Samsung Galaxy S21 FE review: Reasonably fine premium phone
Samsung early in the year launched the much-awaited Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE) in India. It comes in two variants-- 8GB RAM +128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage for Rs 49, 999 and Rs 53,999, respectively.
The company's new phone promises to offer most of the features of the premium S21 series, but at a lesser price. Does it deliver the promise? Let's check it out.
Design, build quality and display
Samsung's Galaxy S21 FE retains the S21 Plus' design language. It features a beautifully chiseled triple camera module, but the colour is uniform all through the shell. The metallic rails around the edges are sturdy and the back is covered with polycarbonate-based composite material. But, it exudes premium hand feel, and the matte finish, particularly on this olive green review model, does an excellent job of repelling the fingerprint smudges.
The stereo speakers of the device support surround sound and are tuned by Dolby Atmos tech. It was able to deliver the crisp audio output and I had no pressing issue to complain.
The device also comes in two other colours-- white and graphite too.
On the right side, you will find the power and volume rockers and at the base, it features a Type-C port along with a mic, Type-C port, and SIM tray along with two antenna bands. There is one band on all sides for better reception of call signals. Also, there is another lone mic at the top too.
On the front, it sports a 6.4-inch full HD+ (2340 x 1080p) dynamic AMOLED Display. It offers two motion smoothness options--High (120Hz) and Standard (60Hz) refresh rate. I opted for the former and there was a definite improvement in terms of the browsing experience and navigating through the user interface of the device.
Also, the display supports Eye Comfort Shield with AI-based blue light control and comes in handy while reading news articles and doom scrolling on social media platforms at night.
Furthermore, the device supports 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game Mode.
The display is safeguarded by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus shield against unintentional scratches from coins and pen in the pant pocket. Also, it comes with an IP68 rating, meaning the device can sustain accidental water splashes and also can survive up to 1.5 metres underwater pressure for close to 30 minutes.
It also features an in-display optical fingerprint sensor and it works fine without any fuss.
Performance
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE houses Exynos 2100 octa-core chipset, same as we see in the ultra-premium Galaxy S21 Ultra model.
The Exynos 2100 CPU comes in an improved tri-cluster structure made up of a single powerful Arm Cortex-X1 core, which is capable of offering peak CPU speed up to 2.9GHz. It is backed by three high-performing Cortex-A78 cores, and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores, which promises to deliver better performance compared to the predecessor.
The Exynos 2100 is paired with Arm Mali-G78 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to deliver enhanced performance boost during heavy-duty tasks such as playing Augmented Reality(AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) related games and applications.
It runs Android 12-based One UI 4 OS with 6GB/8GB RAM with 128GB/256GB storage.
During the entire review period, the device was able to perform without any issues. It was able to play graphics-rich games smoothly and also while operating the camera for 4K video recording too, the device did get a bit warm, but never overheated.
As far as the battery life is concerned, it comes with a 4,500mAh battery. It was able to deliver a full day under normal usage and motion smoothness set to high (120Hz). If you set the standard 60Hz display refresh rate, the device can last even longer.
And, with the 25W charger, the device was able to fully charge from zero to 50 per cent in around 30 minutes. It should be noted that the company doesn't offer charger brick with the retail box.
Also, the device supports 15W wireless charging and can do reverse charging to other phones too.
Photography
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE houses feature-rich triple-camera module-- main 12MP camera (with Dual Pixel AF, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation), f/1.8) + 12MP Ultra Wide camera (f/2.2; Field-of-View: FoV: 123-degree) + 8MP telephoto camera ( f/2.4, PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus, OIS, 3X Optical Zoom, 30X Space zoom) with LED flash.
It captures good-quality pictures in all possible scenarios. Yes, like other Samsung phones, the Galaxy S21 FE too, subjects particularly the colourful flowers look more vibrant and saturated than normal. They are really good and worth sharing on social media platforms.
The ultra-wide-angle, portrait images too are fine. The zoom feature works to an extent of up to 5X and beyond that, the noise creeps up in the images.
In the night mode, the Galaxy S21 FE manages to deliver well. It balances the dark and light aspects of the scene pretty well and also does good controlling grainy-ness in the picture compared to others in its class of phones.
The macro (close-up) shots come off really good with a lot of minute details captured well.
On the front, it features 32MP (f/2.2, FOV: 80-degree) and takes impressive selfies in the natural light and if you are into social media platforms such as Instagram, there are a lot of in-house filters and editing tools in the camera app to turn somber selfies to the fun-filled photography experience.
Final thoughts
The new Galaxy S21 FE is a well-balanced phone. Though is it is cheaper compared to the premium S21 series, Samsung has not compromised on important aspects such as colour-rich display panel, photography hardware, and processor chipset. Also, the beautiful slim design language too, is note-worthy.
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