Don't have time to read the full review? Go directly to the Conclusions section to find out what I liked the most and what I liked the least about the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

The Galaxy S family is one of the most desired by users since they offer the most advanced features of the moment. However, the prices of the terminals can be somewhat high for most users.

For this reason, Samsung launched the Galaxy S20 FE last year, a new member of the Galaxy S20 family with a good number of high-end features but also some cuts that allow its price to be more adjusted.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has a 6.5″ FullHD+ screen, Exynos 990 (4G) or Snapdragon 865 (5G) processor, 6/8 GB of RAM, 128/256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, 12MP rear camera (wide angle ) + 12MP (ultra wide angle) + 8MP (3x telephoto), 32MP front camera and 4,500 mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G is on sale for €659 (128GB) / €729 (256GB), while the Galaxy S20 FE 5G is on sale for €759 (128GB) / €829 (256GB) at the Samsung website. However, you can find it at a lower price in other distributors such as Amazon Spain.

I have had the opportunity to test the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE thoroughly for several weeks and here is my in-depth review.

Section of the analysis

1. Design
2. Display
3. Hardware
4. Biometrics
5. Battery
6. Software
7. Multimedia
8. Cameras
9. Calls
10. Price
11. Conclusions

Design and Construction

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has a large immersive screen, which is surrounded by frames that have a rather symmetrical appearance. The bezels themselves are quite narrow, but they can't compete with the extreme thinness that we find, for example, in the Galaxy S20.

Unlike other Samsung smartphones with curved screens on the sides, the screen is completely flat, so the side frames don't hide as well.

However, this is also a positive point since the lateral curvature of the screen of some smartphones produces annoying reflections and color changes in that area.

Samsung has once again chosen to place the front camera in a hole located in the center of the screen.

The hole in this camera is very small, so it's usually pretty inconspicuous.

When using apps that do not run in full screen, the camera hole does not interfere since the area where it is located belongs to the notifications area.

However, in games that run full screen from side to side (no black bars to the right or left), the hole can interfere with what we see on the screen.

In the case of the popular title Asphalt 9, this is not a problem because just that space is free of any element but, for example, in Call of Duty Mobile the hole is just above some interface elements. I think it would have been a better idea to place the camera in the upper left corner so that it falls to the bottom left when holding the phone horizontally.

Other games like Dead Effect 2 are not prepared for such a wide screen and show black bars on both sides, so the camera doesn't interfere at all.

Asphalt 9 on Galaxy S20 FE

Call of Duty on Galaxy S20 FE

In full screen (20:9) games, the camera hole may interfere with the interface

The location of the camera on the screen itself allows the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE to boast a screen-to-body ratio of 85% if we trust GSMArena. This figure is quite high, although it is surpassed by other smartphones with narrower frames, which even exceed values ​​of 90%.

The Galaxy S20 FE has a thickness of 8.4 mm, which is about the average of what we usually find in smartphones nowadays. Its weight is 190 grams, which again is a value that is expected for a smartphone of its size.

< td>228< /tr>< td>189

	Measurements (mm.)	Weight (gr.)	Screen	Screen-to-body ratio (*)
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra	167 × 76 × 8.8	222	6.9″	90%
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra	165 × 77 × 8.1	208	6.9″	92%
LG Velvet 5G	167 × 74 × 7.9	180	6.8″	89%
Xiaomi Mi 11	164 × 75 × 8.1	196	6.8″	91%
Huawei Mate 40 Pro	163 × 76 × 9.1	212	6.8″	94%
iPhone 12 Pro Max	161 × 78 × 7.4	6.7″	87%
Samsung Galaxy S20+	162 × 74 × 7.8	186	6.7″	91%
OPPO Find X2 Pro	165 × 74 × 8.8	207	6.7″	91%
Samsung Galaxy Note20	162 × 75 × 8.3	192	6.7″	89 %
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro	165 × 76 × 9.3	218	6, 7″	85%
OnePlus 8T	161 × 74 × 8.4	188	6.6″	87%
Huawei P40 Pro+	159 × 73 × 9.0	226	6.6″	92%
Huawei P40 Pro	158 × 73 × 9.0	209	6.6″	92%
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE	160 × 74 × 8.4	190	6.5″	85%
Sony Xperia 1 II	165 × 71 × 7.6	181	6.5″	84%
Samsung Galaxy S20	152 × 69 × 7.9	163	6.2″	90%
iPhone 12 Pro	147 × 72 × 7.4	6.1″	86%
iPhone 12	147 × 72 × 7.4	164	6.1″	86%
Huawei P40	149 × 71 × 8.5	175	6.1″	86%
Pixel 5	145 × 70 × 8.0	151	6.0″	86%
iPhone 12 mini	132 × 64 × 7.4	135	5.4″	85%

(*) Screen-to-body ratio data obtained from GSMArena

Samsung decided to do without the Bixby button that was present on the left side of some of its smartphones some time ago, so the Galaxy S20 FE only has two side buttons: power and volume.

The reduction of the upper frame has forced Samsung to do without the notification LED. Luckily, Samsung offers the Always On Display screen that somehow makes up for this absence.

Samsung uses aluminum for the chassis of its smartphones, but this time it has opted for plastic , instead of glass, for the back.

The touch and appearance of plastic is not comparable to the beauty and smoothness of glass, but we understand that it is one of the cuts they have allowed to lower the price. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy Note20 also has a plastic back cover (or glasstic, as Samsung calls glass-like plastic), so it's not an isolated high-end case.

However, I would have liked to see a plastic with a slightly more attractive texture, since smooth plastic looks a bit bland for my taste although, luckily, fingerprints are less marked than on the shiny glass of the Galaxy S20 .

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is covered by Gorilla Glass 3, which is already a bit of an older generation — it was announced in 2013 — of Corning's glass protection technology. In any case, you can expect good protection against bumps and scratches — although it's not comparable to that offered by other smartphones with the latest Gorilla Glass 6 or Gorilla Glass Victus.

The Galaxy S20 FE is available in a wide variety of colors: cloud navy (blue), cloud lavender (violet), cloud mint (green), cloud red (red), cloud white (white) and cloud orange (orange) .

Next, we are going to review the four sides of the Galaxy S20 FE to see what elements we find.

On the right side we find an elongated volume button and the power button.

The left side is free of any buttons or slots.

In the upper part we find the compartment for two nano-SIM cards or, if we prefer, a nano-SIM card and a microSD card.

The bottom of the phone houses a USB-C connector and the speaker. The position of the speaker is not the best because it is easy to accidentally cover it with the hand when we hold the phone horizontally, for example when playing games, although luckily the Galaxy S20 FE has stereo sound, so there is still another free speaker.

The large size of the screen and its elongated appearance make it difficult to reach the top of the phone with one hand. Samsung improved the accessibility of the controls when it launched One UI and, as in the past, it incorporates a one-handed mode that allows the screen to be reduced in size and glued to the side.

Samsung has given the Galaxy S20 FE IP68 resistance against dust and water, so there should be no problem if the smartphone accidentally gets wet. I'm glad Samsung hasn't skimped on this as this type of protection always comes in handy in case of accidents.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has a 6.5″ Super AMOLED panel with a 20:9 ratio and slightly rounded corners. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3, as we have discussed in the previous section.

It is a fairly large screen size and, therefore, ideal for enjoying multimedia content such as photos and videos, as well as browsing web pages or enjoying social networks.

The screen resolution of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is Full HD+ (2,400 x 1,080 pixels), an amount of pixels that represents a pixel density of 407 ppi.

Although other high-end smartphones such as the Galaxy S20 have Quad HD+ resolution, such a high resolution is not necessary on a day-to-day basis. In fact, the Galaxy S20 uses a Full HD+ resolution by default to consume less energy.

In practice, Full HD+ resolution is more than enough for a screen of this size as the pixels are indistinguishable to the naked eye.

Samsung has not skimped on other aspects of the screen, and the panel of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers a refresh rate that reaches 120 Hz.

If you've never tried a smartphone with a high refresh rate, the difference is quite noticeable and, to a certain extent, also addictive because once you've tried it, it's hard to go back to 60 Hz.

