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Spoiler alert – The price which this phone is selling for during Amazon Great Indian Festival sale makes it one of the best deals

When it comes to buying a premium Android flagship phone in India, there aren’t really many options to choose from. People have to either choose between OnePlus or Samsung most of the time.

Though players like Xiaomi are also entering the ultra-premium smartphone segment, only time will tell how successful they are. 

But for now the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G is going on sale on Amazon Great Indian Festival at a price never seen before i.e. Rs. 36,999 which is generally above Rs. 45,000 at any given time at least on the e-commerce platform. In the offline market, the phone can be grabbed for a lower price but rarely at that low price.

With such a deal, is it even worth it since the phone was launched late last year globally and made its debut in India just a couple of months back? That’s what you’ll find out in this review.

The Exynos criticism

Samsung has been criticised ever since one can remember for launching its flagship phones with an inferior SoC i.e. Exynos. Not that Exynos processors perform poorly but its just that, despite Samsung charging a premium on its flagship phones, its in-house chip doesn’t deliver the battery efficiency, performance and camera processing as its Snapdragon counterparts.

This is where the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G comes into play which rectifies Samsung’s year-long lingering issue of using slightly inefficient Exynos processors in its flagship phones. It boasts of the well-aged Snapdragon 865 which absolutely by no means is outdated as its more than 1 year old.

The other specs of Galaxy S20 FE 5G include a 6.5” 120Hz AMOLED display, 12MP main camera, 4500mAh battery and comes with 128GB ROM and 8GB RAM.

I have been using the Galaxy S20 FE 5G for the past 2 months where I’ll be covering several aspects of the same in brief. So without further ado, let’s get started.

Display

The Galaxy S20 FE 5G features a brilliant AMOLED display, arguably one of the best in this price range. Being a display straight from Samsung, it packs in all the characteristics such as punchy colours, deep blacks and great viewing angles.

Another strong aspect of the display is the 120Hz high refresh rate. What’s better than experiencing it on a flagship phone! After using it for a few days, it’s not easy to go back to using the conventional 60Hz displays. Oh and by the way, this 120Hz refresh rate is turned ON by default. 

In-hand Feel

The Galaxy S20 FE 5G has a metal frame but unfortunately a polycarbonate back. But by no means it feels cheap. It’s smooth to touch and at the same time not prone to scuffs and scratches, unlike glossy plastic back we find on much cheaper phones.

In my usage, I’ve used the phone with a TPU cover, which was bought separately and its been pretty good till now. If here I have to nitpick, the camera bump could’ve been slightly smaller as it definitely sticks out of the phone and is very much noticeable making it wobble when kept on a flat surface.

Software Experience

Being a Samsung phone, Galaxy S20 FE 5G comes with OneUI skin on top of Android 11. It’s smooth, responsive and gets the work done at least on a flagship with Snapdragon 865, unlike Samsung’s midrange phones.

The main flaw with OneUI which recently enough starting popping up is that Samsung has been pushing out tons of marketing materials in its phone through its first-party apps such as Galaxy Store, My Galaxy. But guess what? Samsung has officially revealed that its phones are getting rid of all the unnecessary bloats and ad recommendations by later this year. This is pretty evident with the Weather app which always greeted you with a huge-sized ad and fortunately, that’s gone now.

Apart from that, anyone setting up his/her Samsung phone should carefully go through the process as to not toggle on any marketing programmes. This way the phone can be bloated with unnecessary notifications.

OneUI is pretty good from the ground up with tons of features. The Goodlock app unlocks furthermore features in terms of customizations.

Cameras

The phone doesn’t have any huge camera numbers such as the Galaxy S21 Ultra but rather a decent 12MP main camera, 8MP telephoto lens and 12MP ultra-wide angle camera.

Check out some sample shots below and be the judge.

All the cameras perform up to the mark. Samsung phones often tend to click punchy and saturated colours and the same is the case with Galaxy S20 FE 5G. Depends on person to person whether they prefer these type of tones. Personally, I love little bit of saturated colours on pictures.

Performance

As the Galaxy S20 FE 5G features last year’s Snapdragon 865, it performs wonderfully no matter what the task is. But yes, during intensive tasks the phone can get quite warm such as playing BGMI and video recording. Nothing major issue though.

Speaking of BGMI, I did face frame drops after 2-3 matches which possibly is the software to be blamed rather than the processor.

Day to day performance with high refresh rate is a breeze on S20 FE 5G. It won’t disappoint at all if you use your phone casually like scrolling through social media, watching YouTube videos and browsing the internet.

Considering the price Galaxy S20 FE 5G is selling for during the Amazon sales, at Rs. 36,999 there are phones like OnePlus 9R, iQOO 7 Legend which have superior processors like Snapdragon 870 and Snapdragon 888 which doesn’t make the Galaxy S20 FE 5G a slouch as the overall package it provides is unmatched.

P.S. There are many Snapdragon 865 old flagship phones which you can currently buy at good deals

Battery

The 4500mAh battery on the Galaxy S20 FE 5G may not seem huge, but it lives upto the expectations pretty well. I could easily get 1.5 days on a single charge even with 120Hz though it was mostly on WiFi with a single sim.

The major concern in terms of battery is its charging. The phone comes with a measly  W charger in the box which can take more than 1.5 hours to fully charge. 

At this price, the charging speeds could’ve been better. But well, considering how great of an allrounder the phone is, this can get a pass by.

There are rarely any non-Chinese smartphone brands in the range of Rs. 40K-50K.

One such is Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G which has all the features just like the newer S21 series.

Recently ended up buying it, so here’s a long thread. Sit back and enjoy!

PS – Its not mine pic.twitter.com/sivjGLgDOB

— Gadgets Hub (@thegadgetshub) June 22, 2021

Miscellaneous

The IP68 dust & water resistance and wireless charging are an added bonus that is simply not provided by any brands around the Rs. 40,000 price point. The phone has you covered on days with uncertain rain while you’re outside.

Pros of Galaxy S20 FE 5G

• Samsung’s best of the best display panel
• Decent battery life
• 3 years of updates (Will get Android 12 and 13)
• Exceptionally good cameras
• IP68 and wirless charging are an added bonus

Cons of Galaxy S20 FE 5G

• OneUI can often be bloated with apps and ads
• Gaming performance is not up to the mark during long sessions
• Slight green tint on the display in low brightness

What competition has to offer

If you compare this deal with the likes of well-renowned brands like OnePlus, it offers OnePlus 9R at Rs. 35,000 which is decent but lacks most of the things that Galaxy S20 FE 5G has to offer such as wireless charging, IP68, lacking camera quality and so on.

Another great contender is the newly launched Moto Edge 20 Pro which will be sold for exactly the same price i.e. Rs. 36,999. That comes with Snapdragon 870 and 144Hz 10 bit display panel! But misses out on crucial aspects like OIS and stereo speakers which the Galaxy S20 FE 5G definitely has. If one wants an extremely good & clean Android experience then Moto Edge 20 Pro can be considered else S20 FE is a better deal.

So if you’re someone who has no issue with OneUI at all, Galaxy S20 FE 5G is not going to disappoint you.

Final Verdict

In years, Samsung has come up with a decent phone in this price range. Those who only want a Samsung phone can grab it eyes closed at Rs. 36,999 during Amazon Great Indian Festival while generally too the phone is one of the best in the segment.