An ideal telephone, however I want it was cheaper

For a number of years now, it’s been onerous to pin down the technique behind Samsung’s Fan Version merchandise. Ostensibly, they’re supposed to supply high-end options at a extra inexpensive worth. Nevertheless, following the Galaxy S20 FE, most FE units haven’t lived as much as that promise. Whether or not it was the poor timing of the S21 FE or the boring {hardware} of the S23 FE, these telephones by no means felt like absolutely the steal the S20 FE was 4 years in the past.

With the brand new Galaxy S24 FE ($650), Samsung is providing its least expensive entry into its Galaxy AI ecosystem. Sadly, a number of {hardware} modifications and a number of AI aren’t sufficient to beat an uncompetitive worth.

Design and show

After I first took the S24 FE out of the field, I believed Samsung had left the design of the telephone untouched. It seems I used to be solely half proper. The brand new mannequin incorporates a show that’s 0.3 inches bigger than the S23 FE’s 6.4-inch one. When it comes to measurement, meaning the S24 FE is a a lot nearer match to the S24+ than the S23 FE was to the S23+. I would like you to maintain the S24+ high of thoughts as you learn by means of this overview; The S24 FE is the telephone Samsung needs you to think about if the whole lot in regards to the S24+ is interesting to you apart from its $1,000 worth.

Like with the S23 FE, Samsung selected an AMOLED 2X panel that has an adaptive 120Hz refresh fee and 1080p decision. Along with being larger, the S24 FE’s display is brighter than the one on final yr’s FE, providing near 1,900 nits of peak brightness in comparison with 1,450 nits. The S24 FE remains to be lacking the battery-saving LTPO tech discovered on Samsung’s flagship telephones, however so far as screens on midrange telephones go, the S24 FE simply has probably the greatest I’ve seen. I additionally assume it’s the motive to purchase the FE.

The show seems to be nice, particularly when scrolling by means of social media and taking part in video games. It’s additionally simply legible in shiny daylight. Likewise, I discovered it was loads sharp, regardless of having a decrease decision than the QHD display on the S24+. It’s good Samsung gives such a big show on a midrange machine, however I’m not a fan of huge telephones. Clearly, private desire will dictate if the FE’s girth is your factor, however these with smaller fingers like me, contemplate this your warning: it’s not a simple telephone to carry.

In North America, the S24 FE is offered in 4 colours: blue (pictured), graphite, grey and a beautiful mint. It won’t be product of titanium, however I believe the FE seems to be simply as premium as its dearer siblings. I additionally wouldn’t fear about its sturdiness an excessive amount of; the back and front of the telephone are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, and your entire telephone is IP68-certified in opposition to mud and water.

Cameras

I’ll be sincere, I didn’t anticipate to love the S24 FE’s digicam as a lot as I did. The brand new telephone gives the identical {hardware} as its predecessor. Particularly, it comes with a 50-megapixel, f/1.8 important digicam; a 12MP, f/2.2 ultra-wide digicam; an 8MP, f/2.4 telephoto digicam and a 10MP selfie digicam with f/2.4 lens.

The one addition right here is the corporate’s ProVisual engine. It’s the primary time Samsung has provided the software program on one in every of its FE telephones. Having not used final yr’s mannequin, I wasn’t in a position to immediately examine the 2 units.

So I did the subsequent smartest thing: I in contrast the photographs I snapped with the S24 FE to these I took with the final Samsung telephone I reviewed, the Galaxy A53 5G. If I needed to pinpoint a distinction, it’s that the S24 FE did a greater job of persistently nailing white steadiness and correctly exposing darkish scenes.

On the similar time, Samsung’s picture processing hasn’t dramatically modified during the last couple of years. There’s no mistaking the photographs from the S24 FE got here from a Samsung machine. As you’ll be able to see from the gallery under, practically each picture options shiny and saturated colours.

