Got a Galaxy S10e instead of my pre-ordered S10 - First impressions

I had a Galaxy S9 256GB and while it did all I needed, I really wanted to have that wide angle camera and the finger print scanner on the screen sounds more convenient to unlock the phone while its laying on my desk rather than having to lift it up and unlock it via iris or fingerprint scanner on the back.

So I pre-ordered a Galaxy S10 128GB from Samsung Dubai with the free Galaxy Ear buds. They were supposed to deliver my phone on the 3rd of March and I've been fighting with them every day asking where the heck is my phone, they just kept giving me excuses then lying that the phone is with the shipping company which it wasn't until I finally gave up yesterday and told them that I do not want to deal with your company anymore, just cancel my order and refund my money.

So I went to the mall to one of the biggest phone retailers named AXIOM Telecom which has all the phones in stock but without any gifts obviously (screw the gifts, I just want the darn phone!).

I was so set on the Galaxy S10 as the S10+ is too big for my liking and the S10 has 3 cameras which is amazing considering the size of the phone. Before going there I was actually on Android Central forums browsing through and the in-screen fingerprint scanner issues kinda turned me off. I wasn't sure I will be able to live with this even though some have found a way to make it work, just didn't to be very reliable to me but after watching the below video where he mentions that the telephoto camera is NOT used for the Portrait Mode/Bokeh Effect since that is now done in Software, that kind of made the S10e more appealing to me because I don't really need the zoom feature, I just want the wide angle lens and occasionally the Portrait Mode.



As I walked into the store and saw the 3 phones next to each other (S10+, S10, and S10e), well, the S10 was exactly the same size as the S9 that I had but when I grabbed the S10e, I fell in love with its even smaller size and the flat screen display

While at the shop, I quickly snapped a photo with my S9 then the same photo with the S10e and the colors on the S10e's camera popped more and made my S9 look so dull in comparison although they have the same sensor technically but I felt that it is a nice upgrade from my S9's camera.



I bought the phone and set it up and here are my initial impressions:

Phone size: This is the phone to get if you like small phones, so easy to use one handed and very easy to fit in your pocket even with a case on. I bought the Spigen Neo Hybrid case BTW.

Performance: Nothing different from a user experience vs my S9, it's snappy and there were no hiccups using the phone and setting up all my apps. I have the Exynos 9820 variant since that's what we get here in Dubai.

Camera: Simply stunning, pictures are sharp and not grainy and the ultra wide lens gives you a whole new perspective. More images will be posted tomorrow. The scene detection is awesome and when you point the camera at something, it actually gives you tips to make a few adjustments (like move up or down) to get the best shot!

Fingerprint scanner: I am in love with this thing, this is probably the best fingerprint scanner I have used on any phone. Period. I setup my right thumb and index finger and the moment I touch the power button on the right, bam, the phone unlocks instantly, no guesses, no second tries, no lag, no swipes required, simply place your finger on the button and you're in and no it is NOT so high and hard to reach like they say in the revies, the phone is so freakin' tiny even a kid can reach it with ease. It hasn't failed to recognize my finger, not once! You don't realize how much convenient it is until you've come from some awkwardly placed fingerprint scanner on the back or have tried these new finicky in-screen fingerprint scanners like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro or the Galaxy S10/10+

Facial recognition: Although it doesn't have an iris scanner, it unlocks the phone instantly after you wake the screen and look at it although it does require a swipe up to access your home screen unlike the fingerprint scanner which simply takes you to the home screen the moment you place your finger on it.

Build quality: feels very premium and well built. It had a screen protector on it but I removed it since I accidently dropped it between my car's seat from the side and the screen protector already had a bubble from that so I ordered a Sigen Ultra HD Screen protector.

Battery life: Too early to comment

Screen quality: Simply stunning as usual from Samsung, there is no option to change resolution but I've noticed that the icons are much bigger than the S9 that I had, probably due to the lower resolution of the screen but nonetheless its sharp and so vibrant in colors

I am so glad that things turned out this way and Samsung delayed my order so much that I actually walked into a store to check out the phones in person, otherwise I would've never considered the S10e and never came to realize how much I'd like it.

 

Reserved for photo samples

 

Great review!

 

Please post LTE performance, I really want to see if they improved the speeds in LTE when comparing Snapdragon or Intel modems.

