Samsung s20 fe much of an upgrade?

Thaifood · 6 Oct 2020 at 07:11

Coming to the end of my contract and hoping to get a new phone.
At present got a p30. Nothing wrong with the phone. Decent photos and video is ok. The speaker is starting to go as dropped out 1 too many times.
Looking at the s20 fe as it ticks most of the boxes. Is it much of an upgrade over the p30? Or should i aim for the bigger brothers? The s20 or s20+.
Or any other options

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 09:47

p30 or p30 pro?

Thaifood · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:01

Regular p30

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:23

I have P20 pro, I'm looking at S20 FE too but for camera don't think FE is any better, probably worse in some case

Camera in P20 pro is still very good.

Rimsy · 6 Oct 2020 at 11:58

wesley said:
I have P20 pro, I'm looking at S20 FE too but for camera don't think FE is any better, probably worse in some case

Camera in P20 pro is still very good.

Would agree with that - i came from a mate 20 pro and the cameras on the FE on average seem slightly worse generally. All other aspects its a clear upgrade though.

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 12:22

Just got out of John Lewis, been playing with FE for a bit, comparing to my P20 pro.

Everything on FE is better than P20 pro except...camera especially the zoom.

Both has X3 optical, P20 pro X10 digital, FE X30 digital. When taking a shot at X10 on P20 pro then zoom in the photo, details are far more clearer than FE shot at X30.

Also the night mode for indoor is better on the P20 pro.

P30pro is a better upgrade I think

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 12:25

To be honest, A71 is a better value phone than the FE. I physically can't tell the difference between A71 and FE apart from the specs on the paper

GMac11 · 6 Oct 2020 at 12:38

wesley said:
To be honest, A71 is a better value phone than the FE. I physically can't tell the difference between A71 and FE apart from the specs on the paper

Not even in the difference between 60 and 120hz?

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:00

Didn't even knew FE is 120hz screen.

GMac11 · 6 Oct 2020 at 13:01

Might it have been set to 60hz in the store? I remember playing with the other S20 phones on release at a Currys and every single one was set to 60hz :rolleyes:

Thaifood · 6 Oct 2020 at 15:27

Should i just go for the regular s20 or s20+ then? I know they don't have the 865 chip in them and slightly slower

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 15:34

I feel Samsung have comprised too much with the camera on FE. Yes you may as well go for S20

FishLicker · 6 Oct 2020 at 17:16

wesley said:
I feel Samsung have comprised too much with the camera on FE. Yes you may as well go for S20

In what way? The stats are virtually the same are they not, bar the omission of the silly 100x zoom which was, in reality, absolutely useless anyway.

Ps genuine question

wesley · 6 Oct 2020 at 18:25

FishLicker said:
In what way? The stats are virtually the same are they not, bar the omission of the silly 100x zoom which was, in reality, absolutely useless anyway.

Ps genuine question

No, FE has lower camera spec than S20 I believe. I'm comparing the FE to P20pro and I found all shots are better on P20pro especially the zoom.

If zoom is not your thing then go for FE but having said this before I found no difference between FE and A71 so may as well get the A71 as it's much cheaper. £345 (UK version) at Amazon which making it a superb value

GMac11 · 6 Oct 2020 at 18:36

wesley said:
If zoom is not your thing then go for FE but having said this before I found no difference between FE and A71 so may as well get the A71 as it's much cheaper. £345 (UK version) at Amazon which making it a superb value

IF camera quality is your main differentiator. Some, such as myself, value screen refresh rate, wireless charging and a higher end chip. FE also has WiFi 6 - although even I'll admit that's clutching at straws a bit.
I also can't find a 5g variant of the A71 in the UK however I'm likely not looking hard enough.

FishLicker · 7 Oct 2020 at 10:14

wesley said:
No, FE has lower camera spec than S20 I believe. I'm comparing the FE to P20pro and I found all shots are better on P20pro especially the zoom.

If zoom is not your thing then go for FE but having said this before I found no difference between FE and A71 so may as well get the A71 as it's much cheaper. £345 (UK version) at Amazon which making it a superb value

I'd probably give a modern Huawei phone a punt if it wasn't for the Google play store restrictions.

benparker · 8 Oct 2020 at 16:42

Sadly Huawei pretty much crippled. Will be a challenge for harmony os to gain traction

Rimsy · 13 Oct 2020 at 13:13

wesley said:
No, FE has lower camera spec than S20 I believe. I'm comparing the FE to P20pro and I found all shots are better on P20pro especially the zoom.

If zoom is not your thing then go for FE but having said this before I found no difference between FE and A71 so may as well get the A71 as it's much cheaper. £345 (UK version) at Amazon which making it a superb value

can only concur with the above.. have done a fairly extensive camera test between the Mate 20 Pro and the FE and the camera is significantly better on the Mate 20... to the point where I'm seriously wondering if i want to keep the FE. Shame as everything else about the FE is amazing

FishLicker · 13 Oct 2020 at 13:39

Rimsy said:
can only concur with the above.. have done a fairly extensive camera test between the Mate 20 Pro and the FE and the camera is significantly better on the Mate 20... to the point where I'm seriously wondering if i want to keep the FE. Shame as everything else about the FE is amazing

Well I think comments like yours in combination with the sheer size of the thing at a time when I’m looking towards a smaller, not larger phone have finally put this particular idea to bed, additionally, I’m still not a huge fan of Samsung’s implementation of Android.

zaphod-159 · 13 Oct 2020 at 22:12

FishLicker said:
I'd probably give a modern Huawei phone a punt if it wasn't for the Google play store restrictions.

I spent years trying different phone companies, I loved my mate 20 pro and thought it was perfect. Great build quality and screen that rivalled samsung, faster charging and better battery life than samsung and apple, and even a better camera performance compared to samsung. Utterly gutted their new phones have google restrictions, its actually making me switch to apple.