Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G Review – ‘S20 Lite’ not only interesting for fans
With the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition, Samsung brings the luxury S20 series to a more affordable price point. The device has features such as an IP68 rating for water resistance, a telephoto camera with 3x optical ‘zoom’ and wireless charging, which you don’t often find for this amount. System performance and battery life are fine and even better than with the more expensive Galaxy S20, at least with the 5G version we tested. You do have to sacrifice something in terms of screen and construction. For this amount we can live with that.
Pros
- Excellent battery life, better than with the Galaxy S20
- Good system performance thanks to Snapdragon soc
- Good photos, separate telephoto camera
- IP68 rating and wireless charging
Cons
- Plastic tailgate does not feel luxurious
- Screen quality less than Galaxy S20
At CES in January 2020, Samsung suddenly came up with an affordable addition to the Galaxy S10 series from early 2019: the Galaxy S10 Lite . After all, there would be too great a price difference between the high-end Galaxy S and midrange Galaxy A series, according to the South Korean manufacturer. The S10 Lite had to fill the gap in the line-up and serve as a ‘welcome device’ to welcome prospective buyers of a midrange-A device into the higher segment. The reasoning may have made sense, but the moment of introduction was a bit weird. Barely a month after the S10 Lite, Samsung already launched the Galaxy S20 series, with the Galaxy S10 devices having been on the market for so long that they had long fallen in price to the level of the S10 Lite. Plus, the S10 Lite wasn’t quite as high-end in some respects, such as the camera.
With the lessons of the S10 Lite in mind, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (FE) this fall. The concept of ‘high-end for less’ is basically the same as with the S10 Lite, but the name is a bit more resounding. The moment of introduction, before the busy Christmas period, is also better, with the specifications also receiving a few nice upgrades. With starting prices of 599 euros for the 4G and 680 euros for the 5G version, the S20 FE is right on the border between the middle and the higher segment, where the device is actually cheaper than a Galaxy S20 or S20 +. Players such as OnePlus, Xiaomi and OPPO have all introduced new devices in this busy market segment in recent months. Whether the S20 FE is a good choice remains to be seen.
Casing and screen
When you hold the Galaxy S20 FE in your hand, the flat screen is the first thing you notice. The S20 FE looks more like a Galaxy A than a Galaxy S model because Samsung’s top models generally have curved sides. Some will prefer a flat screen, because it does not show any distortions or color deviations along the edges. On the other hand, the sides of the S20 FE are somewhat more ‘square’ due to the non-sloping screen, so that the device is slightly less comfortable to hold. Plus, a curvature helps hide the bezels around the screen; those eyes are clearly wider with the S20 FE than with the S20 and S20+. Those devices therefore look a bit more luxurious in our opinion.
The buttons are still in the same place, this year only on the right side, and the fingerprint scanner can still be found in the screen of the S20 FE. Like the Galaxy A series and unlike the rest of the Galaxy S series, the S20 FE is an optical one. It’s not the fastest scanner we’ve ever used, although that actually applies to the S20’s ultrasonic scanner as well. The S20 FE’s vibrator motor feels weaker and gives less nuanced feedback than that of the other S20 models.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE | Samsung Galaxy S20 | Samsung Galaxy S20+ | |
Screen diagonal | 6.5″ | 6.2″ | 6.7″ |
Length | 159.8mm | 151.7mm | 161.9mm |
Width | 74.5mm | 69.1mm | 73.7mm |
Thickness (max.) | 8.4mm | 7.9mm | 7.8mm |
Weight | 190g | 163g | 186g |
Small savings like the vibration motor aside, the screen is by far the most important point that you notice that Samsung has designed the S20 FE for a tighter budget. The Amoled panel has a resolution of 2400×1080 pixels, less than the 3200×1440 pixels of the Galaxy S20 and S20+, but completely normal for a device in the price segment of the S20 FE. This makes it easier to see the subtle ‘checkerboard pattern’ associated with the Pentile sub-pixel format used. Just like the more expensive models, the S20 FE supports a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, which makes the screen look nice and smooth. You do not have to deal with a trade-off between maximum resolution and maximum refresh rate, as with the S20 and S20+, because the screen of the S20 FE simply does not have that many pixels.
In terms of screen size, the S20 FE falls right in between the S20 and S20+. It is not much wrong with the image quality of the panel. It’s fine, with the same high peak brightness and equally infinite contrast. The color reproduction of the S20 and S20+ is a bit better; especially in the gray calibration, Samsung drops some stitches with the cheaper model, as shown by the measurements with our SpectraCal C6 colorimeter and Calman software. Unless you have a neutral reference next to it, you probably won’t notice it.