 

The super steady mode feature is awesome!

 

The S10e is giving me 2 days of battery life easily after having had set all the apps to sleep mode with the exception of Gmail and Whatsapp, rest I want them to run/refresh only when I run them.

To give you an example, when I go for my 1.5 hour cardio session while listening to music that's on my phone on the SD Card, that would drain the battery only 10% in 1.5 hours!

 

Thanks.
Which band TDD 40 or FDD?

Using sammy buds or Airpods?
2 days of battery with heavy usage is almost unheard of!

 

using the bundled wired AKG earphones

 

@Vasudev

After 48 hours, my battery life was 36%

Now I put it on the charger for 10 mins and it's already at 50%

Part of why the battery is so good is that it's a 3100mAH battery powering a small screen. I have the Exynos 9280 CPU not the Snapdragon.

Android Pie is also very good with battery management as it has a feature to put apps to sleep so they never run in the background so I put everything to sleep except Whatsapp and Gmail. The rest of the apps I only want to run them when I want to run them and not have them constantly sucking battery in the background

 

I don't believe it, did cats do some Voodooo magic???
I never had great battery on Exynos, maybe they used some qualcomm stuff in secret like Apple?
14% charge in 10 minutes with QC2.0?
Have you uninstalled all garbage from Samsung and is it tweaked to perfection?

Studio quality stuff with 192kHz 32/48 bit audio from AKG?

 

Every darn Samsung phone I owned in the past 5 years had crap battery life. Like I would just leave it sitting in my desk and the battery would drain as if I was using it. Always had the same apps BTW which are very minimal, What'sapp, Google duo, Instagram, Metal Pro (instead of Facebook for more battery saving), Google Maps, Waze, Shazam, and a few others, nothing major.
I could never figure out what the heck was going on, it was always Android System using a lot of battery so I didn't have my expectations high for this phone. But the magic is in Android Pie and the fact that you can properly put apps to sleep and also turn on auto battery optimization mode which is also in the battery settings

The charging I was talking about was with whatever Fast Charger came with the phone.

I have uninstalled or disabled ALL Samsung garbage, no Briefing, Bixby Voice = OFF so she cant' be actively listening to my voice and I did remap the Bixby Button to Google Assistant and I did turn on the Google Assistant voice detection so that's another plus point that it's actually running somehow in the background awaiting to listen to my voice yet the battery is superb

Finally! A phone I can just pick up in the morning and not have to worry about my battery dying all the time.

 

The S10 generation all look great, but the S10e seems to be the best all around winner of this generation, as well put by Marques:

Samsung Galaxy S10e Review: Why Not?
Marques Brownlee
Published on Mar 12, 2019
Galaxy S10e is a better deal than the S10. And a better deal than the XR. It's a flagship disguised as "premium midrange"
Dat wallpaper: https://imgur.com/Qn7cggC

 

Is The Galaxy S10e The Best Galaxy S10?
Unbox Therapy
Published on Feb 23, 2019
Is the Samsung Galaxy S10e the best Samsung Galaxy S10?


Galaxy S10E - Cheaper AND Better
Dave Lee
Published on Mar 5, 2019
Review of the Samsung Galaxy S10E vs. S10

 

Just as I think the iPhone Xr is better than the Xs. The 10e gives more for the money over the s10.

 

It does, the camera is one of the best I've seen in a smartphone, the fingerprint scanner and its placement are the best and most convenient, and you don't have to deal with iTunes to copy your music to your phone. A simple copy/paste is all you need and you can copy your documents and other files also to any folder on the phone as a backup for easy access. That's how I roll.

 

@kojack

Check this comment from Android Central Forum:

 

I’m all in on the iOS system now. As is my family. Therefore, I am just going to hang out there. Ha ha. The Samsung’s would be down the list on my android phone choice. Huawei and Nokia are what I would choose.

 

I prefer a Honda civic over a Ferrari also....lol all kidding aside 10e and s9 plus are the 0 down phones to get

 

Depends on the civic. I have seen civics built to beat Ferraris on the track. So, maybe!

 

My ISP - ETISALAT Dubai just upgraded their network to support VoLTE1 and I got a nice 100MBPS bump in speed over my last test



https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/4793844906