The 120 Hz refresh rate of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is especially noticeable when scrolling in the browser or in your social network feeds such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Content moves more smoothly. It's a similar feeling to what you get when watching video shot at 60fps instead of 30fps.

Games also benefit from this higher refresh rate, although today there are few titles that are prepared for a rate above 60 fps.

The main drawback of using a high refresh rate is increased battery consumption, so some smartphones, such as the Galaxy Note20 Ultra, allow you to choose an adaptive frequency that automatically adjusts based on the content displayed. In this way, it is possible to reduce battery consumption since certain apps do not benefit from a high refresh rate.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, however, does not offer adaptive frequency, but you must choose if you want to view the content at 60 or 120 Hz. As we will see in the Battery section, the choice of one refresh rate or another has consequences in autonomy.

Focusing on quality, the Super AMOLED panel offers a color gamut that reaches 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, which is commonly used in the film industry.

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE supports HDR10+, the format that extends the dynamic range of the HDR standard and is mainly driven by Samsung itself. HDR10+ competes with Dolby Vision, which is currently more widespread, and is currently only available on Amazon Prime Video while Dolby Vision is supported by Netflix, Amazon, and others.

Since the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) panel, it uses the same PenTile matrix that Samsung has been using for a long time, with sub-pixels arranged in a diamond pattern instead of in rows .

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE sub-pixel PenTile array

Next, we are going to carry out a set of tests with the professional software CalMAN Ultimate and an X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter to check the quality of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

For some time now, Samsung has only offered two screen modes: Natural and Vivid. Natural mode reflects colors most naturally in both the standard sRGB gamut and the wider DCI P3 gamut, while Vivid mode is designed to produce more vibrant yet unreal colors.

Most smartphones provide one or more color gamuts but these are fixed. However, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers automatic color management. This means that it automatically switches to the appropriate color gamut when displaying image content that has an ICC profile within the wide color space supported by OLED displays, so that images appear in the correct colors. This works, for example, in apps like Google Photos and Samsung Gallery.

In Natural mode, fidelity is excellent as the average error when displaying sRGB content turns out to be very low at 1.9 dE (a value below 4 dE is considered excellent and above 9 is considered unacceptable), and the maximum error turns out to be 6.7 dE in the pure green color.

The display's color temperature in Natural mode is 6,645ºK, quite close to the reference level of 6,500ºK, which implies a pure white color without any color cast.

Natural Mode: Color Fidelity

Natural Mode: Gamut vs. sRGB

Natural Mode: Temperature

Natural Mode: Gamma

Result of screen tests in Natural mode

The Vivid mode takes advantage of the full color gamut of the OLED panel, thus offering an impressive range of colours. Now, if we activate this mode, we will notice that the colors look oversaturated since the vast majority of Android apps are created thinking that the screen has been calibrated for the sRGB gamut.

That's why Samsung calls this mode Vivid. Despite the fact that the colors are unreal, many people prefer to see more intense colors (even if they are not faithful to reality) than duller real colors. This mode also has another important advantage and that is that it is very useful when we use the phone in broad daylight since, under the sun, the colors lose strength.

Due to the excessive saturation of the colors that we have mentioned, the color fidelity of the Vivid mode with respect to the sRGB gamut is lower. The average error turns out to be 5.9 dE and the maximum error turns out to be also high, 16.8 dE.

The color temperature is 7,016ºK, above the reference level of 6,500ºK, which implies a bluish tone that is noticeable in applications with a white background, such as the browser. There is a certain tendency for manufacturers to make their screens blue as our brains instinctively associate warm colors with old things (like old paper) and cool colors with modern things.

Luckily, Samsung has added a white color setting called Color Balance that allows you to alter the level of red, green, and blue on your screen. In this way we can reduce the level of blue and get quite close to the ideal value of 6,500ºK.

Vivid Mode: Color Fidelity

Vivid Mode: Color Gamut vs. DCI P3

Vivid Mode: Color Temperature

Vivid Mode : Gamma

Display test result in Vivid mode

The maximum brightness of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE with automatic brightness deactivated is about 344 nits, but activating the automatic brightness mode gives access to the high brightness mode (HBM) that has allowed us to measure a brightness of 726 nits under strong light like the sun. These tests have been carried out, as usual, with the screen completely blank.

If instead of showing the entire screen in white, we reduce the white surface to a rectangle that occupies 18% of the surface (with the rest being black), the brightness of the illuminated area shoots up and reaches, in my tests, 1,036 nits (the maximum brightness of an OLED screen depends on the number of lit pixels).

In this comparative graph we reflect the maximum brightness value with the screen at 100% in white, since it is the usual way to measure and compare the brightness of a screen.

The maximum brightness value with the screen illuminated at 100% is very high, even more so in the case of an OLED screen. Such high brightness ensures that you will be able to see the screen in any situation, even on the street in bright sunlight.

The color black is very deep, to the point that the colorimeter has been unable to measure any level of gloss. This means that blacks are really black and the contrast is theoretically infinite. One advantage of such a deep black color is that when watching a movie, the black bands around the image appear completely black. Also, black pixels don't consume battery power, so Android's dark mode makes a lot of sense on OLED screens.

OLED screens have a peculiar behavior when viewed from an angle. On the one hand, the light emitters are closer to the surface, and this causes the contrast and brightness to vary less as we move from the center, but on the other hand, the Pentile matrix causes the colors to be distorted.

In the case of the Galaxy S20 FE, the viewing angles are wide and the colors are hardly altered when looking at the screen from an angle. In addition, since the screen is flat, we do not have the problem of color changes at the edges of the screen that we find in smartphones with curved screens on the sides.

An interesting display feature of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is the Always On Display feature.

This functionality causes the phone to display the time (with various clock faces available) and date when the phone is locked, along with colored notification icons and contact information (for example, your phone number or address email). The brightness level of the screen elements is adjusted according to the ambient light.

It is possible to configure that the Always On Display screen is active at all times, only for 10 seconds when we touch the screen or between certain hours. It is also possible to control music playback from that screen.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Always On Display

Like other smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE features a blue light filter functionality that reduces eye fatigue by limiting the amount of blue light emitted from the screen. You can set a schedule for when you want to use the filter or set it to come on from dusk to dawn.

Samsung also allows you to set Dark mode to activate from dusk to dawn or at certain times. This dark mode can also be activated at the bottom of the screen optionally.

Hardware and Performance

In the past, some users have raised concerns about Samsung using Exynos chips in its flagships in Europe (and other regions) since Snapdragon chips traditionally are included in the US and Asia have performed somewhat better in power and range.

With the Galaxy S20 FE, the company has taken a strategy that we had not seen before: offer the same smartphone with two different chips in the same region, differentiating only by the type of cellular connectivity.

The 4G variant of the Galaxy S20 FE has an Exynos 990 processor, while the 5G variant comes with the Snapdragon 865 chip.

< tr>

	Galaxy S20 FE 5G	Galaxy S20 FE 4G
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 1 x Kryo 585 at 2.8GHz3 x Kryo 585 Silver at 2.4GHz4 x Kryo 585 at 1.8GHz	Samsung Exynos 990 2 x 2.7GHz Mongoose M5 2 x 2.5GHz Cortex-A76 4 x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55
Process	7 nm
GPU	Adreno 650	Mali-G77 MP11
Memory	6 GB LPDDR5
Storage< /td>	128 GB UFS 3.1

Features of the two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

As we are analyzing the 5G model, our review unit has a Snapdragon 865 chip, whose successor Snapdragon 888 has been recently announced, although there are still no smartphones on the market with said chip in our country.

Between the two chips, Qualcomm released the Snapdragon 865 Plus variant, which offers around 10% better gaming performance than the Snapdragon 865. However, Samsung has opted for the original chip.

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ℹ️ Info: This is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip is built on a 7nm process and features a 2.84GHz Cortex-A77 prime core, three 2.42GHz Cortex-A77 high-performance cores, and four 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 efficiency cores. GHz.

