Home » Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G Hands-On

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G Hands-On

Written By Justine Basco
Published • January 4th, 2022
Hands-onMobile
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After a few delays due to chipset shortage last year 2021, Samsung is finally releasing the Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE) 5G. And just like its predecessor, it aims to be a more budget-friendly alternative to the high-tier S21 series. So if you want to know more about it, keep on reading for our first impressions.

Looking a lot like the classic Galaxy S21, this Fan Edition is a little bit taller at 6.4-inches. We get a polycarbonate back with an aluminum frame, which somehow still gives that premium feel, but at the same time, it reminds us of the Galaxy A52 and A72. We do still like the S21 series’ protruding camera aesthetic here that seamlessly blends in with the back panel. There’s still a slight bump, but placing a case on it fixes the unevenness.

Unlike its higher siblings, the S21 FE comes in solid colors like this elegant Olive that we have. Locally it’s also available in Graphite, Lavender, and White. Thankfully, this device is also IP68 water and dust resistant so some accidental spills or rain won’t be a problem.

As for 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-C port, main loudspeaker, main microphone, and a dual card slot for two nanoSIM cards. There’s no option for a microSD card expansion here.

Talk about the display, this phone is equipped with a 6.41-inch Dynamic Amoled 2X display with a 1080 x 2340px resolution, a pixel density of 411ppi, up to 120Hz refresh rate, and an in-display fingerprint scanner.

Noticeably, its bezels are nicely as slim as the S21 and S21+, and like usual with Samsung, the front camera is placed in a punch hole notch on the upper center of the screen. From the get-go, this display is smooth, vibrant, and has very good outdoor visibility.

When it comes to internals, the unit we have packs a 5G-ready Exynos 2100 processor which like usual, is subject to change depending on your region. It’s accompanied by a Mali-G78 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB/256GB of internal storage. As for the software department, 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.

Keeping this device running is a 4,500mAh capacity, which is 500mAh more than the vanilla S21. Similarly, it’s equipped with 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.

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. We’ll talk more about it in our full review, but for now here are some sample shots that we got:

When it comes to price, the 128GB variant is officially available for PHP 38,990, while the 256GB version has an SRP of PHP 41,990. For more about this Samsung Galaxy S21 Fan Edition, stay tuned for our full review soon.

And yeah, that’s it for now! Do share with us what you think about this Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G in the comments below.

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