At the same time as somebody who’s not a fan of Samsung’s picture processing, I had a number of enjoyable utilizing the FE’s cameras. Of the three important ones, my favourite was the telephoto. Due to its 32-degree subject of view, it offers you a 3x optical zoom over the FE’s important digicam. That may not seem to be a lot, however when most midrange telephones, together with the superb Pixel 8a, don’t include a telephoto digicam, any little bit of optical zoom makes it really feel such as you’re utilizing a extra premium product.

Within the case of the FE, it’s a high quality digicam too, with a shiny f/2.4 lens and built-in optical picture stabilization. I’m normally not a fan of portrait modes on extra inexpensive handsets just like the S24 FE, however right here I discovered it made sense for the reason that compression from the telephoto lens results in higher topic separation. I ended up snapping a number of portraits as a result of the telephone did an excellent job of rendering natural-looking pores and skin tones and background blur.

The principle digicam is much less of a standout. Due to that 50MP sensor, it may produce probably the most detailed photos of the S24 FE’s cameras, however the autofocus wasn’t as quick as I might have appreciated. After I tried to get a closeup of one thing, akin to my cat Celine, the digicam took a number of seconds to lock focus. Nevertheless, outdoors of that, the S24 FE can take gorgeous photographs. It’s no slouch in low mild, both.

As for the 12MP ultra-wide, it was my least favourite of the FE’s cameras. Samsung’s picture processing doesn’t do an excellent job of correcting for the fish-eye distortion produced by such a large lens, so buildings and anything captured within the periphery of the body look misshapen. Pictures look high-quality when zoomed out, however start to look worse as quickly as you begin pixel-peeping. A part of the issue right here is that Samsung didn’t replace the ultra-wide digicam so as to add autofocus, so not each shot comes out as sharp because it could possibly be, regardless of the sensor providing a good quantity of decision.

Talking of autofocus, the selfie digicam is lacking that function as nicely. It’s a disgrace as a result of the FE has one of many higher front-facing cameras I’ve used lately. It gives sufficient decision to make selfies look detailed however not a lot that each pore and blemish is rendered in painful element. On the similar time, the corporate appears to have toned down the overly aggressive pores and skin smoothing it was identified for in years previous.

I discussed the Pixel 8a earlier, and I believe it’s price returning to it for a second. When my coworker Sam Rutherford pitted Google’s midrange handset in opposition to the Galaxy S24 Extremely, he discovered the 2 have been surprisingly comparable when it got here to digicam efficiency. Regardless of costing $800 much less, the Pixel 8a often produced photographs with extra correct colours and superior element. The S24 FE’s cameras carry out a shade worse than their counterparts on the S24+. Until you worth the inclusion of a telephoto lens as a lot as I do, there’s a case to be made that the S24 FE doesn’t supply sufficient of an improve to warrant spending $650.

Efficiency

Fortunately, the S24 FE is just not all small tweaks. Internally, the telephone options Samsung’s new Exynos 2400e chipset. It’s the one processor the corporate is utilizing for each US and worldwide variants. I can already hear a few of you groaning since Exynos chips have been identified prior to now for each poor efficiency and effectivity relative to their Qualcomm counterparts, so let me get straight to the excellent news: The 2400e is a powerhouse.

After I put the S24 FE by means of Geekbench 6, the chip delivered a single-core rating of two,140 and a multi-core efficiency of 6,690. To place these numbers in perspective, when my co-worker Sam did the identical with the S24+ earlier this yr, its flagship Snapdragon Gen 3 SoC carried out higher however not considerably so, posting scores of two,284 and seven,003, respectively.

The Exynos 2400e was equally spectacular in real-world use. Though the FE solely has 8GB of RAM at its disposal, I didn’t expertise any hiccups scrolling by means of web sites, switching between apps and different day by day duties. When it got here to gaming, I may play Diablo Immortal with the sport’s 60 fps mode enabled and graphics settings pushed to their max. I didn’t expertise any hitching or dropped frames. I’ll point out right here that Samsung redesigned the FE’s vapor chamber to make it larger and thereby enhance cooling. In my expertise, the telephone will get heat — however not scorching — operating graphically intensive video games.