The Snapdragon 865 does not integrate an LTE modem but must be paired with the X55 5G modem, which also supports LTE Cat. 24/22. The WiFi module is integrated and offers support for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and it also has support for Bluetooth 5.1 including aptX Adaptive.

The integrated GPU is the Adreno 650 which offers around 20% more performance than the Adreno 640 in the Snapdragon 855.

The Hexagon 698 DSP offers better performance, and the Spectra 480 ISP is also considerably faster and adds support for Dolby Vision, 8K videos and photos up to 800 MP. The memory controller supports LPDDR5 up to 2,750 MHz.

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The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has 6 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, the fastest we can find in a smartphone.

Until recently, today's most powerful mobile devices used LPDDR4X RAM with a data rate of 4.266 Mb/s. The new speed of 6,400 Mb/s enables LPDDR5 memory to transfer 51 GB of data, or approximately 14 Full HD video files (3.7 GB each) in one minute.

LPDDR5 memory has been designed to reduce its voltage according to the operating speed of the processor to maximize power savings. Low power characteristics allow LPDDR5 RAM to offer power consumption reductions of up to 30 percent, which has an impact on battery life even though memory isn't exactly the biggest consumer.

I've put the Galaxy S20 FE through some benchmark tests to see how it stacks up against other high-end phones, and the results are included in each test below.

Samsung offers a high performance mode that provides faster speed, but for testing, I used the optimized mode which is the default mode.

In the AnTuTu v8 benchmark, it has achieved a result of 556,683 points, a high score in line with many high-end smartphones of the moment.

In the Geekbench 5 benchmark focused on processor performance, it has achieved 554/2,792 points in the single/multi-core tests, which are excellent results although they do not quite surpass certain smartphones .

In the PCMark 2.0 overall performance test, it got a very good score of 12,163 points. Again it is a very high value at the level of the best.

In terms of storage, the phone scores well in AndroBench's read and write speed tests as it features eUFS 3.1 storage.

In the CPU Throttling test that measures the drop in CPU performance after 15 minutes of sustained load, the phone has obtained a good result since the performance drops 13% in said period . This means that performance when running very demanding apps will not suffer much after long periods of use.

I'm not surprised that the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE performed very well in benchmark tests as it packs some very powerful hardware.

On a day-to-day basis, the One UI interface moves quickly and I haven't noticed any signs of lag or long load times. Popular applications such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix or Google Maps open and move with the speed expected from a high-end.

I have not had any problems with multitasking either, since despite having "only" 6 GB of RAM it is able to keep multiple applications open in memory without them closing unexpectedly.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE moves the most demanding games with ease

Next, we are going to see the results of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE in various graphic tests to verify the expected performance in games.

In the GFXBench test with traditional APIs, the phone achieved very high results.

In GFXBench tests based on modern low-level and high-efficiency APIs (Metal/OpenGL and Vulkan), it also achieves very high results.

In the new 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited test, the phone has scored well in line with other smartphones with similar hardware.

In addition to on-time graphics performance, it is important to know if the phone is able to sustain this performance over time or if it is reduced by increasing processor temperatures. The 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test accurately measures the variation in graphics performance after 20 test runs.

In this test, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has obtained quite good results although some smartphones manage to maintain performance better for prolonged periods.

In the graphics performance tests, the GPU has obtained good results, although we must bear in mind that the screen is set to Full HD+ resolution, so it is favored in the tests carried out to screen resolution compared to other smartphones where tests are performed in Quad HD+.

To test graphics performance on a day-to-day basis, I've tried several demanding 3D games — Real Racing 3, Asphalt 9, and Call of Duty Mobile — and, in all of them, the experience when playing with the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has been been satisfactory.

Using the GameBench software, I have been able to measure various performance parameters in these games in real world play.

👉 Do you know GameBench Pro? GameBench Pro is the industry's leading tool for measuring gaming performance on Android and iOS smartphones. If you want to know more, you can visit their website.

In Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty, you get a stable rate near 60 FPS with no frame drops, in the Real Racing game, which supports even higher FPS rate, you get 102 FPS

< /tbody>

Gameplay	FPS (median)	FPS Stability	Min. Min-Max FPS	%CPU / %GPU
Asphalt 9	57< /td>	99%	44-61	12% / 85%
Real Racing	102	100%	94-109	7% / 40%
Call of Duty	59	100%	55-60	9% / 48%

(*) Game quality settings:

Asphalt 9: Graphics quality set to "default" Real Racing 3: Graphics quality by default Call of Duty Mobile: Graphics quality "very high" and frames per second at "high" speed by default

High-end smartphones tend to get quite warm under high load situations, such as when playing demanding 3D titles. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, I have measured temperatures on the surface of the phone of about 34ºC in the central rear area, which is not annoying at all.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE comes in a single 128GB storage variant. This storage is very fast since it is UFS 3.1 type.

In case you want to expand the storage, you will be happy to know that the Galaxy S20 FE supports micro-SD cards, although you will have to forgo the second SIM card since they share the same tray space.

Unfortunately, Samsung does not allow you to use Android's Adoptable Storage functionality to format your micro-SD card as an extension of internal storage.

The USB-C port is a USB 3.2 Gen 1 type and supports OTG, so you can connect a USB-C key and access it as if it were external storage.

It also supports DisplayPort over USB-C with an HDMI adapter, in case you want to connect it to a display or TV.

In terms of connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax), the protocol for WiFi networks that not only increases speed but is specially designed to connect a large number of devices at the same time without harming the performance. You obviously need a compatible router to take advantage of this technology.

What we still can't find are smartphones compatible with WiFi 6E, the evolution of WiFi 6 that adds the 6 GHz frequency band for better performance. To this day, only the Xiaomi Mi 11, which has not yet arrived in our country, supports this new standard.

As for cellular connectivity, the version I've tested is compatible with 5G networks but there is another slightly cheaper variant (€100 less) that is only compatible with LTE/4G networks, in case you don't think you're going to take advantage of this technology.

Like the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20 FE can only make use of so-called Sub-6 5G, while the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra offer both Sub-6 and mmWave

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ℹ️ Info: 5G connectivity: Sub-6 vs. mmWave

The spectrum used for 5G is divided into two bands: below 6 GHz (Sub-6) and above 24 GHz (mmWave).

The main difference between the two is speed and coverage. The Sub-6 band provides better coverage but top speeds are only 20 percent faster than 4G LTE, so it's not nearly as impressive.

The mmWave band offers a very high download speed (up to 10 Gbps) but the coverage is much worse, about 200 meters, so it can happen that your phone spends more time connected to 4G than to 5G, especially when you are inside a building.

This type of technology is designed for open spaces or areas with a high density of users where many antennas are installed. The lower coverage of mmWave is the reason why operators want to fill cities with 5G antennas, so that there is always one with which you have direct vision.

In Spain, the only band that is available for 5G is sub-6GHz, so having a smartphone with 5G mmWave connectivity is useless today — at least until the corresponding frequency band is put out to tender .

In the US, however, some carriers have rolled out these networks, which is why some smartphones offer access to 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) networks.

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In the tests I have carried out, the network speeds for both Wi-Fi and cellular networks have been satisfactory. The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has reached the maximum capacity of my fiber of 300 Mbps download and 300 Mbps upload via WiFi.

In the 5G cellular connectivity test, I have measured speeds of around 95 Mbps download and 10 Mbps, which is not especially high but these values ​​are highly influenced by coverage.

The Galaxy S20 FE supports Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and various positioning systems (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou). Unfortunately, Samsung has not implemented dual-frequency GPS, so it cannot use two GPS signals to more precisely determine location.

In the "absences" section, it should be noted that it does not incorporate FM radio, which some users will find a limitation, nor does it have an infrared emitter.

Biometrics

Samsung has incorporated a fingerprint reader under the screen of the Galaxy S20 FE that allows you to unlock the phone comfortably by resting your finger on an area of ​​the screen.

