The Vodafone Smart V10 is the latest affordable blower from network giant Vodafone. It may not have the wow factor of the Galaxy S10 Plus, but when you consider the fact it’s almost a ninth the cost, it manages to perform admirably well.
If you’re a parent on the hunt for an affordable phone for your kid, or a smartphone user that just needs the basics, then the Vodafone Smart V10 is a top-notch option. For £105 (pay as you go on Vodafone), you’ll get a reasonably decent looking phone that ticks all the boxes a budget phone should. Highlights include above-average battery life and an actually ok dual-sensor rear camera.
But, like all £100 phones, there are a few compromises.
Vodafone Smart V10 design – Decent, but a few corners have been cut
Out of the box the Smart V10 looks pretty darned good considering the price. The dinky bezel and teardrop front camera housing makes it look a little like a stripped-down Huawei P30, which is no bad thing.
The side and rear panel may be made of plastic, but feel solidly built and give the phone a more expensive look than you’d expect from a £100 phone. It’s also thinner and lighter than its arch-rival, the Moto G7 Play.
Having unleashed a rampaging four year old on the V10 Smart I can also personally attest that, despite the use of the less common 2.5D Dragontrail – not Gorilla – Glass to protect the phone’s screen, it is suitably scratch and crack resistant. After said child send the phone flying across a hardwood floor, after realising I didn’t have Frozen, the V10 Smart emerged undamaged.
But upon closer inspection you will spot a few corners have been cut. The biggest being the complete lack of a fingerprint scanner and the use of an older microUSB charge port. The absence of a fingerprint scanner is rare these days, but personally I didn’t find it too annoying after a couple of hours with the phone. There’s also face unlock, which can be used to unlock the phone.
The use of a microUSB is a little more annoying. Most phones, even the budget ones, have made the jump to USB C. Having to switch back to the older, slower, cable standard is a minor, albeit forgivable annoyance.
Other small, but common, cuts have also been made. These include the absence of an IP water resistance rating and NFC connectivity, which means you won’t be able to use it to make wireless payments.
When powering it up you’ll spot that the 5.9-inch screen has a fairly low-res 720 x 1560 (HD+) resolution. If you’re switching from an even moderately more expensive handset you’ll notice the drop in resolution. But considering the fact every phone this price – including the G7 Play – is similarly low res, it’s hardly surprising.
The IPS panel is also fairly well set up. Whites are suitably clean and though blacks can look a little grey, it’s more than immersive enough for basic YouTube and Netflix viewing – though be warned the mono speaker is a little on the weak side. The only minor quibble I have is that its max brightness is a little low, which can make using it outside a little tricky.
Vodafone Smart V10 battery and camera – You won’t do better for the money
Dig under the surface and the Vodafone Smart V10 once again impresses. Despite being cheap, it gets a lot of the basics right. Two of the biggest achievements are its impressive battery life and nicely clean software.
As a rule of thumb I found the Smart V10’s 3400 mAh battery easily lasted around one-to-two days use on a single charge. Regular use entailed using it as my primary work and personal smartphone; taking and making a few calls, listening to music during my commute, watching a couple of episodes of Stranger Things and regularly checking my social media and emails.
During video streaming it lost between 8-10% of its charge per hour on average. Gaming drained it of around 15% per hour. Both these figures are impressive and mean it has more stamina than most of the flagship phones I’ve tested.
The battery life is likely helped by the V10 Smart’s wonderfully clean Android 9 install. Unlike most cheap phones the V10 Smart is blissfully clean of bloatware and duplicate applications, which generally eat up a handset’s battery by running in the background. The only notable addition is a custom parental controls app, which lets you do things like block certain apps and limit screen time.
So far so good? I think so. Trust me when I say the Vodafone V10 Smart is a great first phone for kids, or crash phone for adults, but there’s no getting round the fact for even moderately demanding users, it’s a little under-powered.
Its 3GB of RAM is more than reasonable considering the price, but I’m not convinced the Snapdragon 429 CPU is up for anything more than basic tasks. The phone runs fine for basic web browsing, but crank things up a notch and it quickly struggles. Having multiple apps or web browser tabs open can also lead to a few stutters. PUBG runs, but it is far from a smooth experience, so it’s just worth remembering if your kid’s an avid mobile gamer.
The same is true of the camera app, which can take its time to autofocus or take a photo after the shutter button has been pressed. Being fair to Vodafone, you’ll have the same problems on every smartphone this price.
Otherwise the camera is fairly impressive for the price. Round back you’ll find a basic dual-sensor setup that pairs 13-megapixel autofocus and 5-megapixel fixed focus sensors. In its auto setting the phone can take usable, even nice, photos in regular light.
Snapping around London photos are sharp and clear enough for sharing on social media – something you can’t always guarantee on a phone this price. The panorama mode works fine and, though you’ll pick up artefacts and anomalies viewing them on a big screen, the portrait mode is for the most part ok.
Low light photography is a no go, which is to be expected. Shooting in moderately dim conditions the camera will pick up noise, offer poor dynamic range and generally don’t look great. Again, this is standard for a phone this price and you won’t get better for £100.
You can see a selection of photos taken on the Vodafone Smart V10 below.
