The sum of its elements

After the vacations — you open your fridge — and you have got the mammoth activity of what to do with all of your leftovers. You begin combining issues in ways in which possibly you should not and construct issues that would not usually exist.

It is obtained an outdated processor from a few years in the past, crammed in a tool that is just about an identical to the Galaxy A54, however with a greater show and a correct zoom digicam.

So why does this telephone exist? It is inferior to the S23 series and is not as low-cost because the Galaxy A series. It is a bizarre in-between telephone. I am going to clarify why on this evaluate, as a result of it positively has a professional place in Samsung’s lineup.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 FE is designed to hit a selected worth level by mixing outdated elements with new items.

Professionals

• Huge vibrant show with 120Hz refresh charges
• Water and dust-resistant, Quick and clean efficiency
• Extra inexpensive than the S23+ or S24+

Cons

• Processor inside is kind of outdated
• Digital camera efficiency might be higher
• Dated design makes it appear to be a bathroom commonplace midrange telephone

Pocket-lint

Value, specs and availability

It is value wanting on the context of Samsung’s telephone vary from 2023 to make extra sense of it. In order for you a flagship telephone at a comparatively cheap worth, which means going with the smallest Galaxy S23.

In order for you a much bigger display and flagship energy, the value turns into not so cheap, rapidly approaching that $1,000 mark. Even on the time of writing — practically a 12 months after launching — once I regarded on the pricing for this evaluate, the Plus mannequin was nonetheless over $800, someplace close to the $900 mark.

So that is the place the Galaxy S23 FE suits — it has a giant 6.4-inch display like the larger Galaxy S23+, however crucially, it solely prices $599.

The place does the Galaxy S23 FE slot in Samsung’s lineup?

Some compromises had been made to get the S23 FE right down to its low worth, and that is most blatant within the design. As a result of, in any case, the design is sort of an identical to the price range Galaxy A54, which is a less expensive telephone than Samsung’s flagship vary.

From the entrance, the telephone would not have these super-skinny uniform bezels all the best way across the show. It is one of many S23’s most putting options visually, so it is apparent if you have a look at the S23 FE that it would not have these.

That is to not say bezels are chunky; they’re simply extra like what you’d count on in a less expensive telephone, with the underside bezel being thicker than the opposite three sides. Not like the A54, nonetheless, the telephone options an aluminum (not plastic) body across the edges. Samsung gave the S23 FE a extra sturdy construct and really feel than its price range collection and likewise made it extra water and dust-resistant.

This telephone is IP68 rated, similar to the costlier telephones. The glass on the back and front? Properly, that is extra just like the older flagships or present mid-range units. It is Gorilla Glass 5, which — at one level — was the highest model of Corning’s tempered glass. At which level precisely? 2016, when the Galaxy Observe 7 launched. It is nonetheless strong sufficient for 2024, although, and provides first rate safety towards scratches and unintentional knocks.

The telephone feels fairly chunky and hefty to make use of, and that slippery glass on the again makes it a bit cumbersome and difficult to handle one-handed. And it will fortunately slide off issues. Giant telephones are just about the norm nowadays, however I might advise getting a case or pores and skin simply to cease that slippery feeling.

A flagship show

What’s fascinating concerning the show is that it makes use of a panel that’s similar to what’s within the flagship S23 fashions. It is Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED 2X, however a barely older model.

It is nonetheless an excellent show, although, delivering a brighter, extra vivid expertise than what you will discover on the extra inexpensive Galaxy A-series fashions. It is truly good for watching Netflix reveals and even copes properly with HDR content material.

Its peak brightness reaches as excessive as 1,450 nits, which is not all that a lot lower than what the S23 correct provides. Plus, it will possibly attain refresh charges as much as 120Hz.

It is obtained a fingerprint sensor constructed into the show as properly, and right here is one space I want Samsung had simply gone with the identical sort of sensor that is within the flagship fashions as a result of my expertise with this one has not been good. This mannequin makes use of an optical sensor for readability, whereas the flagship telephones use an ultrasonic sensor.

It took me 10–11 instances to undergo the setup course of to register my thumbprint, which is not one thing I’ve skilled on every other telephone. And I’ve examined many, many telephones. And to unlock it, I discovered I needed to be tremendous particular about which a part of my thumb I pressed right down to get it to unlock. If I wasn’t purposeful, it’d fail, and it may be fairly irritating when this occurs a number of instances a day.

As is typical, the telephone is loaded with One UI baked on high of Android. Due to Samsung’s market-leading efforts to maintain telephones up to date, it already has Android 14 with One UI 6. As at all times, it is loaded with many Samsung extras, like the opposite flagship fashions, together with DeX over a cable. That is Samsung’s desktop-like interface, permitting you to make use of the telephone like a pc whereas hooked as much as an exterior monitor.

There’s quite a lot of bloat with Samsung’s software program, and it is the one factor that stands in stark distinction to one thing just like the Pixel 8 and even Pixel 7a. They each sit inside about $100 on both facet of the S23 FE and ship a cleaner, extra fluid software program expertise, plus they are going to get software program updates for 7 years.