While the Galaxy S20 has its ultrasonic sensor that creates a 3D image of the finger using sound waves, the Galaxy S20 FE includes an optical sensor that generates 2D images, so it's not as secure. In return, it seems to be more reliable when it comes to recognizing the fingerprint the first time.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE fingerprint recognition

To unlock the phone, simply place your finger on the area of ​​the screen where the reader is located. One aspect that I like about the Galaxy S20 FE is that the fingerprint area of ​​the screen is marked on the Always On Display, making it easier to hit than on other smartphones.

Samsung has placed the fingerprint reading area too close to the bottom edge for my liking, as the chosen location does not correspond to the natural position of the finger when resting it on the screen. In the Galaxy S20 it is located higher, so I do not know why in this smartphone it is so low.

In the tests that I have carried out, the fingerprint reader has worked well as long as you place a good part of your finger on the sensor area, since if you place it slightly to one side, it does not work or takes longer to recognize. The unlocking speed is good but lower than some smartphones, such as OnePlus.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE facial recognition

Samsung has also included a facial recognition system that uses a 2D image, so it's not as secure as the 3D recognition on the iPhone or certain Android smartphones.

In any case, in my tests I have not been able to fool the system with a photo of my face even in the fastest recognition mode which reduces security. It is also possible to choose whether the eyes must be open to unlock, if you want to prevent them from accessing your phone while you sleep.

Samsung allows fingerprint and face recognition to be active at the same time, so we can use the one that suits us best at any time.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE with its large 6.5″ screen comes with a 4,500 mAh battery. It is exactly the same battery that we found in the Galaxy S20 +, which has a screen that is slightly larger.

To check the autonomy, we have carried out the battery test of the well-known PCMark test: Work 2.0.

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ℹ️ Info: About autonomy tests

Given the importance of the screen in the consumption of the battery, it is important to calibrate with a colorimeter (or a similar instrument) the screens at the same absolute level of brightness (it does not work to put it at 50%) if you want to make comparisons of autonomy between devices.

Otherwise, the results may be greatly affected by the brightness level of each smartphone's screen and are therefore not comparable. We mention this here because not all analyzes take this into account and in this test we sometimes see absurd values.

In the case of PCMark: Work 2.0, the test itself indicates that the test must be performed with the screen calibrated at 200 nits for the results to be comparable. This is how we perform all smartphone tests.

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PCMark Work 2.0 tests the autonomy of the terminal when carrying out a mixture of daily and demanding tasks, since the test simulates browsing web pages, writing texts and inserting images, applying filters to photography, video editing and data manipulation.

Given the impact refresh rate has on smartphone battery life, I've run this test twice: once with the screen at 60Hz and once with the screen at 120Hz.

In the test with the screen set to 60 Hz I got a result of 11 hours and 19 minutes, which is quite a high value compared to other high-end smartphones.

If we adjust the refresh rate to 120 Hz, the autonomy is reduced to 9 hours and 30 minutes, which is a drop of around 16 percent. This means that if you want to enjoy the refresh rate at 120 Hz, you will have to get used to a worse autonomy.

In practice, the autonomy of the Galaxy S20 FE is good and you should not have problems reaching the end of the day with remaining battery even if you use the smartphone quite intensively.

In any case, if you want to extend the autonomy of your device, you will be happy to know that Samsung incorporates, in addition to the default optimized mode and the high performance mode, two energy saving modes: medium and maximum.

Power saving mode limits maximum CPU performance to 70%, reduces maximum brightness to 90%, restricts location and network usage in the background, disables Always On Display, and changes connectivity from 5G to 4G/LTE.

In addition, it is possible to activate an even more demanding energy saving mode by activating the Limit apps and Home screen option that limits the number of applications that we can use, activates Dark mode and restricts the use of biometric functionalities.

Samsung also offers a feature called Adaptive Power Saving, which sets the performance mode based on your usage patterns to save power when you don't need it. However, we do not know how it works since the explanation about this mode is very scarce.

Samsung also allows you to individually select those applications that we do not want to consume battery when they are not being used.

Battery options and power saving

Samsung has added an option that allows you to put apps that have not been used for a while to sleep. These apps don't run in the background, so they may not receive updates or send notifications. We can manually choose those apps that are never inactive, as well as those that should always be in inactive mode.

The Galaxy S20 FE offers 25W fast wired charging, like the Galaxy S20+, while the Galaxy S20 Ultra offers even faster 45W charging. Unfortunately, Samsung has not included a charger with this power in the box, but a standard 10W one comes.

In my tests with an 18W charger that I had around here, the entire process of charging the Galaxy S20 FE has taken a total of 1 hour and 34 minutes. As we can see in the graph, the load is faster up to 90 percent and slows down slightly at the end. In 30 minutes, 40 percent of the battery is charged.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE charging process

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE supports the WPC (Qi) and PMA wireless charging standards, which allow you to charge the phone without using a cable and also does so quickly at 15W if you have a wireless charging base with this technology.

Samsung has included Wireless PowerShare functionality that allows the Galaxy S20 FE to be used as a wireless charging pad to charge other smartphones, headphones or other devices that support wireless charging. The drawback of this charge is that it is quite slow and not very efficient (energy is lost in the transmission process).

Software

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE runs Android 11 and, above the operating system, incorporates the Samsung One UI 3.0 customization layer.

Samsung has confirmed that its latest high-end smartphones (Galaxy S10 and Note10 series onwards) will receive three years of major operating system updates.

Samsung One UI offers quite a colorful icon design, to the point that it can look somewhat childish.

The app drawer is on by default, but Samsung offers the option to turn it off if you prefer to have all the icons on your desktop.

To access the drawer, simply drag the screen up slightly while on the desktop. It is also possible to activate a button that gives access to the application drawer.

In the Settings we can configure that, when dragging the screen down, the drawer does not open but the notifications panel, something that is useful since the notifications and quick access area is somewhat far from the finger due to the length of the screen.

By default the icon grid is 4x5 which makes the icons look too big so my advice is to change it to 4x6, 5x5 or 5x6 . In the same way we can also change the size of the application drawer grid.

Samsung allows you to navigate the interface using the traditional three navigation buttons or through full-screen navigation gestures.

Samsung offers two types of navigation gestures: swipe gestures from each bottom area (left, center and right) and swipe gestures from the sides and bottom like Android.

If we hold down an icon, we can access various options such as Choose, Remove and Uninstall, as well as options specific to that application. For example, in Twitter we can choose Search, New tweet, New message, Capture and Scan QR code; and in the Camera app we can choose between Photo or Video.

Samsung One UI interface

The notification panel at the top shows the time/date and a shortcut to Settings.

Next, we find a row of buttons that give quick access to six settings, without any text. Some of these icons — like WiFi, Sound, Bluetooth, etc. — open various options when held down.

Next, we find the notifications, although it is possible to display many more buttons and access the brightness control by dragging the first row down again or using the two-finger drag gesture on the notification panel. If we click on an arrow next to the brightness control, we can deactivate/activate automatic brightness.

Between the time and the quick settings there are two buttons called Multimedia and Devices that allow us to control the playback of multimedia content on our phone and other Samsung devices, and control devices and scenes from SmartThings.

Notification panel and shortcuts

One UI 3.0 has brought some innovations to the Samsung interface, such as a new quick access panel for music and video playback that now allows you to easily move between the music and video apps you have open (Samsung Music, YouTube , etc.).

The new notification panel also now offers more information at a glance even when your phone is locked, and you can easily check messages from multiple apps in one place.

The lock screen may display a different image each time you unlock your phone. Samsung offers a rich set of high-quality images in 10 different categories: landscapes, plants, life, dogs, gestures, animals, art, food, desserts, and special. Some of these images are those that illustrate the photographs in this analysis.

Lastly, with One UI 3 you can make video calls in full screen and use AR emoji skins that mimic your facial expressions to make video calls more fun.

One of the most useful features is Always On Display, which permanently displays time/date information and notification icons on the screen even when it's turned off. If we double-click on an icon, that application opens when the phone is unlocked.

Samsung offers various layouts for the clock displayed on the Always On Display, and it's even possible to display color elements or photos. In addition to the Always On Display clock, we can also customize the lock screen clock.

