Samsung Galaxy S20 FE review: the right price for the right stuff

The new Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is the fourth phone in the S line this year. That ’ s a lot of variants, and it doesn ’ t include the two Note 20 phones and apparently countless A-series phones Samsung besides released this year. Trying to figure out which one has the right mix of features and price for you can feel like you need a spreadsheet, an accountant, and an statistician stand by .
fortunately, most of Samsung ’ s S-series and Note phones have lots of dependable things going for them : a fast processor, good build quality, nice screens, and decent cameras. I ’ megabyte not saying you can ’ metric ton go wrong, but the S20 FE keeps adequate of the most authoritative “ flagship ” parts to make it a big value at $ 699 .
It ’ south besides validation incontrovertible that when Samsung wants to turn a telephone about cursorily, it can. Development began immediately after the original three S20 phones were announced in March 2020 as it became net the economy would be tanked by the pandemic .
But the Galaxy S20 FE doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate feel like a rush occupation. It has a few high-quality components that will delight while the cheaper parts don ’ thyroxine hurt the experience excessively much.

Galaxy S20 FE hardware

The Galaxy S20 FE is built around a 6.5-inch 1080p OLED display. It ’ s a fully flat screen with bezels that are wholly finely but more visible than they are on other S20 devices .
The fact that the filmdom is “ alone ” 1080p international relations and security network ’ metric ton a problem, even at this size. The thing you get in exchange is a 120Hz high freshen pace, which makes scrolling smoother and some games look better. I ’ megabyte very please to see it on a telephone that costs $ 700, particularly since Samsung weirdly left it out of the more expensive Galaxy Note 20 .

There is a distracting and annoying silver rim around the selfie camera


The back is plastic but it feels solid.

Samsung is sticking to its guns on colors and plangency on this filmdom — which means it ’ s a little overbearing out of the box. fortunately, you can tone it down by hunting down the “ natural ” screen door mood .
But the hardware element that ’ s most probably to draw criticism is the back of the phone. It ’ south plastic, but don ’ t let that throw you. The call overall even feels hardy and solid. Samsung is offering it in six different colors, besides : dark blue, lavender, mint, red, white, and orange. They ’ re all “ cloud ” colors, which, in Samsung ’ s parlance, means they have a flat end .
The S20 FE is a little more squared-off than other S20 phones, but it placid largely feels like it belongs in the family. It ’ south well-made, and my merely substantial hardware gripe is the chrome resound that surrounds the hole-punch selfie television camera. It catches the alight all the time and is distracting — and wholly unnecessary. Samsung does this with some A-series phones vitamin a well, and I precisely don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate get it .
It supports radio receiver charging and fast charge, though the in-box charger doesn ’ thyroxine have adequate electrical power to juice it up cursorily. The battery is plenty boastfully for a earphone of this size at 4,500mAh. In my test, I was getting through vitamin a many as two days with moderate use. It should be good for around six hours of blind prison term in total unless you are doing something truly battery-intensive .

The three 12-megapixel sensors fit inside a very reasonably small camera bump

Galaxy S20 FE camera

Samsung had to cut costs somewhere, and the television camera is one of those places. however, I don ’ thymine miss what Samsung dropped at all. alternatively of one of Samsung ’ s newer high-megapixel “ extremist ” sensors, the S20 FE has three standard 12-megapixel sensors .
That means it gets wide, ultrawide, and telephotograph cameras. All three take good shots in estimable conditions. In nox modality, I continue to be impressed with Samsung ’ s improvements. The S20 FE can ’ thyroxine quite compete head to head against the Pixel or iPhone 11 Pro, but it ’ mho close. Video is besides precisely what you ’ vitamin d expect : right down the middle in terms of quality. Unlike other S20 devices, the FE can ’ t do 8K recording — no boastful loss .
So the television camera holds its own, but it doesn ’ triiodothyronine stand out in an appreciable way. That out but be where I leave it, but I have some long-running complaints I need to harp on. Samsung is however hanging on to three bad television camera habits. none of them are bad adequate to be deal-breakers, but they ’ re worth being mindful of .

first and most importantly, Samsung still tends to overdo it with brightening photos and cranking up the vibrance. I think that ’ sulfur probably what a fortune of people prefer, but in some alight conditions, it merely makes everything a little neon to my eyes. You can adjust for some of this with the Pro modes and besides tone some things down in mail .
second, Samsung continues to market its lens as being able of 30x zoom. It is, technically, but the results at that soar level look like person spill water on a photocopy of a printout. If you keep the zoom charge at 10x or less, you ’ ll actually be pleased with the results .
ultimately, Samsung insists on smoothing faces excessively a lot, specially with the 32-megapixel selfie camera. even if you turn off all of the filters, you ’ ll see something very unlike than what your mirror shows you .
As I said, I don ’ metric ton think any one of these is a reason to avoid the S20 FE. But all three are frustrating because they ’ re not a leave of any hardware shortcomings ; they ’ re precisely decisions Samsung is making with the software .

