Samsung Galaxy S21 FE wants to take over the midpriced Android market
Samsung must have a lot of engineers working on nothing but the next new phone.
It has such a deep lineup of phones – from top-of-the-line flagship phones to the very inexpensive handset you can get for signing up for new service – and it seems to release new phones every few months.
This is a review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (Fan Edition). It follows last year’s Galaxy S20 FE, which was hailed by many as one of the best phones of the year. WHAT’S A FAN EDITION?
The FE is a midpriced phone (starting at $699.99) described by Samsung as “equipped with some of the most-loved aspects of the Galaxy S21 – eye-catching design, powerful performance, pro-grade camera and seamless ecosystem connectivity.”
The FE is made for fans who love the features of the $799.99 Galaxy S21 but don’t want to spend quite so much.
The S21 FE has a 6.4-inch Dynamic Amoled always-on display with a 120-hertz refresh rate and a screen resolution of 1,080 by 2400 pixels. The screen is HDR10+ certified.
The screen is made of Gorilla Glass Victus while the back is plastic and the sides and frame are aluminum. The body is IP68 dust- and water-resistant. It can survive a dunk in 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. The screen is one of this phone’s strong features. Samsung has always made premium displays, and this is a good one.
CHIPSET AND STORAGE
The processor is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon octa-core 888 with 128 or 256 gigabytes of storage and six or eight gigabytes of RAM.
The graphics processor is the Qualcomm Adreno 660.
The FE ships with Android 12.
CHARGING AND CONNECTIVITY
The 4,500 milliamp-hour battery has 25-watt fast charging and can power up from zero to 50% in 30 minutes. The FE also has 15-watt fast wireless charging reverse charging.
There is no charger in the box, just the phone and a USB-C charging cable. To take advantage of the fastest charging, you’ll want to buy at least a 25-watt fast charger.
The FE has Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.
It has both Sub6 and mmWave 5G.
There is an optical fingerprint reader under the screen, and the and phone can also unlock with face recognition.
The fingerprint reader was fast and worked every time.
Facial recognition worked well, but I could delay the unlocking if I made funny faces.
CAMERAS
Besides the screen, the stars of this handset are the cameras.
The rear of the FE has three cameras – a 12-megapixel 26mm wide angle with an f/1.8 aperture, a 12MP 13mm ultrawide with an f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP 76mm telephoto with an f/2.4 aperture. The telephoto is a 3x optical zoom. Samsung includes up to a 30x space zoom, which is a digital zoom.
The front camera has a 32MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.2.
The FE can capture 4K video at 60 frames per second.
SO HOW IS IT?
The S21 FE is a really nice phone. It feels light compared to my iPhone 13 Pro Max, but lighter is not bad if the battery life is good, which it is. The battery in the FE has more capacity than my iPhone.
The screen is crisp and a bit larger than the S21. The CPU is plenty fast and RAM and storage are in line with the competition.
To me, the cameras are what will drive sales of the S21 FE.
For comparison, the S21 has a 64MP telephoto camera but only a 10MP selfie camera.
The FE does have slots for two SIM cards, which is nice if you travel or want to carry one phone with different numbers for work and personal use.
ABOUT PRICING
Phone lineups are all about slotting in to a price point.
The S21 FE starts at $699.99. The S21 starts at $799.99, the S21+ is $999.99 and the S21
Ultra goes for $1,199.99.
The S21 FE is available from all the major carriers and electronics stores, and it comes in olive, lavender, graphite or white.
If you buy from Samsung, you can get up to $100 in Samsung credit for accessories or a free pair of Galaxy Buds Live or a pair of Galaxy Buds Pro for $30.