If we are outside our usual time zone, we can make the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE show two clocks, one with the local time and one with the home time.

While on the Always On Display screen, we can double-tap the screen to see the lock screen with all notifications.

Samsung offers widgets that can be used on the lock screen and Always On Display.

These widgets give you access to music playback controls, weather, today's schedule, next alarm information, Bixby routines, and digital health.

To see the widgets from the Always On Display screen, double tap on the time and then slide the screen down. Being on the lock screen, just click on the time.

From the lock screen itself we can quickly access two configurable applications through shortcut icons that are located in the corners at the bottom of the screen. By default, we have access to the phone and the camera.

Samsung incorporates a feature called Quick Share, which is Samsung's version of Apple's AirDrop, as well as Nearby Sharing, which is Google's version. Both features allow you to quickly share files with people who are close to you, but Quick Share only works with Samsung terminals.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE incorporates the Multi Window function to run applications in windows, and this functionality is especially useful with the large screen of this phone. It is also possible to open an app in a floating window on the desktop.

The Galaxy S20 FE keyboard is comfortable to use thanks to the large screen size. It incorporates the predictive text functionality, which works quite well, and the possibility of typing by dragging your finger over the keys, automatic punctuation, automatically capitalizing the first letter of each sentence, changing the width and height of the keyboard, etc.

If you're one of those people who don't like letting someone else use their smartphone in case they poke around, you'll be happy to know that Samsung includes a feature called Secure Folder that allows you to protect access to images, notes, emails and apps easily.

Access to the Secure Folder can be protected by pattern, PIN, password or fingerprint. We can configure a different fingerprint to unlock the secure folder, which can be useful if we want to give someone close to us access to our phone via fingerprint, for example, a child, but we don't want them to be able to access the secure folder.

Another option available is to change the secure folder icon to something less recognizable.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE includes a feature called Dual Messaging that allows you to use two separate accounts for the same application.

Those apps that are compatible with Dual Messaging, for example WhatsApp, Facebook or Telegram, allow you to set up two independent accounts. It is even possible to limit the contacts that will be visible to the second instance of the app.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE incorporates control through movements and gestures:

Samsung allows you to customize the action that occurs when you double-tap the home button: quick launch the camera, open Bixby, or open an app. It is also possible to customize what happens when you hold the button: activate Bixby or show the shutdown menu.

After taking a screenshot, Samsung may display a toolbar with additional options to scroll through to capture more of the screen, crop or draw on the screenshot, add tags to the screenshot, or share the screenshot . Another interesting option is to delete the screenshots after being shared through the toolbar.

Another functionality that Samsung incorporates is the ability to send an SOS message to emergency contacts by pressing the Power button three or four times quickly. The message may include images captured by cameras and an audio recording.

The Galaxy S20 FE has the Samsung Pay mobile payment system, which combines the use of NFC and MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technologies with the fingerprint reader to be able to pay in stores using the mobile as a credit card. credit. There are already a large number of financial institutions attached to this system.

The Do Not Disturb function allows you to deactivate notifications — incoming calls, multimedia content, alerts or notifications — at certain times, being able to establish some contacts as allowed so that your calls and messages do arrive. Unfortunately, it does not allow you to choose different hours depending on the day of the week, something that seems basic and easy to implement.

Samsung includes a feature called Notification Reminders to receive reminders about notifications from certain apps and missed calls or messages. We can choose the frequency of the reminders (3, 5, 10 or 15 minutes), if we want it to vibrate and for which applications they will occur.

Of course, the Galaxy S20 FE also supports Smart Lock, a feature that means you don't have to unlock your device with a fingerprint, PIN or password if a trusted Bluetooth device is nearby (for example, a smart bracelet, a Bluetooth headset, etc.), if you have the device on you or if you are in a location you trust.

In the Device Maintenance section we can manage various aspects of the phone's performance from a single point: battery, storage, RAM and security.

The main functions it offers are:

Samsung has added the Google Digital Health functionality that shows us statistics about the use of the smartphone — number of notifications received, unlock number, time spent on each app, etc. — and allows you to set controls.

It also adds Parental Controls to add content restrictions and set other limits to help little ones regulate their screen time.

Samsung has built-in Game Launcher, which organizes all your games in one place automatically, and allows you to mute the game (but not the phone) and select three performance modes (high performance, power saving, and balanced).

For each game we can see total and daily playing time statistics, as well as statistics on how many Galaxy users are playing each title daily. If you link a Discord account, you can see what your friends are playing and chat/talk with them.

Game Launcher

Game Launcher

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Game Launcher

Game Launcher

During the game itself, Game Tools offer interesting features such as: block navigation buttons, screen touch, notifications and calls, full screen gestures, automatic brightness, Bixby or Edge content.

Game Booster learns the usage patterns of each game and optimizes them to achieve the best balance between battery life, performance and temperature. Another interesting option is performance monitoring. Game Tools limits brightness and volume if the phone gets hot, and monitors memory usage.

Game Tools adds useful features when enjoying games

Samsung has added Game Plugins, which allows you to install various enhancements such as:

Samsung has integrated a theme manager that allows you to change the appearance of your phone. In addition to downloading full themes, you can download wallpapers, icon packs, and Always On Display designs.

Some themes are free but others are paid. The theme search engine allows you to search by color tones, in case you are looking for a theme with a particular color tone.

Themes

Themes

Themes

Themes

Samsung also incorporates the Samsung Pass, which allows you to remember users and passwords in applications, and protect their access through biometric authentication. It is also possible to save personal data to automatically fill in forms.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers the Edge screen, which shows a panel with various contents if we drag the side tab inward. By default, several content panels are installed — Applications, People, Smart select, Tasks, Time, Tools, Reminder and Clipboard — that we can activate or deactivate at will.

In my opinion, the Edge screen is more of a curiosity than a useful feature. At least I have not found it very useful and I have rarely remembered that I could access certain information or app through the corresponding panel.

Samsung has included its Bixby assistant on board the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. In addition to being able to respond to our queries and requests by voice, it incorporates a functionality called Routines that allows you to automate certain actions if certain conditions occur (time, place, device connection, event, or button pressed).

Bixby

Bixby

Bixby

Bixby

Samsung also incorporates Samsung Daily a panel that is It is located on the left of the home screen and shows information capsules such as the weather, Netflix recommendations, news, etc. In general, it is not very useful information since it is more promotional content than anything else, so I would prefer that Samsung let you choose Google Discover with personalized news.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has DeX functionality that allows you to connect the phone to a monitor, keyboard and mouse to use it as if it were a computer.

To make the connection you can use a USB-C to HDMI adapter to connect the smartphone to a television / monitor, or you can connect to the television wirelessly if you have a recent Samsung television.

DeX

DeX

DeX

DeX on the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE's screen can act as a touchpad but you'll still need a Bluetooth keyboard to be truly productive (and possibly a Bluetooth mouse as well because the screen isn't the best touchpad).

Using DeX, the phone's interface looks like a computer desktop on the monitor, where we can open apps in windows, browse desktop versions of web pages, create shortcuts, receive notifications, etc. Some apps like the Microsoft Office suite are adapted to this mode, making it quite useful for creating and editing documents.

Samsung also supports the connection of the phone to a Windows 7/10 or macOS computer with DeX software installed.

The phone's DeX interface is displayed in a window on the computer's desktop and we can use the computer's keyboard and mouse, as well as drag content between the computer and the phone to copy images, audio files, etc.

Samsung also allows you to open phone apps in Windows windows thanks to the phone pairing functionality.

Samsung comes with some of its own apps pre-installed but offers many more through its own Galaxy Apps store and, of course, Google's Play Store. The only Samsung apps that come pre-installed are Bixby, My Files, and Zona AR.

The AR Zone application offers several functionalities such as AR Emoji Camera, AR Drawings, AR Emoji Studio, AR Emoji Stickers, Photo Decor and Picture Link. All of these features take advantage of Augmented Reality capabilities to create and customize AR Emojis, scan 3D objects, or perform measurements, among other features.