Battery

As I discussed on the high, this yr’s FE is greater than its predecessor. Samsung has correctly used the additional area to incorporate a bigger 4,700mAh battery. Disappointingly, the corporate solely made a minor change to the FE’s charging capabilities. Due to Qi2 help, wi-fi charging now tops off at 15W, up from 10W on the S23 FE. As for wired energy supply, the FE remains to be restricted to 25W.

Throughout one take a look at, I left house at 8AM with the FE’s battery at 87 %. For the subsequent three hours, I used the telephone to trace a motorcycle trip on Strava and snap photographs alongside the best way. After I received house, the battery was at 67 %. I then went out for lunch with my accomplice, snapping loads of photographs alongside the best way, and utilizing the FE to surf the net and test social media. I later performed an hour of Diablo Immortal for a complete of three hours of display time that day. Earlier than mattress, I had about 40 % battery left. Samsung says the S24 FE can energy lengthy gaming classes, and judging by what I noticed, that’s correct.

Charging the FE is much from an excellent expertise. In my testing, it was potential to get the battery from zero to 50 % in about half-hour. That’s according to Samsung’s claims. Nevertheless, charging to full takes considerably longer. It took near 70 minutes to get a useless battery to 100%. After all, that is assuming you personal a appropriate 25W quick charger. Did I point out Samsung doesn’t embrace an influence adapter within the field? Sure, you’ll want your personal. In any other case, anticipate glacial charging speeds.

Software program

I’ve spent a number of phrases on the S24 FE’s {hardware}, however for Samsung, that’s not the story of this telephone. The corporate needs you to see the brand new FE as a extra inexpensive option to entry its Galaxy AI instruments. I gained’t bore you with a overview of your entire suite since Engadget has already coated what’s included.

What I’ll say is that the entire S24 FE’s AI options work nicely, however none of them are causes I might exit and purchase this telephone for myself. Take Circle to Search, as an example. By lengthy urgent the FE’s house button, you’ll be able to deliver up Google wherever, together with whereas scrolling by means of photographs on Instagram and your digicam roll. It’s then potential to seek for a particular object by drawing a circle round it. So, the subsequent time you notice a cute floof, you’ll be able to verify it was a Samoyed with out leaving Google Pictures. No want to modify between apps or attempt to determine the right way to describe what you noticed to Google.

Circle to Search is beneficial, however I may additionally stay with out it. And I can safely say the identical for all of Samsung’s personal AI options. For instance, Transcript Help was helpful for turning voice memos into written notes, however it didn’t save me a lot time in the long term since I ended up modifying most of what the software program produced. I additionally don’t need to topic my pals to AI-generated texts courtesy of Chat Help.

Most significantly, I can’t see myself paying for any of the FE’s AI options as soon as they’re not free. In case you forgot, Samsung plans to monetize Galaxy AI. “Fees may apply to certain AI features at the end of 2025,” the corporate stated within the press launch asserting the S24 FE. In the event you’re available in the market for a midrange machine, the prospect of paying a subscription to make use of a few of its options appears like a non-starter. I don’t learn about you, but when I’m shopping for a price range telephone, I would like it to avoid wasting me over the long term, not value me extra after a yr or two.

Wrap-up

In a vacuum, the Galaxy S24 FE is a superb all-around telephone and could be a simple advice if the S24+ didn’t exist or had Samsung launched the 2 units on the similar time. At $650 for the bottom 128GB mannequin and $710 for 256GB, the FE isn’t considerably cheaper than the S24+, particularly when you think about the Plus comes with 256GB of storage by default and has already been diminished by as a lot as $150 off in latest months. If you need a reduction S24+, you’re higher off simply ready for that telephone to go on sale.

The S24 FE is in an excellent weirder spot in comparison with one of the best midrange telephones you should purchase proper now. Sure, it has a bigger display and an additional digicam over our present high decide, the $499 Pixel 8a. Nevertheless, for most individuals, I don’t assume these upgrades warrant spending an additional $150. In the event you’re seeking to get probably the most telephone for as little cash as potential, the S24 FE is just not it.

I’m certain Samsung will alter the worth earlier than lengthy, however for now, this Fan Version machine doesn’t have a transparent viewers.