Review: Samsung S20 FE — Most of the S20’s goodness, for less

Samsung has different variants of their S20 line — you have the S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, BTS Edition and now, the S20 FE which stands for Fan Edition and is the most affordable among its siblings because of its less premium specs. According to Samsung, the S20 FE “was tailor-made for fans of all kinds.” This fan moniker includes those who are particularly avid social media users, gamers, and photographers who don’t want the more premium price of P49,990

Design and build

My Samsung S20 FE came in Cloud Mint – one of my favorite shades of blue-green and one that is subtle and easy on the eyes due to the matte finish, which has a very smooth and luxurious feel that I found very satisfying to touch. It has a steel border which I thought would be a fingerprint or smudge magnet, but to my surprise as a “clean freak,” it wasn’t that bad. The S20 FE also comes in a variety of these soft but striking shades: Cloud Navy, Lavender, Red, White, and Orange.

On the right side you have the volume rocker and power button. On the top, you’ll have a secondary microphone and the card tray for one nano-SIM card and micro SD. On the bottom it has the main microphone, type-C port and speaker grille. It sadly doesn’t have a headphone jack.

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Display

While these colors adorn the back of the S20 FE, the giant 6.5″ Full HD+ Infinity-O display takes up a majority of the front. The “barely-there bezels” and flatter edges mean there is more real estate for whatever it is you are running on your phone. Immerse yourself completely with a screen that has a 85% screen-to-body ratio and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The S20 FE also has many built in protective features, such as IP68 water and dust resistance. The phone is supposed to be able to stay in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes and come out just fine.

The S20 FE features a 120Hz display refresh rate which makes sure whatever you are doing on your phone looks and feels smooth. Scrolling is slick and shudder is minimal, while the touch response of the screen is reactive and fast. It also houses an in-display fingerprint scanner on the bottom which I found a bit too low that I end up missing the scanner more often than not, although I think it just needs some getting used to.

Camera

The Samsung S20 FE’s “pro-grade triple lens camera” and punch hole front camera will make sure your shots are detailed and professional. The rear camera features a 12MP Ultra-Wide, 12MP Wide-Angle, and 8MP Telephoto lens. It features Space zoom within the Telephoto lens that lets you get up to 3x Optical Zoom and 30x Super Resolution Zoom which can be a bit grainy in unfavorable lighting.

Up front, you have the 32MP selfie camera to capture the perfect selfie.

For content creators or those aspiring to be one, the S20 FE features Single Take that turns you into a pro-level content creator with one tap of the shutter. It shoots up to 15 seconds and then lets your phone do the work. Once it’s done, head to the Gallery to discover a variety of videos, photos, and more.

One handy feature that you can use with all the rear camera lenses is Night Mode. The lens will adjust depending on the lighting to bring it more light if it’s too dark so that your pictures are clear and colorful even in nighttime. Additionally, the camera will shoot and process multiple frames at the same time so you have the clearest possible nighttime photo. Shaky action shots are smoothed out with advanced AI stabilization.

Under the hood

The S20 FE has 1.6Gbps LTE to make sure you have fast data and download speeds. This is due to the phone’s new NPU, S20 chipset Exynos 990 processor and Mali-G77 MP11 GPU. On top of that, Wi-Fi 6 ensures a secure and low latency connection even in a busy area. In terms of memory it sports an 8GB RAM and 128GB built-in storage which is expandable up to 1TB of extra storage on a microSD card.

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The device runs on One UI which is designed for everyday simplicity. It keeps what’s essential on the Always On Display so you can get what you need at a glance. And it’s easier on the eyes with Dark Mode.

The S20 FE sports a 4,500mAh battery capacity which lasts a little more than a day thanks to its All-Day Intelligent Battery. It supports 25W Super Fast Charger which gives it a 50% charge in 30 minutes. It also supports wireless charging but would take about twice the charging time. It has a similar battery capacity as the S20 Plus and 500mAh more than the S20.

Smart features

Samsung Dex lets you connect wirelessly to your TV which you can use to multitask or enlarge whatever you are playing on your phone (such as a movie or gallery). Meanwhile, Quick Share lets you connect to your friends and share content with them such as photos, videos, and more.

Verdict

The Samsung S20 FE as mentioned is the most affordable variant of the S20 lineup, retailing at P35,990 but at the expense of losing a few of the S20’s premium features such as a better camera, less RAM, reduced display resolution. At the same price range, you’ll find the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom released last year while the S20 FE features a 30x Super Resolution Zoom. I would say it’s worth its price comparing it to its other competitors at the same price range. The S20 FE would be more than enough if you want nearly the same features for a more affordable price.