Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Review

Samsung spins the brand new Galaxy S20 FE, or “Fan Version”, as a mannequin that provides all of the options that followers care most about in a extra reasonably priced package deal. As the costs of flagship telephones have skyrocketed to properly over Rs. 1,00,000 over the previous few years, the “flagship killer” section at round Rs. 40,000 to 50,000 has turn out to be an increasing number of essential. Relatively than let opponents comparable to OnePlus and Xiaomi eat its lunch, the Korean large has determined to battle again with a watered-down model of the Galaxy S20.

Samsung has dabbled with a number of methods to promote extra reasonably priced variations of its flagship telephones with out cannibalising gross sales. Final 12 months, we had the bodily smaller Galaxy S10e (Review) which proved to be successful in the identical vein because the “mini” versions of some older fashions. The corporate additionally later launched the Galaxy S10 Lite (Review) which was a considerably complicated however nonetheless respectable mid-range possibility. We have additionally seen premium A-series models trying to serve the identical market.

Now that the OnePlus 8T (Review) has been launched and a number of other flagships are dropping in worth, can the brand new Galaxy S20 FE entice an viewers of its personal? Learn on to seek out out.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE worth and competitors

Just one configuration of the Galaxy S20 FE in India, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, was announced at launch time, priced at Rs. 49,999. Nevertheless, when this mannequin went on sale, a 256GB variant priced at Rs. 53,999 also appeared. Oddly, it is bought solely in a single color, Cloud Navy, moderately than the total vary.

A 5G version is bought in different international locations, however the Galaxy S20 FE is just out there with 4G community compatibility in India. The apparent goal is the OnePlus 8T, which is priced beginning at Rs. 42,999. Different probably opponents are the brand new Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G, gaming telephones such because the Asus ROG Phone 3 (Review), and even the iPhone 11 (Review).

Nevertheless, what makes the Galaxy S20 FE stand out for all of the unsuitable causes is the truth that the way more premium Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ (Review) now promote for a lot lower than their official launch costs. In reality, Samsung is presently discounting the improbable Galaxy S20+ to precisely Rs. 49,999 by itself web site, and it has been out there for that a lot throughout ongoing online festive sales.

That is arduous to grasp, because it undercuts the model new Galaxy S20 FE and even the Galaxy S20. In an effort to reconcile its vary, Samsung has simply recently announced price cuts all the way down to Rs. 44,999 and Rs. 48,999 (plus financial institution provides) for the 128GB and 256GB variants. This may undoubtedly annoy early adopters, coming lower than two weeks after the Galaxy S20 FE first went on sale. So far as providing customers worth for cash, that is hardly probably the most conducive setting during which to advertise a mannequin with extra modest specs.

The Galaxy S20 FE has a 4500mAh battery and Samsung Exynos 990 SoC

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE design

The Galaxy S20 FE does slot in with its siblings. It has the identical fundamental proportions however curiously is bigger than the Galaxy S20 because of its 6.5-inch display. You aren’t getting curved edges on the display, which in my view is definitely a very good factor. The body is shiny and metallic, whereas the rear panel is product of a matte polycarbonate. The 128GB model of this cellphone is accessible in 5 colors, starting from the daring Cloud Crimson and Cloud Navy to the a lot softer pastel Cloud Mint and Cloud Lavender, plus a impartial Cloud White.

The rounded sides of the rear panel make the Galaxy S20 FE very straightforward to carry, and the non-slip texture is way appreciated. You additionally do not have to fret in any respect about fingerprints, however delicate smudges could be seen after use. You aren’t getting any form of case within the field with this cellphone.

Contributing to the premium really feel, the display borders are fairly slim. The earpiece is so slim it may barely even be seen. The entrance digicam is embedded proper within the centre of the highest – it is pretty small however remains to be somewhat distracting not solely due to its place but in addition as a result of there is a extremely reflective silver ring round it. Samsung will ship this cellphone with a display protector pre-applied, and the one on my assessment unit was barely misaligned.

The facility and quantity buttons are on the left, and are inside straightforward attain. Samsung has dropped its devoted Bixby button and I do not miss it in any respect. There is a USB Kind-C port on the underside and no 3.5mm audio socket. The tray on the highest can accommodate both two Nano-SIMs or one Nano-SIM and a microSD card.

Measuring 8.4mm thick and weighing 190g, the Galaxy S20 FE is pretty straightforward to deal with and stay with. It is rated IP68 for water and mud resistance, so it ought to be capable to face up to publicity to the weather. Regardless of being not precisely flagship-level, building high quality is great and there is not any doubt that this appears like a premium cellphone.

The ring across the entrance digicam is distracting, however the earpiece is hidden neatly

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE specs and software program

The Galaxy S20 FE will get the identical top-tier Exynos 990 processor as its siblings within the S20 household. That is an octa-core SoC with two customized Samsung efficiency cores operating at 2.73GHz, two extra ARM Cortex-A76 cores operating at 2.5GHz, and 4 extra power-efficient 2GHz Cortex-A55 cores.

