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The Galaxy Note 10 Lite could introduce a cool new S Pen feature

By Joshua Swingle

Published: Dec 16, 2019, 6:45 AM

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The Galaxy Note 10 Lite could introduce a cool new S Pen feature

The Galaxy Note 10 Lite will mark the first time in years that Samsung has added S Pen compatibility to a mid-range smartphone and, as it turns out, this honor could be paired with a never-before-seen feature.

The S Pen could support location tracking

A new Bluetooth certification listing (viaGalaxyClub), which also corroborates the rumored Galaxy Note 10 Lite branding, has revealed that Samsung’s next smartphone will be its first-ever Bluetooth 5.1-compatible device at launch.

This standard is quite similar to the popular Bluetooth 5.0 implementation but ultimately introduces support for accurate location tracking. In other words, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite could be the first phone to know where its accompanying S Pen is.

Such a feature could substantially benefit gestures because users would be allowed to control their phones from noticeably longer distances. As things stand, S Pen gestures are only recognized when the stylus is being used near the display.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10's S Pen

Another use case, and perhaps the most obvious one, is the ability to find the stylus when you’ve lost it. Samsung could enable this feature inside one of its many apps or perhaps within the Settings menu.

Despite the countless possibilities, though, there’s unfortunately no guarantee Samsung will introduce any new S Pen features on the Galaxy Note 10 Lite. Today’s certification simply means that the hardware is compatible.

Massive display, headphone jack, old hardware

For those of you interested in what the Galaxy Note 10 Lite has to offer beyond the S Pen, reports suggest it’ll feature a massive 6.7-inch Infinity-O AMOLED display complete with flat edges, a small punch hole towards the top, and thin bezels all around.

It should be paired with a glass panel on the back that’s home to a square-shaped camera module similar to the Google Pixel 4’s one. But rather than settling for just two sensors, Samsung is expected to equip the phone with three sensors and an LED flash.

If rumors are to be believed, a 48-megapixel main camera will take center stage and incorporate pixel binning technology to produce more detailed 12-megapixel shots as standard. It should be accompanied by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and a 5-megapixel depth sensor which should help with portrait photography.

Leaked Galaxy Note 10 Lite render

Other features will likely include an aluminum frame that’s home to a USB-C port, a bottom-firing speaker, and the much-loved 3.5mm headphone jack which Samsung previously ditched on the premium Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+.

As for the internal side of things, it’s believed the Galaxy Note 10 Lite will borrow some of the Galaxy Note 9’s key components. These include the Exynos 9810 chipset coupled with 6GB of RAM and a generous 128GB of storage as standard. Completing the whole package will undoubtedly be Android 10 and One UI 2.0 straight out of the box alongside support for 4G LTE networks.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite price and release date

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite is expected to go official at an event in mid-January alongside the Galaxy S10 Lite. It’s expected to hit shelves across Europe but should also reach certain Asian markets such as India under the Galaxy A81 branding.

Pricing information remains quite the mystery but a recent leak did point towards a possible price tag of €609 in certain European markets, which means countries with slightly lower taxes could receive the device for €599. Whether this turns out to be accurate, however, will remain to be seen.

Things don’t look that positive at the moment for those of you holding out for a US release. But if Samsung does go ahead with a launch, it will probably replace the Exynos 9810 with the Snapdragon 845.