Should I buy the Vodafone Smart V10?
If you’re a parent on the hunt for your kid’s first smartphone, the Vodafone Smart V10 is a solid choice. The phone offers good build quality, excellent battery life and a clean Android install complete with easy to use parental controls.
If you’re after a festival or crash phone to tide you over until your next upgrade, it’s an equally solid option – though you’ll need to be on Vodafone’s network. The only downsides are that, like every phone this price, performance could be better and its screen is a little low res.
Amazon’s latest cheap-as-chips Fire 7 tablet is, once again, a slate designed almost solely for the consumption of Amazon content. Books, TV shows or audiobooks – the Fire 7 gives you a direct line to all that Prime has to offer.
Yet how good can a £50/$50 tablet really be? And how many sacrifices have to be made for a device like this to cost six times less than the cheapest iPad?
As it turns out, quite a lot. But that doesn’t mean there’s no reason for this device to exist.
Design: The Amazon Fire 7 is a rugged, plastic tablet that can take a beating
The Amazon Fire 7 is about as far away from the iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 as it’s possible to get. Considering this tablet costs a penny under £50 (and one cent under $50 in the States), this should hardly come as a surprise, but you might be shocked at just how budget this slate feels the first time you pick it up.
It’s built completely out of plastic, with buttons that feel a bit mushy and a rear casing that seems like it should pop off completely. It’s basic, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You won’t worry about this tablet getting scratched in your bag, or about giving to your kids.
The Fire 7 comes in Plum (pictured), Black, Sage and Blue
Because of its plastic construction, it’s also very light and can be comfortably held in one hand for reading.
As the name suggests, the Amazon Fire 7 has a 7-inch display. This makes it Amazon’s smallest tablet and among the dinkiest we’ve reviewed. With its slim 16:9 display, it’s a lot narrower than the 7.9-inch iPad Mini and it was small enough to slip into the pocket of one of my larger coats.
All the ports and physical controls are on the top – which is a bit odd until you get used to it – and comprise a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB port for charging, volume rocker and lock switch. As USB-C is so common now, it irks me that Amazon is sticking with the tired older style. However, if you’re someone with a bunch of micro USB cables lying around, you probably won’t find it so much of a nuisance.
Screen: If there’s a clear weakness with the Amazon Fire 7 it’s the fairly poor display
Sacrifices are always going to be made to sell a tablet at £50/$50, and it’s obvious where corners have been cut here: the display. The 7-inch IPS (In Plane Switching) panel is colourful and bright, but the low 1024 x 600 resolution is very obvious and it makes everything from watching films to browsing the web a bit of a chore. Pixels are always noticeable and text is very jagged – not ideal for a device that’s marketed as an e-reader.
Text is far from crisp
How much this bothers you will depend on how much you value a clean, crisp image. If, like me, you prefer pixels to blend into each other, I would suggest spending a bit more and going for one of the Fire HD tablets instead.
Software and Alexa: If you’re big into Amazon Prime, the Fire 7 will bring all your media and books together
The software that runs on Amazon’s Fire line is the definition of love it or hate it. Every aspect is designed to funnel you towards some sort of content supplied by Amazon, whether it’s a Prime video or a piece of clothing you looked at two weeks ago.
If you’re not a Prime member then I don’t think this is the tablet for you – even at such a low price. Other apps, like Netflix, are available, but the home screens are designed to push Amazon’s own stuff right to the front. At times, it can feel like you’re in a constant advert.
There are also adverts (or Special Offers, as Amazon likes to call them) on the lock screen. These mainly comprise book suggestions, which are fine and can be disabled by paying an extra £10/$15.
If you are deeply entrenched in the Amazon ecosystem then the overall software UI is great at quickly delivering content. Prime Video, Kindle books, Audible audiobooks and apps from Amazon’s well-stocked Appstore are all easily available, alongside other handy features, like X-Ray in video playback and the ability to flip between a Kindle book and an audiobook.
I’m a fan of the For You home screen panel in particular. This is an area where you’ll get quick access to your recently read books and watched films, all combined into a handy, scrollable list.
Amazon content is everywhere
As with previous Amazon tablets, the Fire 7 runs a forked version of Google’s Android. Android remains the basis of the OS, but there’s no visible mention of this and there’s no support for popular services like YouTube, Gmail or the Google Play Store. Instead, Amazon has its own app store and native apps for email and web browsing, which are far from Google’s level – if you’re a big user of the search engine giant’s services, you’d be better off with a tablet that runs a proper version of Android.
One feature the Fire 7 has over other Android tablets is deep integration of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. While previous versions of the Fire 7 had Alexa, this is the first to go hands-free, meaning you don’t need to press a button to bring Alexa to life. Instead, just say “Alexa” in the same way you would with an Echo or Echo Dot.
You can use Alexa to control your smart home (“Alexa, turn off the bedroom lights”), play music and just about everything else you can do on the Echo Show.
Performance: The Fire 7’s performance is acceptable, even if the cameras are forgettable
The Amazon Fire 7 isn’t the tablet for intense gaming sessions or picture editing, and nothing makes that clearer than the fairly low-end internals. There’s a mere 1GB RAM, paired with a 1.3Ghz processor. That amount of RAM stands out as being particularly low and you’ll notice it when jumping between apps.
