Will Samsung Galaxy Lite Android Devices Beat Its Flagships?
As expected, Samsung is planning to launch budget versions of its flagship Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10. The “lightweight” versions of these phones do not yet have a price or release date, but we already know quite a lot about their specifications – and we will definitely hear more when we let’s go to CES next week. Until then, I wouldn’t buy a big Android from Samsung, because there’s a good chance the Samsung Lite versions might suit you even better than the originals.
But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s how both Lite smartphones differ from their more expensive predecessors . Let’s start with the Galaxy S10 Lite; scroll down a bit if you’re more interested in the Galaxy Note 10 Lite.
Galaxy S10 Lite / Galaxy S10 + / Galaxy S10
Display
Galaxy S10 Lite: 6.7-inch Full HD + Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O Display (2400 by 1080)
Galaxy S10 +: 6.4-inch Quad HD + Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O (3040 x 1440 pixels)
Galaxy S10: 6.1-inch Quad HD + Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display (3040 x 1440 pixels)
Lifehacker’s comment : You get a slightly larger screen at a slightly lower resolution (and 394ppi instead of 520+), but I suspect you really won’t notice the difference, especially given the Galaxy S10s has its default resolution. 2280 by 1080 pixels anyway.
Cameras
Galaxy S10 Lite:
- 5MP rear macro
- 48MP rear wide angle
- 12MP rear ultra-wide
- Front camera 32 MP
Galaxy S10 +:
- 12MP rear telephoto lens
- 12MP rear wide angle
- 16MP rear ultra-wide
- Front camera 10 MP
- Front camera 8MP depth
Galaxy S10:
- 12MP rear telephoto lens
- 12MP rear wide angle
- 16MP rear ultra-wide
- Front camera 10 MP
Lifehacker’s view : If you just look at the megapixel count, it looks like the Galaxy S10 Lite is killing it. However, you have to dig deeper what kinds of cameras are on these phones to really get a sense of the differences. While the Galaxy S10 Lite’s macro lens is certainly interesting as cameras don’t usually come with it, its 48MP wide-angle camera on the back has a smaller F / 2.0 aperture compared to the Galaxy S10s F / 1.5 and F /. 2.4 setting a double aperture. It’s the same with the front camera of the Galaxy S10 Lite: many megapixels, but the aperture is f / 2.2 compared to the f / 1.9 aperture of the Galaxy S10s. Generally speaking, a smaller aperture means more light can enter the camera, which can dramatically improve your night photography.
The size
Galaxy S10 Lite: 162.5 x 75.6 x 8.1mm
Galaxy S10 +: 157.6 x 74.1 x 7.8mm
Galaxy S10: 149.9 x 70.4 x 7.8mm
Lifehacker commentary: The Galaxy S10’s light is slightly thicker than its predecessors, but you probably won’t notice. Generally speaking, this is a large device – a larger screen and slightly larger dimensions, which puts it on a par with the Galaxy S10 + than the Galaxy S10 in size.
Processor / Memory / Storage
Galaxy S10 Lite: Snapdragon 855 “7nm 64-bit octa-core processor” with support for 6 or 8 GB of storage and 128 GB of internal storage.
Galaxy S10 +:
- Exynos 9820 8nm 64-bit octa-core processor or
- Snapdragon 855 7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor
- 8-12 GB storage and 128 GB to 1 TB internal storage
Galaxy S10:
- Exynos 9820 8nm 64-bit octa-core processor or
- Snapdragon 855 7nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor
- 8 GB of storage and from 128 to 512 GB of internal storage
Lifehacker comment: You don’t have a lot of storage settings on the Galaxy S10 Lite, and the processor is the same as on the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 +. As always, we’ll wait for the actual benchmark results to see how the devices really stack up, but I doubt you’ll see a huge difference in performance for day-to-day tasks, even with 6GB of storage instead of 8GB. However, if you’re good at Samsung DeX software , you might want to have more.
