Samsung Galaxy S21 FE Review
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE breaks the phrase “better late than never,” arriving five months late – and 11 months and one week behind the other Galaxy S21 phones – the S21 FE is finally available only a month or so before the next-generation Galaxy S22 series.
This is ostensibly the Samsung Galaxy S21 budget model, with features and characteristics similar to the main S21 family but a lower asking price due to a few minor compromises that most phone users are unlikely to notice.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE’s price problem is unfortunate, because the phone may be a compelling buy at a lower price. Phones with the same processor, screen specs, and camera capabilities may now be had for less money.
However, the phone’s pricing isn’t its only flaw. Even with wireless charging, the phone takes a long time to charge and does not last long enough between charges. We had to limit our normal usage to ensure the phone lasted the entire day.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE price
It comes with 2 storage options; There’s a £699 for the UK / $699 / AU$999 model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, as well as a £749 / $769.99 / AU$1,099 variant with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
The Galaxy S21 was originally priced at $799 / £769 / AU$1,249 for 8GB/128GB, however, we were able to find it for £649 / $549 / AU$949 at the time of writing (it has been even cheaper during sales periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
Furthermore, many mid-range phones, such as the Realme GT, Moto G200, Pixel 5, and iPhone SE (2020), are much less expensive and have comparable specs, making them more appealing to mobiles.
Design
The design attracts us and it looks like Galaxy S21, it looks identical to the vanilla and Plus versions of the Galaxy S series.
The FE, like the aforementioned phones, sports a rear camera with a Contour Cut hump to house its three lenses. One minor distinction is that the FE’s rear cameras are encased in plastic, but the S21’s are made of metal.
This is a plastic phone, or perhaps we should call it Glasstic, which is Samsung’s marketing phrase for it, despite the fact that the resemblance to glass (a typical smartphone material) end there. A plastic phone has both advantages and disadvantages.
Display
The Galaxy S21 FE is coupled with a 6.4-inch screen and will be featured 6.1-inch S21 and 6.7-inch S21 of the Samsung Galaxy Plus in its series, and the display, same as phones, will be featuring 1080 x 2400 resolution and an outstanding 120Hz refresh rate.
Another point of resemblance is Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen technology, which is essentially a marketing phrase for a sort of AMOLED panel that debuted in the Galaxy S20 phones. To paraphrase a lot of technical jargon, that means the screen is brilliant and bright, and we agree based on our experience with the phone.
The Galaxy S21 FE’s strong suit is its screen. Colours, contrast, and brightness are all excellent, and it’s a joy to watch TV shows or play games on the phone.
Cameras
The photography performance of the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is mostly comparable to that of the S21 and S21 Plus, despite some differences in hardware. We’d go so far as to claim that there are significantly more similarities than differences.
The main snapper is a 12MP main camera, which is a carryover from the S21, as is the 12MP ultrawide camera. The S21 FE, on the other hand, only has an 8MP telephoto camera, whereas the S21 has a 64MP one.
The telephoto lens of the phone contains a lower resolution than that of the S21, however, it will be combined with the same that of the lens, which allows for 1.1x optical or 3x hybrid zoom; for most users, this is apparent downgrade won’t make a significant impact.
The phone has a 32MP camera on the front, which is an upgrade from the 10MP on the other S21 variants, but the resolution isn’t the be-all and end-all of camera quality.
We noticed that photos taken with the main camera were extremely colourful, which is quite typical of Samsung phone photos – it’s clear that the company’s scene optimization software has never heard of oversaturation. Nonetheless, the main camera’s features make photos look instantly social media-worthy, especially when taken in well-lit circumstances.
Performance and specs
We wouldn’t be shocked if the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is the last phone to use the Snapdragon 888 chipset – the 888 was the top-end Android processor for most of 2021, but the newly-announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is already being deployed in a few phones at this time.
Because the 888 chipset supports 5G, the Galaxy S21 FE can connect to 5G networks if you have a 5G contract and live in a region that supports it. The CPU is also combined with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, depending on the phone model.
Despite not being the most recent or powerful chipset on the market, the differences between the Snapdragon 888 and its predecessors are minor, and the former is still a robust CPU capable of running demanding programmes without breaking a sweat. On the other side, Bigtech360 also says the same.
We put the phone through its paces by playing games, and it did so wonderfully, with rapid loading, top-notch graphical options, and no noticeable lagging or freezing.
The phone is suitable for mobile gaming and streaming media, although we urge that you use headphones. Why? We discovered that holding the phone horizontally made it quite easy to cover up the speakers. It is also good for gaming
Battery life
Despite the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has a 4,500mAh battery, which is a very common size for a smartphone, we found the battery life to be disappointingly short.
With typical use – that is, some social media surfing, music streaming, and the occasional game and photo capture threw in for good measure – we found the battery limped to the finish line and barely lasted a day between charges. However, due to excessive use, we’d have to charge the phone in the early evening in order to keep it going till the next morning.
So, if you’re merely a light phone user, the Galaxy S21 FE’s battery life may be sufficient; however, if you use your phone frequently, it may not be.
The FE’s 25W charging capacity is shockingly low when compared to the vast number of fast-charging phones on the market, some of which go up to 65W or even 120W.
Surprisingly for a ‘cheap’ phone, the Galaxy S21 FE has 15W wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging, the latter of which may be used to charge other phones. Those aren’t fast rates, but given how few phones have wireless charging, the specs may entice some customers.
