Samsung Galaxy M10 Review

Despite the flood of affordable smartphones of Chinese companies in the Indian market, Samsung’s craze among customers remains intact. This South Korean company has been selling its phones in the country for a long time. Many of the company’s phones are manufactured in India itself. Samsung has the trust of customers due to its excellent service network and strong dealership. Perhaps this is the reason why it is important to take every affordable smartphone of Samsung seriously.

The company’s new product Samsung Galaxy M10 has arrived in the market. The new handset is very different from Samsung’s portfolio till now. Samsung earlier kept away from the notch design. But it was adopted with the Galaxy M series. Samsung Galaxy M10 and Samsung Galaxy M20 are the company’s first phones to come with waterdrop notch. We have reviewed the new Samsung Galaxy M10 for you and have come to this conclusion…

Samsung Galaxy M10 Design

The most important feature of the Samsung Galaxy M10 is its screen. It comes with a waterdrop notch which houses the front camera. There is an earpiece on the top edge just above the camera. We have seen a glimpse of this design in phones like OnePlus 6T and Oppo F9 Pro. There is a very thin black border around the screen.

The back and sides of the Samsung Galaxy M10 are plastic. The edges are curved. The ports and buttons are in their standard positions. The speaker grill is on the rear of the phone. This design was in use a few years ago. This is not the case anymore. This is surprising because if you place your phone on a surface with its back facing down, the sound from the phone becomes a little low. This also affects the ringtone.

On the back, there is a dual rear camera setup on the top left and a flash. The blue colour variant we got for review looks good. But it gets fingerprints easily.

The phone has separate slots for SIM and microSD card. Many users will like this thing. It is worth noting that there is no fingerprint sensor in Samsung Galaxy M10. The phone has face unlock feature for biometric security.

The screen of the phone is 6.22 inches. It is an ‘Infinity-V’ display with HD+ resolution. This name is given due to the size of the notch. The complaint is with its resolution. You will get 19:9 aspect ratio, but the display is not very sharp. There is no problem in normal use, like using WhatsApp.

The Samsung Experience UI looks fine even at low resolution. However, grain was clearly visible on the edges of many app icons. We were not very impressed with the screen while watching Netflix and playing basic games like Subway Surfers.

We didn’t like the colours and brightness. Things don’t look great at wider viewing angles. The screen feels dull. We liked the screen for its size, proportions and edge-to-edge design.

Samsung Galaxy M10 specifications and software

Samsung Galaxy M10 disappoints when it comes to specifications. It is powered by an octa-core Exynos 7870 processor clocked at 1.6GHz. This chipset was also used in the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) launched in 2016. It was a capable processor at the time of launch. But as time goes by, it seems weak in front of its challenges.

You will get two options based on RAM and storage – 16 GB storage with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB storage with 3 GB RAM. The phone has dual VoLTE connectivity. We got the expensive variant of Rs 8,990 for review which has 3 GB RAM. The second variant is Rs 1,000 cheaper.

You will get a 3,400 mAh battery. A 5 watt charger is provided with it. Considering the price and specifications of the phone, the battery capacity is sufficient. But the charger provided with it is very slow. Slow charging is disappointing. It takes more than 3 hours for the phone’s battery to be fully charged. Micro-USB technology has been used in the phone for data transfer and charging, which is very old. The handset also has 3.5 mm connectivity.

Samsung Galaxy M10 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo. It has Samsung Experience 9.5 UI on top. The UI of Samsung Galaxy M10 is also similar to other Samsung phones. The software of Samsung smartphones has improved in recent times, but there are still many unwanted apps. You will find many Samsung system apps, selected Microsoft apps and Daily Hunt pre-installed in the phone. Not all of these apps can be uninstalled. This is annoying, especially in the 16 GB storage variant.

We found it appropriate to use a PIN for security in the phone. The face unlock feature also takes a few seconds to unlock the phone and sometimes does not work even if there is sufficient light.

Samsung Galaxy M10 performance and battery life

The older chipset does affect the performance of the Samsung Galaxy M10, which is disappointing. The delay is clearly visible in many tasks. Whether you are switching from the camera to the gallery to view the captured shot, or reloading some background app. Multi-tasking is also not smooth. We also noticed lag in the UI.

3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage is common in the price range of up to Rs 10,000. Samsung has provided this setup for Rs 8,990. There will be no problem in using common apps. We tried to play PUBG mobile game on this phone. As expected, the experience was very bad. There were many problems with performance even in the lowest graphics settings.

In our video loop test, the 3,40mAh battery of the Samsung Galaxy M10 lasted for 14 hours and 29 minutes. In normal use, the phone easily lasts for a day. The credit for the good battery life goes to the HD+ resolution and the low power consuming processor.

As we told you earlier, the biggest drawback is slow charging.

Samsung Galaxy M10 Cameras

Samsung Galaxy M10 has a dual rear camera setup. The primary sensor is 13 megapixels and the secondary sensor is 5 megapixels. The secondary sensor is used for ultra-wide angle photography. It can be selected through the camera app in the smartphone. You will also get a 5 megapixel front camera. You will be able to record full-HD videos with both the camera setups.

Tap to see Samsung Galaxy M10 camera samples

Considering the price, the camera of Samsung Galaxy M10 is not bad. But it cannot be called very good either. At first glance, the pictures taken from Samsung Galaxy M10 look good. But on closer inspection, there is a lack of detail and grain. The colors are a bit dull. The pictures look darker than the actual scene.

The wide-angle mode will let you take some interesting photos. It is great for landscape shots. But the photos still come out dull. However, the extra room in the frame does add some character to the photos.

Macros and close-up shots taken in low light are decent. But grains are visible in distant photos. Apart from this, the light part in the photos is overexposed. Videos are recorded well. But due to lack of stabilization, videos are recorded shaky. Overall, the cameras of Samsung Galaxy M10 are satisfactory. But you should not expect much from them.

Our verdict
With a starting price of Rs 7,990, the Galaxy M10 is Samsung’s most affordable phone to date. This phone has many important features, such as a modern design and reliable battery. And most importantly, the price.

However, Samsung Galaxy M10 is far from perfection. The reason for the excellent battery life is the two major flaws of the phone – HD + resolution screen and old processor. The size and dimensions of the phone do give it a modern look. But it is not up to our expectations. The performance of this device is below average. The camera also does not succeed in doing anything special.

Samsung Galaxy M10 is a handset for those Samsung fans who are looking for a modern design. But according to us, Realme C1 and Xiaomi Redmi 6 are better devices in this price range. If you want to buy Samsung Galaxy M10, then we would suggest you to buy the 3 GB RAM / 32 GB storage variant.