Samsung Galaxy S10e
Not as luxurious as the Galaxy S10 or S10+, but the S10e’s lower price makes it a tempting proposition
“These beefed-up innards translate to an effortlessly speedy experience and provide benchmark results that rival the very best”
SCORE PRICE £479 (£575 inc VAT) from pcpro.link/298sam
The Galaxy S10 and S10+ ( see issue 296, p68) represented Samsung’s biggest leap forward in recent years, but both share a major drawback: they’re absurdly expensive. Thankfully, the smallest of the three is also the cheapest.
The S10e’s screen shrinks to 5.8in across the diagonal, compared to 6.1in for the Galaxy S10, but the phone still incorporates the same silver-tinted edging and wide range of colours. In fact, the Galaxy S10e has an exclusive paint job, although “canary yellow” won’t be to everybody’s taste. Assuming you don’t choose this colour, the elegant Galaxy S10e is achingly attractive, its small size fits nicely in the hand, and layers of Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and rear ensure that its lavish looks are well protected against drops and scrapes.
One thing I didn’t like, though, was the phone’s over-tendency to pick up smudges on the rear panel. Perhaps this is more noticeable with the lighter-looking “prism white” model I was sent to review, but the back of the phone proved difficult to clean.
Samsung follows its usual design formula with a USB-C charging port at the bottom, with support for Samsung’s 15W Fast Wireless Charging 2, with a power button on the right edge. A dedicated Bixby button (which can be disabled) sits on the left along with the volume rocker, and it’s nice to see that the 3.5mm headphone jack has reappeared alongside the solitary speaker grille on the bottom of the phone.
Unlike the S10 and S10 Plus, the Galaxy S10e doesn’t include an under-display fingerprint reader for secure unlocking. Instead, the sensor is embedded in the power button. I much prefer this unlocking arrangement as it’s where my thumb naturally sits when holding the phone.
The Dynamic AMOLED screen is excellent, too. The
Full HD+ resolution – as opposed to its siblings’ Quad HD+ – is no bad thing. This is still Samsung’s best panel yet, with supports for HDR 10+ and its increased dynamic range when watching movies and playing Android games. I measured an sRGB colour gamut coverage of 95% on the phone’s Normal display profile, with a total volume of 96%, which is remarkable. Meanwhile, the phone’s Vivid mode is closer to the DCI-P3 colour space and best suited for video playback.
The Samsung Galaxy S10e’s automatic brightness mode is as dazzling as ever, capable of reaching a maximum 987cd/m² with a torch aimed at the phone’s top-mounted light sensor.
Like the rest of this year’s flagships, the S10e features Samsung’s own Exynos 9820 chip paired with 6GB of RAM. There’s also only one storage option available in the UK, at 128GB, although this is expandable via microSD up to 512GB. These beefed-up innards translate to an effortlessly speedy experience and provide benchmark results that rival the very best in the business ( see p71). And while I was concerned at the phone’s 3,100mAh battery, the S10e lasted 17hrs 50mins on a single charge in our videorundown test.
The Galaxy S10e’s dual camera setup includes the same 12-megapixel rear camera as the Galaxy S9, with a dual aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4 (the camera widens the aperture once the lighting conditions hit below 100 lux). It proved very effective last year, but there’s also a secondary, 16-megapixel wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/2.2 sitting next to it. A 10-megapixel in-display selfie camera can also be found in the top right of the screen.
Picture quality is impeccable, with accurate colour rendition and heaps of detail, no matter the lighting conditions. The wide-angle sensor also does a good job of squeezing more objects into the frame while the phone’s “Live Focus” shooting mode is impressive, allowing you to adjust the amount of background blur before you capture an image. That’s not to say the entire experience is flawless, as Samsung’s camera UI is still fiddly. The phone’s HDR and resolution toggles, for instance, aren’t immediately accessible and are instead tucked away in the settings.
The S10e can shoot stabilised footage at 4K resolution, but only at 30fps. To capture at 60fps, you have to drop the resolution down to Full HD. Regardless, the S10e has the ability to record lovely-looking HDR 10+ clips and can capture 12 seconds of 720p slow-motion footage at 960fps.
The Galaxy S10e might be the least impressive of the family, but in the areas that matter most, it’s equally as formidable. It has tough competition: at £499, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is as feature-packed and powerful. And both new Pixel 3a phones are tempting. Still, if you’re dead set on picking up one of Samsung’s latest handsets, this is the phone I’d recommend. Also, if you’re willing to hold fire for a few months, you may see the S10e’s price plummet below £500. SPECIFICATIONS Octa-core 2.73GHz/2.31GHz/1.95GHz Exynos 9820 6GB RAM Adreno 640 graphics 5.8in AMOLED screen, 1,080 x 2,280 resolution 128GB storage microSD card slot 3.5mm audio jack dual 12MP/16MP rear camera 10MP front camera 802.11ax Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5 NFC USB-C connector
3,100mAh battery Android 9 69.9 x 7.9 x 142.2mm (WDH) 150g 1yr warranty