There’s a lag and judder when opening apps that you don’t get with pricier tablets. However, and again I come back to the price, I can forgive that when it’s only £50.
You’ll notice lag when gaming, too, but basic things like browsing and email are a lot smoother.
There are two cameras on the Fire 7: one on the front, which caps out at 720p video, and another on the back, which is 2 megapixels. Neither are very good and, to be completely honest, I would be all for ditching the cameras completely (or at least the rear one) if it allowed Amazon to add a bit more RAM. The camera is slow to focus and shoot, it struggles when the light isn’t bright and generally will be beaten by any phone you’ve got in your pocket.
Battery life: A decent performer
Amazon states that you should expect seven hours of reading, browsing and media watching. From my weeks using the device on a daily basis, I feel these claims are correct and I tended to charge the tablet every couple of days. If you only use it for, say, half an hour of reading every day, you’ll probably get a week between charges.
All the ports are along the top
Charging the tablet fully takes roughly two hours with the included power brick. However, it’ll take much longer if you plug it into a laptop to charge (this is something you might be familiar with doing if you’re a Kindle owner). Amazon has also stuck with the micro USB port, rather than switching to the newer USB-C alternative.
Should I buy the Amazon Fire 7?
The Fire 7 remains a budget tablet that, while far from perfect, is hard to really criticise for the £50/$50 price. If you want a cheap slate to watch movies on long flights or give to the kids without worrying about it getting damaged, this is a strong pick.
There are shortcoming and sacrifices, of course: the display is poor, cameras terrible and the meagre 1GB RAM makes itself known a little too often. But when you consider that the cheapest iPad costs over six times the price of the Fire 7, these negatives are a little easier to swallow.
If you’re a Prime subscriber who wants a cheap way to access that goodness, this is a good choice. If you care even slightly about display or performance, however, pay a little more and get the Fire HD 8.
The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is a pocketable glass and metal phone that feels and looks like a flagship, and despite an RRP of £349, it can be picked up for under £300 if you shop around. The phone has a 19.5:9, 5.97-inch screen that sports a Full HD resolution, so it’s sharper than the much pricier iPhone XR.
The Mi 9 SE’s 3070mAh battery is on the small side, on paper, however, given the phone’s midrange power demands, it could go either way. There’s also a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor which, when paired with 6GB RAM onboard, is an impressive spec from a power point of view.
While the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE doesn’t have wireless charging or stereo speakers, as found on flagships such as Google’s Pixel 3, it still delivers an under-display fingerprint scanner and a Super AMOLED screen. The phone’s 48MP camera also features the same sensor used in many of today’s flagships, including the OnePlus 7 Pro.
Design – The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE looks like a flagship
Looking like a 2018 flagship, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is a handsome slice of smartphone. It’s available in three colours – blue, violet and grey – and all look great with their high-gloss finishes. While they do attract fingerprints very readily, fortunately, there’s a case in the box, so you can protect yours from the get-go and keep it smudge-free.
With its 19.5:9 screen that clocks in at under 6 inches, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is long and thin, making it easy to use one-handed. Despite having a bigger screen than a iPhone XS, it still manages to be slimmer and lighter than Apple’s flagship. All the buttons are on the right side of the device. Meanwhile, on the left is a dual-SIM card slot.
With its elegantly rounded, high-gloss metal frame, sandwiched in between two sheets of Gorilla Glass, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE feels slick. It can be a bit slippery – but, generally speaking, can be held snuggly and securely, especially when in its case, and is comfortable for big and small hands alike.
There’s no headphone jack or microSD card slot, and at the base of the phone is a mono-speaker, so it isn’t quite a flagship from an audio point of view. That said, the Mi 9 SE’s USB-C port is a nice-to-have, given the fact the similarly priced Oppo RX17 Neo features a (now dated) micro USB port.
Unlike flagship devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE isn’t IP-rated for water or dust resistance.
Screen – The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE has an impressive Super AMOLED display
The design is near enough best-in-class given the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE’s pricing, and so too is the screen. For starters, this panel is sharp. A pixel density of 432 pixels-per-inch means it’s crisper than the OnePlus 7 and the Huawei P30 Pro.
Better still is the fact the Mi 9 SE uses a Super AMOLED display, complete with a host of colour customisation options within the settings. The display is punchy by default, though can be muted for more natural tones, and produces deep blacks too.
Brightness is very impressive, as are viewing angles, with only slight colour shifting at extreme angles – something most flagship OLEDs suffer from, too.
There’s also a dark mode in the settings to take advantage of depth of blacks the Mi 9 SE’s screen produces, and you can also hide the notch. Frustratingly, rather than go the Huawei route when hiding the notch, still displaying notifications and the time in the blacked out area either side of the selfie camera, hiding it on the Mi 9 SE will simply push the screen down, notifications included, thereby shrinking the screen and totally missing a trick.
In fact, our only real gripes with the screen are from a software point of view. When gaming in full-screen specifically, the Mi 9 SE crops the notch out, but does so without a curve at either corner. This creates an ugly, asymmetrical look – two curved corners, two right-angle corners. Hopefully this will be remedied in a software update.
