Chances are, if you were asked to describe a Samsung phone from the Galaxy S range, you would possibly do so as a luxurious-looking device , with glass bezels, curved displays, and tons of cameras. But surprisingly, the phone that we bring you today is a Galaxy S20 with a plastic chassis, flat panel and three sensors. Does that mean that we are facing a bad Galaxy? Quite the opposite. Let me tell you about my experience with possibly the best Samsung you can buy today, the Galaxy S20 FE .
What does FE mean?
The first thing you might be wondering when you see the name of this device is what the hell does FE mean. Well, they are the abbreviations of Fan Edition , and as you may have understood, it is something like the “Edition for fans”. But what is a fan version? To be honest, at this point I still don’t know exactly what it is, so the most I can tell you is that the terminal box comes decorated with thematic icons of the brand, and inside you will only find the phone, a charger and a USB cable. Yeah, not even some stickers for … you know, the fans.
Doing a bit of memory, the first Galaxy Fan Edition was the Galaxy Note FE, and basically it was a way to solve the bad problem that the manufacturer suffered with the Note batteries of that time – what times. After a hard stick that forced the brand to withdraw the device from the market, the manufacturer re-launched it with all the security measures guaranteed and under the name of Galaxy Note FE. Sure, that phone was for a true fan.
Why is it an S20?
But going back to the terminal that we bring you today, something that is especially striking is that it is an S20 and it is for many things. First of all, because it comes with a highly capable processor, and we are faced with a Snapdragon 865 … Finally!
As you surely know, Samsung has the habit of distributing the processors according to the markets, allocating versions with Snapdragon to the United States and taking the versions with Exynos to Asia and Europe. At the performance level, broadly speaking, there are no major differences, but the most demanding and knowledgeable users know that models with Snapdragon offer better performance and, above all, greater autonomy.
Therefore, receiving now with Galaxy S20 with Snapdragon processor in Europe is excellent news. But, is this improvement in performance and autonomy especially noticeable? That is the big question.
The usual screen: magnificent
We are also facing an S20 with all its letters on its screen , which is not curved, okay, but it has a magnificent resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 pixels. And be careful, because in addition the refreshment of the screen reaches an incredible 120 Hz with which to enjoy extremely fluid menus and images. As always, these Samsung AMOLED panels are the best we can find on the market, so at the screen level we are at a very high level.
Below it we will also find an integrated fingerprint reader , and in the upper area a hole in which to hide the front camera . These are details are quite modern and striking touches with which to offer a more premium look than you might think.
So far so good, right? Sure, I’ve already told you it’s an S20 with all the letters, but somewhere I had to limp.
Sensations far from luxury
The main deficiency or difference with the “big S20” is found in the back cover. It’s plastic and … although it doesn’t feel bad … deep down … it feels bad. The lack of curved glass and the brittle, stretchy feel of the plastic makes the device lose the luxury of its siblings, but hey, wouldn’t you want a cheaper S20? Surely now you begin to understand the formula that has been applied to this device.
Three cameras
What would an S20 be without its cameras? This S20 FE offers the essentials, and it’s three cameras and key features. We have two 12-megapixel sensors, a main angular and a wide-angle one, and a third 8 megapixel camera for the 3x optical zoom.
In general, we are not going to have many surprises here – you can see a good number of example photos in the video that you have a few lines above. They work as Samsung cameras normally do, very well during the day, slightly better at night and with portraits that are not very there, but we must highlight the work of the 3x optical zoom, which works wonderfully. And about the 30x super zoom… more of the same, it is worthless, just as we did not like the 50 and 100x digital magnifications of the more powerful Galaxy S20s.
A very complete phone
And after reviewing the main features, there are other details that finish closing the specification letter of this Galaxy S20 FE. For example, its IP68 certification , which will allow it to get wet without fear, or its wireless charging system that also allows reversible charging to give life to external headphones or other phones that need extra power.
It will also be important to know for some that it has the option of being able to use microSD cards (or a second SIM), so this is a device that has very specific characteristics that many users often demand. You know … the fans.
A price that now makes sense
With all that, the S20 FE is presented on the market with a price of 759 euros for the version with 5G connectivity, or 659 euros for the version with 4G. These costs I don’t think are too accurate, however, the market has been adjusting them in recent weeks, and now we can buy one of these phones for 630 euros (the 5G model) and 524 euros (the 4G version). What do they sound better now?
But the question is, what to choose, 5G or 4G? This is where the oldest appears but we can find the team. The Snapdragon processor will only be available in the 5G version, so if you opt for the 4G version you will have to settle for the Exynos 990.
The difference is evident? In general, both phones will complete a full day if you use it moderately and very normally, and only if you demand it, you will notice the differences. And not especially in the power of performance, since basically you will notice them the same, but in the autonomy of the 4,500 mAh capacity of its internal battery, since the 5G model will endure more those intensive days of social networks fuming and playing endless videos .
Knowing that, you should assess what type of user you are. If you are the one who consumes hours of video and video games a day, or if, on the contrary, you focus more on social networks in a more moderate way. For the second case, the 4G option would be more than recommended, and that is, with that price, all the technical characteristics of this Galaxy S20 FE will be unrivaled. A Samsung Galaxy at the best price? Now I have no doubts.
