A “low cost” flagship

The title of this article leaves no room for doubt, today we leave here our analysis of one of the company’s most recent smartphones Samsungand I’m talking about Galaxy S20 FE, where FE stands for Fan Edition, announced last September.

Before its announcement, the rumors called it Galaxy S20 Lite, and after 2 weeks of working with it, I can understand the reasons that led Samsung not to choose that name, as this is probably the company’s phone with the best value. – price, a real top of the range, but with a price much lower than what the company has shown us.

Design and screen

Like the Galaxy Note20 series equipment, this phone’s finish is in what the company calls Glasstic. On paper we talk about plastic instead of the usual glass, but those who think it is the same as the plastic used in mid-range phones are wrong, because it is not. And yes, the back of this fixture is Glasstic, with a soft, matte finish and much easier to clean than if it had glass. Another big advantage is that the fingerprints are not “creased” on the back, and I, who always have wet hands, is an advantage for me.

This finish also means that the phone is not slippery, and if we drop it, its design is unlikely to end up getting damaged, as it has nothing to break. Obviously the glass gives an edge prize, but it has its drawbacks. Hence, the vast majority of users end up putting the phone inside a cover, which covers that design prize. So why pay more for something we will hide? I think Samsung’s option for this Galaxy S20 FE was more than right.

As for its screen, it’s something Samsung rarely fails at, as we are facing one of the largest manufacturers of this type of object in the world. And with this S20 FE the situation is no different. It is a 6.5 inch flat screen, with FullHD + resolution with 1080×2400 pixels, which gives it an excellent pixel density: 407. Furthermore, its aspect ratio is 20: 9 and it has a refresh rate of 120Hz and with support for HDR +.

And this screen isn’t put off, as its color vibe is a delight, bringing richness to its content so things look better than other devices. As is almost always the case in the high-end of the company, the dark ones are really dark, and use in full sun is not a problem, as everything is perfectly visible and with great image quality. In short: Samsung must be Samsung, and if it can fail in other areas, it is unlikely to fail on screen.

However, this screen has a built-in fingerprint sensor which I couldn’t convince. Perhaps because I’m used to the company’s ultrasonic sensor, and in this equipment we have an optical sensor. It often tends to be unreliable, because it doesn’t recognize the already registered fingerprint, and with slightly damp hands it becomes an even bigger problem. Also, I notice that it is a bit slow to recognize impressions. Samsung may be able to fix this through a firmware update.

Hardware and performance

In general, Samsung’s tops that are launched in Portugal are equipped with Exynos processors, it has been like this for a long time and this year was no exception. For those who are “tired” of these processors and wanted a solution with a Qualcomm, you will be happy to know that this Galaxy S20 FE is powered by a Snapdragon 865, which grants support for 5G networks, which comes with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. The model we received for the test has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

There is not much to talk about its performance, being a top of the range, and that alone guarantees maximum performance. We have speed and speed throughout and I think this is a great phone for gaming, because it can easily handle any existing game for Android devices and is not guaranteed to hurt you.

Here is the Antutu test, which shows that we are facing one of the fastest phones on the market:

Its 128GB memory is very fast and supports expansion up to 1TB via a microSD card.

The battery of the S20 FE has 4500 mAh and is reasonable. It is the same used in the Galaxy S20 +, allowing you to easily have autonomy for a whole day. Play a few hours, surf the internet, social networks, email, and you only need the charger at the end of the day, but overall, this phone appears to benefit from the hardware changes made to offer better durability.

Bad news for wired headphones fans – it doesn’t have a 3.5mm port and if you want to use wired headphones you can only do this via the USB Type-C port at the bottom of the equipment. To compensate, Samsung has equipped the S20 FE with stereo speakers with support for Dolby Atmos. And in terms of quality, the sound is fantastic.

Photography

We are facing a top of the range even in photography. In this phone we have no Macro or depth sensors, but on the contrary we have 3 other sensors of great quality. The main one is a 12MP sensor that we have seen in other devices on the market, such as the Galaxy S20, and which struck us the same at the time … and this S20 FE is thankfully no different. It generally works well, with lots of options included, including some clever tips to help you get better photographs. If it is dark, it will suggest night mode and other interesting tips. In short, your photos look even better than those taken with the S20, and the night mode turns out to be much more efficient, thanks to the longer exposure times, and this allows us to get a cleaner photo. Night mode is also available on all other cameras: it can be used on the ultra wide-angle sensor (although the results are far from good), while zooming and on the front camera.

Then we have an ultra wide angle sensor and an 8MP telephoto lens, both of which are very useful.

In the previously launched Galaxy models, the phone’s sensor had 64MP, which is also used to capture video in 8K, and that’s something this Galaxy S20 FE doesn’t offer, and it’s limited to the more than enough 4K and 60fps you get from main sensor. There is also an experimental HDR10 + video capture mode, although it’s only available up to 4K / 30fps.

The ultra wide-angle sensor is always used a lot and is capable of capturing photos that easily fit into the frame, ideal for large outdoors. However, in some situations photos with this sensor tend to be a little blurry on the sides, but it’s usually a fun lens, especially if you have good lighting conditions.

In the other equipment of the S20 series we have a telephoto lens that offers a 30x zoom, but in this phone we have a 3x optical lens which provides a 10x digital zoom. Being a stabilized sensor, we were able to get very interesting photos. 3x photos are very good, but with 10x zoom they end up losing the beat, and when we get to 30x zoom, forget …

Samsung does a little trick for those who use this phone in low light, using the main camera to zoom out 10x to try and offer better quality with the larger sensor and wider aperture, before moving on to telephoto. end of the break. If it’s really dark, that is, at night, don’t use telephoto lenses – just stay still in 10x digital zoom.

The front-facing camera is also reasonable, but not very impressive. In daylight, we managed to get a good one selfieand there are fun options for effects bokeh, but as the light decreases, noise begins to appear in the images.

Generally, the photos are good, they won’t be discouraged and that’s within what a top phone can and should offer. It does not have as high performance as the top of the range like the Galaxy Note20 Ultra, but your photos are still very interesting and of good quality.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G review: final verdict

The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition seems to be a very easy change of direction to understand. Samsung has launched a device that keeps the essentials for those who don’t want to give up a top of the range, making some calculated adjustments to reduce its price.

The general specs of the S20 FE, ignoring Glasstic’s back, put this phone in a good position against many rivals. Sure, there are cheaper phones, but this seems to be a phone designed to appeal to lovers of the best phones who are willing to do without a few details, which they might consider less important.

In addition to the Glasstic that I have already revealed above, Samsung has also saved on sensors, which are far from bad, but also not the best that the company has already made available. For “normal” use, these sensors are much more than enough, and the finish, as already mentioned, in the vast majority of cases is “hidden” by a protective cover.

Our final decision for this equipment is:

The Galaxy S20 FE is the best value for money Samsung currently has on the market.

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