The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE seems to tick all the best bins for an reasonably priced flagship
| Price | $699 |
| Screen | 6.5-inch AMOLED (2400×1080: 120 Hz) |
| CPU | Snapdragon 865 |
| RAM | 6GB |
| Storage | 128GB, expandable up to 1TB |
| Rear cameras | Triple-lens: 12MP main (ƒ/1.8), 12MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2), 8MP telephoto with 3x zoom (ƒ/2.4) |
| Front camera | 32MP (ƒ/2.2) |
| Battery size | 4,500 mAh |
| Size | 6.29 x 2.93 x 0.33 inches |
| Weight | 6.7 ounces |
After releasing a string of four-digit flagships and middling midrange handsets, Samsung has lastly hit the candy spot with the Galaxy S20 Fan Version.
Introduced in the present day, the S20 Fan Version, or FE for brief, prices $699 and pulls key options from throughout Samsung’s complete vary of premium telephones. Patrons get a 120 Hz AMOLED show and Snapdragon 865 processor, just like the common S20 has; a giant 4,500-mAh battery, just like the Galaxy Be aware 20 Plus; in addition to 5G connectivity and a spread of shade choices, all for an reasonably priced value.
From the surface, the Galaxy S20 FE takes a clear goal at OnePlus, which dominated the house for reasonably priced but feature-rich Android flagships. It additionally offers Samsung an adversary to the highly-anticipated, entry-level, 5.4-inch iPhone 12, which is anticipated to price about the identical.
The Galaxy S20 FE makes some trade-offs in pursuit of its lower cost, like a plastic physique and half the reminiscence of the common S20, however general it is shaping as much as be one of many best unlocked phones based mostly on what we have seen. After churning out a bevy of high-priced flagships throughout 12 months of financial uncertainty, Samsung lastly seems to be delivering an extra smart choice for the instances. Here is everything that you must find out about it.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Price and launch date
The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE will price $699 and begins delivery Oct. 2, with preorders dwell now. It is available in only one configuration, with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, although homeowners can develop storage by as much as 1TB with a microSD card.
Those that preorder a Galaxy S20 FE may also get $70 in credit score at Samsung’s retailer, which is sufficient to take a good chunk of change off a pair of Galaxy Buds Live or a Galaxy Watch 3.
The Galaxy S20 FE will probably be obtainable via AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, with the Verizon variant notably supporting the provider’s millimeter-wave 5G community for a lot quicker speeds in city areas. The Verizon model is elegantly named Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW.
In accordance Samsung’s affiliate principal of world technique Clare Hunter, more Fan Edition takes of Samsung phones could be incoming. So the S20 FE may simply be the beginning.
“As a tribute to our Galaxy followers, we’re setting a brand new customary of creating uncompromising flagship improvements accessible to as many individuals as attainable,” stated Hunter. “And we’ll proceed to launch Fan Editions of our flagship gadgets within the years to return.”
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Colours
One of many Galaxy S20 FE’s most distinctive traits is the sheer variety of colours wherein its supplied. There are six in whole — mint, navy, lavender, crimson, orange, and white — a few of that are paying homage to basic Galaxy shades, whereas others are all new.
Samsung says it is focusing on youthful, extra design-conscious prospects with this machine, so the deal with offering a large number of hues definitely seems to play to that ambition.
Those that welcome a little bit of pop with their smartphone purchases will definitely recognize the assortment of colours. My private favourite is Cloud Orange, which resembles a mixture of cream and gold, a minimum of within the photographs the corporate’s supplied. A mirrored triple-lens digicam housing, with every optic encircled by a metallic ring, performs of tastefully towards the predominantly matte again and attracts a familial resemblance to the Be aware line.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Design
The Galaxy S20 FE seems proper at dwelling subsequent to its fellow members of the S20 household. This telephone packs a 6.5-inch show, putting it between the $999, 6.2-inch Galaxy S20 and $1,199, 6.7-inch Galaxy S20 Plus by way of measurement.
From the entrance, it is arduous to suss out variations between the S20 FE and its brethren. The pricier S20 fashions incorporate a slight curve to their show glass and make use of barely trimmer bezels than the Fan Version, which opts for a flat panel to maintain prices down. Nevertheless, Samsung notes that the Infinity-O front-facing digicam cutout within the S20 FE is definitely barely extra compact than these within the costlier S20 variants.
The Galaxy S20 FE ditches the everyday glass again you’d count on from a Galaxy S machine in favor of matte polycarbonate. From every thing we have seen, the match and end of this plastic is akin to that of the Galaxy Note 20. That is an excellent signal; whereas many critics had been unimpressed with Samsung’s resolution to go together with plastic within the cheaper of its two newest phablets, we discovered the fabric to be pleasing to the contact, whereas additionally trying nigh-indistinguishable from the matte-etched glass.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Display
The Galaxy S20 FE’s 6.5-inch AMOLED display touts a full HD decision and, most notably, a 120 Hz refresh price. In contrast to the Galaxy Be aware 20 Extremely, this refresh price is not adaptive — it will possibly both run at 60 Hz or 120 Hz, with no in between, and you will have to set it manually both approach.
