It's been quite some time since I have upgraded my A51 with S21FE.
Bye bye Nova and KLWP
Unboxing and first boot
Display
It's a small device with 6.4" Dynamic AMOLED display, HDR10+, 120Hz panel - it definitely feels smooth.
Has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for screen protection and around 86% screen to body ratio - very minimal bezels (compared to new S23 or Ax4 series with thick ugly bezels😒)
Compared to A51, the display is not so small but more crispy and smooth.
Performance
Has Exynos 2100, a 8 core CPU, 1 core Cortex-X1 at 2910 MHz, 3 cores Cortex-A78 at 2810 MHz, and 4 cores Cortex-A55 at 2200 MHz.
(4 performance and 4 efficiency cores ?)
Has 8GB RAM, 128 UFS 3.1 storage
Definitely the performance on this device is very good ... Way better than A51
I think, because of these higher clock cores in small device, there isheating issue (apart from Samsung's own chip heating issue)
The phone is fast and hot 🔥
Camera
12 MP Main sensor - has OIS
8 MP 3x Telephoto - has OIS
12 MP 123° Ultra-wide
As expected from Samsung camera, quality is quite good.
But sometimes what you capture and what is captured is quite different... Maybe 2-3 frames difference.
As usual, the inherent weakness of Samsung cameras like night photos' quality, video in low light, a little more saturation in images is with this device too.
And a funny thing, the camera setup can take superb moon shots, Moon which is lakhs of kilometres away, but it can't take a good quality pic of a bird few meters away😂
Moon shot
Bird shot (decent)
Overall the camera is good, and the lens' setup is "practical" and usable.
Overall, camera is Great
Coming to software part of Camera,
The camera has more shuttle speed time - upto 30sec.
Can switch between lens (W and UW) in between a video shooting and The transition is smooth. Some devices like A51, A52s don't have this (maybe a bug)
[UPDATE | 29 Dec 2023; 0050 hrs IST]
I discovered few days back that this device can take FHD 120 FPS Video !
120 FPS video !
Comparing with A51 it is an upgrade.
Battery
Has 4500 mAh battery with 25W Super Fast Charging.
On an average, I am getting about 4 hrs of SOT on medium usage. I have to charge at night for few minutes to keep it live.
When I turn ON power saving mode, then I am able to get about 5hr.
Compared to A51, S21FE is a downgrade wrt battery department. 🫤
On A51, it was about 5 hrs on same usage despite having 4000 mAh battery. On battery saver mode, A51 can stretch upto 7 hr.
Battery is really disappointing
Software
Coming from A51, the software does not feel very different.
But since it is comparatively new device, it does not have S Secure. So I have to setup Secure Folder and add apps. Now that I am used to it, Secure Folder does not feel different from S Secure.👍
Ig people trying to find new Applock should giveSecure Folder a try.
But Because of few apps, which are used frequently are in Secure Folder, I cannot use KLWP to open those apps😭.
So I had to stick with Samsung Home.
Almost allGood Lock modules are working (as expected from a S series device)
Others
- does not have 3.5mm audio jack - downgrade ?
- has Wireless charging - upgrade
- optical fingerprint scanner is faster - upgrade
- 5G - upgrade
- better design (can vary from person to person, but I feel this S22 series was last design which I liked from Samsung)
- aluminium frame
- 60 Hz video recording in Camera, both from front and back - upgrade
- IP68 water/dust resistance - upgrade
- haptic feedback (vibration) is noice (not great as compared to Pixel 7 or S22U) - upgrade
Major issues
- The device gets warm when using the camera for more than 15 mins.
- Doing some medium level task like editing a video also heats the device.
- Sometimes during long calling sessions, like 40-50 mins it gets a little warm.
- has a known issue of low network reception (I tested, S21FE has ~60-70ms ping while A51 has ~45-55 ms ping on same location same network)
- heats up relatively faster. It is a known issue. As I stated earlier, this may be due to 4 performance cores packed in a small device. (New S23FE has vapour chamber for cooling)
- the back panel will peel off (maybe due to the overheating problem of device). It's a know issue of this device. (I don't have this yet)
- green line issue on display after update (as is happening with almost all devices now). Heating *can* be a reason for this too. The cause is not known yet. (I don't have this issue yet)
Some fixes
- Can use Good Guardian's Thermal Guardian and lower the thermal limit to lowest - this will reduce the performance early (which is not noticeable) and you shall get a consistent overall performance for few more minutes. And the device does not heats up quickly.
- Make a Routine widget on homescreen for 5G when you want to use 5G (as keeping 5G ON always will drain battery faster)
Overall, I am happy with this device. Less battery is an issue so I have to keep a powebank almost every time when I am on a trip. Other than that it's okay and a superb device under 30k imo.
Currently I am on OneUi 5.1. Don't have any major issues or bugs in Ui
