For mobile gamers, a higher refresh rate may be more important as games will have less lag and stuttering.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE review
Why you can trust Tom’s Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what’s best for you. After going on sale in January, the Galaxy S21 FE is available through both carriers and retailers as well as through Samsung’s own online store.
While there is a bump holding that strip of vertically aligned lenses, it blends seamlessly into the side of the phone, making the array seem less prominent.
I wish the sides of the Galaxy S21 FE were a little bit more prominent, though — instead, they’re fairly slick, making the phone hard to hold on to.
An overlay that appears when the phone is locked makes the sensor easy to find, and I’ve certainly found it more responsive than the Pixel 6’s pokey unlocking feature. The smaller panel doesn’t feel particularly cramped, and I’d go so far as to say it probably makes the S21 FE easier to use with one hand than the previous model.
That means scrolling will look smoother on the Galaxy S21 FE’s display, which leads to a better overall experience with the phone. That said, it looks like you can only toggle between 120Hz and 60Hz manually; the other phones in the Galaxy S21 lineup have adaptive displays that adjust on the fly. Both Samsung phones recorded Delta-E ratings of 0.29, so colors are just as accurate on the Galaxy S21 FE as they are on the more expensive model. The 8MP telephoto lens is easily the biggest trade-off between the Galaxy S21 FE and Samsung’s standard flagship.
I don’t have either an S21 or S21 Plus on hand, but I imagine photos taken with either phone’s telephoto lens will look a little sharper than what you get from the Galaxy S21 FE. Considering those two devices rank among the best camera phones , it’s worth seeing how the Galaxy S21 FE’s photographic output measures up.
The cilantro leaves topping the tacos in the Galaxy S21 FE shot stand out a bit more distinctly, and the texture of the lime green wall in the background is more detailed. Moving outside to a covered vegetable stand, we see the Galaxy S21 FE exhibit a familiar trait for Samsung camera phones — it likes to amp up colors, even if the end result teeters on over-saturating the shot.
I think the Pixel 6’s warmer tones lead to a better composed shot — the tomatoes may not look as vibrant as they do in the S21 FE’s photo, but the overall image is balanced throughout. Not that the S21 FE’s bias toward colors doesn’t pay off in some instances, like in this shot at a nearby marina with downtown Oakland in the background.
The bend seems more pronounced on the Galaxy S21 FE’s shot, but I think that’s partly because people are walking into the frame just as I hit the shutter button. Once again the Galaxy S21 FE has highlighted the colors, particularly the blue sky, but it’s washed out some elements of the movie theater’s art deco facade.
The Galaxy S21 FE’s portrait mode does an adequate job blurring the background of shots to highlight your subject, even if it aggressively smooths out faces. Samsung says it improved the Night Mode on the Galaxy S21 FE, and I think that’s evident from this shot of a skeleton we have hanging in our basement workshop.
The skeleton emerges clearly from the shadows in the Galaxy S21 FE shot, and Samsung’s phone even does a good job balancing the ambient lighting streaming in from the right side of the picture. On the bright side, the Snapdragon 888 is the same system-on-chip that powered the entire Galaxy S21 lineup, so you can expect comparable performance with those models. Samsung includes less RAM, with the 128GB base model of the Galaxy S21 FE sporting only 6GB to the 8GB found in the standard S21. I played PUBG Mobile on the Galaxy S21 FE, and the game ran smoothly without sacrificing any of the first-person shooter’s detailed graphics.
The Pixel 6, which is powered by Google’s Tensor silicon, lags the Galaxy S21 FE with a 2,696 multicore score. You get a 4,500 mAh battery inside the Galaxy S21 FE, which is the same size as the power pack in the phone’s predecessor.
With a slightly smaller screen and a more power efficient chipset running the new phone, you’d be inclined to expect some improvement in battery life over the Galaxy S20 FE’s so-so performance. However, in our demanding battery test — we have a phone surf the web continuously over 5G until it runs out of power — the Galaxy S21 FE fell flat. Disabling that feature improves things considerably, with the Galaxy S21 FE lasting 9 hours and 15 minutes. That’s better than the Pixel 6’s time of 8 hours and 13 minutes with its 90Hz mode turned on, though it stinks that you have to disable a marquee feature to squeeze more battery life out of the Galaxy S21 FE.
There are perfectly sound environmental reasons for that move, but it puts the burden on consumers to already have a charger that can support the Galaxy S21 FE’s speeds or to buy one along with the phone. The delayed Galaxy S21 FE launch has a silver lining in one regard — you won’t have to wait for an update to Android 12.
