The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE in summary

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE really questions the idiom "better late than never".Arrived about five months after the forecasts - and eleven months plus a week after the deployment of other smartphones in the Galaxy S21 family - the S21 Fe is finally there.While the future Galaxy S22 range should reach us in February or March 2022.

This smartphone is supposed to be the most affordable model of the series sold in 2021, offering the main characteristics of the standard S21 at a lower price.It follows the Samsung Galaxy S20 Fe rather popular.

From the outset, the question of the price turns out to be a problem.The S21 FE arrives far too late, so he left the other members of the S21 series to enjoy beautiful pricing reductions.While this newborn maintains a high price, which makes it curiously less competitive compared to the basic model.

This smartphone does not only tickle us on the invoice it offers.Even with its integrated wireless loading system, it turns out to be slow to recover and discharges too quickly for a Galaxy S21.We sometimes had to reduce our usual use so that the phone stays on an entire day.

We also found that navigation between the menus or the opening of an application were less fluid than desired.Just like unlocking the home screen.It is a unpleasant surprise given the powerful chip established here, the rate of refreshment of the screen and the RAM of the smartphone.However, this is not the first time that we have seen some micro-cares in the One UI interface.

To be clear, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe is not a second -plan smartphone.This is why we gave it a mixed note rather than a negative note.We found the screen of the S21 FE live and bright, which makes the viewing of content always pleasant.The chip ideally responds to the execution of advanced games - and the cameras capture photos and videos that could not be more decent.

If you can get the smartphone as part of a group offer, with an interesting, reconditioned or used discount, then you could certainly benefit from it at the best value for money.But at its basic price, it is difficult to recommend it.

Price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe is available in two separate versions.First, there is the model including 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage and which costs € 759.If you prefer a more generous variant, you will have 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage for 829 €.

It is less than the launch price of the Galaxy S21, but more than its current rate, estimated on average at € 610.What is more, many mid -range smartphones such as Realme GT, Pixel 5 and the iPhone SE (2020) cost much less today.And most have comparable specifications that make them more attractive mobiles.

Design

We could forgive you to confuse the Galaxy S21 Fe with the other S21 models.Because, apart from its size, it looks like two drops of water in standard editions and more from this range.

Like the aforementioned smartphones, the FE has the same rear camera, as well as a cut contour bump to shelter its three objectives.The only small difference is that the FE uses plastic around, while S21 favors a metal coating.

That's right, this is a plastic smartphone-or perhaps we should call it Glassic, which is Samsung's term marketing to designate it.A plastic smartphone has advantages and disadvantages: it is more durable and easier to handle, but it gives the impression of being a little cheap.

As with the S21, the power button and the volume of the FE volume are placed on the right flank of the smartphone, and are easy to reach.There is also a USB-C port but no 3.5 mm headphone jack-which means that you will need a USB-C adapter around 3.5 mm, or a Bluetooth helmet, to listen to themusic.

It is a very fine mobile: it presents the same thickness as the S21, despite its larger size, so it wants to be quite comfortable to handle.Samsung has obviously did not waste space here, an element of design also perceptible in the.There are four colors of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE: black, white, pink and green.And as our photos show, we evaluated the first.

Screen

With a 6.4 -inch screen, the Galaxy S21 FE is between the S21 6.1 inch and the S21 more than 6.7 inches.Just like on these mobiles, the screen has a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a cooling rate of 120 Hz.

Another similarity point between the three handsets is the support of the Dynamic Amoled 2x display technology - it is in fact the Vive and Luminous AMOLED Slab which appeared on the Galaxy S20 smartphones.

The screen is the strong point of the Galaxy S21 Fe.The colors, the contrast and the brightness are all superb, and the streaming of television or games programs is a real pleasure.

This slab is interrupted by a cutting hiding the front camera along the upper edge.Fortunately, it is not too large, with little surface loss on the screen of the S21 FE.

Photo and video

The performance of the camera of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe are largely comparable to those of the S21 and S21 Plus.We would even say that there are many more similarities than differences.

The 12 Mpx main photo sensor, as well as the ultra wide angle of 12 Mpx, are identical to those of S21.But while the S21 also delivers a 64 Mpx telephoto lens, the S21 FE contains only an alternative of 8 MP.

The resolution of this telephoto lens may be lower than that of the S21, but the latter offers a 1,1x optical zoom or a 3X hybrid zoom;This apparent downgrading will therefore not be perceived by most users.

The front of the smartphone is equipped with a 32 MP camera, which represents a substantial increase compared to the 10 MPs of other S21 models.

We found the photos taken with the very colorful main sensor, which is proven to be standard for a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.It is obvious that the brand's optimization software lets no supersaturation pass.Nevertheless, the capacities of this sensor means that these shots are instantly worthy of your Instagram publications, for example.Especially the photos taken in well -lit environments.

