Samsung unveiled a new smartphone in the Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition) in a variety of colours at its latest virtual Unpacked event.
The new phone will come in a variety of colours to suit different tastes and styles. Samsung also designed this to be a complementary choice next to the existing trio of Galaxy S20—not a high-end replacement for all of them.
Being a virtual event, I haven’t gotten my hands on one yet, but did catch some details about you can expect from the new device.
Looking at the Galaxy S20 FE
It’s noteworthy Samsung chose to make the screen flat, rather than curved. It is a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED, with a tiny hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera. The 120Hz refresh rate is a carryover from the other Galaxy S20 handsets, so its inclusion here isn’t a big surprise. It looks to be adaptive, rather than always on, but that wasn’t confirmed at the event.
The “Haze” back plate isn’t entirely new, but is a reflection of the company trying to avoid glossy surfaces. This matte finish is similar to that of the Galaxy Note20 phones, where fingerprints aren’t noticeable, yet the colours still have a noticeable sheen to them.
Fan Edition will run on the same Snapdragon 865 processor as the other S20 phones, so there shouldn’t be any real performance challenges here. You get either 128GB or 256GB storage with expandable memory up to 1TB, plus up to 8GB of RAM.
Water-resistance stays the same at IP68, so there is no difference in durability. The 4500mAh battery with fast charging is also about the same as the Galaxy S20+. Of the three previous S20 models, the Fan Edition is closest to the S20+.
The camera
That’s also reflected in the camera array. You get a 12-megapixel standard lens with an f/1.8 aperture, plus a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide and 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The latter lens is capable of hitting 30x Space Zoom. The front-facing camera is 32-megapixels
The software features look to be the same, from the Bright Night mode, and on to Pro mode and all the other trappings that have become staples on Samsung’s latest phones. That also includes shooting video in 4K, 8K and slow-motion.
Gaming on the Note20
The Xbox partnership Samsung unveiled with the Note20 also applies here. Get an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and you can play over 100 games streaming to the phone. You will need a clamp that connects to an Xbox (or third-party) controller and mounts the phone above it. That way, you can use the controller’s buttons, while the phone acts as the screen.
Coming soon
One thing that stands out for the Fan Edition is the array of colours it comes in. There is cloud navy, cloud red, cloud orange, cloud mint, cloud lavender and cloud white.
I will be reviewing this phone soon, but in the meantime, you can pre-order yours starting October 1.
