Samsung Galaxy S10e review - Still the best Galaxy S10 for most people - Android - Canadian apps and news

Samsung Galaxy S10e review - Still the best Galaxy S10 for most people - Android

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Samsung's most affordable Galaxy S10 model is probably the best one for most people.

Update February 17: Samsung recently announced the Galaxy S20 series, including the S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra. These phones are a huge step up from the S10 family in terms of specs and features. Some of the biggest improvements include 120Hz displays, the latest processor, huge allotments of RAM, big batteries, flexible cameras, and 5G.

More pertinent to this review, Samsung dropped the price of the S10e, S10, and S10 Plus. The phone’s now cost $150 less each, meaning $599 for the S10e, $749 for the S10, and $849 for the S10 Plus. These change the value equation, as the phones are much more affordable than the very pricey S20 series, which cost between $999 and $1,599 depending on model and options.

What we’re saying is there is a lot more value to be had here.

Samsung Galaxy S10e review notes:

I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy S10e on T-Mobile’s network in the U.S. for roughly eight days. The device is running Samsung One UI version 1.1 on Android 9 Pie with build number PPR1.180610.011.G970U1UEU1ASBA on the February 1, 2019 Android security patch. We’ll refrain from adding review scores until we can put the devices through our full suite of tests.

The Samsung Galaxy S10e review unit was provided to Android Authority by Samsung. The model in this review is the U.S. variant with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

Take a look at the smartphones we consider to be flagships. The Galaxy S10 Plus, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, and iPhone XS Max are all great phones in their own right, but what do they have in common? All three of them start at around $1,000.

If you’re like me, you just cringed a little bit. Luckily, smartphone companies have noticed that not everyone wants to spend a grand on a phone, so they’re launching more affordable versions of their top-tier devices.

For Samsung, this year’s affordable flagship is the Galaxy S10e — it’s a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone XR, and offers just about the same Galaxy S10 experience without the eye-watering price tag.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S10e review to find out why you should probably buy this phone.

See price at Amazon

Design

Back side of the Samsung Galaxy S10e in yellow color, held in hand.

3.5mm headphone jack
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
IP68 water resistance
142.2 x 69.9 x 7.9mm, 150g

All phones in the Galaxy S10 lineup share a similar design language, but the Galaxy S10e is the most different of the bunch. It’s not as flashy as the Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. In fact, I quite like that aspect of the S10e. Hear me out.

For starters, it doesn’t have a gigantic display — this is very much a one-handed phone. It doesn’t sport the traditional curved edges around the display either, which makes it way easier to hold than its bigger brothers.

Minimal bezels surround the display on the front, while the back edges are nicely curved to fit into your hand. The glass-and-aluminum design makes the Galaxy S10e feel quite substantial as well, without it being too heavy. It feels more like an iPhone XS than anything else. In doing so, it makes my Google Pixel 3 feel like a toy.

If you buy the Galaxy S10e, there’s no doubt you’re going to need a case. It’s so slippery. While writing this section of the review, my S10e almost slipped off the table on its own! I’m not the only one with Slippery Galaxy Syndrome either.

Around the left side, you’ll find a volume rocker and dedicated Bixby button (more on that later) directly below it. The right side of the S10e houses the power button/fingerprint sensor combo.

That’s right, the Galaxy S10e doesn’t have an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded in its screen like the S10 and S10 Plus. As I’ve already mentioned, this is a good thing — the S10 and S10 Plus’ fingerprint sensors are slower and less accurate than traditional scanners.

I think side-mounted fingerprint sensors are underrated. They’re located in a spot where your thumb naturally rests. You can even swipe down on the S10e’s sensor to pull down the notification shade.

For as fast as the fingerprint sensor is (it’s really fast), there are some downsides:

The fingerprint sensor is located on the right side of the phone, so left-handers will probably have trouble reaching it with their index fingers.
It’s located a bit too high for my liking — I’ve had to adjust the way I pick up my phone so I can ensure I’m able to reach it every time.
Because of its location, I’ve found myself taking a ton of accidental screenshots when turning the volume down. It’s very easy to hit the power and volume down button at the same time.
Finally, you need to make sure to cover the entire sensor with your fingerprint, not just a portion of it. It’s harder to get used to than you’d think.

I wouldn’t call any of these things dealbreakers, and I think the sheer speediness and reliability of the sensor overshadows any of the other issues.

Display

Front side photo of the samsung galaxy s10e standing upright with the display turned on running on android pie.

5.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED display
2,280 x 1,080 resolution, 435ppi
19:9 aspect ratio

Samsung makes the best displays in the smartphone business, and the Galaxy S10e’s 5.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED panel is wonderful. It gets plenty bright and dim, and I’ve had no problems with outdoor visibility. This is a Full HD+ display, so it’s not as pixel dense as the other Galaxy S10 models. But unless you absolutely have to have a Quad HD+ display on your phone, the S10e’s screen will do just fine.

Front upper side of the samsung galaxy s10e focusing on the display hole punch camera.

Samsung Galaxy S10 wallpapers can be downloaded here

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series delivers a host of features you'd expect from a 2019 flagship (and then some). We highly recommend getting one of the high-end devices, but if you are just interested in …

To trim down as many bezels as it could, Samsung decided to place the front-facing camera inside the display. Personally, I prefer this to a big ol’ notch in the middle. It gets out of the way most of the time, and frankly I stopped noticing it after about an hour with the device. All of Samsung’s wallpapers try to hide it as much as possible, and it’s barely noticeable if you use a black wallpaper. Plus, there’s an entire subreddit for Galaxy S10 wallpapers if you’d like to make it blend in even more.

Hardware & performance

8nm octa-core Exynos 9820 / 7nm octa-core Snapdragon 855
6/8GB of RAM
128/256GB of storage, expandable storage up to 512GB
3,100mAh battery
Headphone jack
Qi and PMA wireless charging with Wireless PowerShare
IP68 water and dust resistance

The Galaxy S10 lineup is one of the first to market powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform. It’s fast. I haven’t noticed a single stutter or hint of lag throughout my time testing the device.

Global variants of the S10e are powered by Samsung’s new Exynos 9820 SoC. If you have the option to choose one over the other, go with the Snapdragon 855 model. The video below will explain why.

In case you’re a fan of benchmarks, we’ve run the Samsung Galaxy S10e through Geekbench 4, AnTuTu, and 3DMark. Performance seems to be a pretty nice step up compared to the Snapdragon 845-powered OnePlus 6T and Galaxy S9.

In Geekbench, the Galaxy S10e scored a single-core score of 3,525 and a multi-core score of 11,189. The OnePlus 6T scored 2,368 and 8,843, respectively. Our Galaxy S9 scored a single-core score of 2,144 and a multi-core score of 8,116.