14 DAY TRIAL // Not a long time ago, someone at Samsung had the brilliant idea of introducing a cheaper version of the company’s flagship phones, obviously with downgraded specs but at a lower price point.
In other words, it’s more of a downgraded flagship that allows customers to get a taste of the premium Samsung experience without spending a small fortune on it.
The South Koreans have therefore launched a new range of products carrying the FE tag. FE stands for Fan Edition and is supposed to represent, in Samsung’s own words, “the ultimate fan-inspired phone.”
The company was originally expected to take the wraps off the Galaxy S21 FE last year, but everybody knows already that 2021 had completely different plans not only for Samsung itself but for the entire planet. So due to a very harsh chip shortage, Sammy had no other option than to push back the release of the Galaxy S21 FE until the market was ready for it.
This means the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has been held back until January this year, which for many was rather surprising given January has been traditionally reserved for the launch of the Galaxy S flagships.
The S21 FE, therefore, got to see the daylight in the first days of this year, and is now available for customers worldwide with what it claims to be an experience that will make “the crowd go wild.”
First and foremost, let’s start with the design. Clearly, Samsung is betting big on the looks of the new phone, and to be honest, anyone can easily see why. It’s a Fan Edition, so this thing has to look good.
And it does, with Samsung obviously going for top-notch build quality. In some regards, the company did achieve its goal, and I really love the offered colors, especially the lavender I reviewed. But on the other hand, it’s not hard to see where the cost-cutting has taken place, as the Galaxy S21 FE comes with the already-common glasstic on the back.
In other words, it’s plastic supposed to look like glass, and Samsung hopes that by choosing a catchy marketing name, customers would no longer care about it. At some level, they really shouldn’t, especially because, in theory, plastic makes the phone overall more durable and less prone to fatal physical damage in case of a drop.
The Galaxy S21 FE measures 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9mm and tips the scales at just 177 grams, and let me tell you one thing. The device feels extremely natural in hand, also thanks to the glasstic I mentioned earlier, as you get a pretty good grip unless your hands are sweaty. This is something you don’t see too often on a new phone, so nothing to complain about here.
The device comes with a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels and featuring the Infinity-O punch-hole. Just like the Galaxy S21, it sports a 120Hz refresh rate.
As it’s the case of every Samsung high-end device, the screen comes with vivid colors and excellent contrast, so everything you see looks and feels incredibly lively. The display is wrapped in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, so in theory, it should be nearly impossible to break (just don’t try to find out its limits though).
The camera setup is top-notch, as you’d expect on a new Samsung phone. There’s a triple camera configuration on the back (12MP Ultra-Wide Camera + 12MP Wide-Angle Camera + 8MP Telephoto Camera), as well as a 32MP selfie camera on the front.
The camera performance is pretty impressive, and I really enjoyed the shots I took in low light. It’s pretty clear that Samsung has focused a lot on night photos lately, as pretty much every single new high-end model it launched came with significant improvements on this front.
The Galaxy S21 FE makes no exception, though there’s one thing you should always have in mind when taking a night shot: keep your hand as steady as possible, as otherwise, the smallest shake can ruin the photo. This is much harder than you’d be tempted to believe, but once you learn the trick, you can end up with amazing night pics.
The device supports 30x zoom, a well as dual recording, so you can record a video using both camera setups at the same time.
Now let’s talk a little bit about what’s under the hood. The Galaxy S21 FE can be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and up to 8GB of RAM, depending on the region where you live and the version you pick.
Clearly, this makes the Galaxy S21 FE a really powerful phone, but on the other hand, I can’t help but state the obvious. The Snapdragon 888 is already one-year-old, and this shows the struggles that the Galaxy S21 FE has been dealing with in 2021. Given the Galaxy S21 FE was originally supposed to launch last year, this chip would have made a lot more sense, but now it’s already 2022 and Samsung is getting ready to bring an even more powerful processor on the new Galaxy S22.
In other words, Samsung is using an old-generation and a new-generation processor on devices that are launched only a few weeks apart, and this could eventually affect sales of the Galaxy S21 FE if customers really care about such stuff. It’s a Fan Edition, after all, and fans certainly do care about the chip.
Other than that, the Galaxy S21 FE has everything you’d expect on a new Samsung phone, including Bluetooth 5.0, a fingerprint sensor integrated into the screen, NFC for payments, stereo speakers, and an IP68 rating. There’s no card slot or headphone jack.
When it comes to the battery, the device is equipped with a 4,500 mAh unit that easily, and I really mean it, gets you through the day. There’s also 25W fast charging, as well as wireless charging and reverse wireless charging if you need to charge other devices.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Galaxy S21 FE is an otherwise really potent device that takes good photos, comes with enough power to deal with almost everything you do, and up to 256GB storage to offer enough space for all your games and videos.
But on the other hand, the Galaxy S21 FE just feels like it’s the right phone at the wrong time. The Galaxy S22 is just around the corner, and although it’ll obviously be more expensive, I can’t help but wonder: aren’t fans planning to get the S22 as well?
So if the Galaxy S21 FE itself is a phone aimed at fans, why launch it so close to the only phone that could completely cannibalize its sales? Dammit, chip shortage.
