Samsung Galaxy S10e review: less doesn’t mean worse

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This year, Samsung released not 2, but 3 flagships at once and added to the traditional “smaller” and “more” models.

The smallest model is the Galaxy S10e. On the Internet, they immediately made parallels with the iPhone Xr. I found the approach closer to the Sony Xperia Compact line, but without such a radical compactness. We recently visited the senior representative of the flagship line of the Samsung Galaxy S10 +, and now it's time for the “younger” Galaxy S10e. But let them not be confused by its position in the line: compromise is minimal in terms of functionality, and its compact dimensions and a more humane price tag will be an advantage for someone compared to the Galaxy S10 and S10 +. The smartphone is very interesting and there is something to tell about it.

What is it?

Samsung Galaxy S10e - flagshipAndroid smartphone with a flat screen Dynamic AMOLED 5.8 inches FullHD +, the new Samsung Exynos flagship processor, 6 GB of RAM, dual main camera, front-facing camera in the screen, dust and moisture protection and wireless charging.

What is interesting and what is different from the Galaxy S10 / S10 +?

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Unlike their two older brothers, GalaxyS10e received a “flat” screen (without side bends), it is smaller in size: 5.8 inches (against 6.1 and 6.4 inches in S10 and S10 +). The resolution is lower, FullHD + (2280x1080), but the display type is the same new Dynamic AMOLED with HDR10 + support and camera cut-out. Instead of three cameras, two were left at the back: they sacrificed a telephoto module for 2x zoom, but the super wide angle remained in place. The main module is exactly the same as the older models: 12 megapixels, interchangeable f / 1.5-2.4 aperture, 1 / 2.55 ″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF and optical stabilization. The camera can also shoot 4K HDR10 + video and Super Slow Motion 960 frames per second. The front camera is similar to the Galaxy S10: 10 MP, f / 1.9, 1.22µm, Dual Pixel phase autofocus. Instead of the fingerprint scanner, the screen uses the “traditional” version, which is combined with the power button. The battery is smaller (which is logical): 3100 mAh. For comparison, the Galaxy S10 + - 4100 mAh, and the Galaxy S10 - 3400 mAh. But all the chips remained in place: fast charging via cable and wireless charging, including reverse charging. Performance has not suffered: inside - the same flagship processor Exynos 9820 processor with a clock frequency of 2.73 GHz, 6 or 8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of internal memory. Plus a hybrid tray in which instead of the second SIM you can put MicroSD.

What does the Samsung Galaxy S10e look like?

Perhaps miss the obvious constructivedifferences from the brothers in the line and focus on how interesting the smartphone itself is. Now it’s not so easy to find a compact (as far as possible) flagship smartphone, users like big diagonals: it’s more comfortable to watch vidosiki and drive games. Against this background, the Samsung Galaxy S10e looks extremely interesting. Yes, 5.8 inches is an impressive diagonal, but thanks to the minimal frames and the “stretched” aspect ratio of the display, it turned out to be really very small. And convenient because of this.

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The smartphone uses the traditional combinationglass and metal. The frames around the perimeter are very thin (the chin is slightly larger), the camera is located in the hole in the upper right corner of the screen, and above it is only a thin slit of the conversational speaker. Another feature is the flat screen, which is unusual for Samsung’s flagships over the past couple of years. Although earlier the company practiced the release of options for the flagship with a flat and curved screen.

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Metal frame around the perimeter of the case to uswell known, but the power button is unusual. It is flat, oblong and slightly recessed. It houses a fingerprint scanner. The button itself was placed closer to the upper part of the case, and this position is very popular with users who hold the smartphone with their right hand. The thumb is conveniently placed on the power button, which can also be used to call the curtain:

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Further along the perimeter, no surprises. On the top side - an additional microphone and a tray for SIM / MicroSD:

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Standard hybrid tray with rubber seals, of course:

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On the left - the paired volume buttons and the Bixby assistant call button:

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At the bottom there is a USB Type-C, an external speaker, a speaking microphone and a 3.5 mm headphone jack:

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The backdrop is glass, with curves around the perimeter. In addition to the "mainstream" black, white and "aquamarine", the smartphone decided to release a bright "canary" yellow color. A calmer option came to us:

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Main camera module with two lenses and a flash (no heart rate sensor):

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Samsung Galaxy S10e turned out extremely convenient inuse thanks to a successful form and rather small dimensions. With it, you can easily manage with one hand and without much difficulty stuff into the pocket of your jeans. About the materials and assembly to say nothing new will not work: everything is cool. Like the older models, the Galaxy S10e is protected from water and dust according to the IP68 standard, in theory - immersion to a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes.

