bezels on the Note ten+. And that's why the Note 10+ is a hair shorter despite having a vi.9-inch brandish. The Notation 10 Lite is also slightly taller than the Galaxy Annotation 9, just it does have a brandish that's 0.iii inches bigger too.

The back is completely devoid of any texture or gradient. Since there is plastic on the back and sides, the telephone doesn't feel as premium as Samsung's flagship offerings, though it feels sufficiently premium for the asking price and for the fact that information technology is fabricated of plastic and not drinking glass. Our cherry Galaxy Note x Lite also looks beautiful, but I did find it somewhat wearisome compared to the bluish Milky way S10 Lite that Samsung sent u.s.. Having a gradient consequence would probably have made it more alluring.

Information technology may not await as pretty as the Galaxy S10 Lite, but the Notation ten Light does have something much more than useful to make upward for it: a headphone jack. Yes, despite the same battery capacities on the Milky way Note ten Calorie-free and S10 Calorie-free, the latter does non have a headphone jack. It may accept to practise with the fact that the S10 Calorie-free has more than powerful and mod internals taking up space, which is mayhap why the flagship Galaxy Annotation 10 and Note 10+ don't take a headphone jack as well. Or, well, information technology's because those devices are all marketed as flagships, and Samsung wants flagship device buyers to use the Galaxy Buds.

In the box, Samsung provides a couple of extra stylus tips for the Southward Pen along with a tip ejector tool, the same one that you get on the flagship Notes. The other contents include a 25W charger, 3.5mm earphones of the mid-range kind, a USB-C cable, and, depending on where you live, a case. Finally, the phone comes with a hybrid slot, so you can either use two SIM cards or i SIM carte du jour and a microSD card.

Galaxy Note 10 Light brandish

The Galaxy Annotation 10 Lite doesn't have a flagship-grade AMOLED display, but it's still pretty adept. The screen has the usual AMOLED strengths: wide viewing angles, deep blacks, and vivid colors. It is set to the Natural screen mode out of the box so it'due south not overly vivid, simply you can change that from the display settings depending on your preference. Brightness levels are quite high as well and were not an issue when I was using the phone in bright sunlight.

The punch hole cutout at the meridian of the display is smaller than the hole on the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ and the Galaxy S10 Light. Information technology'southward similar in size to the punch pigsty on the Galaxy A51, and unless you actually hate whatever sort of holes on your phone brandish, y'all will showtime ignoring the cutout in no time. The bezels, equally mentioned in the design department above, are quite minimal and aid make one-handed use easier than yous would look on a 6.7-inch display.

The Note 10 Calorie-free may non be a flagship, merely when y'all use the S Pen, it slides beyond on the screen as smoothly every bit information technology does on the flagship Milky way Notation smartphones. The lack of any curves on the brandish is also benign when y'all're using the Southward Pen to write or draw about the edges, so this is ane for the flat screen purists. As for the in-display fingerprint reader, it'due south a newer optical sensor that nosotros also observe on the Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy A51. It's quite fast compared to the optical sensors Samsung used last yr, and it'south also much more accurate.

Galaxy Note 10 Light S Pen

Ah, the S Pen. Samsung'southward stylus has remained unmatched past the competition in the ix years since it was introduced with the first Galaxy Notation. The Due south Pen has been an excellent tool for taking notes and unleashing your artistic side, and the Notation 10 Lite brings you the exact aforementioned stylus experience equally the Galaxy Annotation nine and, for the about part, the Galaxy Note 10, at a more than affordable price.

The S Pen is Bluetooth-enabled, and then information technology tin can be used as a remote control inside various apps. You can change slides in a PowerPoint presentation, pause and play videos, accept pictures and switch betwixt the forepart and rear cameras, and more by single or double pressing the South Pen button. Yous can assign a shortcut to a long press of the push button to launch an app or whatever of the S Pen features, such equally Translate and Smart select.

When you remove the Due south Pen from its slot, you can start writing on the screen immediately without having to plow on the phone and unlock it thanks to theScreen off memofeature. The S Pen also has all of the software features that you see on the Milky way Note nine and Annotation 10. You can capture a screenshot and so write or describe on that screenshot usingScreen write, translate on-screen words by hovering over them using Interpret, draw blithe messages using Live Letters, magnify on-screen content using Magnify, and more than.

In the Samsung Notes app, you can likewise instantly interpret notes handwritten with the Due south Pen to text using the text conversion feature. The only affair missing on the Note ten Lite is support for the Annotation x's Air actions, whichlets y'all perform various tasks by pressing the S Pen button and flicking the stylus in different directions – for example, flicking it upwardly or down lets you command the device book. ButAir actions is more of a gimmick than something truly useful, so not having it on the Galaxy Notation 10 Lite isn't a deal-billow.