However, it is nonetheless uncommon to see excessive refresh charges on gadgets within the value vary the Fan Version is enjoying in, so it is a powerful inclusion. The OnePlus 8T, which is prone to land with a price ticket someplace within the realm of the Galaxy S20 FE’s $699, has been confirmed to incorporate a 120 Hz panel as nicely.
Some might lament the dearth of a quad-HD panel, however 1080p appears cheap for this value vary. We’re extra involved about brightness, so we’ll need to see how nicely the Galaxy S20 FE holds up in our testing.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Cameras
You will discover three cameras on the again of the Galaxy S20 FE, comprising two 12-megapixel large and ultrawide shooters with ƒ/1.eight and ƒ/2.2 optics and one 8MP telephoto with an ƒ/2.Four aperture and 3x optical zoom. On the entrance is a 32MP, ƒ/2.2 digicam — a wealth of pixels to make certain, although this lens lacks phase-detection auto focus.
From the surface, it appears as if the Fan Version’s large and ultrawide cameras are carried over from the usual Galaxy Note 20. In the meantime, Samsung has eschewed the 64MP telephoto current in its different flagship telephones, which might ordinarily allow 8K video recording, in favor of an 8MP sensor that achieves related 3x energy with an optical benefit reasonably than sensor cropping. That telephoto’s digital zoom tops out at 30x.
Though overshadowed by the Galaxy Be aware 20 Extremely’s futuristic 108MP major digicam and most 50x digital House Zoom, we got here away impressed with the imaging {hardware} on supply within the cheaper Be aware 20 once we reviewed that machine. The standard of images in Samsung’s high-end telephones has seen notable enchancment within the final 12 months, definitely due partially to groundbreaking {hardware} but in addition thanks to raised computational images that has helped Samsung shut the hole to the likes of Google and Apple.
Galaxy S20 FE digicam options embrace Evening Mode, Tremendous Regular recording and Single Take, that means Fan Version consumers should not be missing any images methods in comparison with common S20 homeowners.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Performance
Identical to the opposite three Galaxy S20 variants, the Fan Version is provided with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 chipset. Whereas it isn’t the 865 Plus discovered within the Be aware 20 line, in addition to the Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Galaxy Z Fold 2, it’s mighty good silicon for a handset on this value vary, and in keeping with competing Android flagships.
That silicon is paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage. The 6GB of RAM would determine to be the weakest hyperlink on this group — it is half the RAM of the extra premium S20 trio, and will consequence within the Fan Version turning into taxed extra simply by background processes, multitasking or when launching apps from reminiscence. When it comes to uncooked efficiency and graphics, nevertheless, customers aren’t prone to discover a discrepancy.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Battery and charging
Full of a large 4,500-mAh battery, the Galaxy S20 FE shouldn’t have any drawback lasting via the day on a cost (nicely, a minimum of on its much less power-hungry 60 Hz mode). That is the identical measurement because the batteries within the Galaxy S20 Plus and Be aware 20 Extremely.
Regardless of its lower cost, the Galaxy S20 FE can nonetheless cost wirelessly at a most of 15 watts, and even reverse cost Qi-compatible equipment with its Wi-fi PowerShare characteristic. Moreover, the machine can cost in wired style at a peak pace of 25 watts — albeit with a caveat. Samsung is packing a typical 15W adapter in field, as a substitute of the optimum 25W adapter, so you may need to shell out additional for that privilege. Samsung’s official 25W adapter prices $35.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Software and updates
Samsung has dedicated to a few years of Android platform updates with the Galaxy S20 FE. If the cellphone launches with the corporate’s One UI 2.5 entrance finish based mostly on Android 10, that ought to take the S20 FE all the best way to Android 13 by 2023 or 2024.Commercial
Lengthy-term software program assist like that is nonetheless uncommon within the Android house; up till lately, Google was the one cellphone maker to ensure three years of updates. Fortunately, Samsung is extending the identical peace of thoughts to its customers, whether or not they buy a $699 Galaxy S20 FE or a $1,999 Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: Outlook
The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE would possibly carry a puzzling identify, but it surely seems to be a wonderful various to the rising variety of inexpensive-yet-powerful worth flagships on the market. After a 12 months flush with low cost however mediocre Galaxy A collection telephones, in addition to spectacular however stomach-churningly costly Galaxy S20, Be aware 20 and foldable fashions, the Fan Version lastly affords a beautiful mixture of the specs and options customers possible need for a much more agreeable value.
However, after all, the competitors is robust. Google’s Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G are on the best way, as is the OnePlus 8T. All of these gadgets are anticipated to be fairly priced as nicely. OnePlus’ providing specifically figures to be in direct competitors with Samsung’s newest effort, as rumors recommend it will boast related specs.
And that is simply the Android facet of issues. Someday in October, Apple will unleash the iPhone 12 vary, all however sure to incorporate two fashions that might evaluate favorably with the Galaxy S20 FE by way of value, although they might lack a few of Samsung’s extra head-turning options (like its 120 Hz show).
We look ahead to testing the Galaxy S20 FE for ourselves, and seeing how a lot of the flagship Galaxy expertise Samsung’s been capable of protect on this cheaper trim. However the true problem awaits in how probably the most reasonably priced S20 measures up towards the onslaught of telephones nonetheless to return this 12 months.