Battery
Galaxy S10 Lite: ~ 4500 mAh
Galaxy S10 +: ~ 4100mAh
Galaxy S10: ~ 3400mAh
Lifehacker’s view: bigger phone; larger battery. This makes sense to us, and we suspect the Galaxy S10 Lite will have excellent uptime compared to its predecessors. (It all depends on the efficiency of the rest of the phone’s hardware, but 4,500mAh is a pretty big improvement over the Galaxy S10’s smaller 3,400mAh battery.)
Galaxy Note 10 Lite / Galaxy Note 10+ / Galaxy Note 10
Display
Galaxy Note 10 Lite: 6.7-inch Full HD + Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O Display (2400 by 1080)
Galaxy Note 10+: 6.8-inch Quad HD + Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O (3040 x 1440 pixels)
Galaxy Note 10: 6.3-inch FHD + Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display (2280 x 1080)
Lifehacker Commentary : The Galaxy Note 10 Lite is just 0.4 inches larger than the Galaxy Note 10, but you get the same resolution. In other words, I doubt you will notice such a big difference in quality, if any. I’m not sure if the Galaxy Note 10 Lite will support HDR10, however, and this is something you might notice if you’re watching a lot of high dynamic range content (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc.).
Cameras
Galaxy Note 10 Lite:
- 12MP rear wide angle
- 12MP rear ultra-wide
- 12MP rear telephoto lens
- Front camera 32 MP
Galaxy Note 10+:
- 12MP rear wide angle
- 16MP rear ultra-wide
- 12MP rear telephoto lens
- DepthVision rear camera
- Front camera 10 MP
Galaxy Note 10:
- 12MP rear wide angle
- 16MP rear ultra wide
- 12MP rear telephoto lens
- Front camera 10 MP
Lifehacker’s perspective: The race will be closer this time. You lose a few megapixels on the Galaxy Note 10 Lite, but the camera aperture is much closer to what you’d find on the Galaxy Note 10+ and Galaxy Note 10 – slightly worse, but not terrible . The rear telephoto lens goes down to f / 2.4 from f / 2.1, and the wide-angle camera appears to have a single aperture mode (f / 1.7) instead of the dual aperture mode of other smartphones (f / 1.5 and f / 2.4).
The size
Galaxy Note 10 Lite: 76.1 x 163.7 x 8.7mm
Galaxy Note 10+: 77.2 x 162.3 x 7.9mm
Galaxy Note 10: 71.8 x 151.0 x 7.9mm
Lifehacker Look: There are no big surprises here, save for the increased thickness you find on the Galaxy Note 10 Lite compared to the Galaxy Note 10+. This will be a real pocket bump.
Processor / Memory / Storage
Galaxy Note 10 Lite: 10nm 64-bit Exynos 8895 octa-core processor with 6 / 8GB storage and 128GB storage
Galaxy Note 10+:
- Exynos 9825 7nm 64-bit octa-core processor
- 12 GB storage with 256 or 512 GB internal storage
Galaxy Note 10:
- Exynos 9825 7nm 64-bit octa-core processor
- 8-12 GB storage with 256 GB internal storage
Lifehacker’s Perspective: Now we’re curious. The Galaxy Note 10 Lite’s 10nm process seems to be powered by a less powerful octa-core processor (at first glance), and you get the minimum amount of memory Samsung can fit in a smartphone. While the Galaxy Note 10 Lite’s brains should be more than enough for all the basic tasks you do on your device, we’ll be very curious to see how it performs in real life benchmarks. Our guess? It won’t perform as well as its predecessors, which makes its pricing even more interesting – whenever we find out.
Battery
Galaxy Note 10 Lite: ~ 4500 mAh
Galaxy Note 10+: ~ 4300mAh
Galaxy Note 10: ~ 3500mAh
Lifehacker Commentary: If uptime is critical to you and you don’t mind the Galaxy Note 10 Lite’s larger dimensions, this is a clear winner – at least on paper. We’ll be curious to see how this supposedly older processor affects battery life; perhaps it will be a blur between him and the Galaxy Note 10+.
What we still don’t know
Apart from the price and availability of “Lite” smartphones, and how the devices perform in the usual detailed test list, there are a few more details that we would like to hear more about. We assume Samsung has ditched wireless charging for these two models given their cheaper price. It’s also unclear what kind of water resistance the two phones might have, if any – a more minor detail.