We also appreciate that the photos taken by the three objectives share the same color profile - many photophones suffer from deynchronization, so that the passage from a zoom to a classic shooting can affect the appearance of colors andthe luminosity.For the S21 Fe, we could guarantee that, whatever the level of zoom chosen, the colors remain the same.

Many photo and video modes of previous Samsung smartphones are present here, including options like the unique socket, which captures a photo on several lenses both so that you can choose the best.Or the double recording, which invites you to shoot a video from the rear cameras and before simultaneously.

Regarding the front camera, the photos appear clear and detailed, even in low light conditions - which is impressive.But we found ourselves to avoid portrait mode, because it was sometimes imprecise when it came to applying a BOKEH background.Even if it remains decisive to balance exposure and contrast in order to distinguish the subject from its background.

If we have a criticism to formulate, it concerns the slightly vague autofocus for the subjects in close -up, whether they are very close, such as flowers, or at medium distance, like domestic animals.It is possible to activate the autofocus during the shooting, but in the case of animals, we often lack the time to manually modify the development.

On the video side, the front and rear cameras can reach a 4K and 60 image resolution per second, and if expected for the rear camera, it is a surprise for the front camera.Very few smartphones offer a recording of 4K selfies.The Galaxy S21 can actually record 8K videos, so the FE could disappoint the few people who want to benefit from this option on a mobile.Not us.

Some examples of photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe

Performance

We would not be surprised that the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE ends up becoming the last smartphone using the Snapdragon 888 chipset - the best mobile chip of 2021.Currently, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 recently unveiled already teams some new high -end smartphones.

The Snapdragon 888 is compatible with 5G, so that the Galaxy S21 Fe can connect to the new generation networks if you have a 5G mobile subscription and you are in an elected geographic area.The chip is the same associated with 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM, depending on the model for which you opt.

Although it is not the most recent or powerful chipset of the moment, the difference between the Snapdragon 888 and its successors turns out to be marginal.The first remains an extremely reactive processor that performs demanding applications without too much difficulty.

We have launched some gourmet games on the S21 Fe, and he behaved admirable - with quick loading, the best graphic options available, and no significant delay or freeze.

The smartphone supports mobile games as much as the binge-watching on video streaming platforms.However, we recommend that you use headphones.For what ?Because we found it very easy to accidentally cover the loudspeakers of the smartphone when he holds it horizontally.

Interface

The Galaxy S21 FE works under Android 12, with the Samsung One 4 overlay in addition.The main changes made by Android 12 compared to previous versions are increased personalization, especially in your ability to choose a colorful diagram for menus and icons.One Ui 4 brings this extra.

RAM, the processor and the rate of refreshment of the screen should make navigation in the menus of FE simple.However, during our evaluation, this was not the case.We found that the shift between the home pages, the opening of the applications and the unlocking of the smartphone appeared a little slow.

Not everyone realizes or does not care, because the phone is in no way up to the overall.We must also specify that this slowness only concerns mobile menus - when you use applications, the smartphone is perfectly lively.

Autonomy

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has a 4,500 mAh power supply, a fairly standard size for a mobile device - alas, we were still disappointed with its level of autonomy.

As part of an average use, that is to say navigation on social networks, streaming music, a game launched here or a photo attached by there, the battery has just reachedthe finish line and barely survived an entire day without second load.On the other hand, in the event of intensive use, we had to recharge the mobile at the start of the evening to make it work until the next morning.

The food is not very impressive either, because the power of 25W of the FE is surprisingly uncompetitive compared to the large number of fast -charge smartphones available on the market.Some of which can reach 65W or even 120W.At 25W, the smartphone takes about an hour and a half to go from 0 to 100%.

Surprisingly for an "economical" smartphone, the Galaxy S21 FE also offers a wireless power of 15W and an inverted wireless power of 4.5W, the latter allowing to recharge other mobiles.These are not ultra-fast flows either, but since few flagships offer wireless power, these specifications can try certain buyers.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe?

Buy it if...

You are looking for a beautiful medium -sized size screen that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe has screen characteristics similar to those of other S21 models, it is at an appreciable intermediate level in terms of size.

You are tempted by the photo configuration of the Galaxy S21malgré some slight modifications here and there, the Galaxy S21 FE essentially has the same photographic capacities as the standard smartphone of the generation S21.

You appreciate the relatively fine smartphones we found the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fe pleasant to hold in hand, with a fine body and a light weight, so if you don't want a stocky device, it's a good option.

Do not buy it if...

You find the Galaxy S21 cheaper the Samsung Galaxy S21 is a better equipped smartphone than the FE option in many ways.So if you find it at a lower price - which is the case today - buy it instead.Otherwise, you can wait for the S22, which should arrive soon.

You need a quick loading of the 25W of the FE is certainly not fast, not when it means that the device takes much more than an hour to recharge completely.There are currently multiple faster alternatives.

You use your smartphone intensely in the Daynous have often found that we had to optimize our uses so that the Galaxy S21 Fe hold a full day between two charges.If you want a reliable mobile for more than a day, it won't suit you.