Galaxy S20 FE Review: Should OnePlus be Worried? By GadgetByte

So today I have the Samsung Galaxy s20 fan edition with me, which was launched like a month ago. Samsung says that it's the company's flagship phone for the fans, from top of the line hardware to flagship features like IP rating and wireless charging, the s20 Fe has it all. Although there are some compromises that have been made to keep the price in check regardless when it was initially announced, I thought it would be more like a light version of the s20 CD similar to last year's s10 lite, but it's not as a matter of fact, Samsung says that the main reason for the introduction of the galaxy s20 Fe was to create a cheaper flagship for people who are not willing to spend over a thousand dollars on a phone during this economic turn down caused by the movie 19, which is something I really appreciate. Keeping the appreciation aside. Does this cheaper, Samsung flagship live up to its fan edition tag? Well, let's take deeper to find out. Alright, let's address the elephant in the room.

First, yes, plastic bags on flagship phones are a thing now all thanks to Samsung. It all started with the Galaxy Note 20, and then it got handed over to the s20 Fe. It might sound like I'm complaining, but trust me. I am not. Certainly when you hear plastic, you assume the device to feel flimsy and cheap, but this one's nothing of that sort.

In fact, it has a very good feel and the right kind of heft. Also. What makes me like this design even more is that it does not register scratches or fingerprint smudges as easily as glass backs. Do I've used this phone for more than a month now without a case, and it still looks good as new, although I will encourage you to get a back cover or a skin, because the plastic at the back might get scratched or washed out over time? Similarly, the front of it only has the gorilla glass 3 protection, which is not as scratch and drop resistant as the latest gorilla glass Vitus or the gorilla glass 6 we've seen on Samsung's recent flagship phones. So if you are one of those careless ones like me, I would recommend you to get a good screen protector.

The frames are, however, made of aluminum, just like the s20 plus, I think Samsung has finally got the color availability right. This phone is available in multiple colors, which is not something new for them, but this time Samsung is making all these colors available in the majority of markets anyways moving on to the display, it is a classic Samsung super AMOLED panel. So no doubt it's one of the best smartphone screen. You could lay your eyes on still. It does not have a sharper HD resolution like the s20 plus, but honestly, I've never practically turned that option on in any of the Samsung flagships.

I've ever used. The important thing about this display is that it refreshes at 120 hertz, which makes for a super smooth experience. I think this feature alone has made the 100 Galaxy Note, 20, look pale and unjustifiably priced in comparison. The bezels, on the other hand, are slightly pronounced as opposed to what we usually see on flagship offerings from Samsung. Likewise, the gentle curves are gone too, and you get the super flat display, which I am okay with.

Actually, however, there have been some underlying issues with the s20 FES display, for instance, scrolling would be jittery all of a sudden, and I've also experienced some ghost touches. I turned to the community to check if others were going through the same thing and turns out this was the issue faced by many others too. Samsung in its October's update did fix the issue to some extent, but it is not completely gone. In my opinion, it looks more like a software issue rather than hardware, so I hope that Samsung fixes it asap. On a different note, this display houses an in-display fingerprint sensor, not the ultrasonic kind like in the company's premium s and note series of phones, but the standard optical one.

Nonetheless, it works flawlessly. I was a little worried that it would be slower just like the ones in Samsung's a series phones, but it is not like that at all the brightness, if this display is also very good, not as good as the note 20 ultra but will get you through. Even in a sunny environment, the tiny punch hole up top is non-obtrusive and its diameter is in fact smaller than the one on the note 20 ultra anyway. Let's talk about the most criticized feature on the galaxy s20 Fe, the Enos 990 chipsets. Actually, it makes me wonder why did Samsung put the most criticized feature of the galaxy s20 and the note 20 ultra on a device that is made for the fans, not that the Enos 990 is a bad chipset or anything, it's still a powerful chipset, but it certainly is not in the same league with its direct snapdragon counterpart and since I'm also using the OnePlus 8t, which retails at around the same price.

It is not difficult to point out which one is better in terms of sheer performance. Moreover, the Enos 990 is not only inferior to the snapdragon 865 when it comes to performance, but it is more battery hungry and toastier too anyways. All the negativity aside, Samsung's, upcoming Enos, 1080 and 2100, are the real deal if early leaks are to be believed. These socs can reportedly outperform the next generation SS from Qualcomm, namely the snapdragon 875. Okay, moving on with my real life usage, the experience on this phone has been buttery smooth, there's, not a hint of lag, apps open, fast and multitasking is a breeze, but again I'm also using the OnePlus 8t right now, and it definitely feels more optimized and faster than the Fe.

Similarly, gaming, especially those high demanding titles, are inferior to that of the OnePlus 8t. For instance, the max you can go in PUBG is smooth graphics and extreme frame rates with a little of choppiness here and there about the heating. I've noticed that the h20 Fe does not heat up as easily as the s20 plus, which is something I really appreciate, because recording 4k videos or um gaming on the s20 plus would result in the phone getting considerably warm, so Samsung seems to have improved the thermals on the Fe, which is great talking about the software. The phone runs on android 10, with one UI 2.5 out of the box. It also includes the support for Samsung decks, which I particularly don't find that useful, but some of you might, however, a little sad news is that the s20 Fe is not up for one UI 3.0, better testing as other s20 flagships, although it is certain to receive android 11 updates any day now. Samsung has also promised three years of OS update with the s90 Fe.

