I just got my hands on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite yesterday and I’m pretty excited. It’s a new approach for Samsung, the Note line has always been Samsung’s luxury line. Putting the S-pen on a budget phone is a good idea. They should’ve released this at launch. The Note 10 Lite is running the same processor as the Note 9, so it doesn’t feel super sluggish. This is also the first time that Samsung has put the S-pen in a budget phone which is its killer distinction from the other mid-range smartphones at this sub $600 price point. Sadly it is not officially out in the United States but you can buy this international model in my affiliated link on amazon. The main difference is the paperwork is in another language and the power plug is different, but it does come with a US adapter.
The Note 10 lite feels a lot more comfortable in the hand than the Note 10+. Note 10 Lite has a much rounder back and the cheaper build quality makes it less intimidating to hold. The S-pen looks the same but also feels a bit cheaper, reminds me of the build quality of the Note 5 S-pen, where it was more plastic.
The pressure sensitivity works, experience reminds me of the Note 5 S-pen, where there’s less pressure but the precise tip more than makes up for it. Not saying it has the same pen pressure setting as the note 5 but drawing experiece first glance feels very similar to it. The biggest plus is that the Note lite is compatible with other S-pen alternatives, including my favorite the Staedtler Noris Digital Samsung Pencil.
The non-curve display on the Note 10 Lite is a plus when drawing, especially for the beginner artist. Now when drawing artists don’t have to fret about drawing too close to the edge and having the S-pen slip from the corners.
Sadly there’s no dex mode for the Note 10 Lite, that’s where the price cut hits. So no dex dual canvas mode feature with this budget model. Besides that, for a budget phone, the screen is a reasonable size, 6.7 inches. It’s not too big and it is not too small.
The biggest plus for many is the return of the headphone jack and the Note 10 Lite has a bigger battery than the Note 10+ as well. 4500 mAh on the Lite model and 4,300mAh. This is a significant fact, as Samsung’s original excuse for not putting a headphone jack on the Note 10 was that they needed a bigger battery. I’m happy they went back and added it but still hurts for those of us that have the more premium model of the Note 10.
So far these are my initial Impressions of the Note 10 lite. So far it’s a pretty good value for the money, over $700 from the launch price of the Note 10+ while offering a lot of the necessary features for an artist. Stay tuned and sign up for my newsletter as I will be covering the note 10 lite in-depth and having comparisons etc.
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