Team-BHP - The Mobile Phone Thread - Queries, decisions, discussions all here

Confused between S20 FE vs S21 FE, both are very similar in specs and whereas S20 looks dated the S21 FE is upto date with design.

The reason i am confused is the phone i will be exchanging is with flipkart they are providing me Rs.6800 for it plus i have my documents for ICICI card verified so most likely in a day or two will get the card approved so an additional discount of Rs3000 will be there OTOH S20 FE being offered on amazon is providing exchange value of Rs.4000 for the same phone and with SBI card it will be an additional Rs. 3000 off.

Pretty confused as the phone will not be used for gaming but mainly used for FB, Youtube and taking photos and pictures, the phone will be kept for atleast 3 years and will be a replacement for a 3 year old M30.

Considering atleast 3 years of usage should i jump ship to an iphone ?

I will wait before making a decision so that iphone offers are revealed and ICICI card is approved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by revvharder (Post 5405728)

Pretty confused as the phone will not be used for gaming but mainly used for FB, Youtube and taking photos and pictures, the phone will be kept for atleast 3 years and will be a replacement for a 3 year old M30.

Considering atleast 3 years of usage should i jump ship to an iphone ?

Was in similar boat but a little impatient so had ordered S20 FE 10 days before the price went down by 3.5K :disappointed

Anyway looking at the current offers, I would suggest S21 FE if you are not into gaming since it will be well supported by Samsung for the next 3 years and the Exynos processor lags behind mainly in the gaming department especially since more heat is generated during gaming sessions. For general usage it is as good as the SD 865 (S20 FE) processor if not better. The major difference between them is the software support since the S20 FE is almost 2 years old now and will be given Android 13 update at max along with security updates only till 1st half of 2024. Whereas the S21 FE will get Android 14 along with longer duration of security updates. I have seen numerous videos on S20 FE, S21 FE and S22 series phones and have come to the conclusion that S20 FE and S21 FE are better value unless you have the budget and need for the full blown flagship S22 Ultra among the Android flagships. Also do note that the battery life on Galaxy S series devices aren't great, they will last a day or a day and half at max on regular usage without gaming.

Coming to iPhone, it's a different story altogether since you compromise on few things especially if you are coming from Android phones. If you value features like call recording, open file system (downloaded media etc), ease of integration with windows etc then you should skip the iPhone like I did. But if you are okay with these lapses and want a phone which will last for more than 4 years easily and you want longer batter life then look no further than the current gen of iPhones (except Mini variants obviously). Even I was considering the iPhone 13 (along with Galaxy S phones) but dropped it since I cannot compromise on the above mentioned features.

Quote:

Originally Posted by revvharder (Post 5405765)

Have you tried the call recording feature, does it announce that the call is being recorded ?

Yes I have tried it and it doesn't make any announcement. In-fact this was a important consideration due to which I had eliminated other brands in the Android space since most of them either announce the recording or do not allow call recording anymore. AFAIK all Samsung phones allow call recording without making any kind of announcement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by revvharder (Post 5405765)

Have you tried the call recording feature, does it announce that the call is being recorded ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Funny (Post 5405778)

AFAIK all Samsung phones allow call recording without making any kind of announcement.

Samsung phones record all calls without any announcement for sure. I have used this feature in the past on my Note 8 and Note 10 Plus.

Cheers

Postponed my purchase by a few days, but overall was very convinced that the S21FE is the best samsung phone under 75k for a non-gamer ( and way below 75k at 32k). The S22 and S22+ score much better on video recording/stabilization, but that's probably the only one or one of two major differentiators. Unless you are aiming for the S22 Ultra and have the budget for it, the S21FE is easily the best choice competing well with phones from higher ranges. In the few minutes I was at the store, they got so many enquiries over phone and all of them were for S21FE. A few popped into the store too asking for the same.

Re the S22 series - the ultra is available at 92k and the S22+ at 62k and S22 at 53 at all Samsung Plazas. The S22 is certainly a petite phone and would appeal to people that don't prefer computers in place of phones.

Overall, it seems Samsung is having a field day starting last Saturday when their offers started ( much before offers have started to rain online ) - huge sales even on a week day - with 2 Z Fold 4s and 1 S22 Ultra getting sold in the 30 minutes I was there. At about 2k more, they are also offering the Watch 4 at almost a throwaway price along with their flagship phones.

Even I am thinking of changing my 2 years old Oneplus 8.
I have shortlisted :
Realme GT2 pro, available on flipkart for 33k rupees.
A market shop suggested Xiaomi 12 pro which is available at 47k rupees.

My requirement is

Android only.
No Samsung. My wife uses S20FE and my sister uses S21 and they always have a low battery at any given time. Need a good battery backup with fast charging. OP8 in this matter is excellent.
Decent Camera for normal photography.
Top-of-the-line chipset.

Oppo Reno 8 pro looked good but the chipset is not that powerful. Any other suggestions ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by shikh_oberoi (Post 5405943)

Oppo Reno 8 pro looked good but the chipset is not that powerful. Any other suggestions ?

I would highly recommend Pixel 6a which is in same price range. Absolute fantastic camera and pure android. Day 1 updates. No Cluttered custom UI which will help phone run fast down the line.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferrari1976 (Post 5405948)

How does Pixel 6a compare with Samsung Galaxy S21 FE?

No brainer, I guess. I would highly recommend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by airguitar (Post 5406303)

It's a little annoying that there is no way to check the SOC system on Samsung phones without installing third party apps - the same phones are sold in some countries with Exynos and in some countries with snapdragon 8g1. Any way of checking on the device without installing a thirdparty app?

Ended up buying the S22 Ultra ( way over my original budget ). And yes, I had to install DevCheck to spit out the details - it's a cool application to get device telemetry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by airguitar (Post 5406303)

S21 FE in India is Exynos 2100. It is the only model sold officially in India by Samsung as well as other online retailers like Flipkart, Amazon etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajayc123 (Post 5405898)

The S21FE price looks enticing, but the 6GB RAM is a bit of a concern, keeping in view usage over next few years. My last purchase was an M33 8GB, and the RAM was a key parameter In the price value equation. (I don't use this phone for photography though)

My S20 FE came with 8GB RAM by default. I am sure that's the case with the S21 FE as well. Can you share a source which says the RAM on the S21 FE is 6GB?