Software – The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE runs a future-proof OS with lots of customisation options
Just like the Redmi Note 7, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE runs Android 9.0 with MIUI 10, over the top, also found on the flagship Xiaomi Mi 9.
Running on top of Android Pie, it’s great to see the latest, widely available version of Google’s OS here; both future-proofing the phone and ensuring app support is looking great.
The interface doesn’t offer an apps drawer. Instead, it opts for an iOS-esque setup. Shortcuts and widgets can be organised across your home screens, and to the left of these is a utility display for quick access to features that Xiaomi believes users need to hand. These include tools like a QR code reader and note taker. There’s also a pull-down notifications tray/quick toggle menu at the top of the screen.
The phone features plenty of customisation options throughout its interface. Navigation is controlled by gestures, but you can reinstate the navigation bar, for example. In addition, a customisable power on/off schedule is available, as too is a password-protected virtual “Second Space” for sensitive information.
There are some annoying quirks too, though. For example, every time you install an app, it gets scanned for viruses. While this sounds great, it doesn’t simply scan in the background, it takes you to a different screen, loaded up with ads that are a pain to bypass.
You can remove this feature, and also reinstate an applications tray with a custom launcher, two things we did – after which the experience went from a 60% to a 90%, but if you’re not prepared to tweak the UI to suit you, some elements might get a bit frustrating.
Performance – The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE boasts impressive power for its price
With its Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor combined with 6GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of storage, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is like a flagship/upper midrange smartphone lovechild.
The interface was super smooth in our two weeks with the phone, as too were third party apps, and the camera, which shot and played back up to 4K footage without breaking a sweat.
While not flagship-grade, benchmarks still impress for the sub-£300 phone, with its Geekbench multi-core score clocking in at 5968. The Mi 9 SE’s Antutu score was 181768, putting it about on-par with a Pixel 2. This is reflected in gaming, with the phone handling 2D and 3D titles like a champion. There’s no microSD card, which might put some off, but with a capacity of up to 128GB storage, there should be room for all but the most demanding users. Additionally, there’s also a dual SIM card slot.
The bottom-firing, mono-speaker is as loud as it needs to be, though is very easy to cover up when gaming. The lack of a headphone jack also means you’ll need to have a pair of Bluetooth cans to get the best from it, though it does ship with a headphone jack to USB-C adaptor dongle in the box.
Biometric security comes in the form of facial recognition and an under display fingerprint scanner. In tandem, both work quickly, however, the fingerprint scanner isn’t quite as fast as traditional scanners.
Camera – The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE has a fantastically versatile camera for a mid-range phone
The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE’s triple camera has a virtually identical setup to that found on the flagship Mi 9, a 48-megapixel (f/1.8) primary camera, an 8-megapixel (f/2.4) telephoto camera and a 13MP (f/2.4) ultrawide angle camera. OIS (optical image stabilisation) and laser autofocus are both absent here, but it still impressed us in our time with it.
The primary sensor may be 48 megapixels in resolution but pictures are rendered at 12 megapixels, unless you hit the override switch in 48M mode. This lower-resolution image benefits from pixel binning, a technique that combines information from multiple pixels to create a better, albeit lower-res, image.
In good light, detail captured by the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is superb, though is a touch high when it comes to contrast and saturation. That said, you can drop these defaults in the settings. Pinch into shots you’ve taken, and things hold up well, and this is especially true in the 48MP mode which we’d recommend firing up when lighting conditions aren’t too challenging.
Skies are bright and colourfulColours can come across very saturated
When HDR is activated, even challenging scenes deliver a healthy amount of dynamic range when captured on the Mi 9 SE. That said, Auto HDR could do with being a bit more sensitive, as it didn’t always fire up when we needed it, so if you don’t see the HDR indicator, remember to override it.
There are also plenty of shooting options. These include Night, Panorama, AI, Portrait and Pro modes. Absent from older Xiaomi phones is the new 48MP mode, taking advantage of the sensor’s high pixel-count, and creating images that can be pinched right into.
In low light, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE doesn’t do too badly. In night mode, it captures atmospheric night shots with slightly bumped up brightness, activating a long exposure shot like the Huawei P30 series. Even in automatic mode, the low light performance is respectable from the main camera.
Night Mode turned on
The telephoto and wide camera both do a decent job in good light, also taking advantage of the auto HDR feature. That said, when the lights drop, we’d suggest avoiding both altogether.
As for the 20-megapixel (f/2.0) selfie camera, it also features auto HDR, so handles backlit scenes better than many midrangers. The Beauty mode isn’t overbearing by default, flattering rather than just flattening subjects. It can also be dialled up and down, which is welcome.
The Beauty Mode isn’t too strong
Detail in selfies is great in good light, but in low light, as noise creeps in clarity naturally drops. On the plus, the screen can double up as a flashlight, which helps things along nicely.
Video is recorded at up to 4K resolution, and this captures a superb level of detail for the price, especially in good light – provided you hold the phone rock steady. While in Full HD, stabilisation is great, despite the lack of OIS, in 4K, it doesn’t seem to fire up. Also frustrating is the fact video doesn’t take advantage of the wide or telephoto cameras, just the primary module.