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How good is the screen?

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The smartphone has 5 installed.8-inch Infitity-O Dynamic AMOLED-screen with an aspect ratio of 19: 9 and a resolution of 2280 × 1080, pixel density - 438 ppi. Like the older models, supports HDR10 +. Visually, there are no complaints about the screen: the picture is juicy, the viewing angles are excellent. In the settings, everything is approximately the same: brightness, scale, font size, night mode, and so on:

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Always On Display is available:

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There are different display options, the choice of color, the ability to install images:

There are two display modes: natural and rich with the possibility of manual adjustment by RGB components:

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Hardware measurements have shown that the screen is completelyslightly inferior to the older Galaxy S10 +. In the “Natural” mode, the maximum brightness was 344.569 cd / m2. The color gamut is close to sRGB, the tilt to cold shades is minimal:

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In the “saturated” mode, the maximum brightness was 366.764 cd / m2, the color coverage is significantly wider than sRGB, but the picture more noticeably goes into the “blue”:

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Comparison with other models:

Device name
White field brightness,
cd / m2
Black field brightness,
cd / m2
Contrast

Samsung Galaxy S10e
366.764
0

Samsung Galaxy S10 +
397.816
0
∞

Huawei Mate 20 Pro
424.663
0
∞

Sony Xperia XZ3
408.047
0
∞

Huawei P20 Pro
415.876
0
∞

Meizu 16th
432.107
0
∞

What about performance?

Performance is not inferior to the brothersline-up: Samsung installed the same flagship Exynos 9820 in S10e, which includes two customized powerful Mongoose M4 cores with a maximum clock frequency of 2.73 GHz, two ARM Cortex-A75 up to 2.31 GHz and four energy efficient ARM Cortex-A55 at 1.95 GHz, graphics ARM Mali-G76 MP12. With heavy games, there were no problems in general. Only in PUBG Mobile, at the maximum graphics settings, occasional FPS subsidence was sometimes observed. Perhaps this is due to the fresh SoC and further optimize. There were no problems with applications and shell. Everything works very fast:

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Samsung's traditional Game Tools application is also in S10e:

In the benchmark smartphone shows similarand sometimes slightly higher results than we saw in S10 +, which is quite logical. In general, Samsung Galaxy S10e is in the top of most synthetic tests at the moment:

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Overheating during prolonged peak loads is present, the throttlit system is up to 80% and the body is slightly heated. But I couldn’t load my smartphone with everyday tasks or games:

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RAM in the smartphone 6 GB, built-in -128 GB, plus there is a slot for microSD. There is also a version of 8 and 256 GB. On communications: Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, ANT +, NFC, USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1. Supports global positioning systems GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo.

The fingerprint scanner is technologically standard butlocated in the power button. In itself is very good: accurate and lightning. But its location will be convenient only for those who use the smartphone with their right hand. I use my left and I constantly needed to stretch my finger, in the usual, “natural” position of the hand, the index finger simply does not reach out. Face recognition is extremely formal. It is, but it can not be called safe. Samsung itself warns about it.

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The sound is as good as the Galaxy S10 +: the stereo sound of the main and conversational speakers, a very impressive margin of volume and sound quality. In the headphones is similar.

The capacity of the internal battery is 3100mAh, which is quite normal with this display. In practice, the autonomy is quite average: the Samsung Galaxy S10e lives from morning to late evening with very active use, with Wi-Fi constantly turned on, 4G, synchronization of a heap of accounts, calls, instant messengers, photos and games. Supports fast charging of 15 W and wireless charging (including reverse for accessories).

What about the interface?

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Like Samsung Galaxy S10 +, S10e works on OSAndroid 9 Pie with the new shell One UI version 1.1. We have already analyzed it in detail in the S10 + review. In short, the interface has changed significantly visually, it has a common night mode, in which all menus and system applications use a black background. In addition to the visual difference, I think that the night mode slightly affects the autonomy (considering AMOLED, in which the black pixels are not lit). In many menus, items are shifted to the middle of the display for easy one-handed operation. The basic shell logic has not changed: desktops and application menus, plus options available only with desktops and a simplified mode with large icons:

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Application Manager - a bit advancedfunctionality option Android 9 Pie with a horizontal carousel of cards, where they added the ability to open applications in a smaller window, make them transparent or minimize to a small icon (in addition to the two-window mode):

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Edge panels are available, even despite the flat screen:

And a set of branded applications:

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It works all well, quickly, conveniently. Critical bugs did not come across during use.