Samsung’s 4-5 years continues to be a strong promise, and — exterior of Google itself — no third-party Android telephone maker comes near rolling out updates on time or for so long as the Korean tech big.

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The Galaxy S23 FE is the sum of its elements

As I’ve talked about, there’s an odd little bit of leftover {hardware} thrown into the combination with the S23 FE. Inside, had been you to go digging round within the parts, you’d discover both the Exynos 2200 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, relying in your market. These two chipsets first launched in January 2022 with the Galaxy S21.

They are not dangerous chips, but additionally, they had been by no means the best possible. In comparison with flagship processors, Exynos tends to be a bit much less environment friendly at managing its temperature and battery life. For comparable causes, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was changed by the 8+ Gen 1 a number of months after launching.

Regardless of lower than completely good efficiency, they’re nonetheless highly effective processors which are significantly higher than the mid-range stuff you will discover within the Galaxy A collection, particularly relating to digicam efficiency, which I am going to get into later.

The on a regular basis expertise of utilizing the Galaxy S23 FE is — for probably the most half — quick, clean and responsive. It definitely would not really feel like utilizing a mid-range telephone. It will load your favourite video games with out an excessive amount of hassle.

It did not appear to have any points when it got here to taking part in these video games for prolonged durations, both. Though it should be mentioned, it is presently winter once I’m testing it, so overheating was by no means going to be an excessive amount of of an issue.

Battery life is equally robust, with the telephone able to giving about 8 hours of lively use time on a full cost. Even comparatively heavy telephone customers should not battle to get to the top of a protracted day with a full cost.

Pocket-lint

Nonetheless, the stunning factor is that it would not appear to be all that completely different in efficiency from the common S23, which has a smaller battery. Loads of that’s probably right down to the actual fact it has a much less environment friendly, two-year-old processor inside.

In terms of refilling, you get 25W charging speeds, and there is no charger within the field. This implies it isn’t exceptionally speedy to refill an empty battery. Nonetheless, it isn’t particularly gradual, providing you with a few fifty p.c cost in half-hour. It will possibly cost wirelessly, so that you get that comfort when you’ve got a wi-fi charger.

A better have a look at the S23 FE’s digicam

The triple digicam on the again has foremost and ultrawide sensors just like the S23 and S23 Plus, however with a decrease decision, a 3x telephoto zoom thrown into the combination. Mixed with the ability from the processor inside, the outcomes are literally fairly robust throughout the board from all three lenses.

Whereas not fully good, the power of the system is its versatility. The 3x optical zoom digicam alongside the opposite two means you possibly can take sharp, colourful, vibrant photographs from all three cameras, switching between them with none extreme inconsistencies.

You possibly can stretch past the 3x and go as much as 10x or 20x digital zoom, however the additional you push the zoom, the extra the outcomes begin to look a bit extra like an oil portray than {a photograph}.

As a result of it has that flagship processor — albeit an outdated one — it does an excellent job of processing photos rapidly. It will possibly elevate darkish areas within the photos, cease the shadows from changing into too darkish and crushed, and even out the highlights and shadows to supply color-rich, vivid photos even in low-light conditions.

Photographs nonetheless have that typical Samsung tendency of being actually colourful and vibrant. Colours aren’t pure, however they try this ‘pop’ to photographs that Samsung is understood for. Evaluating it with photographs from the cheaper Galaxy A54, the distinction in high quality was big.

The place the A54 can battle to carry mild and shade out of the darker elements of the pictures and the shadows, the S23 FE would not in any respect. It lifts shadows, discovering shade, element and life in these areas and utilizing HDR images to good impact.

Night time mode is efficient throughout the board and solely appears to take a second or two to seize the picture. And no matter which digicam you utilize, you may get sharp, vivid photos even when the one mild accessible is the odd streetlamp or two.

What I did discover with the ultrawide is that — in comparison with the first digicam — it generated a bit extra noise in decrease mild conditions the place it cranked up the acquire to make the picture brighter. That is notably noticeable indoors, in shadowed/darker elements of photos.

The video is nearly okay, too. I had some points with stabilization the place — when merely strolling — it could nonetheless have a noticeable soar on the finish of each step. Nonetheless, you possibly can shoot as much as 8K decision if you’d like or shoot at 4K/60. Nonetheless, at these extremes, stabilization is not accessible.

Verdict

I requested why this telephone exists in the beginning of this evaluate, and I believe the reply solely actually turns into clear if you examine it to the S23 Plus or S24 Plus.

The S23 FE is successfully about providing that big-screen expertise with a robust, quick processor at a less expensive worth than the Plus-sized Galaxy S telephone. That, in fact, means compromises, like raiding the spare elements bin for older parts, however the expertise is significantly better than the cheaper Galaxy A collection telephones.

It is positively not fairly pretty much as good as a Galaxy S Plus, however — crucially — it is solely about $600 to purchase, and if you’d like the very best Samsung expertise for that type of cash, and also you want a much bigger display than the smallest, older Galaxy S telephones can supply, that is nonetheless your greatest wager.