Battery Life – The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE has a small battery, but it lasts a full day
The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE’s 3070mAh battery might sound small, but when you consider its sub-6-inch screen size and mid-range power demands, it’s not too surprising it makes it through a full day.
In our tests, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE handled an hour of streaming video, gaming and music playback with the screen off very well, leaving over 60% remaining. In real world use, we were wrapping up with about 20% left in the tank by 9pm, with 6am starts and moderate use.
There are also a range of battery optimisation options within the settings to eke out even more battery life from the Mi 9 SE – and if you do fall short before the day is done, it supports 18W fast charging, shipping with a compatible charger in the box.
Should I buy the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE?
The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is a small, premium smartphone with a very good camera and ample power under the hood, given its price. While its RRP is in the £350 region, you can pick it up for significantly less than £300 if you shop around.
This means it competes directly with the likes of the Nokia 8.1, a significantly worse phone in almost every respect, despite the fact it runs with a cleaner interface.
Alternatively, the Huawei P30 Lite is a great looking ‘affordable flagship’ that delivers a similar look to the Mi 9 SE, but it pales in comparison from a power point of view.
You could even stump up the extra and pick up the Google Pixel 3Afor a stock, mid-range experience complete with a stellar single camera. That said, it doesn’t have the versatility of a zoom lens or an ultra wide-angle camera, and the Mi 9 SE feels significantly more premium in the hand.
Ultimately, therefore, while the Mi 9 SE might not be perfect in every respect, you probably won’t get more for less in a premium, pocketable package.
Verdict
With a little bit of tweaking, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE can deliver a premium flagship feel, a fantastically versatile camera and great performance, not to mention a killer Super AMOLED screen.
The Roccat Kain 120 Aimo is a gorgeous gaming mouse, boasting a luscious colour scheme and sharp, comfortable form factor.
I’ve been using this mouse for a couple of weeks now and it’s a tantalising bit of kit, and I’m not just talking about the simplistic yet effective implementation of RGB lighting. Its buttons are responsive, movement deft, and overall design fits in nicely with my current setup.
Mixtures of white and black alongside punchy RGB lighting help the design shine even brighter
The Roccat Kain 120 AIMO is a visually spectacular gaming mouse
Weighing in at just 89g, this mouse is absurdly light. It glides across my workspace like a feather, offering an impressive degree of accuracy both during everyday tasks and a variety of gaming experiences. Whether you’re into shooters or strategy, the Roccat Kain caters to all tastes effectively.
The outer shell is made of plastic, but Roccat has ensured this mouse isn’t forgettable by jazzing things up with its own advanced coating technology. It’s designed to prevent dirt and other debris from getting in between the buttons, which is definitely a concern after months of use.
Despite lacking a dedicated grip or means of physical customisation, the Roccat Kain is still wonderful to hold, and I never found it slipping from my grasp during heated sessions.
The Kain also abandons the signature design Roccat has made its own in recent years, rewriting the blueprint to create something simple, effective and innovative. It’s worked, and it’s easy to see why Roccat has labelled this mouse its “masterpiece.” It’s one of the company’s most visually spectacular models yet.
The white and black colour combo along with the dazzling RGB lighting gives the Roccat Kain an eye candy look, and I can see it becoming a mainstay of my gaming setup going forward. However, I will level criticism as its potential over reliance on simplicity. Beyond a lovingly placed DPI button, everything else is pedestrian in its placement, although an extra smattering of buttons would be a disservice to the otherwise elegant look.
All of the buttons across the Roccat Kain feel spectacular to the touch
The Roccat Kain click mechanism and 16,000 DPI both impress
Sporting the Roccat Owl-Eye optical sensor, the Kain comes equipped with an impressive 16,000 DPI, which can be adjusted with ease from a button in the centre of the device. I quickly found my sweet spot, speeding across my dual monitor setup and fast-paced shooter titles with ease. It’s made even better by a robust movement speed adjustable lift-off distance that makes every motion feel silky smooth.
Possessing six individual presets, the DPI input can be customised further by downloading Roccat’s bespoke Swarm software. Once installed, you can assign values to each increment that fits your personal preference. There’s also EasyShift+, a wonderful feature which allows you to assign secondary values to each of the mouse buttons. This worked well in Final Fantasy 14 when calling mounts and accessing specific menus, and I imagine similar praise can be lauded upon implementation in MOBAs and other genres.
Finally, we get onto the ‘Titan Click’ mechanic, and with such a colossal name comes great expectations. It’s essentially a unique variant of Omron switches found with other gaming mice, engineered for a greater degree of accuracy.
In practice, it feels lovely. All of the buttons across the Roccat Kain feel fast and precise. Combined with the feathery light chassis, malleable DPI and everything else, the Roccat Kain makes a striking impression indeed.
The Roccat Kain uses a striking yet simplistic design to its utmost advantage
Should I buy the Roccat Kain 120 Aimo?
The short answer is – absolutely. This is a solid gaming mouse for the price, using a striking yet simplistic design to its utmost advantage. The Titan Click and Owl-Eye optical sensor combine to create a device that feels excellent to use regardless of the context, working well both inside of games and out.