How good are the cameras?

In the younger Samsung Galaxy S10e decided to donatethe third camera, namely, the telephoto module for zoom, but not critical (I think). The rear camera includes a main 12-megapixel module with a variable aperture of f / 1.5-2.4, a viewing angle of 77 °, a pixel size of 1.4 μm and optical stabilization, and an ultra wide-angle module of 16 MP with a viewing angle of 123 °, f / 2.2. The second module is devoid of stabilization and autofocus. The camera can blur the background and make super wide-angle photos. There is a video recording in 4K 60k / s, HDR10 + and Super Slow Motion 960 frames per second at a resolution of 1280x720. 10-megapixel front-facing camera, f / 1.9 with autofocus, variable angle (for yourself and the company) and portrait mode.

The application is similar to older models: everything you need is on the main screen, the modes are switched by swipes left and right, there is auto-recognition of scenarios in the frame, auto-tuning, tips for improving photos. The only difference is that the camera switch is not three-way, but two-position due to the lack of zoom function:

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In the afternoon, the main module copes with itsThe tasks are great, which is not surprising. In the evening and at night, everything is not bad, but noises and smears are present, the detailing drops noticeably. It’s not that bad, but there are several competitors who do better at night shooting:

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The wide-angle camera is very good and useful with enough light. In the evening, the lack of a stabilizer affects and making a clear photo is quite difficult:

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With a blurred background, the camera sometimes “misses”, but this only applies to the least light scenes:

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4K HDR video:

Super Slow Motion:

In the dry residue

Samsung Galaxy S10e - the smallest flagship inrange in size and price, but not in features. And for a number of users, compact size and a very convenient form will be more a plus than a minus. “Junior” flagship is not cut in the most important aspects and it is very nice. The smartphone has an excellent screen, top-end stuffing, like the older brothers, an excellent metal and glass case with protection against dust and water, great sound and a very decent main camera, even if it is a little less functional. True, in addition to the merits, some shortcomings migrated from the older brothers: yes, the smartphone is significantly cheaper than the older brothers, but 25 000 UAH - this is still a very impressive amount and for it you can find a couple of models that are a little stronger in the night shooting. Although not able to boast such a convenient compact body.

6 reasons to buy the Samsung Galaxy S10e:

very comfortable compact body and stylish design;
great display;
top performance;
good main camera;
high-quality sound in the speakers and headphones;
dust and moisture protection of the case.

2 reasons not to buy the Samsung Galaxy S10e:

high price;
The main camera does not always cope well with night shooting.

Samsung Galaxy S10e

"Flat" flagships are back

A smartphone for those who did not understand the fashion for the bends of the screens. And although the Galaxy S10e does not look "like the future", it is almost identical to the older models in terms of the filling.

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Specifications Samsung Galaxy S10e

Display
Dynamic AMOLED, 5.8 inches, 3040 × 1440 (aspect ratio 19: 9), 522 ppi, Gorilla Glass 6

Housing
dimensions: 142.2 × 69.9 × 7.9 mm, weight: 150 g

CPU
64-bit Samsung Exynos 9820, 2xExynos M4, 2.73 GHz, 2xARM Cortex-A75 2.31 GHz, 4xARM Cortex-A55 1.95 GHz, Neural Processing Unit (NPU), ARM Mali-G76 MP12 graphics

RAM
6 GB

Flash memory
128 GB, microSD

Camera
triple: 12 MP (f / 1.5-2.4, 26 mm EGF, 1 / 2.55 ″, 1.4 µm, Dual Pixel PDAF), ultra-wide angle 16 MP, f / 2.2, flash, video [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], front camera: 10 MP f / 1.9 with autofocus

Wireless technology
Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax (dual-band, 2.4 and 5 GHz, Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth 5.0 LE, NFC, ANT +

GPS
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO

Battery
3100 mAh, non-removable, fast and wireless charging

operating system
Android 9 Pie + One UI 1.1

Sim card
2xNanoSIM