AR Emoji functionality

As for third-party apps, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE comes with quite a few pre-installed apps such as Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft OneDrive and, of course, Google apps.

Multimedia

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has two speakers that offer stereo sound but the sound they emit is not fully balanced since one emits more power than the other. One of the speakers is located at the bottom of the device, next to the USB-C connector, and the other is located in the ear cup.

While it's possible to accidentally cover the speaker on the bottom by holding the phone horizontally, it's more difficult to cover the earpiece in your ear.

The sound from the Galaxy S20 FE's speakers is pleasant, with good midrange and treble reproduction.

At maximum volume, the sound is heard without distortion, and although some phones output at a higher volume, it is enough to watch videos or listen to podcasts in an environment that is not too noisy.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE supports Dolby Atmos surround sound, which you can enjoy both with headphones and with the phone's own speakers. It is possible to select Dolby Atmos sound to be activated automatically for games.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE supports 32-bit UHQ audio, and also supports PCM up to 32-bit.

In addition, it has Bluetooth Dual Audio functionality that allows you to play music on two Bluetooth speakers at the same time, which can be useful if you have more than one Bluetooth speaker or headset. However, the speakers don't necessarily sound in perfect sync, so it's more intended for situations where the speakers are separate — say, one in each room — or headphones are used.

Samsung has incorporated some interesting sound features such as Adapt Sound to calibrate the sound emitted through headphones to the frequency response of our ears. Samsung incorporates an equalizer and a feature called UHQ Optimizer that improves the sound resolution of music and videos.

Another interesting option is independent application sound, which allows you to play the sound of an application on another audio device. In this way we can make an app like Spotify play the sound through a Bluetooth speaker while the rest of the sounds continue to play on the phone.

Sound

Sound

Sound

Sound

Samsung has added a feature called Music Share that Let your friends play music on your Bluetooth speaker just by connecting to your smartphone via Bluetooth. This way, you don't have to disconnect from the speaker for your friend to connect.

As usual, Samsung has not included a 3.5mm headphone jack. This means you'll have to resort to Bluetooth or USB-C headphones, or use a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter that Samsung didn't include in the box.

Samsung has chosen not to include its own music player, so you can choose to use YT Music, Google's player, or Samsung's Samsung Music app, which you can download from the Galaxy Apps store.

The Gallery app is used to view the photos and videos stored on the phone, as well as to edit the images using various built-in functionalities. The app has three tabs at the bottom: Images, Albums and Stories.

One of the cool features this app offers is that when you save an edited image, it replaces the original image but you can always hit Revert to undo everything and go back to the original image — regardless of how many times you've saved it .

Within the editing options, there is the possibility of adding filters. Although a good number of filters come pre-installed, it is possible to download new filters from the Galaxy store.

The Gallery app groups similar photos of the same object (up to 100 shots in a single day) in the gallery for greater cleanliness. In this way you will not see so many repeated photos if you have taken more than one photo of the same object.

It is also possible to edit videos from the app itself: change the aspect ratio, crop the parts you don't want and even adjust the perspective.

Gallery

Gallery

Gallery

Gallery

Playing videos stored on the phone is good thanks to its excellent screen that, as we have mentioned, offers deep blacks and high brightness. I have tried playing 4K videos encoded with both H.264 and the newer HEVC codec, and the phone was able to play them without issue.

Of course, we can also enjoy video from streaming services such as Netflix, HBO or Amazon Prime Video. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has the Widevine L1 library, so it is possible to view content from these streaming services in HD without problems.

Finally, on YouTube and Amazon Prime we can enjoy content in HDR format but, for some reason, Netflix does not seem to have certified the terminal to display HDR content.

Photography and video

Samsung has incorporated three cameras on the back of the Galaxy S20 FE:

On paper, the main camera is identical to the one found in the Galaxy S20 / S20 but the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras have slightly lower specifications.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has three cameras on the back

The triple rear camera of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers great versatility as it allows you to take pictures both with a wide field of vision (ultra wide angle) and with a high zoom (3x telephoto lens) to get closer to the details.

Below, we can see the same scenes captured by the three cameras and the difference in perspective is abysmal.

Ultra Wide Angle Camera

Standard Wide Angle Camera

Telephoto camera

Ultra-wide angle camera

Standard wide-angle camera

Telephoto camera

The Camera app is not limited to taking pictures but also suggests you modify the framing in certain captures. However, if you're an experienced photographer, you'll probably want to disable these tips as they can be annoying.

Other times, the Camera app suggests that you use a particular camera. This happens, for example, when photographing landscapes, since a message usually appears that encourages you to use the ultra-wide angle camera.

The camera suggests reframing the image so that everything is in the center

The Camera app displays three main shooting modes — Single Shot, Photo, and Video — but offers additional modes: Pro, Panorama, Food, Night, Live Focus, Dynamic Video, Pro Video, Super Slow Motion, Slow Motion, and Fast Motion .

When capturing photos, we can apply existing filters as well as download additional filters from the Galaxy Store.

An interesting aspect of the app is that it is capable of detecting errors when taking photos, such as the lens being dirty or covered with a finger, the person being photographed closing their eyes, or the photo being blurred .

Next, we're going to review the quality of each of the three rear cameras.

We start with the ultra-wide angle camera, which allows you to take some very spectacular photos thanks to the fact that it captures much more elements than can normally fit in a photograph. It offers a slightly higher field of vision than the Galaxy S20 (123º vs. 120º), although it is not a big difference.

Although ultra-wide cameras distort at the edges, Samsung has done a good job of reducing distortion so that straight lines don't look curved. The main limitation of this camera is that it does not have optical stabilization and its aperture is somewhat limited, so it is not suitable for taking pictures in low light situations.

Photographs taken with the ultra-wide angle camera

The telephoto camera allows you to take pictures with 3X optical zoom, which allows us to get closer to distant objects without losing quality. This can be very useful for those occasions in which we want to focus attention on a particular element and we cannot (or do not want to) physically approach it.

One strange aspect of this camera is that despite having 8MP resolution, it still produces 12MP photos. I assume that a software rescaling is done so that all cameras produce images with the same resolution.

Here are some examples of photos taken with the telephoto lens. Image quality during the day is good, but in low light conditions, details are lost and it looks quite blurry.

Photographs taken with the 3x telephoto camera

One advantage of using the telephoto lens is that we are able to reduce wide-angle distortion when shooting close subjects compared to the main camera.

This is especially noticeable in portraits of people, as with the main camera you see lopsided heads if you get really close while with the telephoto camera they look more natural, without any distortion. However, for some reason, Samsung has preferred to use the wide-angle camera when activating Portrait mode (or Live Focus in Samsung's nomenclature).

Finally, the standard wide-angle camera is the one most commonly used for taking pictures and therefore the one that arouses the most interest.

Here are some photos taken with the standard camera. Overall, the camera does a very good job of preserving detail and maintaining good color even in low-light conditions.

Photographs taken with the main camera

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is capable of taking photos in Portrait mode with the background artificially blurred, although Samsung calls this feature Live Focus.

The limitation of this mode, as I have mentioned before, is that it makes use of the wide-angle camera, so it is not suitable for taking close-ups since we have to get too close to the person to be portrayed and the head is distorted .

Below, we can see some examples of photography taken with and without dynamic focus. As we can see, the Galaxy S20+ does a good job of separating the person from the background of the image, although hair is always a problem.

» Original Photographs: Normal and Blur

» Original Photographs: Normal and Blur

» Original Photographs: Normal and Blur

Below, we can see other examples of photos with the dynamic focus mode that, in general, offers very good results, above many other smartphones that I have tested.

Photographs taken in Live Focus mode

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE allows you to adjust the degree of background blur afterwards, as well as apply artistic effects to the background such as creating a pan / zoom effect or tinting it black and white.

Here we can see several of these effects applied to a portrait:

Large Circle effect

Rotate effect

Zoom effect

Color area effect

Artistic effects that can be applied to Portraits

As a curiosity, Dynamic Blur can be applied not only to people but also to objects, as we can see in this example.