Outside of its mechnical prowess, the Roccat Kain is also a looker with its striking dual-colour aesthetic and RGB lighting that adapts to how you play. It looks excellent, and combined with how well it feels to use, you’ve got one of the best gaming mice I’ve tested in a while.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 might not have the groundbreaking camera of the Huawei P30 Pro or the astounding battery life of the Moto G7 Power but the total package it brings to the table makes it a serious contender for best Android phone of 2019.
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The Galaxy S10 was is one of the first true flagships to hit the market in 2019. Not long after, stiff competition arrived in the form of the aforementioned P30 Pro and the potent OnePlus 7 Pro. There’s no denying that it’s a tough time to be a flagship phone, based on the sheer amount of competition out there, however, it also means buyers have a wealth of worthwhile choices to consider.
In this technological jigsaw, the Galaxy S10 is the perfect fit for the masses; a wholly worthwhile alternative to the iPhone that boasts everything and the kitchen sink, with regards to its features and abilities.
One of the biggest shifts for a phone like the S10 is that it’s not the sole choice if you want Samsung’s current flagship. While ‘Plus’ models have existed for a few years now, this is the first time an S-series flagship has arrived in four discreet flavours.
Alongside the S10 you also have the smaller, simpler, more affordable Galaxy S10e (which boasts the same top-tier processor), the larger, longer-lasting and more camera-laden Galaxy S10 Plus, and for those who need it, the super-sized, super-speedy Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 is a gorgeous phone with a 6.1-inch display
With all these other options, should the standard Galaxy S10 still be worth considering? In a word, yes. Here’s why:
The Samsung Galaxy S10 has a lovely screen and design, with a minor catch
As with most top Samsung phones, the screen left me seriously impressed. The S10 sports a 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED display, which occupies 88.3 percent of the phone’s front. Paire with the curved cover glass, it gives the impression of a true edge-to-edge display and what’s more it packs in a ton of tech worthy of a flagship-class display.
This is an HDR10+ panel, boosting colours and dynamic range when viewing supported content from Netflix and YouTube, for example. Watch a few episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and you’ll instantly notice the deep colours and intense brightness. I wouldn’t normally use a phone screen to watch content over extended periods but the quality on display here makes it surprisingly immersive.
The screen is bright, too, which is essential for both outdoor viewing and, as previously mentioned, HDR content. It’s a little tricky to gauge just how bright this screen gets due to the variety of boosting modes Samsung engages but I measured a peak brightness of 350 nits in regular use. DisplayMate claims it can match the 1250 nits suggested by Samsung in its own tests, however, we were unable to recreate such a figure in a real-world environment.
Brightness ramps up when you’re using the phone in direct sunlight or utilising the screen enhancer mode. The latter adds a faux-HDR effect to regular content – YouTube videos, for example – which ups the brightness to give a more cinematic look. It works a treat, even if it does consume battery life at double the rate compared to when it’s turned off.
The display has a few other quirks, too, all of which help to shape the look of the Galaxy S10. The first is the new Infinity-O display, which is Samsung’s effort to steer away from the plight of a notch. Instead of a dip in the display, as seen on the iPhone XS, the S10 moves its front camera into a circular cutout that sits towards the top-right of the panel. Unlike the notch, the screen flows around the camera, creating a more seamless finish.
I much prefer the circular cutout here rather than the longer, pill-shaped version you’ll find on the S10 Plus; it’s noticeably less intrusive when watching videos. Nevertheless, it isn’t perfect and certain apps – games especially, still assume the hole is a notch and therefore display a black bar that covers the entire top portion of the screen. Hopefully, developers will update said apps as this style of cutout becomes more popular.
The Bixby button remains below the volume rocker
I’m less enamoured by Samsung’s continued use of curved displays. As seen in the S8 and S9, the sides of the Galaxy S10 slope away from the front, blending into the metal frame running the phone’s edge. Design-wise, it’s a trait that’s a few years old now and extensively used by other premium phones. Nevertheless, it still has that slick, instantly eye-catching finish that gets it noticed in the sea of boxy, rectangular slabs.
Despite how attractive it might look, it makes actual use of the device more difficult. I’ve experienced numerous accidental presses with the curved Galaxy S10 than I have done with the flat Pixel 3 or iPhone XS. It consistently registered accidental pressure from my palm and I’m having to alter the way I hold the phone to counter this problem. You’ll likely get used to it but having used both the S10 and S10 Plus for a few weeks, it remains an issue.
For the most part, the rest of the design also follows the same blueprint Samsung’s employed for the past few iterations of its flagship phones. You’ll find glass both front and back, a metal rim sandwiched between them, and a super-precise finish.
There isn’t much of a size difference between the Plus and the regular-sized S10 (the Plus has a 6.4-inch screen as opposed to 6.1-inches) but I do find that the smaller device feels more comfortable to hold and is easier to navigate, not requiring me to stretch my thumb too far. If you’re coming from an S9 or an iPhone then you’ll likely feel a lot more at home with the S10 compared to the Plus.
One feature missing on the Galaxy S10’s display is a high refresh rate option. The OnePlus 7 Pro, for example, can ramp things up to 90Hz creating much smooth motion and animations on-screen. Maybe this is something we’ll get with the Galaxy S11, next year.