If you're someone who loves cartoon and haven't yet tested out the Southward Pen on a Galaxy Annotation smartphone, below are four drawings made past my married woman on her Milky way Notation nine that should tell yous how just how capable the S Pen is.

Galaxy Note 10 Low-cal photographic camera

The Galaxy Note ten Lite's rear cameras are a mix of one-time and new camera sensors: It's got the 12MP master camera and 12MP telephoto photographic camera from the Galaxy S8 and Milky way Annotation 8 and a 12MP ultra-wide photographic camera like newer devices, such as the Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy A51. And I'll begin by talking about that ultra-wide camera, because I was surprised to find it doesn't have the aforementioned picture quality as the 12MP ultra-broad photographic camera on the Galaxy S10 Lite.

Check the picture below. Notice how the trees are all smudged out? The Milky way Note ten Low-cal tends to exercise this for all ultra-wide photos: There'south an odd lack of particular in these photos, and while the ultra-broad sensors used on the S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite aren't the same, I wasn't expecting that to make such a difference. That said, this difference is noticeable simply when you zoom in on photos, and since ultra-wide cameras aren't great at capturing detail with such a limited resolution anyhow, it'south non exactly a major issue.

The main 12MP camera on the Note 10 Low-cal was a flagship offering dorsum in 2018, and it has aged well. Photos taken in daylight have pretty accurate color reproduction on nearly occasions (it tends to make things look dull when information technology isn't very sunny outside) and good dynamic range. The camera has Dual Pixel technology, so it'south great at locking focus, peculiarly when compared to Samsung's mid-range phone cameras, including the ane nosotros see on the Galaxy S10 Lite.

The Dual Pixel tech and the F1.vii discontinuity of the camera as well aid in low-low-cal photos. Low-lite photos come out with sufficient particular, though I noticed noise in photos taken outdoors with very little or too much artificial lighting. This racket didn't go away when using the dedicated Night mode, either, which is a bit foreign. All the same, Dark mode shots do well with increasing both particular and the brightness of the scene and I found myself using it quite often.

The 2x telephoto camera gets the job done well enough. Information technology doesn't capture a lot of detail, and noise creeps in on indoor shots, but having the option of a telephoto camera separates the Note 10 Light from every other Samsung phone in the segment. The Milky way S10 Lite and Galaxy A71 both come with a macro camera, and while some may find use for a macro camera, the telephoto camera is a much more versatile pick to have.

Here are camera samples from the three rear cameras. Scenes shot with all three cameras are placed next to each other then you can bank check out the ultra-wide and zoom versions side by side. The same goes for photos I took in regular and Night modes.

The front photographic camera on the Galaxy Note 10 Lite has the same specs — F2.2 aperture, 32-megapixel resolution — equally the Galaxy S10 Lite, only information technology's a different sensor that doesn't do likewise when it comes to capturing particular in faces. The Note 10 Calorie-free'southward selfies come up out insufficiently softer, even with all the beautification turned off. In fact, it doesn't feel like they are taken with a 32MP photographic camera at all, though racket levels are kept to a minimum most of the time and so the end event is more than than passable.

You can take Live Focus (bokeh) photos with the front camera and the rear cameras, with the option to switch between the telephoto and ultra-broad sensors when using the rear cameras. Live Focus photos do a good job of separating the foreground and groundwork. Background separation can exist problematic when there'south loose pilus or plants and leaves in the frame, but otherwise, the results are quite pleasing. You get multiple background effects to choose from, including ane that turns the background black and white.

Here are a few Live Focus camera samples from the forepart and rear photographic camera and some selfies:

The Galaxy Note x Lite does not support Live Focus video, and that might be because the two-year-onetime principal rear camera and/or Exynos 9810 chipset can't handle it. Regular video recording resolution goes up to [email protected], and you can also record Super Slow-mo, Hyperlapse, and Super Steady videos. Super Steady videos are shot using the ultra-broad photographic camera, with the output trimmed to brand it seem like the videos are smoother than what you can reach with the regular camera. AR Putter is supported as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBDAj6TUYzM

And, finally, the Galaxy Note ten Lite camera has a flagship-course Pro style. That means y'all can change the shutter speed, something no other non-flagship Galaxy smartphone lets y'all do. Again, this is because the 12MP main camera on this telephone was used on flagship phones dorsum in 2018, and information technology's good to see Samsung didn't artificially limit the Pro manner'due south capabilities just to make the 'Lite' naming brand sense.