There’s 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage, plus help for as much as a 1TB microSD card utilizing the hybrid slot. The battery capability is 4500mAh and wi-fi charging is supported in each instructions. You solely get a 15W adapter within the field, although this cellphone can reap the benefits of as much as 25W chargers.

Samsung has gone with a 6.5-inch 1080×2400-pixel Tremendous AMOLED display. There isn’t any official point out of HDR but it surely does appear to be supported. There’s additionally an always-on mode that is disabled by default. One nice shock is a 120Hz refresh price, although there does not appear to be any technique to allow this dynamically – it is both 60Hz or 120Hz on a regular basis. A workaround is to allow Adaptive Energy Saving, which is able to toggle the refresh price together with a number of different settings based mostly in your utilization patterns.

Talking of energy saving, Samsung permits you to select between 4 efficiency ranges. The Medium and Most modes restrict CPU efficiency to 70 p.c and cut back the utmost display brightness by 10 p.c. The Most mode additionally locks you all the way down to only some apps and forces darkish mode. Background knowledge is restricted and the always-on show and all biometrics are additionally disabled.

These are just some of the huge variety of options you will discover all through Samsung’s One UI 2.5, which runs on high of Android 10. My unit obtained an replace to the October Android safety patch in the course of the assessment interval, which was good to see. The Bixby button is likely to be gone however the assistant can nonetheless be known as up utilizing the facility button. You should utilize your SIM for calls and textual content messages by way of different linked Samsung gadgets, and Samsung’s latest partnership with Microsoft for Home windows 10 integration can be supported on the Galaxy S20 FE.

There are numerous shortcut gestures, a Sport Launcher with optimisations, UI themes, a Twin Messenger function for utilizing two accounts with sure apps, a display recorder, expandable notification bubbles, and loads of choices for house display customisation. Edge Panels provide you with fast entry to varied shortcuts and mini apps with a swipe in from both fringe of the display, and you’ll obtain many extra free and paid panels from the Galaxy Retailer.

On the draw back, there are fairly just a few Samsung apps preloaded, together with a pointless Internet browser and tie-in apps for the corporate’s AR, wearables, and IoT merchandise. Samsung Well being and Samsung Pay are doubtlessly helpful, however then again, the My Galaxy app spawned annoying notifications a number of occasions per day.

There is a USB Kind-C port on the underside, however no 3.5mm socket

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE efficiency

As anticipated, there is not any lag in any way when swiping by way of the One UI interface and when multitasking between apps. The Galaxy S20 FE felt snappy, because of the excessive refresh price panel in addition to the succesful SoC and great amount of RAM. The in-display fingerprint sensor and face recognition aren’t as fast as I might have favored, however this should not be a lot of an issue. That is the form of cellphone that you just’d be very happy to make use of for on a regular basis apps and duties.

The display is crisp and vibrant. Apart from the distracting digicam gap, movies and video games look nice. The expertise is helped by this cellphone’s stereo audio system, which really feel fairly properly balanced. Sound is a bit skinny and missing in bass, however that is to be anticipated.

Coming to benchmark exams, AnTuTu reported a rating of 4,62,330, and Geekbench’s single- and multi-core outcomes had been 517 and a pair of,573 respectively. 3DMark’s Slingshot Excessive graphics check managed 6,649, whereas GFXBench’s Manhattan 3.1 and Automotive Chase scenes ran at 55fps and 33fps respectively. These scores are a bit decrease than what the Galaxy S20+ (Review) and Galaxy S20 Ultra (Review) achieved.

Fashionable video games together with Name of Responsibility Cellular and Asphalt 9: Legends had been completely easy at their default graphics high quality settings. Nevertheless, the higher rear of the Galaxy S20 FE did get fairly heat after simply 5 minutes or so of play. This turned barely uncomfortable over longer gaming periods.

Battery life wasn’t significantly spectacular. I used to be in a position to get a full day’s use out of a cost, however I would not count on greater than that. Our HD video loop check ran for 12 hours, 44 minutes, which is under common. Utilizing the bundled charger, I used to be in a position to stand up to 17 p.c in quarter-hour and 61 p.c in an hour.

All three of the cameras on the Galaxy S20 FE are helpful and sensible

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE cameras

Contemplating how closely Samsung emphasised digicam high quality because the defining function of the Galaxy S20 household, it is going to be attention-grabbing to see how this lower-priced mannequin suits in. The Galaxy S20 FE has a scaled-down set of cameras, beginning with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 main digicam with OIS. There’s additionally a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide digicam and an 8-megapixel f/2.4 3X optical telephoto digicam. For selfies, you get a 32-megapixel f/2.2 digicam.

