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The FE versions are themselves a watered down versions of the pro. And S20FE is last year's fan edition version. So yes, agreed that these are not really the latest flagships, but somewhere between mid rangers and true flagships.
I recently bought the s20FE, and got it because there is no other non-chinese midranger around. As simple as that. And the OneUI is good enough that in my 2 months usage, coming from OnePlus 5, I found the oneUI to be as good or better than OP5.

It is a natural question and even I had wondered about it. However, as deep_bang has said above, for someone who is not very keen on Chinese brands, there are minimal alternative options. I have observed that brands like Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo etc provide great on-paper hardware specifications, however the software experience is not very polished in general. In this regard, I would rate OneUI to be superior. It does seem to be a thoughtfully designed UI, though they need to optimise it some more for smoothness.

As you said, the 'S' in the name does make it look more attractive on paper. However, the overall software experience is also better than cheaper Samsung devices as there is no adware/bloatware getting added with OTA updates.

If I am not mistaken, the S20 FE 5G came with Android 10 when it was launched. So at the most it's going to get Android 13, which doesn't exactly make it future proof.

On the contrary, the A33 and A53 are supposed to get Android 16! That's a huge claim from Samsung. I am eagerly waiting for the A33, looks just fine for my use case though I would have preferred it to be lighter.

Yes, S20FE 5G was launched with Android 10 and is currently on Android 12. It would be great if Samsung decides to roll out Android 13. However, I would also be wary of updating at the same time; any major update that a device receives towards the end of it's life cycle can turn out to be a gamble. Seeing the issues that have cropped up after the Android 12 update, I would think twice before updating to the next version even if Samsung does decide to roll out the update.:D

+ to all these points you mentioned. These were exactly the reasons why I went with S20FE over A52s. I, briefly considered OnePlus and Realme GT versions. But, their software didn't excite much. Plus I was leaning towards non-Chinese brands.

Secondly:
Cameras were really important for me. And S20FE as really good cameras for my use case. Not only it has a very useful Telephoto but it has good set of other useful cameras (ultra-wide). It doesn't have 48 and 64MP pixel size gimmicks. Just plain 12MP shooters that have bright aperture and are optically stabilised. This really differentiates A52s and S20FE.

MIUI is horrible, I admit. But I thought Realme UI looks and feels closer to stock Android and has less bloat than OneUI. Somebody using a Realme phone, please confirm. I have a Samsung tablet, and although it looks nice it does come with a lot of junk apps and customizations. No doubt it has come a long way from the days of Touchwiz.

But the real question is whether the FE is indeed worth the 15-20K more than the Realme/MI equivalents, just for the "better" OneUI.

The S21 FE is 50K after discounts
The iQOO 9 SE is 28K after the regular discounts
The Realme GT is 32K after discounts
The Mi 11X pro is 31K after discounts


Other than the Samsung being non-chinese, there is nothing else going for it I guess.

Nowadays, I'm noticing that the battery life of Samsung M models are not properly optimized. They claim 6,000 mAh, however, I don't get any sort of that life even though my usage is minimal.

One question to Samsung S users. Can we uninstall following apps:
Bixby
Samsung Cloud
Samsung Pass
and any other built-in apps that I may have missed out & that can be uninstalled (please mention if any).

Recommendations for a freshman college-going son who currently uses a hand-me-down OnePlus 8 with a cracked screen. I can get 8K for it now, hence eager to exchange it ASAP.

Budget is total ~40K. He needs to use his new device extensively for email, online classes (contingency), surfing the Net, video & streaming. No gaming visualized. We are familiar with Samsung & OnePlus. Which ones to look for in these two and/or any other brand? Will retain for 4+ years (I hope!)

Outlier is that OnePlus will replace the screen & frame (kit, I believe) for ~18K. Is that an option at all? Phone is super fast + excellent battery even now.

With these chinese phones Its not only about junk apps but they work very differently from stock android. Many apps have problems running smoothly in these mobiles.
For example smart watches apps always had problems both with Miui and color os. If Oxygen OS , OneUi are just skins on top of android but miui, color os ,IQ's operating systems are reworked android at the core. They differ how sms , calls etc are handled.

I agree with this. We got a Realme C21Y couple of months ago and it looks surprisingly neat. There are some pre-loaded apps which can be easily deleted, but otherwise the interface is neat (close to stock Android). Even the fingerprint scanner on the back is more like previous gen Pixel phones.

Camera is average, but I use it to keep the India SIM in (for receiving OTPs), and the massive battery backup and standby time is handy as I need to charge the device only like once a week.

It depends on how you see it.

Display: Although all the phones share same spec on paper i.e. 120hz amoled, but when you compare side-by-side the chinese displays are no match to the super amoled display of the Samsung.

UI: To me the most important factor i consider before buying a phone is the UI, because you spend most of the time interacting with the phone through the UI. The only bearable ui among the chinese phones is the Realme UI. The MIUI and funtouch OS on Iqoo are equally horrible.

Updates: The S21 Fe is a penultimate-flagship, it will receive 4 years of update, while most of the other phones will receive mostly for a year or two. The Mi 11x and Realme gt being older phones might have already got a year worth of updates.

I currently use a budget Xiaomi i.e. Mi A3, which i upgraded from a Mi A1. Both the phones came with the Android One, so instead of MIUI they got stock android and 3 years of update. Both the phones satisfied my requirement of good screen, good ui and longer updates, in fact i still receive security updates for the Mi A3. Now that i am looking forward to upgrade my phone with a budget of around 35k, none of the chinese phones can satisfy my requirement. So my only choice right now is the Samsung A53, although it has a inferior processor.

Hi,
You can consider the s20 fe too in this budget. It has a fast processor, beautiful display and has good cameras as well.

You cannot but you can remove all the permissions for them and they never interfere with your experience. Bixby is divided into 4 sub-apps and you can leave them as it is without activating ever.
You cannot remove messages app too but I use it over Google's version. Same for phone app which I find better than Google's. Everything works as expected. In my opinion gone are the old days of bloaty, slow Samsung apps that did things worse than their Google counterpart and hogged space.

I would suggest Samsung A53 5G (will get 4 update and 5 year security patch, so Android 16 is guaranteed!), which retails for ₹35K with discount on certain credit cards. Also Samsung A73 5G will be launching today it seems. I'm using a OnePlus 7 Pro, into its 4th year. So the option of getting your OnePlus 8 repaired is a good option. The newer OnePlus have lost their way I guess. If you can wait Nothing phone also sounds promising.

Hi Rationalist, normally I'd agree with your recco, but I had a bad experience with the A70 when it first launched. It just could not cope with my multitasking demands, and the fingerprint scanner was a disaster. Put me off the cheaper Samsung phones!

Looking at the buoyant 8 Pro prices even today, I am tempted to have it repaired! The phone itself is excellent, no doubt. I use a OP7T and the 8 Pro is definitely superior.