Galaxy Notation x Lite performance

The Exynos 9810 chipset that powers the Galaxy Annotation x Lite may have been introduced two years ago, but since information technology was a flagship bit, it has aged pretty well. The Galaxy Note 10 Lite runs not bad in day-to-day use, be it opening apps, switching between apps, or navigating through the user interface in general. It tin can likewise handle all the graphics-heavy gaming titles, such equally PUBG and Fortnite (which actually debuted on Android with the Galaxy Notation 9 that is powered by the Exynos 9810) without breaking a sweat.

I saw some stutter in the UI animations and when switching between apps, but that seems to be from a lack of optimization, as I didn't observe the aforementioned stutters on a Milky way Notation ix running Android 10 and One UI 2.0. I should mention that the device I tested had 8GB of RAM, and it'south difficult to say if these stutters will be more than pronounced on the 6GB RAM variant. Overall, performance is superb and considerably ameliorate than Samsung'south mid-range phones.

Galaxy Notation 10 Light software, audio quality

The Milky way Annotation ten Lite runs Android 10 and One UI two.0 out of the box, but like the Galaxy S10 Low-cal, Galaxy A51, and Galaxy A71. Since the software on this phone is the same as the software on the Milky way S10 Lite, you can read our S10 Lite review for all the details. If you desire the brusk version: this is the full-featured software suite that gives you all the functionality yous see on Samsung'due south flagship phones.

You should likewise check out the Milky way S10 Calorie-free review for details on the Note x Low-cal's audio quality, every bit that is the same across both handsets every bit well. The only difference between the two is that the Notation 10 Low-cal has a traditional 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Milky way Note 10 Lite battery life

The Milky way Notation 10 Light has a iv,500 mAh battery nether the hood, same as the Galaxy S10 Lite, merely it doesn't last equally long. The Exynos 9810 processor is likely to blame here – the Exynos 9810 is a 10nm flake while the Snapdragon 855 on the Galaxy S10 Lite is a 7nm chip. That said, battery life is still quite skillful. The Note 10 Lite easily lasts an entire day with a mix of medium and heavy use. With long hours of gaming and media consumption, the phone still manages to get through an unabridged work day with around 10-xv% of juice to spare.

Thank you to 25W fast charging, the bombardment can also be topped up quickly. After connecting the phone to the outlet when it was downward to 5% bombardment, it went upwardly to 23% in 10 minutes, 54% in 30 minutes, and 88% in threescore minutes. The final 10-15% charge happens at a slower rate, but a complete top-up from 0 to 100 takes just around 80-85 minutes. Like other Galaxy phones with 25W charging support, the Note 10 Lite is also backwards compatible with Samsung and third-party 15W fast chargers.

Galaxy Annotation 10 Light verdict

Should you lot purchase the Galaxy Annotation ten Light? Well, the reply to that depends on whether or non the S Pen interests you. With a 600 euro cost tag in most European markets, it's the cheapest Galaxy Note smartphone with a stylus right now. The S Pen is an amazing productivity tool that has enough of apply cases, and nothing comes close.

The Galaxy Notation x Lite's S Pen is accompanied past a large and beautiful AMOLED brandish, an old-nevertheless-still-capable Exynos processor, excellent battery life with super fast charging, a versatile triple rear photographic camera setup (with a very good master photographic camera), and the latest software out of the box. The Note x Lite has a headphone jack too.

Even if you don't desire the Due south Pen, the Notation 10 Lite is a pretty proficient mid-range phone for the price, better than Samsung's own offerings like the Galaxy A80. Sure, you could become a Galaxy Notation 9 at a similar toll or for even less money, but the Note 9 is more than 2 years old so it won't be getting any Android Bone updates in the futurity. It also lacks an ultra-wide camera and has a smaller battery with slower charging.

If you tin can stretch your budget and don't mind not having an S Pen, headphone jack, and a telephoto camera, you can opt for the Galaxy S10 Lite, which offers even faster performance, a flagship-grade AMOLED brandish, and slightly better battery life from the same capacity battery. But if it's the South Pen you're afterwards or only an all-rounder upper mid-ranger from Samsung, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite is an excellent smartphone that you won't regret spending your hard-earned money on.

Pros	Cons
Big and beautiful AMOLED display	Selfies are rather soft for a 32MP camera
Full-featured S Pen stylus sets it apart from the competition	Ultra-wide camera smudges detail
Exynos 9810 is even so quite powerful and offers flagship-like performance	Some stutter in the user interface
All-mean solar day bombardment life with a mix of medium and heavy utilize, super quick charging	Battery life not as good as Milky way S10 Lite despite same battery capacity
Very good primary rear camera, ultra-broad and telephoto cameras add together versatility	No water or dust resistance
Latest software (Android 10 and Ane UI 2.0) out of the box	No Samsung DeX back up
Has a headphone jack
Samsung Pay with MST and NFC support (could be NFC-only in some markets)

Source: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-note-10-lite/review

Posted by: whitewarchat.blogspot.com

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