The Galaxy S20 FE (left) and the Galaxy S20 (right)

Galaxy S20 FE performance and software

Samsung put in the pieces it knows people will care about most when it comes to operation : a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 central processing unit and 5G. I don ’ thyroxine think either is a necessity ( particularly the 5G ) for a fast, well earphone. even so, the S20 FE is enough fast for everything I need .
While we ’ re on the subject of 5G, I should note that the Verizon version of this earphone costs $ 50 more. That ’ sulfur because it needs to include the components necessary for Verizon ’ s mmWave 5G network. A network, I should add, that only works if you are within throwing distance of one of its sporadically visible urban towers .
Though I had no issues with speed, lag, or plunge times, I will admit I haven ’ thymine pushed this earphone to the limits of what some phones can do immediately. It ’ s possible that power users could hit the limits of the earphone, however. Samsung cut some costs by dropping the RAM from 12GB to 6GB, which can affect multitasking and Samsung ’ s DeX background interface. It besides limits the S20 FE to one storehouse shape : 128GB, but it ’ s expandable with microSD .
Samsung ’ s One UI software is the lapp on the S20 FE as it is on all the other S20 and Note 20 phones. I enjoy many of its supernumerary features and think its overall blueprint is coherent and even elegant in some places. I besides find it endlessly infuriating that Samsung finds little corners of it to stick ad or prompts to sign up for partner services .
I besides don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate like Bixby, which is a bad digital adjunct. You can still use Google Assistant, and with a little software folly, you can even remap a long-press of the ability push button to Assistant .

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is still a great phone in 2021

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE arrives at a very concern time and as separate of an matter to vogue. It precisely barely beats the Google Pixel 5 to commercialize ( for the same price ) and is besides coming ahead of newly iPhones. That Pixel is, and at least one of those iPhones will likely be, priced correctly around the same price as the Galaxy S20 FE .
earphone companies are waking up to the mind that people who don ’ triiodothyronine want to spend $ 1,000 on a call still want a modern phone, not barely an older one at a discount. Samsung, as it often does, leads this course by making sure shop shelves can be stacked with its products at every conceivable price point. The S20 FE was quickly originate not just to meet the economic downturn, but to make certain Samsung has something newly in that $ 699 slot .
And though the Galaxy S20 FE can justifiably be called a rushed-together “ parts bin ” telephone, that doesn ’ t bastardly Samsung didn ’ t make something in truth firm here. It did. The combination of speed, a boastful high review rate screen, decent battery, competent cameras, and Samsung ’ randomness build up quality add up to a result that is signally close to the pitch : S20 flagship features at a more reasonable price. All the S20 phones share those qualities ; the flagships equitable have a morsel more .
Samsung phones besides all tend to share another quality : frequent and sometimes substantial discounts. As I and my colleague Dan Seifert have been repeating ad nauseam, it ’ sulfur constantly deserving waiting to see if the price will come down or if you can buy a increase earphone for the like price .
If you pick up a Galaxy S20 FE, you ’ ll be felicitous. But if you can find a regular S20 or S20 Plus for the same price, you ’ ll be even happier .

Agree to continue: Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It ’ s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting precisely how many times you have to hit “ harmonize ” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate read and decidedly can ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate negociate .
To use the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, you must agree to :

  • The End User License Agreement
  • Samsung’s Privacy Policy
  • Google Terms of Service (including Privacy Policy)
  • Google Play Terms of Service

There are many optional agreements. If you use a carrier-specific translation, there will be more of them. here are just a few :

  • Samsung “Information Linking” and sending diagnostic data
  • Google Drive backup, Location services, W-Fi Scanning, diagnostic data
  • Automatic installs (including from Google, Samsung, and your carrier)
  • Bixby privacy policy (required to use Bixby), plus optional for Bixby options like personalized content, data access, and audio recording review

There may be others. For exemplar, I already had a Samsung explanation, so I didn ’ t need to agree to more terms for that. Samsung ’ s Weather app besides has its own privacy policy that may include sharing information with weather.com.

Final reckoning : there are four mandatary agreements and at least four optional ones .

photography by Dieter Bohn / The verge

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