Wrapping up the Samsung S20 FE

18 December 2020

Update: Samsung has recently launched its latest flagship Galaxy S23 Series consisting of the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Buy your S23 phone today!

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G is a welcome addition to the 2020 Samsung line-up. If you’re thinking of getting the S20 FE 5G, we know you probably have questions you want answered, so we’ve pulled together some of the talking points from a number of online reviews to make things a bit easier when you’re comparing features between potential new phones.

We’ve broken it down into a few major categories to round up what various publications are saying:

The TL;DR

The general consensus is the Samsung S20 FE 5G is "one of the best phones for the money", "a device that retains the flagship essentials, while making a few calculated moves to reduce the price", "it's really for anyone who wants a great phone for an affordable price", "no-compromise, budget version of the world’s best Android smartphone", "the best Android phone that we recommend to just about anyone."

So, yeah, reviewers like it. And now onto the details…

Build

For the most part, everyone was a big fan of the colour choices available and nodded to the fact that this was in part because Samsung was looking to target a younger demographic. Of course, still had fun with it, because, hello – colour!

One of the more divisive features of the S20 FE for a lot of the reviewers was the fact that the phone was built with a "Glasstic" plastic back, as they felt like it didn’t match up to the "premium" labelling of the phone – particularly in reference to the Note 20, which is where this conversation started. Or perhaps, as one of the reviewers said, dismissing Glasstic as not premium is a "hard position to take […] because the durability of plastic is so good."

Some reviewers actually preferred the plastic back because they felt it would be more durable to drops that glass (which, let’s be honest, if you’re a klutz like me, would be preferable). It also curves nicely around the sides to make the phone feel "unified and solid." As one reviewer noted, "it’s thin, light, and easy to carry around and use." Another reviewer mentioned it wasn’t "the same flimsy plastic [they] saw on the Galaxy S5."

So, while it may be plastic, it’s not your grandma’s plastic. For many, the build still had positives, and, while the rear housing wasn’t the most premium-feeling to some, it felt up to the wear and tear of day-to-day phone usage to basically everyone we included in this round-up.

Display

The display on the S20 FE 5G is flat, without a rounded edge like some other Samsung phones, notably the recent S20 Ultra 5G. It’s also got a 120 Hz refresh rate, so you can experience super smooth scrolling. Reviews were also a bit mixed on the display. Some really appreciated the flat glass, others suggested it wasn’t as comfortable in the hand without curved glass.

It’s worth noting the resolution is 2400x1080, which is a "notable downgrade" for one reviewer from the S20 5G model, yet a number of reviewers didn’t even mention on it, focusing on the smoothness of navigation you get from the 120Hz refresh rate. The fact that it wasn’t even mentioned by many probably means you wouldn’t notice the difference in your day-to-day usage, either. The punch hole for the front facing camera is relatively small, and the display itself is bigger than the S20 5G by about 3 inches (6.2 inches versus 6.5 inches for the FE 5G).

Price

Reviewers were mixed on the price. While some felt it was a great price for what you were getting, others felt the price point should have been lower given the compromises. It’s about what you’re comfortable with when purchasing, really. Overall, though, most reviewers are ecstatic about price for value with the FE 5G.

Hardware

The 5G variant ships – at the time of writing – globally with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, which is an interesting change from the split chip launches done for previous Samsung phones.

And with a "reasonable" - as one reviewer calls it - typical battery capacity of 4,500mAh, folks seem to be able to get done what they want to get done with decent enough endurance from the battery. Others have noted that with medium to high usage (e.g. if you were surfing the web constantly for 8 hours on a relatively bright screen, or playing a decent number of hours of games), you’d generally have to charge your phone before the day was done. One reviewer noted that the real-time usage was "smooth and snappy in use, whether […]scrolling through menus, opening apps, taking loads of pictures in succession or playing games."

Some reviewers call out the fingerprint scanner as a bit unreliable and slower than other models, as it uses an optical sensor embedded in the display rather than an ultrasonic senor. Pretty much everyone noted that in the box you get a 15W charger rather than the maximum supported 25W, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker for anyone.

Overall, there wasn’t too much folks could point fingers at in terms of major negatives with the processor and battery performance of the Samsung S20 FE 5G for people who aren’t often heavy power users of their phones.

Camera

The review details we’ve all been waiting for – pics or it didn’t happen, right? So we all want that social media worthy camera in our pocket. For most, the Samsung S20 FE delivers that without a hiccup.

Front

32MP (uses pixel binning to capture more light)

Back

12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2, field of view
12MP main, f/1.8
8MP telephoto, 3x optical zoom, 30x space zoom (digital zoom)

With the cameras you have overall good performance including some smarts around suggested shots. Where you see the compromise is the telephoto lens, which is 8 mega-pixels (rather than 64 mega-pixels on the other S20 devices). Generally though, it’s touted as "one of the most versatile camera phones for the price."

For "pickier" photographers, one reviewer mentioned, you might be a bit frustrated by a haloing effect in bright outdoor lighting, or the flattening of daytime shots with HDR – though generally, the consensus is that for everyone but a few, the cameras on this phone will do really, really well. And of course, impress all your friends.

Yet most reviewers weren’t fussed by the lower-res telephoto sensor at all, (at least when compared to the telephoto lenses on the rest of the S20 range) though one reviewer listed a "con" as "no space zoom", which given that it does have space zoom, but not to 10x, we have to imagine that’s what they’re talking about. In the same breath, this reviewer says, "side by side, I actually prefer the FE’s shots to the S20+ in good light." Another reviewer sums up that "the triple camera system is cut back a bit from the rest of the S20 series, but I honestly don’t find it lacking that much for most everyday use, even on low light it hasn’t suffered as much as some thought it might."

So what do you think? Is the Samsung S20 FE 5G on your wish list? If you're still considering, we have an article about the whole S20 family, plus an introduction to the S21 family, too.