[SmartCat]

Picked up the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G for my wife yesterday for Rs. 30k. Amazon.in delivered the phone in 4 hours flat! FE edition of Samsung is equivalent to SE editions of Apple or Nord editions of OnePlus. You basically get internals of last year's flagship phone at 50% lower price. Samsung S20 FE was originally launched in 2020 with Exynos processor but now relaunched in 2022 with Snapdragon 865 processor.

Pink phone anybody?



Super AMOLED 120 Hz refresh rate screen:



After the launch of Apple iphone 12, most Android phone makers have launched flat edged phones. But Samsung is still sticking with curved edge phones. Samsung phones don't look that good in photos, but not so bad in hand. To lower price, Samsung has used polycarbonate back panel (not glass) but it still has wireless charging. It is IP68 rated too, so no compromise on essential features.



Anyway, the main reason for picking up the phone is that it has good reviews for its camera. These days, even Rs. 15k phones take good photos outdoor when the sun is shining. Wheat is separated from the chaff when we take photos under low light conditions. And this phone consistently takes good low light photos (even selfies under low-light). Some samples (click on image to open in new window):



While the building looks well lit, even the area around the building is visible:



In a near complete dark bedroom (bathroom has a small zero watt bulb), my old Nokia 8 shows nothing. Our old iphone 8 plus is better but photo details are missing. But this Samsung automatically switched to 'night mode' and managed this output:



A few other good samples (All Auto mode, camera decides when to use Night mode):







When you click on this pic (opens in new browser window) and zoom in, you can even see the 'Wet' and 'Dry' text written on the dustbin:



It is best to let the camera decide when 'night mode' should be used. If you manually select 'night mode' when it is not needed, the photo looks overprocessed:



So if you are looking for a good "low-light" camera phone with around 30k budget, shortlist the following phones:

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G (30K, this one)
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (36k, a bit over my budget)
Nothing Phone 1 5G (30k, did not buy because of suspect after-sales service)
Google Pixel 6a 5G (32k, no dual SIM, suspect after-sales service)
Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G (25k, note that this is the 'plus' variant, not the vanilla pro variant)

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Smartcat! Moving out to a new thread in the gadgets forum.

[ashis89]

Been using the S20 FE 5g for exactly a year now. The picture quality is good especially in low light conditions. My wife uses iPhone 11 and we turn to my phone during evenings. Overall a good camera phone.

That said, the Samsung overexposes the pictures. The color and the saturation is also not normal while using the utra wide and telephoto lens. While using the telephoto, focusing the image is a tough task.

Coming from an old Pixel 3a, the pictures by the Google device were far better under similar conditions (it lacked wide angle and telephoto lens only). This is a work phone and I had restrictions to choose a Samsung or Apple device only. Else I would have gone back to another Pixel.


For example, this is the natural light exposure of the main lens on the S20FE


Only at its lowest light setting, I get this. On the Pixel, I could get this by default and further reduce it to capture finer details



Edit: found some pics clicked on the old Pixel under similar conditions. They're still the best

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Been using the S20 FE 5g for exactly a year now. For example, this is the natural light exposure of the main lens on the S20FE. Only at its lowest light setting, I get this. On the Pixel, I could get this by default and further reduce it to capture finer details

Perhaps the 2022 version has software/hardware updates?



Because a similar pic taken from this phone looks better:

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Perhaps the 2022 version has software/hardware updates?

Could be. A quick Google shows that mine G781B model comes with a similar 32MP front camera and SD865. Maybe the phone needs a better pair of hands to focus on the images

[Hudson]

@SmartCat: Please let us know if you have any information about Android updates that this 2022 model is going to receive over the next four years till 2026

[IshaanIan]

I would recommend anyone buying a Samsung phone to have a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfM0GqsIB6c

It explains the issue of battery bulging and after watching that, I immediately went and checked Dad's Samsung S7 edge which he still uses and has maintained carefully. The brand new case which we had bought for it felt a little flimsy on one side and I assumed it was just the material it was built with but when I took it off, I noticed that the back glass had risen slightly away from the metal rails on one side classic indicator of the battery bulging. Henceforth I struggle to recommend samsung to anybody anymore. People can watch the video and be the judge for themselves.

That said, it really is not so hard to get a good android camera phone. Here's the trick: Simply buy whichever the cheapest android phone in the market is, with an identical or similar sony image sensor as the google pixel series, then download the gcam apk for it and voila you have the ultimate camera phone. I swear my old HTC U11 which uses a similar sensor to the Pixel2XL, takes better photos than my new iPhone although the camera experience is the most seamless on iPhone.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

It explains the issue of battery bulging

Not just Samsung. I recommend that everyone should inspect their phones once in few weeks by removing the back cover, especially if the phones are heating up. With the advent of fast chargers, phone tend to heat up while charging which is detrimental to the battery.

While it is not very common for Pixels, the battery on my 3a bulged in less than a year and needed to be replaced. I shared my experience here (Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods).

[ani_meher]

I sported a Pixel 2 XL for past four years, but recently it had started showing some buggy behaviour. So in order to not get caught up with a broken phone, I ordered S21 FE.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (36k)

I got S21FE for 30.3K from Samsung.com. Even now, one can get it at some 32000 odd using HDFC 3k cashback and referral code.

