Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G Review

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE) 5G is now the most affordable option within the brand’s premium S21 series. It’s got a few trimmings yet still retains notable premium specifications. But as most of you already know, its release was delayed due to chipset shortage last year 2021, placing it at a bit of a weird spot in the market today. So, can it keep up then? Keep on reading for our full review.

Design and Construction

Just like its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G shares a similar design language to its more expensive S21 brothers. Particularly, it looks more like the vanilla S21, but since it sports solid colorways and polycarbonate back, it reminds us more of the Samsung Galaxy A52 and A72.

One of the things we like about this design is how clean and minimalist it looks, it’s IP68 water and dust resistant, and it doesn’t attract smudges easily.

As you can see, the one we have is in the Olive colorway, and locally it’s also available in Graphite, Lavender, and White. The phone does still feel premium in a way, thanks to its aluminum frame and Dynamic Amoled 2X display with slim bezels and the usual punch hole notch on the upper center. For protection, it’s got a layer of Gorilla Glass Victus on top.

When it comes to buttons and ports, there’s nothing on the left side but located on the right are all the buttons; the volume rocker and the power trigger.

Up top, there’s a secondary microphone, while at the bottom are your USB Type-C port, main loudspeaker, main microphone, and a dual card slot for two nanoSIM cards.

Display and Multimedia

Upfront, we get a slightly larger screen compared to the classic Galaxy S21 at 6.41-inches. This 120Hz Dynamic Amoled 2X panel has a resolution of 2340 x 1080px and a pixel density of 411ppi—giving us a smooth and vibrant display with very good outdoor visibility. This is more than enough if you love playing games or streaming videos.

In the display settings, you can adjust the refresh rate from a high 120Hz to the standard 60Hz if you want to save more battery life. You can also switch to the familiar system-wide dark mode and tweak the screen color mode to your preference.

Audio-wise, its down-firing stereo speaker and earpiece produce averagely good quality. It can fill a room and can get loud enough without getting too distorted when the volume is set to maximum. Mids and highs are present, but the lows are pretty much absent.

Cameras

Moving on to cameras, its three lenses at the back are composed of a 12MP main with the same sensor as S21 and S21+; then, we get a 12MP ultrawide and an 8MP telephoto lens. For selfies, on its notch resides a 32MP front shooter.

Quality-wise, shots from the rear camera mostly have great results, especially under ample lighting. Details are very apparent, and shots are vibrant with very good colors. We appreciate that there’s a subtle depth effect going on even when you’re not using the portrait mode. Now the main portrait mode works great as well if you focus it correctly.

Using night mode sure does improve lowlight or dark scenarios. Our shot was brightened in a way that it won’t look too grainy or washed, and that’s good.

Upfront, its selfie camera provides natural-looking shots under ample lighting. The skin tone sometimes tends to alter, but most of the time, it works fine. If you want some selfie uplift, then you can always take advantage of its beauty mode and filters.

For other features, there’s Samsung’s own Single Take mode, Food mode, Panorama, Pro, AR Doodle, Super Slow-Mo, Hyperlapse, and Dual Recording.

Checking out videos, you can shoot up to 4k at 60fps, but the Super Steady stabilization is only usable for 1080p at 30fps. You can use the Pro Video, though, if you want more control for specific subjects and scenarios.

OS, UI, and Apps

Moving on to software, the unit we have runs on Android 11 skinned with One UI 3.1, but according to Samsung Philippines, the retail units will already be available with OneUI 4 that’s based on Android 12.

Now, OneUI 4 still has a lot of similarities to OneUI 3.1 but with some enhancements on theming, security, privacy, the camera app, and even on some updated widgets style. Other than that, you can expect the standards such as a home screen drawer option, gesture navigation option, and multitasking quirks such as split-screen and pop-up view.

Out of the 128GB of storage that we have, we get a usable 108GB right out of the box. If that’s not enough for you, then there’s a 256GB variant available. Unfortunately, there’s no option to expand the storage via a microSD card.

Performance and Benchmarks

So one of the things you can expect with this phone is its flagship-grade performance—just like its S21 siblings. Under the hood, the local S21 FE is equipped with an Exynos 2100 processor together with a Mali-G78 GPU and 8GB of RAM.

When we were using it, the experience was great. Apps load quickly, multitasking is a breeze, and it can practically handle anything you throw at it, including playing heavy graphic games.

If you’re interested, here are the benchmark scores that we got:

AnTuTu v9.2.6 – 534,705
AnTuTu v9.1.7 Storage Test – 59,620, (1,686.7 MB/s Seq. Read, 972.7 MB/s Seq. Write)
Geekbench 5.4.4 – 761 (Single-Core), 3,165 (Multi-Core)
PCMark – 12,979 (Work 3.0)
3D Mark – 5,864, 35.10 Ave FPS (Wild Life), 1,891 Ave FPS (Wild Life Extreme)

When it comes to biometrics and security, you can unlock the device via its in-display fingerprint scanner or through facial recognition. They’re fast and reliable; however, the fingerprint sensor is placed on the lower part of the display, so it can take some getting used to.

Connectivity and Battery Life

For connectivity features, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G is equipped with WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, 4G LTE, and of course, 5G.

Keeping this device running is a 4,500mAh capacity, which is similar to its predecessor with the same 25W fast charging, 15W fast wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. As some of you probably already know, the retail unit no longer comes with a charging adapter, and the cable that comes with it is a USB-C-to-C type, so you’ll be needing a USB-PD adapter or a standard Type-C charger if you already have one.

When we ran it through the PCMark’s battery test, the device rated 10 hours and 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in our standard video loop test, which entails playing a 1080p video on loop at 50% brightness, 0% volume, and airplane mode turned on, it yielded 16 hours. Generally, the S21 FE can last you a whole day of moderate use and even with some light gaming. Charging, on the other hand, takes around an hour and 30 minutes from 0 to 100%.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE) 5G is locally available in two variants; PHP 38,990 for the 128GB and PHP 41,990 for the 256GB.

All-in-all, this is a very good daily driver with a water-resistant build, stunning display, flagship performance, deliverable cameras, and 5G connectivity. It’s PHP 6,000 less than the regular Galaxy S21, making it a better choice with almost the same offering. However, as it was released much later than expected, the S21 FE comes in at a tough spot. For one, the Galaxy S22 series is surely expected to be released in the coming months, and second, for its price, some consumers would rather look at discounted old flagship models. Nonetheless, as I said earlier, it’s still an excellent daily driver. If you like it, then go ahead!

Now I’m gonna pass the question to you guys. What do you think of this Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G? Do share with us in the comments.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G specs:
6.4-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display
120Hz refresh rate
240Hz touch sampling rate
Samsung Exynos 2100 SoC
8GB RAM
128GB, 256GB storage
Triple rear cameras:
• 12MP F2.2 (ultrawide)
• 12MP F1.8 (wide)
• 8MP F2.4 (telephoto)
32MP F2.2 front camera
Dual-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
WiFi
Bluetooth
NFC
GPS, A-GPS
IP68 water and dust resistance
OneUI 4 (Android 12)
4,500mAh battery w/ 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging
155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9mm
177g
Olive, Lavender, White, Graphite