The Galaxy S10 is feature-packed, with an in-display fingerprint sensor and reverse wireless charging
Samsung has a fondness for “features”. It loves to cram its phones with every imaginable option, if only to have plenty to shout about when it comes to advertising. It’s an approach that’s quite the opposite of Apple, which has historically rejected options such as expandable storage.
With the Galaxy S10, Samsung’s focus on features remains. If there’s a feature you’ve been hankering after, then it’s likely included in the S10: wireless charging, expandable storage, a headphone jack (you won’t see that too often in 2019), as well as inventive additions such as reverse charging and an in-display fingerprint sensor.
That in-display sensor is the standout – and while the S10 isn’t the first handset to include one, it’s comfortably the best I’ve used.
The fingerprint sensor is now beneath the display. When you use it, the display ripples just like the above.
The fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S10 doesn’t reside on the back or inside the home button. Instead, it’s found directly beneath the screen. Once set up – a process you’ll be requested to do at the start – you unlock the phone by pressing your finger against a fingerprint outline that sits towards the bottom of the screen. It does everything your traditional capacitive sensor does; it just doesn’t need to be there messing up the back of the phone.
As futuristic as it is, the in-display sensor isn’t quite as effective as the traditional unit of the S9 or iPhone. It requires a firmer press. If the fingerprint sensor on the S9 works 95% of the time, on the S10 it’s closer to 70%.
It’s a better fingerprint sensor than the one on the Huawei P30 Pro, however, the version used on the OnePlus 7 Pro is a lot snappier.
The ultrasonic version here doesn’t require light to work and doesn’t require you to press down so firmly.
Another feature on the S10 that’s similar to something you’ll see on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and Huawei P30 Pro is reverse wireless charging. Called Wireless PowerShare, this lets you turn the S10 into a Qi charger for compatible products. For example, you could charge your iPhone XS this way, or Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds. You could even charge the new AirPods 2019.
It’s a clever addition but like the in-display fingerprint scanner, it needs a bit more work. It’s super-slow to charge, and you need to turn it on every time you want to charge a device.
The Galaxy S10’s benchmarks lead to the superb performance
Joining the packed feature list is a selection of internal components – which will vary depending on your region. I’ve been using the European model, which ships with Samsung’s own Exynos 9820 chipset and 8GB of RAM. If you’re buying the phone in the USA, your device will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855.
Judging a phone’s performance is tricky, especially when it’s fresh out of the box. Whether you’re paying £799 for the Galaxy S10 or £269 for the Moto G7 Plus, phones tend to initially be super-fast but then gradually slow down.
Since the S10 is powered by the very latest available internals, it should be no surprise that it’s a performance beast, churning out benchmark scores at the top-end of phones we’ve reviewed. Simply put, no task on this phone feels slow or laggy. Nor are there any apps – that I’ve tested – that really push the hardware to its limits.
The same is true of games. The Galaxy S10 will smoothly run any game at the highest possible settings without running into trouble. Titles load up noticeably faster than a Samsung Galaxy S9, and only slightly slower than an iPhone XS.
It packs a complete selection of high-end specs
This is also one of the first handsets to ship with support for Wi-Fi 6, so if you have a capable router then you’ll notice a slightly altered logo in the status bar. There’s no 5G, though, since the next-gen data speeds are restricted to an as-yet priceless Samsung Galaxy S10 5G variant.
The Galaxy S10’s camera is versatile, even if it isn’t the best overall
The Galaxy S10’s camera line-up is another headline feature. Three can be found on the back, with another unit on the front for selfies and face unlock. It’s a trio of cameras that will look familiar to anyone who has laid eyes on the Huawei P30 Pro
The main rear camera is an optically stabilised 12-megapixel sensor, with an aperture that can shift between f/1.5 for night shots and f/2.4 for the day. There’s an ultra-wide, 16-megapixel f/2.2 sensor, too, and a stabilised 12-megapixel telephoto sensor for zooming.
Of the three, it’s the ultra-wide sensor that’s new. In the app, you can zoom out to enter wide view and there’s somewhat of a fisheye effect on the results.
Three cameras sit on the back of the Galaxy S10
The main camera consistently judges exposure better than its predecessor, while the improved HDR mode helps give you a good dynamic range across most scenes, with fewer blown out highlights and overexposed shots.
Leadenhall Market: Samsung Galaxy S10 (left) vs Samsung Galaxy S9 (right) – move slider to compare
The latter isn’t quite on the same level as the iPhone XS’s Smart HDR mode, though, which manages to pull out much more detail from the dark areas of dimly lit scenes.
Daylight snaps look fantasticYou can get up close to subjects and pull lots of detail
Low light performance, in general, is good if a little behind the very best – that honour goes to the Huawei P30 Pro with its RYYB Super Sensing sensor and fantastic dedicated night mode.
The main camera’s bright f/1.5 aperture (which automatically reverts to f/2.4 in brighter conditions) gives it a strong base to work from, though the S10 can still be a bit heavy-handed with noise reduction and image processing, which smudges out some fine details. This isn’t too noticeable when viewed on the S10’s screen, but photos can look more like paintings when cropped or viewed on a bigger screen.