Without blur

With blur

Leaving Portraits aside, Samsung has incorporated an AI scene optimization system that optimizes the capture parameters based on what we are photographing. It is able to identify 30 different scenes: Face, Baby, Person, Dog, Cat, Food, People, Beaches, Sky, Mountain, Sunset, Dawn, City, Snow, Waterfall, Shore, Scenery, Vehicles, Drinks, Flowers, Trees, Vegetation, Animal, Shoes, Backlight, Interior, Text, Clothes and Night view.

This mode can be easily deactivated while taking the picture but not afterwards. In many cases, the adjustment consists of increasing the saturation of the colors to make the object look more vivid, but luckily the effect is not too exaggerated.

Here are some photos taken without and with the scene optimization system.

Without optimization

With optimization (food)

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Without optimization

With optimization (snow)

Without optimization

With optimization (plant)

Scene Optimization Operation Examples

Samsung also offers a Night mode that increases light in dark scenes by capturing and merging multiple images at different exposures. However, it is not as comfortable as the Night mode of the iPhone, which is activated automatically, since in the Galaxy S20 FE it is necessary to activate it manually.

This mode takes a little longer to register the image but the result is quite good as it reduces noise and improves sharpness in dark scenes. This is especially noticeable in the branches of the trees that appear in the following sample photos, as well as in the small windows of the buildings.

Normal mode

Night mode

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Normal mode

Night mode

Examples of mode operation Evening

Another of the features of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE camera is the AR Emoji mode, which allows you to create an animated avatar inspired by our face that we can bring to life through our voice and facial movements.

The process of creating the avatar or, as Samsung calls it, the AR Emoji, is very simple since it is enough to take a selfie and let the phone work for a few seconds. The result is an emoji that supposedly resembles us and that can be customized by changing the skin, hair, facial hair, face, eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, and ears, as well as changing clothes and adding accessories.

If you're an expert user, you'll be happy to know that Samsung includes a Pro mode that lets you manually adjust parameters like ISO sensitivity, focus point, white balance, shutter speed, and more. We can also save the images in JPEG and RAW format for further editing.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is capable of recording video in UHD/4K (3840×2160) at 24/30/60fps, Full HD/1080p (1920×1080) at 24/30/60fps and HD/720p (1280 ×720) with the rear camera. In addition, it allows you to record HDR10 + video to [email protected] experimentally with greater contrast and color.

During recording in 4K resolution at 30/60fps or Full HD at 60fps, tracking AF (keeping the camera focused on the selected subject even if it moves) and video effects are not available.

We also found a new recording mode called Professional Video that offers manual controls for choosing ISO level, shutter speed, focus point, color temperature and exposure. It is possible to switch from the front to the rear camera while recording to obtain a single video with the recording of both shots.

Here are some examples of videos recorded in [email protected] and [email protected] resolution. In both cases, the image quality is very good.

Videos recorded for the day in [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]

I have also recorded some videos at night, in low light conditions, at [email protected] and [email protected] resolutions. In both cases, the image quality is quite good considering the low lighting there was. in the area, although grain is noted in the dark areas.

Videos recorded at night in [email protected] and [email protected]

When recording video, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers a Super Stabilization mode that is only available in Full HD resolution at 30 fps. This mode produces a very stable image at the cost of using the ultra-wide angle camera, which offers lower quality than the main camera.

In order to reduce the space occupied by videos, Samsung allows you to use the high-efficiency HEVC (H.265) format which reduces the space occupied by the video but you may have compatibility issues when playing it on another device.

Samsung has included a feature called Single Capture where you just point your phone at a subject, press the shutter, and wait 5-15 seconds. The camera will capture a short movie, some GIFs, and multiple photos with all cameras. It then presents them all in a collage where you can pick your favorites. In my opinion, it is more of a curiosity than something useful.

The front camera of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE consists of a 32MP camera, f/2.2 aperture and an 81º wide-angle field of view. This camera does not have autofocus, so your face will only come out perfectly focused at a distance.

Samsung has included a wide-angle camera that is especially suitable for taking selfies of two people, but it also offers a single shooting mode in which it takes a 6.5 MP crop on the image captured by the sensor. When the camera detects that there are two people in the image, it automatically switches to a wide selfie mode.

Here we can see the difference between taking a photo with selfie mode for two people or individual selfies.

Selfie in “single” mode

Selfie in “two people” mode

Difference between single / two person selfie modes

Here are some selfies taken with the Galaxy S20 FE camera, which offer good image quality without overexposing the background even in high-contrast situations.

Selfies taken with the front camera of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

The front camera offers a Live Focus mode that can blur the background to produce the bokeh effect.

Below, we can see a couple of examples of selfies taken with this functionality where we can see that Samsung has done a good job implementing this processing.

Selfies taken in Dynamic Focus mode with the front camera of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

The front camera can record videos in UHD/4K at 30/60fps, Full HD/1080p at 30/60 fps and HD/720p at 30fps. When shooting UHD/4K video, AF with tracking, video effects and stabilization are not available, while in Full HD/1080p@60fps AF with tracking and video effects are not available, and at Full HD/ 1080p@30fps cannot use Tracking AF.

Voice calls

In the tests I have carried out, the voice quality is correct and I have been able to hold conversations perfectly in moderately noisy environments without difficulties.

Samsung's Contacts app and Phone app do the job well. If we open the details of a contact, all the possible ways to contact him are shown, even through third-party applications such as WhatsApp.

An interesting feature is that you can quickly make a call by dragging your finger from left to right over a contact name. If you drag him in the opposite direction you send him a text message.

Newly, Samsung lets you select an image or video to display when you make or receive a call.

Finally, the Calls app has a tab called Places that shows popular places near your location organized by categories: arts and entertainment, automotive, beauty and spas, bicycles and cycling, educational centers, event organizers, services financial, food, health services, domestic services, hotels and travel, local food, local services, news and media, nightlife, pets, places of worship, professional services, public services, real estate, restaurants, shopping, and sports and activities .

Price and competitors

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 4G is on sale for €659 (128GB) / €729 (256GB), while the Galaxy S20 FE 5G is on sale for €759 (128GB) / €829 (256GB) on the Samsung website. However, you can find it at a lower price on Amazon Spain, starting at around €550 for the 4G version and €640 for the 5G version.

If we look at other Samsung smartphones, the other members of the Galaxy S20 family are clear alternatives to this smartphone.

First of all, we have the “small” Samsung Galaxy S20 (€698 on Amazon) that has a 6.2″ AMOLED screen, Exynos 990 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of UFS 3.0 storage, triple 12MP rear camera ( wide angle) + 64MP (telephoto) + 12MP (ultra wide angle), 10MP front camera and 4,000 mAh battery.

With a more similar size is the Samsung Galaxy S20+ (€670 on Amazon), which has a 6.7″ Dynamic AMOLED screen, Exynos 990 processor, 12GB of RAM, 128/256/512 GB of UFS 3.0 storage, 12MP (wide angle) + 64MP (3x telephoto) + 12MP (ultra wide angle) + ToF rear camera, 10MP front camera and 4,500 mA battery.

And there is also the “big” brother Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (€1049 on Amazon) that has superior specifications: 6.9″ AMOLED screen, Exynos 990 processor, 12/16 GB of RAM, 128/256/512 GB UFS 3.0 storage, 108MP rear camera (wide angle) + periscopic with 10x hybrid zoom (48MP) + ultra wide angle camera (12MP) + depth (0.3MP), 40MP front camera and 5,000 mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, S20+ and S20

Another interesting option is the OnePlus 8T (€599 on Amazon) which has a 6.55″ Fluid AMOLED screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 8/12GB of RAM, 128/256GB of storage, 48MP rear camera (large angle) + 16MP (ultra wide angle) + 5MP (macro) + 2MP (depth), 16MP front camera and 4,500 mAh battery with 65W fast charging.

Finally, an option to consider is the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (€554 on Amazon), which has a 6.7″ LCD screen, Snapdragon 865 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128/256GB of storage, rear camera 108MP (wide angle) + 13MP (ultra wide angle) + 5MP (macro), 20MP front camera and 5,000 mAh battery with 33W fast charging.

Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro

Conclusions

Samsung launched three flagships from earlier in the year — the Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra — and last October, launched the Galaxy S20 FE as a more affordable option within the same smartphone family.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has a large 6.5″ screen surrounded by symmetrical and relatively narrow bezels, although they are far from being as thin as the rest of the Galaxy S20 family.

The screen of the Galaxy S20 FE is completely flat, so there are no reflections on the sides or color changes. In return, the side frames of the screen are not as hidden as in other smartphones with curved screens on the sides.

Samsung has repeated the formula of the camera with a hole in the center of the screen, which is quite small.

On a day-to-day basis, the camera hole does not interfere with the use of the phone, except in some games that may show interface elements right in that area.

The screen is covered by Gorilla Glass 3 glass, an already somewhat old generation of Corning's coating since it dates from 2013.

The rear of the Galaxy S20 FE is made of plastic instead of glass, so it looks less sophisticated and, in my opinion, a bit bland without any texture.

The good news is that this finish is less attractive to fingerprints and is also available in a variety of colors: blue, purple, green, red, white and orange.

Samsung has incorporated an optical fingerprint reader under the screen. Recognition is effective and generally quite fast, although not as fast as on other flagships. The reader is positioned too low for my liking, since it is not a place where it is placed naturally.

Samsung has also incorporated a 2D facial recognition system which, while not as secure as a fingerprint, is a convenient way to unlock your phone.

As usual with Samsung smartphones, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is excellent. It features a Super AMOLED panel with HDR10+ support and two color modes called Natural and Vivid that cover the wide DCI P3 color space.

In the Natural color mode, the color fidelity is very high, while the Vivid mode produces oversaturated colors that many users find more striking even if they are less realistic and can be misleading (for example, if you buy a garment clothes or a piece of furniture from the mobile).

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE offers pure blacks and wide viewing angles, and the brightness of the screen is one of the highest I have measured on a smartphone. It reaches 726 nits with a 100% white screen and I have measured more than 1,036 nits by reducing the illuminated area to 18%.

Of course, Samsung incorporates the Always On Display functionality, which shows the time/date, pending notification icons and fingerprint icon in the unlock area. It is possible to turn on the screen with a double tap.

In addition, the screen of the Galaxy S20 FE offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which makes scrolling and animations feel smoother. However, the refresh rate is fixed at 60 or 120 Hz, without it being possible to select an adaptive refresh rate to reduce battery consumption.

The performance of the Galaxy S20 FE is excellent, as expected given that the 5G variant I've tested packs the powerful Snapdragon 865 processor (the 4G variant uses an Exynos 990 processor).

In the benchmarks, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has achieved very high results, in line with what could be expected in view of its hardware.

On a day-to-day basis, the Galaxy S20 FE moves smoothly, with no stutters or signs of sluggishness.

Not only do apps load fast and run smoothly, but also demanding 3D games like Asphalt 9, Real Racing or Call of Duty Mobile move at full speed with high and stable FPS rates, without dropping frames.

The Galaxy S20 FE incorporates 6 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, the fastest we can find today. Other smartphones have more memory but 6GB is enough to keep a good number of apps in memory.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE comes with 128 UFS 3.1 storage, which is also the fastest we can find today.

The storage is expandable via micro-SD cards, in case you need even more capacity but this means that you will lose the possibility of inserting a second SIM.

In terms of connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax), the most advanced protocol for WiFi networks (in the absence of WiFi 6E being imposed), and LTE/4G or 5G cellular connectivity depending on the variant you choose.

Samsung has endowed the Galaxy S20 FE with a 4,500 mAh battery, a fairly generous capacity. In my tests, it has obtained very good autonomy results with the screen set to 60 Hz. With the refresh rate at 120 Hz, the autonomy suffers and falls by 16 percent in the PCMark: Work test but it is still good.

Samsung has built in fast 25W wired charging but the charger included in the box only supports 10W. With an 18W charger, the entire process of charging the Galaxy S20 FE has taken a total of 1 hour and 34 minutes.

Samsung has also incorporated fast wireless charging at 15W and allows other devices to be powered wirelessly (for example, smartphones or other accessories) although quite slowly.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has stereo speakers, one of them in the ear cup and another located next to the USB-C connector, although the sound is not fully balanced. These speakers emit sound with sufficient power and good quality.

It offers Dolby Atmos surround sound, which can be enjoyed with both headphones and the phone's own speakers.

In the absent section we must mention the 3.5mm headphone jack, which has been eliminated as in many other high-end smartphones. Samsung has also not included headphones in the box of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has already been updated to Android 11 and, on top of that, it runs the Samsung One UI 3.0 customization layer. One piece of good news is that Samsung has announced that the Galaxy S series smartphones will receive three years of Android major version updates and security patches.

Samsung has removed almost all of its own apps that came pre-loaded in the past but you can access all of them from the Galaxy Store and of course the Google Play Store is also available.

Samsung One UI 3.0 offers a lot of software features above Android such as gesture control, energy saving modes, secure folder, dual messaging, Game Tools with new Game Plugins, panels Edge, Samsung Pass, Samsung Pay, Quick Share or the virtual assistant Bixby.

One of Samsung's interesting features is DeX, which allows you to use your phone as if it were a computer by simply connecting it via an HDMI cable or even wirelessly to a display and, optionally, a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

It is also possible to connect it to a Windows 7/10 or macOS computer and access DeX in a computer window.

Samsung has incorporated three cameras on the back of the Galaxy S20 FE that offer great versatility as they allow you to take shots in ultra wide angle (12MP f / 2.2), wide angle (12MP f / 1.8) and 3x telephoto (8MP f/2.4).

There is a feature called Scene Optimization that, through AI, detects a scene (food, snow, buildings, cars or vegetation) and applies certain settings automatically. The settings are quite subtle, so you won't regret turning it on.

Samsung also incorporates a mode called Live Focus that allows you to adjust the background blur in a photo (even after the fact) to simulate the familiar bokeh effect, and the result is quite good when taking portraits.

However, this mode uses the wide-angle camera, so in close-ups the heads look a bit misshapen — I would have preferred if Samsung gave the ability to choose the telephoto camera for these shots.

The ultra-wide angle camera offers good image quality in good light conditions, but it is not a camera designed for night photos due to its limited aperture and lack of optical stabilization.

The 3x telephoto camera also offers very good images during the day, but image quality suffers significantly at night due to the smaller aperture of the lens. In addition, its 8MP resolution is not as high as other smartphones, and this is noticeable in the sharpness despite the fact that Samsung rescales the image to 12MP.

Lastly, the main camera (wide angle) achieves quite good results, as expected since it is the same one found in the Galaxy S20 / S20+. Images in good light are sharp and well-exposed, and shots at night offer fairly low noise.

In addition, Samsung incorporates a Night mode that improves image quality in low light conditions. The photo takes longer to capture but the result is clearly superior, with sharper images and less noise. I would like this mode to be activated automatically, instead of having to choose it manually.

The front camera of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has a 32MP sensor and f/2.2 aperture, and allows you to take individual selfies or group selfies with a wider viewing angle. The image quality is quite good and it is even possible to take selfies with a blurred background.

The rear camera is capable of recording video in 4K resolution (7680×4320) at 24/30/60 fps, with very good image quality.

In addition, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE allows you to record HDR10+ video at [email protected] with greater contrast and color although this functionality is in beta.

In the videos I have recorded, the image quality has been good in all modes, although at night there is some graininess in dark areas such as the sky.

Samsung offers a Super Stabilization mode but it is only available at [email protected] and uses the ultra wide angle camera, which offers lower image quality.

Lastly, I cannot fail to name the AR Emoji, the functionality that allows us to create avatars in our image and likeness and, later, animate them. Samsung includes some games that can entertain the little ones in the house, since it is still a curiosity.

In conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is a highly recommended smartphone if you are looking for a device with an excellent screen, great power, a large number of software features and a versatile set of cameras.

The best:

The worst:

Note: The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has been kindly provided by Samsung Spain to carry out this analysis.

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