8 Things I love about my Galaxy S20 FE 5G – The Magic Phone

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My first phone was a Nokia 3315 (and I’m sure many of you too had the same phone as your first phone) Things changed quite a bit from then. Moved on to the Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Samsung Star (My first touch phone), Samsung Galaxy Fit (My first Android Phone), Micromax A25, Google Nexus 5, OnePlus 3T and Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G.

It’s been exactly one year since I bought my Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G. I had the OnePlus 9 Pro along on the list, but S20 FE 5G made the cut. Read more about why I bought the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G.

Ever since I got the phone, I’ve been only amazed by its capabilities. My friends call it The Magic Phone – thanks to its superior camera quality. With the S21 FE 5G already in the market and the S22 FE 5G just around the corner, how does the Galaxy S20 FE 5G fare in 2022?

Anyways, on the first anniversary of the magic phone, here are the 8 things I love about my Galaxy S20 FE 5G.

8 Things I Love About My Galaxy S20 FE 5G

Excellent Cameras

The cameras on the Galaxy S20 FE 5G may not stack up against massive numbers, however, these are amongst the best in business. With modest 12 megapixel cameras – regular, ultrawide and telephoto – the cameras do a stunning job every single time. Be it still photos on a bright day or a night photo on a full moon night, the S20 FE 5G has never disappointed me. Even the videos are crisp, smooth and stable irrespective of the mode I use. The portrait mode does a stunning job each and every time.

I just hoped that the ultra-wide mode allowed me to capture in 1080p and the stabilize mode was available for 1080p as well.

Feature Loaded Gallery App

What many people might not know about the S20 FE 5G is its powerful & feature loaded gallery app. The gallery app helps me make amazing reels by just selecting photos. It allows me to choose background music and does everything else. It even has a collage feature that allows me to make quick collages. The inbuilt video editor is pretty decent and quite versatile.

The stand out feature though is the labs feature. Samsung has these experimental features that are made available. From being able to remove an object or removing reflections, the gallery app is a class apart.

Fast Processing

As mentioned earlier, the Samsung S20 FE 5G comes with the Snapdragon 865 chipset. In the age of 888, the 865 is a generation old, however, it still packs a punch. Let me tell you that I’m not a gamer, so I can’t comment on that. But when it comes to day to day tasks, the S20 FE 5G does a great job.

I often make and edit videos on the phone itself and I’m pretty much impressed with the power of the phone. Since it’s a Snapdragon, you can find support for GCam, custom ROMs and much more. It’s unfortunate that the newer FE series are coming with Samsung’s Exynos processors 🙁

Good Battery Life

I bought the phone during the pandemic and it has stayed at home most of the time. Apart from the occasional sojourns to The Rann Of Kutch, Saputara or Statue Of Unity, the phone accompanied me to all the food reviews, I went for.

The 4500 mAH battery might not be amongst the biggest. But when it comes to my usage, it does a good job. Most of the time, the battery has easily lasted one full day. There hasn’t been a case yet of a sudden drop in battery percentage, so it’s going good on that front.

Fast Charging

Samsung is known to cut corners, especially when it comes to Asian markets. Everyone knows it. From fitting phones with Exynos processors to provide a bare minimum charger in the box, they’re known to do this. Even with this one, they provided a slow charger in the box, even when the phone supports fast charging.

I bought a new 45W charger only to realise that the phone supports only 25W 🙁 I’ll admit it’s not as fast as the VOOC or ultra-fast chargers on the market, but it suffices my needs.

Expandable Memory

Most smartphones today come with fixed storage only. And in the age of Instagrammers, we often run out of memory. One can either purchase a cloud storage plan or expand the storage. The S20 FE 5G comes with expandable storage (at the expense of the second SIM slot though) Moreover the S20 FE 5G supports up to 1TB of memory card. So if you are using a single SIM, toss in a 1TB memory card and you’ll never run out of storage!

Reverse Wireless Charging

This one is a show-off feature – the reason why it’s on the list. The Galaxy S20 FE 5G comes with reverse wireless charging. This means that you can charge any wireless charging enabled device using the S20 FE 5G. Simple turn on the feature from the setting, place the device on the back of the phone and see it charge. From earphones to iPhones, the S20 FE can provide some extra juice in difficult times. Absolutely loved this feature.

Samsung DEX

Samsung DEX is another show-off feature that I use. When connected to an external display either via the HDMI cable or wirelessly, the S20 FE 5G can give you a full desktop experience using Samsung DEX. Hook up a keyboard and mouse and you have a full-fledged desktop ready to use. The feature is quite handy if you need to work and require a full PC experience. From icons to taskbars, you get everything and thanks to the processor, things aren’t sluggish.

Good Build Quality

One of the corners that Samsung has cut with the FE series is on the build. From the metal finish, and aluminium back, they’ve opted for Glastic (plastic) build on these lower flagship phones. The S20 FE 5G has a glastic body, but with a wonderful finish. From far, the phone looks nothing short of a premium phone. It feels good on hand too, however, it’s prone to scratches and smudges and hence I prefer using a case with it. I’ve dropped the phone many times (with the case) and it hasn’t suffered any damage.

Amazing Software Support

Most smartphone companies are chasing big numbers only on the hardware front. From massive cameras and RAMs to bigger screens and storage, the focus is only on hardware. OnePlus until a few years ago was known for its software support and enhancements, but that’s gone too. Hence, the only brand that focuses on software is Samsung. Ever since I got the phone, I’ve received monthly Android security patches along with major upgrades. I’m currently running Android 12 and Samsung has promised 3 years of software support too.

Still one of the best in business – S20 FE 5G

Even a year later since its debut, I recommend the Samsung S20 FE 5G to people I know. It does a great job when it comes to taking photos and performing day to day tasks. One of the things about Samsung phones (good and bad) is that the prices come down extremely fast. This one was launched at Rs 75,000 and it retails at about Rs 35,000 today. More than 50% price cut in a year.

One of the reasons is the newer variant in the market. And being a geek spending time around tech, I suggest people buy phones with previous-gen processors rather than focusing on the latest one. These phones are still very good when it comes to performance and cost less too.

That’s about my magic phone – the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G. If you have any questions/queries regarding this phone, please feel free to reach out to me. You can drop them in the comments below, tweet to me at @Atulmaharaj, DM me on Instagram or Get In Touch.