Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better
We’ve spent quality time with Samsung’s Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10 Plus in the weeks after their official unveiling in San Francisco. While the spotlight is on the biggest, baddest version of Samsung’s newest flagship, the Galaxy S10 Plus I honestly think the smaller Galaxy S10e is the best phone out of the three. Why? Well…
It’s a phone that anyone can actually use one-handed
Back in the day, smartphones were small enough that I could move my massive gorilla thumb from one end of a phone to another without having to adjust my grip. That’s no longer the case with newer phones, simply because the physical size of smartphones nowadays has grown tremendously at the cost of one-handed usability.
That’s not the case with the Galaxy S10e. My thumb can finally move from one corner of the screen to the other with very minimal grip adjustment, which is a far cry from most phablets nowadays.
It’s the phone to get if you hate curved displays
Curved displays look nice, but not everyone like how they feel in the hand. It used to be you had an option of getting a non-curved variant of Samsung’s flagship, but that ship sailed with the arrival of the Galaxy S8.
It’s a great thing then, that the Galaxy S10e comes with a non-curved display. Honestly, the phone feels like a refined Galaxy S7, which we’re totally on board with since that phone was pretty great.
It’s still a great phone even without that third camera
Since the Galaxy S10e is technically the cheapest of the three flagships, it doesn’t quite get all the features that’s present on its more expensive brothers. One of the main features that was cut on the S10e to keep the price down was the 2x optical zoom camera, which means the phone only has two cameras – a regular, all-purpose camera and a ultra-wide lens.
As someone who used the Galaxy S10e during my week-long stay in Barcelona, it’s safe to say that I didn’t miss the 2x optical zoom ability at all. In fact, I couldn’t recall a time where I would have wanted the 2x optical zoom capability over the ultra-wide angle camera, so you’re not really missing out on much.
And since we’re talking about things you can live without…
You can live without the features that Samsung cut out
Aside from that third camera, Samsung also removed other features on the Galaxy S10e to cut costs. The display is flat, not curved, and the resolution of the phone is just full HD+ instead of QHD. There’s also no ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the front, so you’ll have to settle for the side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the power button. The Galaxy S10e also has 2GB of RAM less than the S10 or the S10 Plus.
But like that third camera on the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus, these are features that you don’t necessarily need. The display of the S10e is still pretty damn amazing, and the physical fingerprint scanner takes a little getting used to but isn’t the end of the world. There’s no discernable difference in performance in the 6GB RAM S10e and the 8GB S10 and S10 Plus.
All of the essential flagship features are still on the S10e – that amazing display, excellent performance, IP68 water resistance and a 3.5mm jack. The only thing I really missed was the bigger battery of the S10 Plus, but the 3100mAh battery is good enough for a day’s use if you’re frugal enough.
It’s considerably cheaper than the Galaxy S10 Plus
Look, smartphone pricing is getting out of hand. While I like innovation in tech, shelling out Php 55,990 for a phone simply isn’t something that’s practical for a lot of people.
That’s why the Galaxy S10e is the practical choice if you’re looking to get a top-tier phone with Samsung’s pedigree that won’t break the bank. It has all of the things that make this year’s Galaxies great, with none of the fluff.
