While all three of the new S10 screens pack a camera hole, the S10e's is the only one that lacks a fingerprint sensor underneath it. Instead of relying on Qualcomm's novel (and pretty dang quick) ultrasound-sensing tech, Samsung went with a more traditional fingerprint sensor embedded high on the S10e's right side. (The company wouldn't elaborate on why it's here instead of, say, on the phone's back.) It sits right where my thumb does, so I'm perfectly pleased, but I could see this approach being a little less pleasant for lefties.

The last major difference between the S10e and its siblings is its cameras. It uses the same f/2.2, 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera and variable-aperture 12-megapixel main camera (with optical image stabilization!) as the bigger models, but it lacks a 12-megapixel telephoto camera. If I'm honest, this isn't much of a surprise either -- I'm just glad that the cameras the S10e does have are arguably the more useful ones. For me at least, taking a step in to get a tighter look at my subject is much less troublesome than taking a few steps back to get more in my frame. And since this ultra-wide camera was designed to capture a field of view as wide as what the human eye can perceive, it does a good job at making sure what we see is actually what we get.

Samsung worked in a number of clever software tricks here, from a shot-suggestion mode that nags when you're not lined up properly to a night mode that (hopefully) gets close to Pixel 3 quality in the dark. All told, though, the S10e mostly feels like a polished version of the camera we got last year. Granted, I didn't get to spend a ton of time with the phone, but the few photos I did take were up to Samsung's usually high standard -- they just didn't seem dramatically better than what you might be used to. At least there are some substantive improvements on the video side: The S10e's front and rear cameras can record in 4K HDR, in case you wanted to get your mobile-filmmaking career going.