Similarly, Samsung's follow-up on monthly security patches has also been very good till now. As of now, my phone is running on October security patch and I should be receiving November security patch anytime soon about the cameras. The s20 fan edition features the same 12 megapixel primary and ultra-wide angle lens as the s20 plus followed by a new 8 megapixel telephoto lens capable of 3 times optical zoom. As expected, this phone has stellar camera capabilities for photos and even for videos, you can go up to 4k 60 fps from both the front and back cameras, without any compromises on quality as compared to the s20 plus. In fact, in many cases the s20 plus over compensates the colors, while the s20 Fe tones it down and makes the image look more natural.

Similarly, details, dynamic range and everything else looks the same in both the phones, so I could not be happier with the cameras on the s20 Fe on a different note. The Fe does not shoot portraits with the telephoto lens, like the s20 plus, but rather uses the primary lens. The edge detection is slightly flawed, as you can see in these pictures, but overall they are not bad, although I would go for the portraits of the s20 plus as the subjects look more pronounced in it, and the depth looks more natural. The 8, megapixel telephoto zoom lens, however, gives you slightly better results than the s20 plus with its three time: optical zoom capability, as opposed to the three times hybrid zoom on the s20 plus the ultra-wide angle. Images equally impress with outstanding colors and details, as you can see from this comparison here.

Both the s20 plus and the Fe are nearly identical, and even the nighttime shots from the Fe are similar to the s20 plus in both the normal and night mode. But nighttime, images in the ultrawide mode are filled with grains, although you can toggle to night mode to compensate for the noise and exposure management to some extent, also, while shooting in the night mode. The camera takes around 10 seconds to click and process. The overall image, which I think Samsung needs to improve upon about the videos. As mentioned earlier, you can record up to 4k 60 fps from the main lens, and since it does not have a 64 megapixel telephoto lens, as the s20 plus does, there is no 8k shooting with the Fe.

You can shoot stabilized videos in the ultra-wide angle mode too, but like the s20 plus, there is no 60fps mode here. Likewise, the slo-mo and super slo-mo video modes are always fun to play around with. However, there's one aspect in the s20 FES cameras that has quite not met my expectations, which is the selfies it's a 32 megapixel shooter, as opposed to the 10 megapixel one on the s20 plus, but even with the higher resolution. It's not as good as its flagship sibling, which is clearly noticed in these pictures here to make matters clearer. The s20 Fe selfies are kind of galaxy a71 is rather than a flagship level.

Overall, though, I am really satisfied with the cameras on the s20 Fe Samsung's decision to not include a gimmicky macro or depth sensor is spot on, unlike its closest competitor, the OnePlus 8t and frankly, I think this should be a lesson to all the smartphone manufacturers who purposefully sham their high-end devices with unworthy camera sensors. In regard to the battery life, the s20 Fe has sort of met my expectations. I used this phone with the 120hz refresh rate and always on display turned on, and with that I strictly got a day's battery life. Now I am someone who's into watching Netflix and Amazon Prime video. At almost every chance I get and with all the social media texting clicking, pictures and videos that I do all day, I would have to charge the phone as I reach home at around 8 pm.

Talking about charging, you don't get a 25 watt fast charger inside the box, like you do with the s20 plus, although it does support it. Obviously, Samsung had to make some compromises to achieve the lower price, such as by skimping on accessories like fast chargers and earphones inside the box. But, unlike apple Samsung, has been generous enough to include a 15 watt fast charger inside the box, which takes around an hour and a half to get the phone completely juiced up. So if slow charging frustrates you like, it does to me, you're going to have to cash in around 30 dollars extra and get a genuine 25 watt fast charger. As for other things, the galaxy s20 Fe has 15 watt wireless charging, support ip68 rating and stereo speakers.

To give you a more flagship experience but hold on mark that these speakers are not true stereo, because the earpiece acts as a secondary channel, but nonetheless they do an amazing job. It produces balance and rich output, and it also supports Dolby Atmos, just like the s20 plus well. That was all for my experience with the galaxy s20 Fe. So do I recommend this phone? Well, yes, definitely it is one of the best value flagships at the moment and if you are in the market for a new smartphone- and you don't want to cash in top dollars, the s20 Fe is definitely a wise choice. In fact, it sits above the 10 pro and the OnePlus 8t, in my rank for the best value flagship right now, moreover, it's not even a debate or a contest if your region, ships, with the snapdragon variant of this phone and with Samsung's brand recognition, unmatched distribution and availability.

I think that this phone will definitely take some market share from the OnePlus 8t, also with Samsung, confirming that it's going to be releasing the fan edition version of the series every year. It's going to be an interesting battle in the coming days too, so that was all for my experiences with the galaxy s20 Fe for about a month. I am thinking of doing a comparison between the OnePlus 8t and the galaxy s20 Fe. So if you would like to see that on our channel, do let us know in the comments below till then I'm pragmatically, and thank you for watching.

Source : GadgetByte