News: The Lowdown on the Samsung Galaxy S10e

With Apple releasing the iPhone XR, it appears Samsung is looking to challenge this “budget flagship” option head-on. They brought their usual two phone releases this year, but also threw in another three for a total of five phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S10e. And for many, this might be the option to look at.

The Samsung Galaxy S10e is very similar to the Galaxy S10. It, however, makes small downgrades in some specs to bring its price to a more affordable range. The key elements are all there, though: the processor is the same, it uses the same Dynamic AMOLED display, and even offers the same IP68 rating. And it is $150 cheaper than the Galaxy S10.

Standout Features

The Galaxy S10e is the “budget” option for the S10 lineup. It makes a few sacrifices such as a smaller screen and one less rear camera for $150 savings when compared to the Samsung Galaxy S10’s price (or $250 compared to the S10+).

Everything You Need to Know About the Samsung Galaxy S10e — *Image by MKBHD/YouTube*

Important Dates

The Galaxy S10 line of flagship devices was formally announced on February 20, 2019, during the Samsung UNPACKED event held in San Francisco. Pre-orders for the device are scheduled to go live on February 21, 2019, at midnight Eastern, with its general release set for March 8th.

Release date: March 8, 2019
Preorder date: February 21, 2019
Announced: February 20, 2019

Storage Capacity

The S10e will come in either 128 GB or 256 GB storage options.

Storage available: 128 GB and 256 GB
Expandable storage: yes, up to 512 GB microSD card

Price for Everything

The biggest selling point of the S10e is the price, which starts at a reasonable $749. At this price, it is $150 cheaper than the Galaxy S10 while offering very similar specs.

Price: $749

Body

The Galaxy S10e will come in six colors: Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, Prism Blue, Canary Yellow, and Flamingo Pink.

Frame: aluminum and glass
Finish: Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, Prism Blue, Canary Yellow, or Flamingo Pink

Basics

Like the rest of the lineup, the Galaxy S10e comes with IP68 water and dust resistance, the highest rating for smartphones to date. It is also the lightest phone in the line-up at 5.29 oz.

Height: 5.6 inches
Width: 2.75 inches
Depth: 0.31 inches
Weight: 5.29 ounces
Dust/water resistance: IP68
Supported carriers: T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint
Infrared blaster: no

Software

Just like the rest of the lineup, the Galaxy S10e will run the latest version of Android, 9.0 Pie. Samsung has recently updated last year’s flagships with the new OS, which brings over 44 changes. One of the biggest improvement is in the area of security, where Google has addressed many lingering problems with Android.

Version: Android 9.0 Pie

Skin

The Galaxy S10e is running One UI 1.0 on top of Android 9.0 Pie. This skin is the successor to Samsung Experience and introduces several changes to the polarizing skin. One of the biggest changes is the new design that closely resembles the design layout of stock Android.

Version: One UI 1.0

Display

Because Samsung believes notches are “uncool,” the new S10 lineup uses what Samsung is calling the “Infinity O” display. This is a punch hole in the upper-right corner which houses the front-facing camera.

This hole is in a 5.8-inch 19:9 display, the same size as last year’s Galaxy S9. It has a 2280 x 1080 display and uses Dynamic AMOLED tech. However, unlike its siblings, it uses the less resilient Gorilla Glass 5 instead of Gorilla Glass 6. Also unlike the S10 and S10+, its display isn’t curved at the edge, giving a look that mirrors most other smartphones.

Screen size: 5.8 inches
Screen resolution: 2280 x 1080
Total pixels: 2,462,400 pixels
Pixel density: 438 ppi
Screen type: Dynamic AMOLED
Notch: no
Punch-Hole: yes, upper right corner
HDR: HDR10+
Screen-to-body ratio: unknown
Aspect ratio: 19:9
Minimum brightness: unknown
Maximum brightness: unknown
Refresh rate: 60 Hz (60 Hz for touch-sensing)
Color temp: unknown
Color gamut: unknown

Performance

As with each Samsung Galaxy S series flagship, the S10e will launch with the latest and greatest from Qualcomm. This year, that is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, and it is impressive. It is the first 7 nm SoC from Qualcomm. Early benchmarking shows it not only faster than last year’s Kirin 980 but only a few points behind Apple’s A12 Bionic, an SoC that normally crushes Qualcomm’s 800 series in performance. As for RAM, the Galaxy S10e will come in two options, 6 GB or 8 GB.

Memory: 6 GB, or 8 GB of RAM
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Die size: 7 nm
CPU frequency: 2.84 GHz (Gold) + 2.41 GHz (Gold) + 1.78 GHz (Silver)
CPU cores: 8 (4 Gold + 4 Silver)
GPU: Adreno 640

Battery

The S10e comes with a respectable 3,100 mAh battery. Combined with the power efficiency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and 1080p display, this device should have fantastic real-world battery life. Samsung is also introducing a new feature, Wireless PowerShare, which turns your S10e into a wireless charging pad which other Qi devices can charge from.

Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion
Removable: no
Capacity: 3,100 mAh
Wired charging: yes, Samsung Adaptive Charging
Wireless charging: yes, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0
Reverse wireless charging: yes

Front Camera

Housed in the Infinity-O display is a 10 MP camera. It has an aperture of f/1.9 and a field of view of 80°.