Instead, the Galaxy S21 FE ships with Google’s latest software already installed, along with Samsung’s updated One UI 4.0 interface. One UI 4 introduces a number of ways to customize the look of your phone’s home screen, icons, wallpapers and more. Samsung also adopted many of the privacy features Google built into Android 12, so that you can get alerts when an app tries to use the Galaxy S21 FE’s microphone or camera. Additionally, the launch of the Galaxy S22 has prompted Samsung to extend software support for its top phones to four years.
The Galaxy S21 FE is a fine addition to Samsung’s S21 lineup, retaining the very best features of those flagship phones for a more modest price. The tradeoffs you have to make to save $100 aren’t major ones, with the biggest sacrifice being the lack of an adaptive display as that can impact battery life.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G review
It still has the usual 1,080 x 2,400 px resolution (411ppi), supports a 120Hz refresh rate and Always-on features. This, with the combination of the Widevine L1 DRM support, allows you to stream Full HD HDR10 content from all popular services (we tried).
Unfortunately, the 120Hz mode is not a dynamic one – 120Hz is always forced no matter the content on the screen – video, streaming, browsing, gaming. This came as a surprise as we expected a dynamic refresh rate like on the rest of the Galaxy S21 devices. Once we reached the end of the slider (when manually adjusting), we captured 385 nits at point white. Then we readjusted it a bit and hit the end again, a warning appeared, and then the screen lit up as high as 792 nits. The minimum brightness we measured at point white was 1.8nits – an outstanding result. Display test 100% brightness Black, cd/m2 White, cd/m2 Contrast ratio Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G 0 792 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S21 5G 0 416 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Max Auto) 0 856 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 0 404 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (Max Auto) 0 823 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G 0 459 ∞ Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G (Max Auto) 0 883 ∞ Apple iPhone 13 0 802 ∞ Apple iPhone 13 Pro 0 856 ∞ Xiaomi Mi 11 0 498 ∞ Xiaomi Mi 11 (Max Auto) 0 926 ∞ Xiaomi Mi 11T Pro 0 516 ∞ Xiaomi Mi 11T Pro (Max Auto) 0 837 ∞ Asus Zenfone 8 0 440 ∞ Asus Zenfone 8 (Max Auto) 0 800 ∞ OnePlus 9 Pro 0 525 ∞ OnePlus 9 Pro (Max Auto) 0.038 871 22921:1 Realme GT 5G 0 443 ∞ Realme GT 5G (Max Auto) 0 650 ∞
The Galaxy S21 FE 5G scored a good endurance rating of 92 hours on our battery life test. The new FE does marvelously when handling calls and playing videos, while its web time stays above the average.
The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode.
Web browsing test done at the display’s highest refresh rate whenever possible. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we’ve tested. The Galaxy S21 FE 5G supports up to 25W fast charging, but it ships without a power adapter. A full charge requires 1 hour and 15 minutes, another adequate time.
The Galaxy S21 FE 5G supports up to 15W wireless charging with compatible Qi pads. It can also wirelessly charge other devices such as earbuds, watches, and even phones – you just need to activate this from the battery settings and then put the power-hungry gadget on its back.
The two speakers are balanced very well if you are listening to music in landscape or portrait orientation. When compared separately, the bottom piece is a bit louder and slightly more bassy.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones).
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE review: just off the mark
There’s a category in the smartphone market that has emerged over the past few years that I’ll call “value flagships.” Buying one feels a little like getting away with something — nearly all the features of a high-end device with a significantly lower price. Phones like the iPhone SE, Pixel A-series, and Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE are classics of the genre, combining the right features for the right price at the right time. The S21 FE arrives very late in the S21 family’s product cycle, taking some of the shine off of the “this year’s flagship for less” appeal.
It also offers just about everything you get from the standard S21, with the exception of a couple fewer gigs of RAM, a lower-quality telephoto camera, and a slightly larger screen.
Great software support policy The Bad Fast charging brick costs extra But with the other high-end components and a lovely screen to look at, this feels like a device on the very highest rung of the midrange ladder.
Power users may find themselves in the single digit battery percentage at the end of a day, especially with the screen smoothness setting at its 120Hz default. The S21 FE doesn’t support fast charging over a computer’s USB port, so if you want the best speeds and don’t have a compatible power brick on hand you’ll need to buy one.
The S21 FE includes the same top-notch Snapdragon 888 processor as the rest of the S21 series, but offers 6GB of RAM as the base model option compared to the S21’s 8GB. If you set a photo as your wallpaper, the phone will suggest a complementary color palette to apply to buttons and icons. It is possible to take 30x hybrid zoom images with the S21 FE, but the camera is working with a lot less data than the S21, so photos at that length look (predictably) like watercolors. Photos are bright and saturated, as we expect from Samsung, and night mode renders an impressive amount of detail, provided your subject isn’t moving.
