Review – Samsung Galaxy S21 FE

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE was announced earlier this year at CES 2022. Even though some reviewers have been saying how one should wait for the Galaxy S22 or just get a Galaxy S21, I strongly disagree with this recommendation. Let’s find out why.

Design & Build Quality

The S21 series is probably my favourite Galaxy S design of all time. The unique camera cutout made them stand out from the rest of the competition. Samsung kept the same design language with the S21 FE but the camera cutout is no longer a single seamless metal frame. The back is entirely made out of plastic along with the raised camera bump. I’m not complaining about the plastic material, in fact, I think it is a superior choice given that you don’t risk shattering the back. Besides, the phone is now lighter and easier to hold even if you’re not using any case.

Display

The 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel is placed under a flat piece of glass, thankfully, no more curved edges which unnecessarily increase the cost for the worst user experience. The panel goes up to 120Hz and provides an excellent viewing experience, no matter for text, movie or games. Even though the screen doesn’t have a variable refresh rate support, then again, you can rest assured that the 4500mAh battery provides enough juice for a whole day.

The optical under-screen fingerprint scanner is ergonomically positioned about 1cm above the bottom bezel. It is reasonably quick but an ultrasonic or power button fingerprint scanner would’ve been miles better.

Software and Performance

Out of the box we are getting Android 12 with One UI 4 pre-installed on the phone. Keep in mind that if you’re looking for stock Android 12 experience, you might have to look elsewhere as Samsung has decided to keep the One UI 4 experience in line with its previous generations. Personally, I don’t see that as a problem because Google has been changing their UX guideline way too often to confuse not just the users but developers as well. Just take the swipe gesture as an example, how many developers are still using the hamburger menu that conflicts with the back gesture (swipe from the left screen).

While there is plenty of hate on the Exynos 990 series due to its lower performance number compared with Snapdragon 865, I don’t think it is fair to judge the Exynos 2100 in the same way. Frankly speaking, Samsung has vastly improved the Exynos 2100 which deserve some level of recognition. Most importantly, in real-life usage, I bet you can’t tell it apart from a Snapdragon 888.

Camera

If you were to compare the camera with the OG S21 series, the S21 FE took a few downgrades – the telephoto and ultra-wide angle sensors. Thankfully the primary shooter is kept at the same level as the S21 series which I think is a very important aspect for most of the users. 

Conclusion

When Samsung announced the Galaxy S21 FE earlier this year, a lot of international tech reviewers had mixed feelings about the phone. On one hand, they praised how Samsung has made an all-rounder phone that balances various aspects such as the design, display, performance and battery life. On the other hand, they also complained about how the S21 FE came too late to the party as the Galaxy S22 series launch is just around the corner. 

To put things in perspective, the previous generation S20 FE was announced on 23rd September 2020 and made available on 2nd October 2020. The S21 FE? It was announced on 3rd January (CES 2022) and made available on 11th January 2022. 

There are so many YouTubers and reviewers who recommend against buying the Galaxy S21 FE and suggest either waiting for the Galaxy S22 or buying a Galaxy S21/Pixel 6. Personally, while I agree with their viewpoint on how the Galaxy S21 FE missing the 2021 holiday sales season is a bad decision, there’s no way I would recommend people to wait for the Galaxy S22 or get the Galaxy S21/Pixel 6.

In Malaysia, while the S21 FE (8GB+128GB) is officially priced at RM2899, you can easily get it at a way cheaper price, around the RM2500 range from Shopee or Lazada. The Galaxy S22 (8GB+128GB) at RM 3499 is RM900 more expensive. So, what about the Galaxy S21? While Samsung phased out the 8GB+128GB model to give way to the 8GB+256GB (RM3199). To be honest, I searched high and low only to see the “out of stock” label. You can forget about Pixel 6 as there’s no official distributor for Pixel phones in Malaysia.

In other words, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE fills in the gap, especially for those who are budget-constraint and they want to look for a high-performance phone with an excellent software experience that is under RM3000.