Review of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

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Samsung is one of the world’s most popular international smartphone companies that rolls out many different phones for every customer. These phones start from entry-level to flagship phones. The Korean giant has a whole lineup of entry-level phones, mid-range phones, and flagship phones.

Individuals can pick up a phone that fulfills their needs and is suitable for their preferences. If you are a person who wants a flagship phone but doesn’t want to break your bank, then keep reading this article, we will tell you about the details of Samsung’s Galaxy S21 FE.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE:

Samsung has been rolling out Fan Editions of their flagship phones throughout the years. These phones have some incredible features, which include a display, chipset, and an amazing camera. The Korean giant put all the effort into bringing the FE of the S21 series. This phone has a sleek and stylish design, and it looks sturdy.

The display is pretty much vivid and bright because it has a Dynamic AMOLED 2X with native HDR10+ support. The cherry on the cake for the display is that it has a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz. The predecessor, S20 FE, had the Super AMOLED with no HDR10 capabilities, so if we talk about the display, Samsung has made some improvements in the display department for their FE this time.

Check Samsung A53 5G Review

Talking about the performance, S21 FE features the same SoC that is powering the whole S21 series. The latest chipset from Qualcomm, Snapdragon 888, or Samsung’s very own Exynos 2100 chipset. But there’s something we need to know about the chipset, the international model has the Snapdragon chipset in it, while Samsung’s SoC is limited to some other regions.

Let’s jump to the camera department of this, and the camera is pretty amazing. The camera setup features three cameras on it; one is the primary camera which has 12 megapixels, there’s another 12 megapixels camera for ultrawide photos and a 3x telescope camera of 8 megapixels for the optical zoom. For the fans who love to take selfies, the selfie shooter is 32 megapixels. The cameras will be taking some detailed and crisp photos. Moreover, it will be able to shoot smooth videos for the user.

Below is the specs sheet of the Samsung S21 FE:

  • Display: 6.40″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X with 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, and AOD.
  • SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (Int’l) and Exynos 2100 (some parts of the world)
  • Memory: 6 GB RAM, 8 GB RAM, 8 GB RAM.
  • Storage: 128 GB and 256 GB.
  • OS: One UI 4 (Android 12)
  • Cameras: 12-megapixels (wide), 12-megapixels (ultrawide), and 8-megapixels (telephoto)
  • Front camera: 32MP (wide)
  • Video capabilities: Rear cameras (4K @ 30/60fps, 1080p @30/60/240fps, 720p @960fps with HDR10+ and gyro-EIS).
  • Front camera (4K @30/60fps, 1080 @30/60fps, gyro-EIS)
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 25W fast charging. (50% in 30 mins), 15W fast wireless charging, reverse wireless charging, USB power delivery 3.0.
  • Fingerprint reader (in-display, optical)
  • NFC
  • Bixby natural language
  • Samsung Pay

Design:

We will start with the design of this smartphone. The body and style look pretty much the same as its predecessor. It has a flat front, a thin metal frame, and a slightly curved back. There’s a bump for the camera setup. Overall, the phone looks very stylish and sleek. It has an aesthetic feel to it because of its sturdy build.

The construction is pretty much identical to the Galaxy S21. You will get Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the front, the frame has a brushed aluminum feel, and the back has a high-end plastic with a matte finish. S21 FE is rated at IP68 for having water and dust resistance. Even if we compare the standard S21 with S21 FE, the FE version is still taller than the standard S21. Both of these phones are pocket-friendly.

If we talk about the back of this phone, it has a smooth and high-end quality piece of plastic that gives a robust look to the phone. For the cameras, there’s a bump that Samsung calls Contour Cut. The back side of the phone looks simple and beautiful.

On the bottom, users may find a speaker, Type-C port, and a SIM tray. Most of the brands are cutting the 3.5mm jack from their phones and adding the Type-C port nowadays.

Check Samsung Galaxy A13 Review

Display:

We will get on the most highlighted feature of this phone, the display. The display panel on this phone is an incredible, vivid, brilliant, and colorful screen. It has a 6.4-inch screen with a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel. The pixel resolution of this phone is 1080 x 2400 with 411 PPI (pixels-per-inch). Moreover, the display has a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz. And the icing on the cake of this display is the Always-On Display features. Also, the touch sampling rate of the display screen shoots up to 240 Hz when you are in Game Mode.

