Update, October 22, 2020 [5:37 PM NPT]: Samsung Galaxy S20 FE is now officially available in Nepal for a price of Rs. 69,999 (8GB/128GB) exclusively via Daraz. There’s no mention of Samsung’s complementary insurance offer but for this price, you can’t go wrong.
To know more about the phone and its specs you can read our original article below.
Original, September 24, 2020 [1:01 PM NPT]: Samsung adds a fourth member to its Galaxy S20 lineup, it’s the Galaxy S20 FE — the FE means “Fan Edition”, so this one is for the fans. The phone, though, is basically an S20 without shiny and expensive features, while keeping basic and needed ones. The phone will head to the market in six different colors and will go on sale for $699 for the sub-6GHz variant and $749 for the mmWave version in the US.
Let’s get to the changes here. The display of the S20 FE measures 6.5-inch diagonally which puts it in between the smaller Galaxy S20 and the bigger S20 Plus. Much like the two, this one also has a 120Hz refresh rate for that buttery animation, however, the similarity is only limited to that as it comes with Full HD+ resolution, unlike the two with Quad HD+ resolution.
The screen is also flat without any unwanted curves, which is fine for me. And the back, albeit looking like frosted glass, is made up of plastic. The matte finish of the plastic back, as Samsung says should hide the fingerprints, in case you don’t use a case.
- Display: 6.5-inches, Super AMOLED screen; 120Hz refresh rate, 84.8% screen-to-body ratio; HDR10+; Gorilla Glass
- Resolution: 1800 x 2440 pixels; 20:9 aspect ratio; ~407ppi
- Chipset: Exynos 990; 7nm+
- CPU: Octa-core (2 × 2.73GHz Mongoose M5 & 2 × 2.60GHz Cortex-A76 & 4 × 2.0GHz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Mali-G77 MP11
- RAM: 8GB
- Storage: 128GB (expandable up to 1TB via a microSD card)
- Software & UI: Android 10 with One UI 2.5 on top
- Rear Camera: Quad-camera; 12 MP, f/1.8 primary shooter, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF + 12MP, f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor + 8MP, f/2.4 telephoto lens, PDAF, 3X optical zoom, OIS
- Front Camera: 32MP, f/2.2 aperture
- Connectivity: Hybrid SIM (two Nano or one Nano-SIM + one MicroSD card), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G connectivity
- Battery: 4,500mAh; 25W fast charging; 15W Fast Wireless Charging 2.0; 4.5W reverse Wireless PowerShare
- Colors: Cloud Navy, Cloud Mint
Barring that, the phone in comparison to its siblings is no slouch. It gets the 4,500mAh battery, 6GB of RAM, expandable storage, IP68 water-resistant, wireless charging, AKG tuned stereo speakers, and a top of the line Snapdragon 865 chipset — or the Exynos 990 depending on the market. Although you don’t get a great higher-MP camera here, it’s still superior to most of the phones in the market, also higher MP count doesn’t mean better photos.
Its rear gets a 12MP main sensor with OIS, accompanied by 12MP ultrawide and an 8MP telephoto. The telephoto offers 3x optical zoom, and a 30x “space zoom”, though it’s mainly done by software. A lower MP count means that you won’t be able to shoot 8K videos, but it’s not a deal-breaker for anyone.
Forget that rear, and you get a 32MP selfie camera at the front, continuing Samsung’s tradition of adding some unusual camera specs.
There have been reports that the Galaxy S20 FE was not even in Samsung’s mind. And then the pandemic happened and came along the economic crisis. Samsung, in response, has created a feasible phone with some great specs without sacrificing the S branding.
