Have you ever watched Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade? If you have not it basically ends with Indie stuck in a chamber with the villain facing the impossible choice of finding the Holy Grail. In this case the grail is in the form of a chalice or cup. The clincher though is that the chamber is full of different cups. Pick the right one and you get eternal life – pick the wrong one and you shrivel up and turn to dust. Where am I going with this? Well, although the choice of a new device is certainly not life or death, picking the wrong phone can inevitably leave you filled with disappointment and regret.
I have been testing the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE for the last two weeks and I believe that the question of which device is right has been answered. The Samsung Galaxy 20FE has everything you could ever need or want (at least for most users). It brings some premium features in a more affordable package and hits all the right notes. A great balance between spec and price. Whether you are a social media butterfly, business user, avid photographer or just use the basics, the Samsung Galaxy S20FE will tick all the boxes – it is the safe bet.
Safe bet sounds boring right? The Samsung Galaxy S20FE is anything but. When I say safe bet, I mean this is the one to go for if you do not know where to start or where to look. To avoid disappointment, lean into the Samsung Galaxy S20FE. I will be honest here – whilst it may not have the best camera or biggest battery of them all what the Samsung S20FE does provide is a great all-rounder – in my opinion you will not find one disappointing element on this device.
DESIGN
Jumping into the design portion of the review what hits you right off the bat is the 6.5-inch Super AMOLED Infinity O Display. With a tiny punch hole for the selfie camera the display is bright and vibrant – packing a punch with the outstanding colours. Everything you would expect from a premium Samsung handset. Whilst it is FHD+ it does take a slight downgrade from the curved glass in its flat glass design. Other concessions made were the “glasstic” back. Steering away from the glass and metal the S20FE has a more matte plastic back. You know what I like about this? No fingerprints!
Best yet the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE boasts a 120Hz refresh rate – reserved generally for flagship, more expensive devices. Your scrolling is smooth as butter, responsive and elegant. Coming in a range of fantastic colours with an old school squarish shape – the Samsung Galaxy S20FE is funky yet refined and would like great in the hands of a teen blogger or business exec.
UNDER THE HOOD
Performance wise you cannot go wrong here – packed with 128GB onboard memory and 6GB RAM the Samsung S20 FE gives you plenty of space and speed to do pretty much any task with ease. Multitasking is not a problem and lag never comes into play. I would have liked to have seen slightly more RAM but 6GB is perfectly respectable.
Where most brands sacrifice some key elements to make an affordable version of their flagships, Samsung has managed to bypass this sometimes-annoying habit. So yes, you get an IP68 water and dust resistance rating with the Samsung Galaxy S20FE and yes it supports wireless charging. You are also lucky enough to get the optical in display fingerprint sensor. Not a fan of the fingerprint, do not worry. Facial recognition and the classic pin are your other security fallbacks.
The S20FE supports 25W fast charging – you only get a 15W brick in the box, but the accessories are freely available. You get a 4500mAh battery built in – more powerful than the S20 and from my experience I got more than a day of use – including a mix of Netflix, YouTube, and general browsing.
CAMERA
Camera wise you get a Triple AI camera, and admittedly it has lower spec than its big brother but the 12MP+12MP+8MP sensors capture great images with ease and offer pics that any self-respecting blogger would be happy with. Along with the usual suspects including slo-mo, hyper lapse, night shot, panorama and more the Galaxy S20FE brings the single take technology offered on the Samsung premium range into its offering.
Single take for those that do not know is a built-in feature on the camera system. Simply put you press the button and for 10 seconds the cameras (yes, all three) will capture the moment. At the end of it you are presented with a range of pictures, GIFS, and videos from different points of view. Use them all or select the best – the choice is yours. What the device will do is present you with the best pic of the lot.
Usage wise the camera changes very easily between the normal, Ultra-wide and macro lenses with no real effort. The 32MP selfie camera packs a wallop and is a much higher spec’d than the Samsung Galaxy S20. Now on the downside you do not have the option of 8K recording – a dealbreaker I think not but worth mentioning.
To keep costs down the Samsung S20FE is only offered in the LTE version in South Africa, after moving from a 5G phone to this device I cannot honestly say I noticed much difference but if you are playing the long game it may be worth noting.
At R14999 prepaid or from R529 on contract the Samsung Galaxy S20FE falls in the mid-price range, however had it been priced higher it would have still been understandable given the fantastic benefits you get.
To summarize, the Samsung Galaxy S20FE offers an incredible all-round experience for any user. If you find yourself faced with the choice go with this device – it is the wise choice. Just like the US elections I am going to call this – The Samsung Galaxy S20FE, at least for me, is the phone of 2020.
