Samsung Galaxy S20 FE honest review after 6 months of use: Feels like money well spent

At the moment, around a dozen of phone makers are making there full of efforts to win the race of the flagship smartphone market. While some brands are promoting their product as a flagship killer, which features high-end capabilities at comparatively affordable pricing.

Talking about the smartphone market, various OEMs including Samsung launched their high-profile handsets this year, while the Cupertino-based company already did it last year. Moving on, the Korean tech giant introduced its iconic and camera-focused Galaxy S21 series starting this year, which consists of three models with slightly different functionalities.

So, the question is which brand’s product deserves to be called a pure flagship smartphone, which meets the demand of consumers who are going to purchase it for around $1000? But, wait, wait…, I think I’ve gone too away as of today’s talk started for the high-profile handset of Samsung after 6 months of use, so… come back to the matter.

The Galaxy S20 FE

Ah, the Galaxy S20 FE! Last September, Samsung pulled yet another rabbit out of its hat by launching a massive flagship smartphone, which has a suffix – Fan Edition, got it? Yes, I’m talking about the Galaxy S20 FE. Just to remind, when I purchased this handset, gave my opinion – Why the Galaxy S20 FE is a lot better choice than any other Android smartphone?.

And today, I’m here to share my experience with this pleasant handset after around a half year of use. Let’s start with the most important and unexpected thing that came with the Galaxy S20 FE – “the touchscreen issues”.

The irritating “Ghost Touches”

Following its launch, a limited number of Galaxy S20 FE buyers reported that they are facing different types of problems with the performance of its touchscreen. However, the company has not yet officially said on this matter but chosen the back door to counter this severe issue by sending touchscreen firmware updates.

It’s worth mentioning that my S20 FE has not shown any of the reported errors that other users are facing to date. Besides, I’ve also received a number of new s/w updates that included improvements for the performance of the touchscreen. Though, Samsung has impressively managed to fix these unexpected errors by just sending OTAs that helped it to maintain the market reputation as well as the hope of die-hard “Sammy Fans”.

So, I’ve shared my view on the S20 FE’s touchscreen issues in a summarized manner. The touchscreen issues are the only negative thing with the Galaxy S20 FE while it is a true flagship killer in my opinion!

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, six months later

From the first day, when it arrived at my door till now, this $699 smartphone still has an eye-catching design even compared to the latest ones to date. Although the Galaxy S21 trio is the latest flagship from Samsung, the Galaxy S20 FE is not behind when it comes to delivering an actual high-profile smartphone experience.

However, the Galaxy S20 FE arrived around six months ago, and things have quite changed since then. Despite this, Samsung has recently launched the Galaxy S21 series and the vanilla model comes at just $100 up from the Galaxy S20 FE while the Galaxy A52 and the Galaxy A72 are also official with many flagship-grade features at a competitive price.

As mentioned in the title of this article, I’m here to share the honest review after using the Galaxy S20 FE for six months and yes, it is still a marvelous phone!

Galaxy S20 FE Design

Samsung decided to bring polycarbonate back instead of glass with the Galaxy S20 FE. However, it equips the back design elements of the Galaxy S20 lineup but it’s certainly and obviously looks less premium than the parent models. In addition, the S20 FE offers the same camera bump, the same squared-off corners, and the same port and buttons system.

Galaxy S20 FE: Exynos vs Snapdragon – Who is the winner after all?

Following its tradition, the South Korean phone maker shipped the Galaxy S20 FE with Snapdragon 865 processor in the US, South Korea, and China while in the rest of all regions (Europe, India) it is available with Samsung’s own Exynos 990 chipset.

As we have heard that the Exynos 990 powered Galaxy S20 FE offers great performance while the Snapdragon 865 variant brings excellent efficiency. And it comes with a massive 120Hz refresh rate panel but there’s a minus point in that it lacks the adaptive refresh rate tech, which is available in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy S21 trio.

Performance!

Talking about battery life, my Exynos 990-powered Galaxy S20 FE LTE lasts up to a full day even when using it with 120Hz refresh rate thanks to its 4500mAh long-lasting battery. In addition, I’ve heard that the Exynos version inches behind the Snapdragon variant because of efficiency concerns.

Galaxy S20 FE Camera

In terms of camera, the Galaxy S20 FE has a powerful camera installation, which is still incredibly excellent so far. Just like its parent model – Galaxy S20, the S20 FE also comes with the most advanced Hybrid Optic Zoom that lets you zoom up to 3x without losing image quality.

At the same time, the Super Resolution Zoom of the Galaxy S20 FE allows you to carry on zooming all the way to 30x Space Zoom. It lets you zoom to the front of the stage in no time even when you are at the back of the crowd at a music festival.

S21 like camera features [Pros/Cons]

Aside from the 8K recording and Director’s View, Samsung has already delivered all the advanced camera features from the latest Galaxy S21 flagships to the S20 FE via back-to-back software updates, which have impressively enhanced the overall image capturing and video shooting experience.

Software updates!

Samsung committed to taking care of the Galaxy S20 FE buyers for three years when it comes to Android OS upgrades. Launched with Android 10-based One UI 2.5, the company delivered the very first major s/w update in the form of Android 11-based One UI 3.0 and One UI 3.1 over the air. At the same time, this handset is currently getting new security patches every month and will get a total of four years of new security patches (quarterly/biannual).

Immersive entertainment and protection “together”

To offer a true flagship smartphone-like feel, Samsung installed stereo speakers in the Galaxy S20 FE, which delivers an immersive and loud sound as well as full-on entertainment within your hands. This handset also comes with an IP rating that ensures its dust and water resistance.

Stereo speakers along with an IP rating give it another plus point to make it worth buying! Also, you can make payments over both NFC terminals and traditional magnetic card readers as well as full-fledged support for Samsung Pay.

Is the Galaxy S20 FE still worth buying today?

After all, I’m still impressed with the Galaxy S20 FE and will continue to enjoy it for more time. But, as a customer, we’ve to discuss the current situation as the question is – “Is the Galaxy S20 FE still worth buying today?”

So, if you’re planning to purchase a high-profile phone from Samsung at an affordable price, today you’ve various options like the Galaxy S20 FE, the Galaxy A52 5G, the Galaxy A72, or the latest Galaxy S21, which is just $100 up from the S20 FE. At the same time, you can wait for some months as the company is reportedly going to launch the Galaxy S21 FE in near future, which could feature the powerful Snapdragon 888/Exynos 2100 processors.

Still wanna purchase the Galaxy S20 FE? Then I suggest you wait for a while as we heard that Samsung is going to launch a new variant of the S20 FE, which is powered by Snapdragon 865+ chipset and runs the latest Android 11-based One UI 3.1 out of the box. If this rumor comes true, then it will be a great deal to purchase the Galaxy S20 FE today!

That’s all folks 🙂 and I think this piece of information would be enough to get an idea about this handset. If you want to know something more about Samsung Galaxy S20 FE that’s not mentioned in this review, then you can ask me in the comments section.

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