It deals excellently with tough pictures with dark and light areas
The S10’s smarter ‘scene optimiser’ mode, which works on all three cameras, performs well in most situations. It can now recognise up to 30 different scenes, including faces and night scenes, and tweaks the colours to make them vibrant and punchy without going too far towards oversaturation.
The only downsides are the occasional mistake – for example, recognising a glass building as the sky and giving it an unnatural blue cast – and that its Super Night Shot mode doesn’t seem to be quite as powerful as the ones seen on the Google Pixel 3 or Huawei Mate 20 Pro, with no way to manually turn it on.
Still, the S10’s bokeh effects are every bit as good as its rivals, only being slightly beaten out by the P30 Pro and its dedicated ToF sensor. This added sensor gives a cleaner finish and a more accurate cut around details like glasses and hair.
Still, the S10 reliably cuts out faces and objects while applying realistic gradual blur. You can also tweak the level of fake bokeh after a shot when using the Live Focus mode, but it’s best to keep the intensity on the low side for maximum realism.
It does a good job with the bokeh portrait mode
While nothing major, there do seem to be a couple of bugs in the S10’s own camera app. The focal length wheel, which lets you zoom in between each camera’s default view, sometimes opens when you try to press the shutter, preventing you from taking a shot. If you move quickly between the three cameras, the autofocus also occasionally locks up before settling down again. These will no doubt get fixed in a software update.
Video recording is handled well, especially thanks to the new super-steady stabilisation option. This uses the ultra-wide sensor to record and then crops in, smoothing out your footage and ridding it of the judder often associated with mobile video recording.
Samsung Galaxy S10 battery life should have been better
Samsung has crafted an excellent phone in the S10 with a gorgeous screen, high-end internals and a bevvy of great features all packed inside a well-designed body. However, it isn’t perfect.
Samsung’s One UI sits atop Android 9, and while it’s a big improvement over Samsung’s previous attempts at software, it remains ugly and bloated.
One UI’s aim is to make the software elements more accessible on larger screens. Apps that feature multiple input options towards the top – messages, for example – are pushed to the bottom, so you don’t need to dislocate your thumb trying to reach them. The majority of Samsung’s own apps have been updated to benefit from this design, and it does make navigation easier.
But the software is still full of useless additions. The virtual assistant Bixby is, and always has been, inferior to Google’s excellent Assistant – but it’s so tied into Samsung’s apps that it’s hard to get rid of. There are reams of bloatware here too, including multiple Microsoft Office apps and Samsung’s own version of many of Google’s own apps – calendar, browser and messages, for example.
For battery life the S10 isn’t as good as some rivals; even similarly sized handsets such as the Huawei P30 Pro beat the S10 for endurance. However, it’s slightly better than the Galaxy S9 and roughly comparable with the iPhone X and iPhone XS.
During my 10 days with the phone – I’ve been reviewing the European Exynos 9820 version, so US-based buyers with the Snapdragon 855 version might see different results – I haven’t always managed to get from a morning alarm to 11pm without forcing the phone into either a battery-saver mode or worrying it will die-out during something important.
If you want a more detailed look at the battery life, head to our dedicated Samsung Galaxy S10 review battery life page.
Using the bundled charger, the S10’s 3400mAh battery goes from 0-100% in around 90 minutes. You can get yourself 40% in roughly 40 minutes which is handy for a quick top-up.
There haven’t been any huge improvements to the charging tech, and there’s no high-speed method to rival the Mate 20 Pro’s Super Charge. This is a shame, but the lack of improvement isn’t quite as obvious as it is with the larger S10 Plus as that battery takes much longer to charge.
If wireless charging is more your style, expect to get a full charge in just over two hours if you’re using Samsung’s own Fast Charge capable pad.
There isn’t a more complete flagship Android phone you can buy right now than the Samsung Galaxy S10 – and its two biggest competitors are, at this moment, the smaller S10e and the pricier S10 Plus.
So is there a reason to buy the S10 over those two other choices? The S10e is cheaper and ditches the curved screen, while the S10 Plus has a bigger screen and battery. Being the middle child, it does feel like the regular might get left out. But I’d say the S10 is the easiest choice. It’s the perfect mixture of size and feature-set, with a price tag that’s £200 less than the iPhone XS.
For a more detailed look at some of the most important parts of the Samsung Galaxy S10, check out the links below to see our full testing data including loads of camera samples and comparisons, benchmarks and display data.
Prices in the UK start from £799 for the 128GB model and £999 for the 512GB model. In the US, it costs $899. As such, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is £60/$180 more expensive than the Samsung Galaxy S9 when it launched in February 2019. Or you could view it as being £200/$100 cheaper than the iPhone XS.
In the UK, all major carriers – EE, Vodafone, Three and O2 – are stocking the phone, alongside Virgin Mobile and Tesco Mobile. Check out ourSamsung Galaxy S10 deals for all the latest news on pricing and the best offers.
This review is of a Galaxy S10 (UK Exynos 9820 version) unit provided to us by Vodafone, and was conducted over the course of ten days – with additional days afterwards for more in-depth testing. Previously, we’d been using the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, which comes with many of the same features.
Is the Samsung Galaxy S10 going to be your next phone? Tweet us @trustedreviews and let us know.
