8.3
Score

Pros

  • Nice build and follows the S21 design Language
  • Still a flagship at heart, with reliable performance
  • Camera performs well with some slight setbacks
  • Battery Life is good with fast charging capabilities
  • One of the best affordable flagships you can get

Cons

  • Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor would have been better
  • Ultrawide camera needs work in terms of details

Budget flagship smartphones are great, in fact, they are pretty much the game changer right now as we can witness with our very eyes: how much a brand is willing to compromise and still retain the flagship experience. Apple has done it, Xiaomi has done it and Samsung is no stranger to that and that S20 FE was one memorable fan service of a smartphone, which won many hearts, but will the successor follow the same footsteps – here’s everything you need to know in this Samsung Galaxy S21 FE Review.

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Small Form Factor is awesome

1/2

If anyone knows me well, I have a soft spot for smaller form factor smartphones and I believe it’s one of those sizes that you will love after using so many humongous smartphones. That said, the Galaxy S21 FE brought back my love for smaller form factor smartphones. Honestly, the S21 FE isn’t the smallest by today’s standards but it’s relatively smaller than the Ultra which is a behemoth of a smartphone.

It’s easy to hold, nice to grip with one hand and as much as people complain that it uses plastic back, it’s genius – because plastic is more durable as compared to glass which if it does break then the cost of replacing it is going to be higher.

So, if you think about it – Samsung chose a better material that doesn’t make the phone look or feel entirely cheap just to cut costs but instead making strategical choices for consumers to have the phone with them for as long as possible. That said, my concern is that: if the plastic back on the phone is recycled, given that Samsung has been taking the eco-friendly route with their chargers and packages. I am not too sure if it applies for this phone but something to ponder.

Flat Display is Justice

Curved displays are luxurious and feel premium but so do flat displays with one extra magic card – better practicality. Till date, there aren’t many practical reasons for a curved display – at least back then you could say that the display was helpful in giving VR that immersive-ness but now Gear VR no longer exists and there’s just little to no use to it.

So, you aren’t missing anything. The 6.4” FHD+ AMOLED Display with 120Hz has all the goodness Samsung has to offer: the beautiful colors, true blacks and images that just pops out of the display. Till date, it’s safe to say that it’s hard to beat Samsung’s display as they have the highest quality and finding it in their affordable smartphone like this Fan edition only makes it fruitful.

Jack of All trades

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has Fan Edition in its name for a good reason because it’s a fanservice smartphone, giving consumers what they want at an affordable price point and it delivers: with a quality flagship performance under the hood that’s capable of handling pretty much any kind of task coupled with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, you are pretty much set to head out, make some memories and have a reliable phone in your pocket.

Now, yes, we are not getting the Snapdragon variant of the S21 FE which I am relieved that we aren’t because the thermals on the 888 is just concerning. Most of the phones we reviewed with that processor with our second daily driver really being powered by Snapdragon 888, the experience was chaotic in terms of thermals.

Which is why our primary daily driver was the S21 Ultra and the Exynos did put up a good show. So, you can expect the same here with the S21 FE in a smaller form factor.

Under the hood we get a 4500mAh battery and the potential to charge at 25W wired which is good and usually the battery life does get significant hit with 120Hz turned on but if you switch to 60Hz, expect the battery life to prolong by 12%. That’s approximately an hour or two of runtime depending on how heavy of a user you are.

Other miscellaneous stuff includes:

  • The speakers: which sounds great and in fact the same way as the Galaxy S21 with stereo support out of the box.
  • Fingerprint Sensor: which uses Optical sensor instead of the Ultrasonic sensor we have seen on the S21 Series. So, it’s the same as the S20 and S20 if you are wondering, so expect it to be slower.
  • Ingress Protection: you can take this for a nice dip in the water, just like the other S21 which is great for clumsy people like myself.

Camera is great too

Okay here me out, now yes – the optics and the configuration you see here isn’t anywhere near the same as the Galaxy S21, but functionality wise it’s still the same: three sensors comprising an ultra-wide, wide angle and telephoto camera (12MP, 12MP and 8MP). I really wish that telephoto were 12MP instead of 8MP.

In terms of quality: the Telephoto and Wide-Angle primary shooter does a decent job in capturing some good pictures in terms of white balance, with adequate details and performing better than I expected in low light condition. There are times where you can notice some slight color shift which isn’t pretty but most of the time the shots are vibrant, the way Samsung phones produce colors anyway.

1/20
Ultrawide
Ultrawide
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Ultrawide

If there’s one camera that performs subpar in terms of details: it’s the ultrawide sensor. As long as you don’t pixel peep or see what’s afar (there’s no need to since you have a telephoto sensor), it’s okay. The camera is similar to the Galaxy A72 and A52s we reviewed a while back but with better software tweaked since it carries the S label in its name. So, it has some standards to live up to. But if you are wondering how, it is beside a flagship S21 – checkout the image below and guess which is the S21 FE.

Oh, and the 32MP front facing camera is all right, I suppose.

Here’s the thing:

It’s a Good Pixel 6 Alternative

I can’t stress this any further because the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is the Pixel 6 alternative in regions where you can’t get Google’s offering officially. Given the fact that the Pixel 6 and S21 FE runs Android 12 out of the box, it’s odd to see that the Pixel is riddled with mysterious problems which we are now seeing in our S21 Ultra personally but somehow the FE isn’t affected by it – which is good to be honest.

But that said, the Pixel 6 sure does do things nicely in many ways but so does the Galaxy S21 FE – and for the most part, if you want that hassle-free experience and get your after sales service if there’s any issue down the line, you can most definitely do it with the S21 FE since its official in Malaysia. We can’t say the same for Google Pixel 6.

The Galaxy S22 Series is around the corner

This is another concerning matter because Samsung teased the upcoming Galaxy S22 series that it’s going to be noteworthy and all that – we even wrote a love letter to our favorite series. That new series is going to consist of three phones: S22, S22+ and the Ultra.

Now, omitting the S22+ and the Ultra, the existence of the S22 poses a threat to the S21 FE – because of its newer hardware for the year. We can assume that the S22 upgrade is incremental, but again that’s just the guessing game and we don’t know what’s going to happen. Which is why I don’t see anything wrong in consumers waiting for the S22 before they cave in and purchase the Fan Edition.

The Silver Lining

If you have not noticed: the S21 FE has a silver lining and that is in its software department.

Samsung made a huge promise to certain devices that they will give three years of major software update and an extra year of security update. What makes the Fan Edition interesting is how it uses similar hardware has its other S21 brethren but gets an extra year of update, just because it was released in 2022. So, technically picking up the S21 FE is a smarter choice in terms of value as compared to getting the S21 which now has 2 years of major update left.

So, who is this Samsung Galaxy S21 FE for?

Now I am not going to go all “it’s the best phone you can buy”, go all clickbait really. That doesn’t make sense. But using this phone over the span of a week or more, only brought up this question: Who is this Samsung Galaxy S21 FE for even?

It’s for those who want a flagship smartphone but factoring in two things: making sure the phone is capable of withstanding their demanding tasks and not costing every penny and dime they have at hand. It’s that android phone you can recommend to:

  • Anyone switching from iPhone to try out a good android phone
  • Students who want a nice phone without breaking the bank
  • Anyone that wants to upgrade from a few years old smartphone

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is without a doubt a good phone but the fact that the S22 will come to exist in a span of a few weeks is threatening it from having a good time. Let’s just hope that it’s not for long.


Special thanks to Samsung Malaysia for gracing us with the Galaxy S21 FE for this review and other content to happen.