What’s more interesting about the display screen of the Samsung S21 FE is that it supports HDR10+ with the Widevine L1 DRM support. With this, you will be able to stream FHD HDR10 content from every service or platform.

Users can opt-in for the refresh rate from the Motion Smoothness modes. The higher is at 120 Hz, and the standard is at 60 Hz. The 120 Hz is not a dynamic one. It will always be forced to stay at 120 Hz. The experience will surely be good for many people out there.

The display screen hits the maximum brightness in the Adaptive mode (Auto). The adaptive mode has 792 nits. Also, the screen is tuned to work with the DCI-P3 (Vivid mode) and sRGB (Natural mode) color options. The accuracy of the screen is amazing.

Battery Life:

If we talk about the battery life of the Galaxy S21 FE, it is amazing. The phone has a 4500 mAh battery inside it. You can easily go for a day or two on casual use without worrying about the charge. What’s more interesting about this phone is that it supports 25W fast charging, so you don’t have to worry about it once your phone is drained because it will be getting juiced up in no time. However, you won’t be getting the charger out of the box, and you have to purchase it separately.

If we talk about the battery tests, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has scored a good endurance rating of 92 hours on the battery life test. Users can play games on this phone, watch and stream videos, surf the web, and do other things on it. It will give them a good battery time.

Here are some of the tests of the smartphone:

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE (4500 mAh): 92 hours
  • Asus Zenfore 8 (4000 mAh): 88 hours
  • Apple iPhone 13 (3240 mAh): 89 hours

Charging speed:

We will tell you about the charging speed of this smartphone. Galaxy S21 FE comes with fast charging support. However, you won’t get the power adapter in the box.

Here are some of the tests that have been carried out for the Galaxy S21 FE with its predecessor, Galaxy S20 FE:

30-Min charging test (from 0%):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 51%
  • Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: 37%

Time to full charge (from 0%):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 1 hr and 15 minutes
  • Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: 1 hr and 35 minutes

What’s more interesting about this phone is that it has the feature of wireless charging. It supports up to 15W of wireless charging with Qi pads. You can charge other devices such as smartwatches, earbuds, and phones with this phone.

Speakers:

Galaxy S21 FE comes with two full-fledged speakers, just like from the S21 series lineup. The first is housed on the top of the phone, next to the selfie camera, and the outlet of it is front-facing. You can find the other one at the bottom. Both of the speakers are well-balanced.

If you are listening to your favorite artists, watching or streaming videos in the landscape or portrait style, you will feel that the bottom speaker is a bit louder and gives more bass. The dual speaker setup is an incredible feature of this phone.

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One UI 4:

If we discuss the software, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE comes with the latest One UI 4 based on Android 12 out of the box. The user interface and user experience are totally on a different level. Samsung has released a new feature in its new One UI 4. The Color Palettes change the accent colors of your whole UI. It includes icons, menus, quick toggles, buttons, and even the backgrounds.

Moreover, we get new widgets with full customization options in this software update. There are new emojis and GIFs that are available for the users on the keyboard. The privacy has some improvements this time. There’s a whole new dashboard with controls for privacy. You can monitor everything by giving permission. Also, the lock screen is pretty much the same as before. It features two monochrome shortcuts for the dialer and camera.

The in-display fingerprint reader is quick and responsive, but you can also use the face unlock feature. The AOD is available, and it is almost the same as the One UI 3. You can choose clock styles or simply opt-in for an Image Clock. The Music Info will be displayed when your phone is docked and locked while on the Always-On mode.

In the Settings menu, there’s a new way of privacy for Samsung phones. Privacy Dashboard lets you see which apps are using the most important permissions from you. Users can tweak the settings of the camera and control access to apps. Moreover, they can control the clipboard access. It is useful for those who don’t want to enter passwords, security numbers, and IBANs. Also, there is a permission manager from where you can choose apps and give them permissions according to your needs.

DeX feature on this phone lets your phone work as a computer, and you need to connect a monitor and a keyboard with it. You can use it wirelessly or with HDMI. The Link to Windows feature in this phone gives you an interface in your phone from your computer, so you manage notifications on your PC. In addition, users can exchange media and make calls from it.

Another great option in this phone is that you can use the Continue apps on other Samsung devices. You need to be logged in to your Samsung account on both of the devices, put them up on the same WiFi network and also enable their Bluetooth. After that, use the Samsung internet browser or Samsung Notes. With this, you can copy/paste text and images across both devices. Also, open the same tabs in the browser.