Unsurprisingly, the digicam app is jammed with options and choices. Modes embrace Samsung’s Single Take composition device, professional mode, meals mode, evening mode, stay focus for stills and video, sluggish movement and tremendous sluggish movement, and hyperlapse. You’ll be able to obtain further filters or create your personal based mostly on the color profile of any picture, if the default choice ever will get boring. The Scene Optimiser function is on by default and can show a shortcut to allow Evening Mode rapidly if it thinks it is necessary.

The Galaxy S20 FE locked focus rapidly and metered scenes fairly properly in the course of the day. Colors had been vibrant, verging on oversaturated in some cases. Pictures got here out wanting sharp and topics had been properly outlined. Element on objects at a distance was additionally fairly good. Shut-up pictures had been glorious, with minute particulars reproduced very properly and a really nice pure depth of area.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE daytime picture samples. High to backside: Extremely-wide, commonplace, 3X zoom (faucet to see full dimension)

In reality, close-ups taken within the default Picture mode had been usually higher than when utilizing the Reside Focus mode, which requires you to face again fairly a distance out of your topic. Should you do use this mode although, you possibly can refocus pictures, modify the blur depth and sort, and take away all color apart from the article in focus.

The wide-angle digicam does introduce important distortion and high quality will not be unhealthy for those who’re simply checking your pictures on the cellphone’s display. Colors aren’t drastically completely different due to the re-framing. The 3X optical telephoto digicam additionally captures glorious element, and pictures maintain up even when seen absolutely magnified on a big monitor. The three cameras that Samsung has chosen are all genuinely helpful with out being gimmicky, and will all come in useful commonly.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE daytime picture samples (faucet to see full dimension)

Issues get rather less passable at evening – focus was typically inaccurate however tapping the display manually will lead to a fast lock. The excellent news is which you could seize respectable pictures even when it is too darkish to see your topic within the viewfinder, if you recognize the place to faucet. The Scene Optimiser will power a sluggish shutter by default, however this is not the identical as Evening Mode, and outcomes did differ barely.

Low-light pictures had been somewhat grainy and colors had been typically off relying on the form of lighting round. The wide-angle and telephoto cameras do endure because of their narrower apertures however pictures are nonetheless usable. Utilizing Evening Mode did often lead to higher color copy and barely improved element.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Evening Mode picture samples (faucet to see full dimension)

The entrance digicam takes 8-megapixel binned pictures by default. A large-angle mode primarily reverse-crops the body, however the distinction could be very slight. Selfies got here out wanting crisp with good element and publicity, however beautification is turned on by default and it takes a number of faucets to disable it. Evening mode works right here as properly, and might positively assist when there is not sufficient gentle falling in your face.

As for video, the Galaxy S20 FE was in a position to seize easy 1080p footage with all three cameras within the daytime. Whether or not standing nonetheless, panning, or strolling, video appeared good and there was no jerkiness. At 4K, movement was rather less easy particularly with the telephoto digicam. Low-light video shot with the first digicam was ok, however high quality suffered with the telephoto and wide-angle cameras. There was noticeable judder at 4K when transferring whereas recording, and stabilisation artefacts had been additionally a problem at 1080p. You’ll be able to change between cameras whereas recording, and the transitions are slick.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE selfie samples. High: daytime, backside: Evening Mode (faucet to see full dimension)

Gradual-motion video got here out wanting nice. In super-slow-mo mode, video is captured at 720p. The start and finish of clips play again at regular velocity, and you’ll modify the factors between which footage is dramatically slowed down. You can too reverse and loop it for artistic impact.

Verdict

Samsung used the “Fan Version” suffix when it tried promoting refurbished Galaxy Note 7 units in South Korea with smaller, safer batteries. The transfer might need helped Samsung recoup a few of the losses it suffered following the catastrophic and embarrassing world launch (and subsequent global bans) of the Galaxy Notice 7, however this was by no means going to be a mass-market cellphone. “Fan edtion” mainly acknowledged that solely these people who find themselves fervently devoted to the Samsung model would really purchase it.

That is why it is somewhat shocking to see a model new mannequin launch in a number of international locations with the identical branding – that too one aimed toward a way more mainstream viewers than its siblings. You do not have to be a fan of the model to love this cellphone.

What Samsung has acquired proper although is the steadiness of value and options. You aren’t getting the total flagship expertise, but when persons are proud of so-called flagship killers, you now have a fairly good selection throughout the Samsung lineup. What works for the Galaxy S20 FE is its match and end, high-quality display, and helpful cameras.

Pricing is an unavoidable challenge, although. Individuals who pre-ordered or purchased the Galaxy S20 FE early are going to be justifiably upset due to the quickly decreased worth and 256GB storage possibility. The larger challenge is Samsung now promoting the far superior Galaxy S20+ at precisely the identical worth that the Galaxy S20 FE launched at. Irrespective of how good this new cellphone appears and the way a lot it will get proper, Samsung itself provides stronger competitors so long as costs keep the place they presently are.