Galaxy s21 fe 5g 128gb review

With the Galaxy S22 available, this phone is a hard sell.

I've never really understood Samsung's Fan Edition branding. To me, fans are the people who are first in line, first to read all the related news and rumors, and most importantly, the first to check out the latest products from their favorite device makers. What we're looking at here is less of a phone for die-hard enthusiasts and more of a remix featuring some of the S21's best traits for a lower price. Unfortunately, all that doesn't solve the S21 FE's problem of it feeling outdated essentially on day one. Look, the S21 FE might technically be a new phone, but let's not pretend we haven't seen it before. It's got essentially the same shape and design queues as previous S21s, just with a slightly different size. Featuring a 6.

Galaxy s21 fe 5g 128gb review

We use cookies and similar technologies. You can use the settings below to accept all cookies which we recommend to give you the best experience or to enable specific categories of cookies as explained below. Find out more by reading our Cookie Policy. Screen and display - Samsung's trademark bright and detailed display. Camera - Great camera AI helps to make colours pop. Performance and storage - Packs a markedly similar punch to the S Battery and charging - Slightly larger battery than its flagship sibling. Price and verdict - Great alternative to the standard S But at what cost? Samsung recently launched the latest version of its Galaxy FE series, the slightly cheaper alternative to its flagship handsets. The S21 FE launched right at the beginning of January. So it was quite odd timing for Samsung to be releasing a brand-new phone with the S21 name. And is it a worthy but more cost-effective alternative to the S22? The S21 FE is lightweight yet robust to the touch, and its body is smooth and sleek but not slippery to hold. The camera array is integrated almost seamlessly into the back of the handset, with only a slightly noticeable bump to account for all the lenses.

A haze finish on the back of the phone gives the Galaxy S21 FE a professional veneer, but no one's going to confuse this phone with a premium handset. Why don't you, I reply. However, in our demanding battery test — we have a phone surf the web continuously over 5G until it runs out of power — the Galaxy S21 FE fell flat.

View refurbished deals at BackMarket. It also has a triple camera array on the rear, with a main 12MP sensor working alongside an 8MP 3x optical zoom camera and another 12MP degree ultrawide unit. The same 32MP selfie camera sits on the front of the handset. What about that price, then? Essentially, the Pixel 6 is a handset that will take some beating — the S21 FE has a difficult task ahead. Like the rest of the range, the Galaxy S21 FE is also IPrated for protection against dust and water, and the display sits underneath a layer of Gorilla Glass Victus. You still get the option to switch between two display modes — Natural and Vivid — with the former being the most colour-accurate of the two.

This model is no longer available or might have limited distribution. Unlock to see our ratings and compare products side by side. Camera: Rear image quality. Camera: Rear p video quality. Camera: Selfie image quality. Battery and charging. Water resistance test. Available from Sprint.

Galaxy s21 fe 5g 128gb review

I've never really understood Samsung's Fan Edition branding. To me, fans are the people who are first in line, first to read all the related news and rumors, and most importantly, the first to check out the latest products from their favorite device makers. What we're looking at here is less of a phone for die-hard enthusiasts and more of a remix featuring some of the S21's best traits for a lower price.

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This might make you think that Night Mode is turning on automatically, but it's not — you have to manually enable the feature, and I've found that the best way to do that is from the More options listed among the different camera modes. My experience is reflected by our benchmark tests for the Galaxy S21 FE. You won't find expandable storage on this model as was the case with the Galaxy S20 FE, but Samsung is selling its new phone in another variant that comes with GB of storage the base model has GB. Best budget smartphone The top cheap phones you can buy in the UK. The FE has a standard amount of internal storage on offer, which will be fine for most people, but perhaps not enough for users dealing with big files, such as high-quality video clips. What we're looking at here is less of a phone for die-hard enthusiasts and more of a remix featuring some of the S21's best traits for a lower price. It offers a 6. You can use the settings below to accept all cookies which we recommend to give you the best experience or to enable specific categories of cookies as explained below. Both the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 FE have triple-lens cameras, but the telephoto lens on the regular S21 has a higher-resolution sensor 64 megapixels versus 8 megapixels. Tom's Guide Verdict. Watching the Dr. That's with the fastest-charging cables we had at home, but since a charger isn't included in the box, you'll have to power at the speed of whatever plug you already own or choose to buy. I don't have either an S21 or S21 Plus on hand, but I imagine photos taken with either phone's telephoto lens will look a little sharper than what you get from the Galaxy S21 FE. It's worth noting that the iPhone 13 and its A15 Bionic chip outperforms all these Snapdragon devices, with a Consequently, both phones capture an equal amount of detail in ultrawide mode.

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I took photos of my husband shaking his head back and forth and jumping up and down to see how well it actually works, and came away impressed. Talking of that front camera, snaps looked bright and detailed, even in low-light settings, which is impressive. He's been covering personal technology since and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. Samsung really likes to brighten its screens to show off its great colour scheme, so you can turn that down in the settings to use up less power. With the supply of standard S21 models starting to dry up, the S21 FE isn't really competing against the originals. Expertise Apple, Samsung, Google, smartphones, smartwatches, wearables, fitness trackers. Looking for more Samsung discounts? Regular Samsung users are probably very used to this by now, but as a day-to-day iPhone user, I found screenshotting things a little difficult to start with. Read all comments Post your comment. It's worth noting, though, that Samsung has also reduced some aspects of the S22 compared to the S21, like screen and battery size. I wish the sides of the Galaxy S21 FE were a little bit more prominent, though — instead, they're fairly slick, making the phone hard to hold on to. You can also record video with the front and rear cameras at the same time on the Galaxy S21 FE. The situation is a bit more complicated with the Pixel 6, as only certain carrier models support both versions.