The long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has finally arrived and we’ve spent the last week or so with this phone. My experience with this phone was a rather interesting one – so let me share them with you.
For this phone, we’ll still do our usual 6 points and another personal opinion segment after that.
Design
Let’s start off with point number one, the design. I obviously like how the Galaxy S21 series of phones look. It’s an actual original design that is iconic, easily recognizable, and sexy. Since it is indeed using a polycarbonate body, the camera bump is not curved up from the phone’s frame like the other Galaxy S21 series of phones, but instead – it’s the same piece as the back of the phone.
Also, the Galaxy S21 FE comes in a total of 4 different colors – the usual black and white, olive color that matches the Galaxy Buds2, and also the Lavendar color that we have here.
And one more thing that we need to highlight is the weight of the phone. It’s extremely lightweight.
Specs
The spec of this phone is a rather interesting one. The Malaysian version of the Galaxy S21 FE comes with the Exynos 2100 with 8GB RAM and also 128GB of storage.
I know many people are displeased that the Galaxy S21 FE comes with Exynos instead of Snapdragon – how dare Samsung commit such atrocity?
Relax. I’ve used the Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Exynos 2100 and also daily-driving the Galaxy Z Fold3 with the Snapdragon 888 now. What I’ll tell you is this – Snapdragon 888 is just supremely inefficient and it’s a bad experience. Exynos 2100 is much better for day-to-day use.
However, when it comes to gaming – I think both the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 will suffer. As we’ve mentioned in our gaming test of the Galaxy S21 FE, the surface temperature of the Galaxy S21 FE never goes anywhere above 35°C and I assume the temperature of the chip itself is at about 40-45°C. I assume because the temperature monitoring app called Perf Z is still not available for the Galaxy S21 FE at the time of this recording.
Display
Nothing much to be said here other than the Galaxy S21 FE coming in with a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen with a resolution of 2400×1080 and 120Hz refresh rate and also HDR10+ support.
We also tested the color accuracy of this phone to see how “premium” it is, just to find out that yes – it is indeed a premium screen.
This screen is also nearly perfectly flat as there is only a slight curvature at the edge of the screen. That means finding screen protectors and especially tempered glass screen protectors is much easier.
But somehow, the punchout for the selfie camera is much bigger than the actual lens itself, and the fingerprint scanner is located at the very bottom of the screen, making it a hassle to use. Samsung got it right with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but somehow not with the Galaxy S21 FE. 🤷♂️
Camera
The cameras on the Galaxy S21 FE is a funny story. You see, the Galaxy S21 FE comes with a total of 3 different cameras but if we compare spec for spec, the cameras themselves, both the main and ultrawide cameras are identical with the Galaxy Z Fold3. Only the telephoto camera is different between these two phones.
To have a look at all the pictures taken with the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, watch our video at the top of this review.
The video side of things is also rather weird. All cameras can record at 1080p 30fps or 4K 30fps, but only the main camera can record at 1080p 60fps or 4K 60fps. I really do wish all camera sensors can record at 1080p 60fps, though.
But one thing is for sure, the main camera’s OIS is doing a very good job at stabilizing the footage.
Battery
This is a rather standard affair, honestly. It comes with a 4,500mAh battery and in our battery life test at 120Hz refresh rate, it lasts about 10 hours and I think that’s expected from this phone.
Charging
Just like the other phones within the Galaxy S21 series, this phone doesn’t come with a charger in the box. The box is just as thin as the other Galaxy S21 phones to the point that I even forgot where I placed the box. Anyway, that’s unimportant.
The Galaxy S21 FE can support up to 25W of wired charging via USB-PD PPS standard (more information at the top right corner there). From our test, it charges from 15% to 100% in slightly more than an hour – that’s about it.
Software
This is one part that I have to salute Samsung. This Galaxy S21 comes shipped with Android 12 with One UI 4.0 out of the box. The overall experience is the same as before – but I’m just impressed that it comes pre-installed with Android 12 with One UI 4.0.
Anyway, the software experience remains pretty much the same as Android 11 with One UI 3. There are a few additions here and there like the “hardware in use” indicator at the top right corner of the phone, then there are the customization options with color palette, some new widget designs, and that’s about it.
Android 12 is a very minor upgrade, in my opinion.
But, Samsung already pushed the January 2022 update for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE. I’m still very impressed by Samsung’s commitment to providing proper software support for their devices.
Other misc. things
A few more minor things to speedrun through – the Galaxy S21 FE doesn’t have 3.5mm audio jack, it doesn’t have microSD card slot but it does have dual SIM.
It does come with USB 3.0 and HDMI output over Type-C including Samsung DeX, and also IP68-rated.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE?
Let’s talk about the price first. The Galaxy S21 FE comes in two configurations and prices are:
- 128GB @ RM2,899
- 256GB @ RM3,099
Is the Galaxy S21 FE a good phone? I’d say yes. In all honesty, if we only look at the phone itself, it is actually good. That price is pretty much justified.
However, despite that, I have one qualm with the Galaxy S21 FE.
First one – the launch time. This phone should’ve either launched earlier or later. You see, if the Galaxy S21 FE launched earlier, then the price makes sense since the Galaxy S20 FE had the same price at launch but was launched 6 months after the Galaxy S20.
If the Galaxy S21 FE was launched later together with the Galaxy S22 series and renamed to Galaxy S22 Lite or something, I think it is also a better choice than launching it now. That is especially true since the Galaxy S22 is rumored to be launched sometime in February.
But the main question is – should you buy the Galaxy S21 FE? Well, I think it’s a good phone overall, just the launch timing is weird. To whoever says “better get the Galaxy S21”, then I’m sorry to say that the retail price of the Galaxy S21 is still at around RM3,499 brand new – so there is a sizable price gap.
To those who say “better get the Pixel 6”, unfortunately, the Pixel 6 is not available in Malaysia so there’s that.
Either way, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is still a magnificent phone – just get it at a lower price.
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