Resolution: 10 MP
Pixel Size: 1.22 µm
Aperture: ƒ/1.9
Field of View: 80°
Autofocus: Dual Pixel
Zoom: no
Flash: Unknown
Image stabilization:Unknown
RAW support: no
Object detection: Unknown

Rear Camera

The other big difference between the S10e and the rest of the lineup is that it lacks a third or fourth camera. The Galaxy S10e has only a dual camera array on the rear, with a 12 MP wide-angle (77°) and 16MP ultrawide angle (123°).

Only the wide-angle has OIS. The main camera also brings back the variable aperture feature, with an aperture of either f/1.5 or f/2.4. The ultrawide has an aperture of f/2.2. Optical zoom is limited to 1.5x, but digital zoom is available up to 8x.

Resolution: 12 + 16 MP
Sensor size: unknown
Aperture: ƒ/1.5 and f/2.4 (variable aperture) + ƒ/2.2
Field of View: 77° + 123°
AutoFocus: Dual Pixel
Zoom: 1.5x optical, 10x digital
Flash: yes
Image stabilization: yes, optical (on 12 MP lens)
RAW support: yes
Lens cover: unknown
Object detection: yes, face, baby, person, dog, cat, food, people, beaches, sky, mountain, sunset, sunrise, city, snow, waterfall, watersides, scenery, stage, vehicles, drinks, flowers, trees, greenery, animal, shoes, backlit, indoor, text, clothes, night view
Formats: JPEG, PNG, RAW

The S10e is capable is the usual video features such as 4K recording at 60fps and super-slow motion. However, what’s unique this year is the ability to shoot in HDR10+. With this mode, videos shot on your S10e can now take full advantage of the new Dynamic AMOLED display on the S10e and enjoy the improved contrast which come with HDR on other HDR10+ displays.

Resolution: 720p, 1080p, and 4K
Max frame rate: 720p at 30fps, 1080p at 60 fps, 4K at 60 fps
Slow motion: 720p at 960 fps, 1080p at 240 fps
Time-lapse: yes, 1080p
Photos: yes, 9.1 MP still photos during 4K recording
Zoom: yes
Flash access: yes, High CRI LED
Image stabilization: yes, VDIS (video digital image stabilization)
Object detection: unknown
Autofocus: Tracking
Audio: unknown
Formats: unknown

Audio

The S10e bring backs the headphone jack for another year. It also uses the same stereo speaker setup as the S10, using the earpiece and a bottom-firing speaker. AKG Acoustics tuned these speakers, which also support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus. Making a return is Ultra High Quality Audio Playback with UHQ 32-bit and DSD64/128 support.

3.5 mm headphone jack: yes
Stereo speakers: no
Mics: one, High AOP mic
Max speaker volume: unknown

Media Formats

The Galaxy S10e supports the same list of file types supported by the Android OS.

Audio: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, APE, DSF, DFF
Video: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

Sensors

The S10e has the usual array of sensors. However, it does lose the heart rate sensor which is present in the higher-end S10 models.

Accelerometer: yes
Ambient light: yes, RGB
Barometer: yes
Color temperature: no
Compass: yes
Gravity: no
Gyroscope: yes
Hall: yes
Heart Rate: no
Infrared: no
Laser: no
Pressure: yes
Pedometer: yes
Proximity: yes

The S10e has the usual sensors to provide GPS tracking.

GPS: yes
aGPS: no
Glonass: yes
BeiDou: yes
Galileo: yes
QZSS: no

Connectivity

The Galaxy S10e supports the latest Wi-Fi standards, including Wi-Fi 6. The included cellular modem supports speeds up to 2 Gbps download and 150 Mbps upload. The Galaxy S10e will also support T-Mobile LTE Band 71, which is a lower frequency band that can better reach rural areas. It even includes LTE 13, a band used exclusively by Verizon that provides faster speeds and even better coverage than phones that don’t support that band.

Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM
Bluetooth: 5
NFC: yes
Cellular: nano-SIM
Port: USB Type-C

FDD LTE: Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/ 19/20/25/26/28/29/30/32/66/71
TDD LTE: Band 34/38/39/40/41/46
TD-SCDMA: Band 34/39
UMTS(WCDMA): Band 1/2/4/5/8/9/19
CDMA: BC0/BC1
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Security

The Galaxy S10e will use a side-mounted fingerprint reader. This isn’t as impressive as the ultrasonic in-display sensor in the S10 and S10+ but does allow for a clean back and the ability to unlock your phone when resting on a table. The S10e will also come with Samsung Knox protection, which provides real-time protection against tampering and other unauthorized modification to the software. McAfee is included for malware protection. Secure Folder is also present, allowing to hide and secure apps, photos, movies, and much more.

Fingerprint scanner: side mounted, capacitive
Face scanner: no, but Face Unlock via front facing camera
Iris scanner: no
Manual authentication: Password, PIN, pattern

Box Includes

The S10e will come with the usual goodies

Samsung Galaxy S10e
Samsung USB Type-C Cable
Travel Adapter
USB Connector (OTG)
AKG Headset
SIM Tray Ejector
Pattern Cover
Quick Start Guide
Protective Film

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Cover image via MKBHD/YouTube

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