It can’t quite match the Pixel 6’s camera for detail retention, in either night or standard shooting modes, and the S21 FE’s warmer, more saturated look isn’t my favorite. Both the ultrawide and selfie cameras do their jobs just fine, and I don’t suspect that prospective S21 FE owners will care too much about the differences between them and their S21 counterparts. It meets or exceeds the S21 FE’s capabilities in just about every way — it has a better camera, is built with premium materials on the front and back, includes a little more RAM, and offers comparable performance from its new Google-designed Tensor chip.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G review: the Familiar Edition
The optical fingerprint sensor is slower to respond than the ultrasonic one on the S21, but the difference is minimal, and the accuracy is very good. For the time I had the device, fingerprint authentication worked in 100% of cases, with no repeated touches or failed attempts. Activating the 120 Hz option makes the viewing experience butter-smooth, although you should know that, unlike other panels, the one on the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G doesn’t have an adaptive refresh rate. One little annoyance I noticed that was also present on the Galaxy S21 is the fact that the auto-rotate function for the screen is a little too “eager” to react, switching orientation much too quickly after tilting the device.
This sometimes slows down certain actions, as you need to hold the smartphone still to tap buttons or navigate in apps. There are still things that could be improved, like the number of clicks required to call someone, but overall it’s a very polished experience.
I had no issues using my Panasonic wireless earbuds with the Samsung S21 FE 5G, and the Wi-Fi speeds were constant. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G doesn’t get too hot, and the 120 Hz panel can take advantage of the high framerate achieved by the Snapdragon chipset. It also helps that in games, the touch sampling rate is 240 Hz, which increases input precision. It has a ton of performance, an excellent screen, and the battery is ok. For Samsung fans, the S21 FE provides a familiar experience, flagship specs, and a slightly lower price than that of its siblings. I would have liked to see expandable storage or a headphone jack, since the FE is aimed at youngsters, but to be honest, Samsung is not the only one ditching these features. You can find pictures and videos captured by the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G in the gallery below:
The main modes for the camera are Single Take, Portrait, Photo, and Video, while the More section contains eleven more, such as Slow Motion and Super Slow-mo. The optical stabilization, in conjunction with the digital processing, allows for some interesting shots at night. The fixed focus limits the minimum range, but this is not an issue unless you’re trying to take a close-up shot using the selfie camera. The initial setup is easy, and you get the option to not install the usual metric ton of Samsung apps.
AR Zone – allows you to play with augmented reality emoji, doodles, and other items The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G also has several features that are exclusive, like Samsung DeX (which enhances productivity by allowing the use of the Galaxy S21 FE with wireless screen and peripherals) and Edge Panels, which allows quick access to apps.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G can easily be filled from the very beginning with a large number of unneeded apps. It’s great that the smartphone comes with Android 12, as there are many compatible devices on the market right now (including ones from Samsung) that have yet to receive the update.
Having tested several devices with the powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset, I had big expectations from the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G. I started out, as usual, with Geekbench, and the results were at flagship levels: 1084 in Single-Core and 3252 in Multi-Core. Next, I switched over to PCMark for Android, which takes the device through a multitude of workloads (browsing, text editing, etc.) The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G scored 12001 points, which is in line with the performances of the Snapdragon 888 with 6 GB of RAM.
It ran for an excellent 13 hours and 55 minutes, just shy of the result achieved by the OnePlus Nord 2 5G. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G is a very powerful device that should have no problem running even the most demanding mobile apps.
If we ignore the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S22 range, the S21 FE can be considered a good proposition, if the prices drop sufficiently.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
We took what you love most and built the ultimate fan-inspired phone so you can experience your everyday passions to the absolute fullest.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 128GB 5G
The 4,500mAh battery keeps you going all day and into the night.1 Capture your best side with the impressive 32 MP selfie camera and watch your favorite videos on the large display with a 120Hz refresh rate for super smooth viewing.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE Review: Don’t Pay Full Price
If you saw the words “Fan Edition” etched on a product, chances are you’d expect some exclusive features or designs for the company’s most devoted followers, right? I’ve been using the FE for nearly four weeks and have been able to run all my usual apps and games with barely a sputter, thanks to the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip inside.
I did notice the phone getting quite warm and saw a bit of stuttering as my gaming sessions stretched past an hour in Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, but that’s to be expected. It helps that it’s light and thin, and you won’t need to worry about the back shattering after an accidental drop because it’s made of composite plastic.
This matte rear can look grubby at times (it attracts a lot of fingerprints), but I’m more upset that Samsung decided to forgo the accented color design on the camera module. Having a variable rate usually translates to better battery life as the screen won’t need to refresh so many times if you’re just static on the homepage.
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