Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite: Features | Specs

Where to buy

Samsung's Note line has always stood out for two reasons. Firstly, they were huge phones when they first launched, although many competing handsets have now caught up to the "phablet" size of the first few generations of Note phones.

Then there's the actually unique "S-Pen" stylus. Up until 2019, if you wanted an S-Pen you had to match it to an equally large Note phone. But that changed with the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Note10, a "smaller" Note compared to the Galaxy Note10 Plus.

Now there's a third option, with Samsung unveiling the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite.

Design

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite's design

  You might expect that if there's a Galaxy Note10 Plus and a Galaxy Note10, then the Galaxy Note10 Lite would be the smallest and simplest model in the range.

  That's not quite the case. Where the Galaxy Note10 features a 6.3-inch display, the Galaxy Note10 Lite has a 6.7-inch 1080x2280-pixel Super AMOLED screen. That's a bigger screen, although the downside is that its size means it has a slightly lower pixel per inch (PPI) count than the smaller Galaxy Note10.

  Still, the design style is quite consistent, with a centrally mounted "hole punch" style camera at the top of the display, which otherwise dominates the front view of the phone. At the back, there's a triple lens array and a choice of three colour styles, at least according to Samsung's specifications. The Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite will be produced in Aura Glow, Aura Black and Aura Red finishes, but there's no guarantee that we'll see all of those colours offered for sale officially in Australia.

Camera

• Wide, ultrawide and telephoto lenses
• 32MP selfie camera

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite's camera

  Samsung announced the Galaxy Note10 Lite at the same time as the Galaxy S10 Lite, and while both share a fairly similar design and the same camera module look, they're actually quite different in terms of specifications. The Galaxy Note10 Lite features a primary 12MP f/1.7 sensor, 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide and 12MP f/2.4 telephoto sensor, where the Galaxy S10 Lite has a 48MP primary, 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro lens. However, both do share the same 32MP front-facing selfie camera.

  The Note10 Lite appears to really push the "lite" part of its title in the camera space, but that doesn't automatically mean it's going to be an underperformer. Samsung has a good track record for producing pleasing camera results even with middling hardware, so we're keen to see how the Galaxy Note10 Lite compares.

Performance

• 10nm Octa-core processor
• 6GB or 8GB of RAM
• S-Pen experiences at a (presumably) lower price

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite's performance

  Samsung has been a little coy about specifics of the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite, stating that it's running on a 10nm Octa-core processor (Quad 2.7GHz + Quad 1.7GHz), which many have taken as an indication that it's using its own Exynos silicon rather than Qualcomm's Snapdragon lines. It's entirely feasible that Samsung could produce dual Exynos and Snapdragon lines depending on the market it's going to sell in, because that's what it's done for plenty of its prior Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines.

  The Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite will sell with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage, minus the requirements of Android 10 and Samsung's own included applications.

  This will of course include support for Samsung's S-Pen stylus, and that's still a core reason to buy a Note phone at all. Samsung has indicated that the Galaxy Note10 Lite will have full S-Pen support, including the Air Gestures feature introduced in the Galaxy Note10 line, so you're definitely not getting a cut-down experience there if stylus input is important to you.

Battery life

• 4,500mAh battery should power it through the day well

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite's battery life

  Note phones have usually tended to offer superior battery capacity, but that comes with the territory when you're producing larger phones, because there's more room to stuff batteries into them.

  For the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite, Samsung is providing a 4,500mAh battery, which should give it a good crack at multi-day battery life. To be frank, our experience with most of Samsung's 2019 phone crop left us just a little wanting in the battery department, but by keeping the power rating up, there's plenty of hope that the Galaxy Note10 Lite could bring Samsung back to a premiere position in smartphone battery endurance.

Early outlook

• Could be a great way to get into the Note world – if the price is right

• Read our early Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite verdict

  Samsung announced the Galaxy Note10 Lite at CES 2020, but it hasn't actually revealed the real-world pricing for its new Note handset in any market at all.

  It's undoubtedly a tricky balancing act, because the Galaxy Note10 is already Samsung's "value" Note phone, and below that there's many quite good Galaxy A series phones as well.

  All Samsung has said is that the Galaxy Note10 Lite will sell at an "accessible price point", but there's a lot of scope as to what that might mean. It could mean a great value phone and an easy access point for folks who want the S-Pen experience, or it could be a rather disappointing effort, especially with the Galaxy S11/S20 series due to launch in just a few short weeks.

Pricing and availability

• Pricing still TBC

Samsung is yet to formally announce pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Lite, and it's yet to be formally confirmed to be shipping to Australia. We'll update you once we get more concrete details from Samsung Australia.

Specifications

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