Samsung releases the remix Galaxy S21
Samsung is finally releasing the Galaxy S21 FE, after much publicity on the rumor mill , and we've got a sneak peek at the phone.
The phone is a slightly different and slightly cheaper addition to the S21 series, and if the speculation was correct, it should actually have been among us already in the autumn of last year. But the claim on the rumor mill was that the ongoing shortage of chips and the unexpectedly great need for hardware in the Galaxy Z Flip 3 folding mobile together meant postponements for this more traditional phone.
It has some of the same differences from the "originals" that made last year's S20 FE 5G very exciting . Among other things, different and slightly more powerful hardware under the hood. Simply a slightly different focus - but also a fairly high price at around 8200 kroner.
Fortunately for the S21 FE, it is a little different from all its relatives.
relatives
Specifications: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
Price : From 8200 kroner
Size
Dimensions: 15.57 x 7.45 x 0.79 centimeters
Weight : 177 grams
Screen : 6.4 inches, 2400 x 1080 pixels, OLED, 120 Hz, Gorilla Glass Victus, HDR10 +
Hardware
Processor : Snapdragon 888 5G
RAM and storage : 6 or 8 GB RAM, 128 or 256 GB storage, UFS3.1
Camera
Main camera : 12 MP, f / 1.8, Dual Pixel, OIS
Ultra-wide angle : 12 MP, f / 2.2
Telecamera : 8 MP
Front camera : 32 MP, f / 2.2
Other
Battery size: 4500 mAh
Charging: 25 watt wired (charger not included), 15 watt wireless (Qi), wireless friend charging
Stereo speakers
Water repellent (IP68)
Looks different
With a price tag around 1700 kroner above where you find today's Galaxy S21 , and a small hundred bucks cheaper than the Galaxy S21 +, it's good to take a look at the most visible differences first. We are talking about a phone with a 6.4-inch screen - it fits nicely in the middle between the two models, where the regular S21 has 6.2 inches and the S21 + has 6.7 inches. In terms of size, we do not save much compared to the plus model - a little over a millimeter in width makes this a phone that is still not among the largest, but also not very compact.
In terms of design, you get a slightly more plastic-like design here - which in itself is a bit "honest" when the back is actually made of plastic. The cheapest S21 also has plastic on the back, but looks like its two big brothers, which have a glass back. But here is also a small appeal - for a hundred bucks up you get S21 + with a larger screen and back in glass.
But the design still appears to be a little simpler and thus perhaps a little harder to think strongly about than the S21 series' slightly "ornate" appearance. In terms of color, it is an olive color that stands out the most among most phones, while a purple variant is reminiscent of what we have seen in the Galaxy A series and S21 series before.
These were the visible differences - the most important difference in practice remains.
Inside they are different
In recent years, Samsung has chosen to use its own processors in mobiles they sell in Korea and Europe, while the US has got phones equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors. The exceptions have been special models, some cheaper models and last year's FE phone. Without going into the technicalities of it; The penultimate generation of processors from Samsung delivered disappointingly on performance, battery consumption and heat generation compared to the hardware that ended up in the American models. There was also an effect in practical performance with a bit of "slippery skis" in the menus that stopped and raked a bit now and then.
It was just one of the things that made the Galaxy S20 FE 5G such an excellent choice. It had the processor from the significantly better received American S20 models. Until now, you had to buy a folding mobile from Samsung to get the same processor as in the American S21 models here on the mountain, but now that is changing. There is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G in this phone.
In practical terms, the performance gap has narrowed considerably in this latest generation of equipment - so much so that when GSMArena compared S21 models from Europe and the US last year, they found almost identical battery life in normal use. However, they point out that the Exynos model uses more power on the band stick.
Where the S21 FE 5G has possible advantages on the processor front, the input model comes with quite a bit of RAM - in fact less than both of the other two S21 models we compare with. It only starts with 6 gigabytes, and it's starting to get relatively slim in 2022 - it's okay that we're in January and such, but it's the rib fat that will be pryed off the car ring. The phones could easily have failed to go down in specifications.
At first glance, the S21 FE seems to drive a little smoother and prettier than the other S21 models. It is the same good flow that is noticeable also on Galaxy Z Flip3 and Galaxy Z Fold3 - phones it largely shares hardware with, if we disregard the bending screens.
There is its own "tight flow" in everything that goes on on the screen as soon as I have switched to swipe controls. One oddity is that the on-screen buttons are still standard, although this is the first phone in Samsung's selection that comes with Android 12 as standard.
By the way, it is worth mentioning that the new security features, such as notification of apps that use the camera, are immediately visible. A little while after the phone's eyes have been in use, an icon hangs at the top right of the screen. When activated, the phone tells you which app used the camera. Practical.
The screen does not appear to be visually lagging behind the main models, even though it has a lower resolution.
One difference that is large on paper, but seems to be smaller in practice - is the zoom function on the camera. The two simplest S21 models have a zoom camera with tremendous resolution and a small optical zoom factor. In practice, they zoom in by taking very detailed pictures. This phone has a low resolution camera but 3x optical zoom factor. It seems to give quite ok results there too, despite the differences.
A small icon at the top right indicates that the camera is in use. This is part of Android 12 and EMUI 4 that this phone comes with, while the rest of the Samsung phones so far need to be updated to.
Find Jarle Kvalheim, Tek.no.
Hard to choose
In sum, it is a bit difficult to say which S21 model you should choose. At least before we have spent a little more time with the new S21 FE model.
But the starting point is that you get a slightly sharper daily benefit, but one that costs quite a lot more money. In addition, I'm a little unsure how future-proof a phone with 6 gigabytes of RAM is today, when everything else of top models has significantly more. It should be said that you can still buy cheaper models with two to four gigabytes of RAM, so software should work with this specification for a long time to come.
Another important consideration is this one anyway; Samsung guarantees three major updates in addition to security updates for its phones. S21 FE 5G is released with Android 12 - a version the other S21 models had to be upgraded to. It is also released one year after them, and it suggests that the phone should be able to live on for a while even after the main models do not receive more updates.
At the same time, it is difficult to predict exactly this. Some also believe that four years of updates is too thin , and we have seen cases of updates after the support originally disappeared.
By all accounts, this is a lightning-fast S21 model with much in common with the folding galaxies sold here on the mountain. And that's not so stupid in itself.
But the price is high, and also be aware that the S21 series is now one year old. Even though we have a couple of strange technology years behind us, it will hardly be terribly long before the S22 series announces its arrival - the latest rumors so far say 9 February .
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G