S20FE has an expandable SD card support, that S21 FE lacks. On the other hand, there are some more camera tricks up the sleeve of S21FE over S20FE. There is a dual video option, where you can record video from both cameras on the same screen, either 50/50 or Picture-in-picture style. Additionally, the four years of OS upgrades and five years of security upgrades are unheard of at this price range.

Coming to the topic of cameras, in daylight, the cameras of S21 FE match those of Pixel 2 XL, which I consider to be simply superb. Indoor action shots such as kids running etc come out blurry because of slightly slower shutter speed, one can workaround this problem by clicking and dragging the camera shutter downwards, clicking a series of burst photos.

The night mode in S21FE is inferior to Pixel 2 XL. It matches if you are clicking photos of scenery, but indoor shots or moving shots in night mode are simply unuseable. There is a software named Gcamator that helps you find the latest working Google camera mod for your phone. The one I found working has several limitations, that it can't use the 3x lens, or selfie camera. But the night mode on that Gcam port takes better photos that Samsung camera night mode.

So now I have two camera shortcuts on homescreen, Samsung camera app for regular photos, and GCam for night mode photos.

I must say, the app experience of Samsung is very thoughtfully developed. You can even remove objects from photos such as background persons, shadows etc (albeit crudely).

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Google Pixel 6a 5G (32k, no dual SIM, suspect after-sales service)

Kindly excuse the double quoting. Pixel 6A has dual sim, one physical and one e-sim. Samsung ones have support for two physical sims.

[anandhsub]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

now relaunched in 2022 with Snapdragon 865 processor.

It was launched with SD865 in 2021 itself. I picked up mine in April 2021 for 43K. I agree with the observations on the camera. I found this better in low light than even an Iphone 12.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

It matches if you are clicking photos of scenery, but indoor shots or moving shots in night mode are simply unuseable. There is a software named Gcamator that helps you find the latest working Google camera mod for your phone. The one I found working has several limitations, that it can't use the 3x lens, or selfie camera. But the night mode on that Gcam port takes better photos that Samsung camera night mode. So now I have two camera shortcuts on homescreen, Samsung camera app for regular photos, and GCam for night mode photos.

I downloaded Google Camera using Gcamator.

Scenario:

- Indoor shot at 5:45PM
- No external light (except for faint sunlight seeping through the windows)

I think stock Samsung app has taken a slightly brighter shot with slightly better details (zoom into the picture). Colors too are more vibrant. Is there any settings change I need to make in Google Camera app?

Samsung Camera app pic (file size: 2.5 MB):



Google Camera app pic (file size 1.5 MB):



I haven't made any resolution changes etc in both apps.

[deetee]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I downloaded Google Camera using Gcamator.

Does this Gcam version recognise all three cameras including tele? Also does it record video without crashing.

Back to the topic of cameras, s20fe and s21fe share same hardware for all the camera modules. Any difference in output is due to software processing.

I also use S20FE with all the latest updates.The primary camera is quite good, as good as it can get without resorting to quadpixel gimmicks. Ultra wide is okay, my best use case of it is for ultra stable wide angle video. The tele is kind of marketing ploy. Even in good light it is hard to focus, and the angle of view at 76mm is too narrow for most purposes. In less than ideal light , samsung camera app crops the primary camera view to give fake tele photo output.
A 52/50mm telephoto would have been more practical and useful.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

It is best to let the camera decide when 'night mode' should be used. If you manually select 'night mode' when it is not needed, the photo looks overprocessed:

So if you are looking for a good "low-light" camera phone with around 30k budget, shortlist the following phones:

Night mode is getting extremely impressive even in much cheaper Samsung devices. For example, the below three images were shot on a Samsung Galaxy M32. The base spec of this phone was available for less than 10k during the recent sale.

PS: Any loss of detail is from the forum compression.







I was very impressed by the last shot because it managed to retain the detail in the sky despite such a harsh light from the parking positioned directly at the camera. Saw my friend's (then) flagship iPhone 13 Pro struggle to click that shot.

[deetee]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Night mode is getting extremely impressive even in much cheaper Samsung devices. ...
my friend's (then) flagship iPhone 13 Pro struggle to click that shot.

Night mode is largely algorithm dependent. It is stacked composite of multiple shots and algorithm decides which highlights to retain and which shadows to elevate. Google pioneered this , followed by hauwei and everyone caught up now. It is largely dependent on stacking algorithms and processing power of chipset. So, if a particular model (iPhone) didn't do well in a specific scenario , don't write it off as bad camera issue. Just that it is one off case where the software failed to deliver output, can happen with any phone,even with flagships. Same is the case with auto-hdr.

Another thing I observed is that quadpixel sensor cameras can't focus close enough. That is why in phones with 48mp, 64mp , 108mp sensors , a dedicated macro cam is usually provided to capture close enough shots like documents, small objects etc.

[Funny]

Originally Posted by Hudson

@SmartCat: Please let us know if you have any information about Android updates that this 2022 model is going to receive over the next four years till 2026

S20FE 5G will receive security updates till Oct 2024 and Android 13 at max. The global launch was in 2020 and Samsung will only support 4 years from global launch date, it is confirmed by Samsung to many users who have raised the query to their support team.

On the other hand S21 FE 5G being the newer model will even receive Android 14 along with Security updates till 2025 at-least. Hence it is a better buy at this time compared to S20 FE 5G especially at the reduced price of ~33K.