One UI 4 packs some interesting features, which include Edge Panels and Game Launcher. The Edge Panel helps you access different apps and contacts by swiping from the right side. You can add shortcuts to apps and contacts in the panel. Moreover, the Game Launcher is the hub for all of your games on your phone.

This time Samsung came up with a helpful feature for the people who click pictures all the time. You will find this feature in the Gallery. The Object Eraser feature works pretty much the same as the clone stamp tool that we use in PhotoShop. You can remove any object from your picture by painting over it or simply using the automatic selection feature.

Performance:

The main highlight of this phone is its chipset. The international variant will be getting Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 888 chipset on it, while the other variant will be boasting Samsung’s very own chipset, Exynos 2100. The SD888 model has some of the best benchmarks, while the Exynos variant is a little less in performance than Snapdragon’s 888 chipsets.

Below are the benchmarks of this smartphone:

GeekBench 5 (Multi-Core):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 3049
  • Xiaomi 11T: 2834
  • OnePlus Nord 2: 2792
  • Samsung Galaxy S20: 2750

GeekBench 5 (Single-Core):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 1096
  • Xiaomi Mi 11: 1085
  • Samsung Galaxy S20: 931
  • OnePlus Nord 2: 814
  • Xiaomi Mi 11T: 742

The higher score indicates that the phone is performing better.

Now we will move to the benchmarks of the GPU. Below are the results of this phone’s graphical unit:

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (On-screen):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 98
  • Samsung Galaxy S21: 95
  • Samsung Galaxy S20: 79
  • Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: 77
  • Xiaomi Mi 11T: 72
  • Realme GT: 60
  • Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: 58
  • OnePlus Nord 2: 57
  • OnePlus 9 Pro: 57

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (On-screen):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 56
  • Realme GT: 55
  • Samsung Galaxy S21: 54
  • Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: 45
  • Xiaomi Mi 11T: 40
  • OnePlus Nord 2: 38
  • OnePlus 9 Pro: 36

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (Off-screen 1440p):

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 5432
  • Samsung Galaxy S21: 5412
  • OnePlus Nord 2: 4224
  • Xiaomi Mi 11T: 4172

The higher scores show that the performance of the smartphone is good.

How can we forget about the AnTuTu Benchmark for this phone? Let’s see what the results of this benchmark below are:

AnTuTu 9:

  • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: 719696
  • Samsung Galaxy S21: 650829
  • OnePlus Nord 2: 598022
  • Xiaomi Mi 11T: 590837

Note: The higher score is better.

Check Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review

Camera:

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE boasts a three-camera setup on its stylish body. The tri-camera setup contains a primary camera of 12 megapixels with a wide angle that is paired with a 12 megapixels ultrawide angle lens and an 8 megapixels telephoto camera.

The camera setup is pretty much decent, and it takes some amazing crisp and detailed photos. The main camera has the Sony IMX555 sensor that executes incredible photographs. Furthermore, the ultrawide camera is Sony’s IMX258 with a 13mm f/2.2 lens. For the zoom purpose, there’s an 8MP zoom camera that has 3x optical zoom in it. You can zoom in on any object or anything, and it will take stunning photos of it.

There’s a 32-megapixel selfie shooter on the front of this smartphone for selfie lovers. You will be able to take some of the best pictures. You can then post it on social media platforms and grab some likes on it.

The overall camera quality of this smartphone is pretty good. The users will love the detailed and crisp photos that will be executed by this smartphone.

Video Recording:

If we talk about the video recording on this smartphone, it is amazing. The phone’s primary and telephoto cameras, both of them have OIS support in it. With this, you can shoot flicker-free and smooth videos from the phone. You can shoot 4K videos at 60 fps or 30 fps and 1080p videos at 240 fps, 60 fps, or 30 fps.

The video clips shot by this smartphone are good, and the colors are incredible. You won’t find any noise in the videos. The sharpness will be on point.

Final Thoughts:

To sum this up, you are pretty much aware of the Fan Edition version of Samsung’s S21 series. This smartphone is a stunner if you don’t want to break your bank and you want top-notch flagship components in a phone. Each and everything on this phone is totally awesome, and you will get the best smartphone experience from this phone. The user interface, performance, and battery life, everything will surprise you. Also, you can get the wearables of Samsung with this phone to have a better user experience.

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