Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Ownership Experience (Android 12 has arrived!)

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This is mostly from the point of view of mine who is downgrading from Pixel 2 (lol)

I hate the camera. This was expected but I was not ready for something this bad. Nishant and Vedant had alerted me about this. Note10 Lite camera specs are much better. S10 Lite just has shitty cameras. Both front and back. So if you are confused between S10 Lite and Note10 Lite… And camera is a priority… Get the Note10 Lite.

Apart from that, the phone seems fine. Samsung OneUI is very nice. Probably the best UI I have seen on a non-Google Android device.

Display is great. I had issue with display on my last two devices so this was nice. Though I usually see the flaws after a few days of usage so there’s that.

Size is huge. This phone is hard to use with a single hand. But then I have been using the tiny Pixel 2 for the last two years so this was again expected.

Samsung Pay works! I tried it twice yesterday and both times it worked just fine. I was alerted of the payment confirmation with amount which is nice because a lot of shops do not rotate the machine towards you for NFC payments.

Samsung allows for removal of most of the bundled apps. I was able to delete Facebook and a few other apps. Even Samsung’s own apps like the Internet Browser. This is surprising and nice. Not all apps are removable though.

Bixby home screen panel is painful. I keep on sliding to the left because I am used to getting the Google Discover panel there and well it gets annoying. It is mostly powered by the bundled apps which I do not use like Foursquare and Flipboard. Uber integration seems nice and useful but since I am not a regular Uber user, it probably ends up wasting battery for me.

Samsung has included the low end optical under-display FPS on this device. It is not good. I mean it works most of the times but sometimes it would just refuse to accept my thumb especially when it is lying on the desk. Thankfully Face Unlock also works great and is faster so I do not have to deal with the FPS thingy on a regular basis. Tried just now and yeap, it did not work till I picked up the phone. I guess I would have to retrain the FPS with my thumb at lower angles which I assume are not recorded properly because of the way phone was being held during the addition.

I should have asked this before. And now I realize that Samsung does not have a gesture to lock the phone. Mi devices have one. And I love it. Using button to lock the phone is just annoying.

(Can someone explain to me if Samsung Good Lock would help me with this? What exactly is this app? I just read today that it is finally ready for Android 10 devices.)

Also… I am not sure if VoLTE is working for me. I see no icon in the top bar. VoWiFi is definitely not working at the moment even though the phone is listed on Airtel’s website and it is enabled on the phone and the OS is up to date. I am in Gurgaon. A cousin also got her S10 Lite today and VoWiFi is also not working for her in Delhi so that’s not very nice.

Anyhow… If anyone has any question about this phone, feel free to ask here.

PS. Phone came with a super thin screen protector on the display. I am not sure how long it would last but it is so nicely installed that you have to look really hard to see it on the edges. It is very visible around the selfie camera. I hope it lasts for a few months at least because third party ones are going to have gaps on the edges and would probably add more issues with under-display fps.

PS. The box also came with a pretty nice transparent tpu. It feels much better than the third party case I had ordered from Amazon. Now trying to return it because I would wait for something better in future.

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Update about VoLTE and VoWiFi... It works great on Reliance Jio. Still trying to get the issue fixed with my Airtel SIM.
 
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Even I was facing the same issue around 1am today morning. Seems to be working fine now even with private dns on.
Phone: Poco f1
 
@Sushubh How has been this phone serving you until now? My brother's poco f1 is very unreliable and giving a lot of trouble within 1year of usage, so thought I'd either get him this or the s10.
 
I am pretty satisfied with it I suppose. Haven't thought about selling it off yet which is a big improvement over my previous non Google purchases. Moto Turbo was the other non Google phone I kept for a year. I liked that phone over this one for sure but not for reasons which would bother you. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask 😬
 
I am pretty satisfied with it I suppose. Haven't thought about selling it off yet which is a big improvement over my previous non Google purchases. Moto Turbo was the other non Google phone I kept for a year. I liked that phone over this one for sure but not for reasons which would bother you. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask 😬
Status on the battery life and screen issues you previously had?
 
Battery life is pretty good. I usually recharge it every second day but most of my usage is browser based. No media. No games.

Display issue is only visible at very low brightness on dark backgrounds. Looks like a tech issue with the display technology. I don't think most people would even notice it even if it exists.
 
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As you can see, I usually consume less than half battery on a typical day. Sometimes it's more because I end up spending way too much time on Twitter.
 

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Battery life seems pretty good, and an added advantage is that fast charger. Howz the UI, mostly in terms of lag and user friendliness?
 
India has the Snapdragon model as well. One thing that might be worth considering here... It is not clear if Airtel activate volte/vowifi using IMEI number or just model number. If they are using IMEI, your phone might not get VoLTE or VoWiFi on an imported unit. Jio seems to be more open about this. You would also have to check if the UAE model has the same band support otherwise you might end up with a model with no 4G support in India? Though this should not be a problem as the Snapdragon model in UAE and India should be same builds. Of course, these points are useless if your brother is going to remain in UAE lol.
 

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