Samsung Galaxy M10 review

Design and build quality

Given the price point of the Galaxy M10, it would be too harsh to judge it by its materials. It's entirely made of plastic, except for the glass front panel, of course, but it doesn't bend, creak or flex - it feels quite sturdy. And look on the bright side, it will be way more difficult to break than a glass sandwich phone and cheaper to repair if you do. But keep it away from rough surfaces as the plastic is more prone to scratches.

But designers could have put a little effort in coming up with more color options. Surely, this is strongly subjective, but even the Realme 3 offers some kind of patterned design. Also, fingerprints and smudges are easy to see. The glossy finish is a big fingerprint magnet.

Anyway, aside from the pretty plain back design, the back plate also houses the dual-camera module in the upper-left corner along with the LED flash. There's also a small opening near the bottom that acts as a speaker grille. It takes us back to the times when Samsung was still putting the speaker grilles on the back. It gives it a bit of a clunky feel to it.

On the front, the device features a 6.22-inch Infinity-V display with acceptable side and top bezels while the chin looks a bit thicker. Infinity-V stands for a waterdrop-styled notch. The front-facing camera resides there along with the earpiece. The upper bezel also houses the proximity sensor - it can be seen only at a certain angle and isn't easy to spot.

To be frank, 7.7mm in thickness is pretty good by today's standards, yet the sharp sides press against your palm when holding the device and give you the impression of being bigger than it really is. The slightly curved back helps a bunch but since the front's glass isn't rounded, it sticks out a little. The Galaxy M10 is definitely hard to use with just one hand if your palms are average in size.

The left side of the handset is reserved only for the SIM card tray that also has enough space for the microSD card without sacrificing the second SIM slot.

On the right, we find the power button, accompanied by the volume rocker. The bottom is where the microUSB port resides along with the main microphone and the 3.5mm audio jack.

All in all, there's nothing to complain about given the asking price of the Galaxy M10 although we would have greatly appreciated more creative gradient color options and better ergonomics of the sides. However, those are strongly subjective and aren't a real deal-breaker by any means.

What isn't subjective is the use of microUSB instead of USB-C. We are pretty sure the latter isn't all that expensive and the former doesn't belong in a 2019 model, no matter the asking price.

And here's a 360-degree view of the phone so you can take a better look from all sides.