[ad_1]
Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE 5G was a really interesting smartphone for me. For the price, I wasn’t too impressed by the regular Galaxy S20 lineup in Malaysia due to the sub-average performance of the Exynos 990 processor and a measly 128GB of internal storage.
On the other hand, the S20 FE has most of what made the S20 lineup good, plus a Snapdragon 865 processor, double the storage, and a fairly affordable price tag of RM3,399.
But if we talk about new affordable flagship smartphones, we also have to talk about the new OnePlus 8T. This phone not only works with the S20 FE, but it is also a cheaper RM400.
So which one do you get?
On the surface, this looks like a clear win for the OnePlus team, but, having used these two phones for about a week, I have to say it’s not that simple.
You see, while I agree that the OnePlus 8T has the best value on paper, I also think that if you’re looking for a full flagship experience – you should look at the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.
But, this is a comparison, right? So let’s go to the first main point.
Performance
In this sense, these phones will trade blows all day. Both smartphones are powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor, which is a very capable flagship chip. The OnePlus beats the S20 FE when it comes to RAM because this version comes with 12GB of RAM, while the S20 FE only packs 8GB of RAM, but both feature 256GB of internal storage.
For me, the important thing here is the storage because I didn’t really notice any difference in performance between the two devices when it comes to my daily use. Namely, I didn’t feel like the S20 FE was hampered by having a little less RAM.
More importantly, is that if you are someone who needs a lot of storage, the S20 FE offers the option to expand storage via a microSD card slot while the OnePlus does not. Both phones will run pretty much everything a high-end flagship does, and they will do so with the same level of performance. Games, movies, multitasking – I had no problems with either one.
To keep the lights on, both devices come with 4,500 mAh batteries and offer excellent battery life. The capacity might not sound like a lot, but the processor and optimization must be great here because these two phones easily allow me to get through a day with over six hours of screen time on with my screen set to 120Hz. Sometimes even a day and a half.
Compared to the Exynos-powered Note 20 Ultra, which also has a 4,500 mAh cell, the Snapdragon-powered S20 FE nearly doubles the screen time I got from the Ultra in similar settings and uses. However, the OnePlus 8T outperforms the S20 FE when it comes to fast charging. OnePlus equips your phone with 65W fast charging, while the S20 FE only supports 25W fast charging.
To make matters worse, the FE only includes a 15W charger in the box, so if you want to unlock the full fast charge of the smartphone, you have to buy a block separately. That’s not cool, Samsung.
However, now is the time to move on to the next topic,
The screen and speakers
Again, both devices are very evenly matched in this department as they both come with really nice smartphone displays. The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE has a sharp 6.5 ”Full HD + Super AMOLED display while the OnePlus has a larger 6.55” Full HD + Fluid AMOLED touch screen.
Both panels offer a 120Hz refresh rate with the option to switch between that and normal 60Hz so you can experience buttery fluidity, or extend battery life by dropping it down to 60Hz. I must say that the battery life on these phones was more than enough for me, so I left them at 120Hz the entire time.
Being AMOLED screens, the panels also have excellent contrast, good brightness, and viewing angles. When playing content side by side, the OnePlus screen has a slight green tint that the Samsung panel doesn’t have, but I don’t think this is a deal breaker for most. Still, I’ll give the S20 FE the upper hand in terms of viewing experience here, even if it’s by a hair.
However, what I found on my S20 FE were the touchscreen problems that Samsung has been trying to fix. This would occasionally cause random ghost touches and nervous movements when I was using the phone, which was very annoying. The advantage here is that Samsung is aware of this issue and has been pushing updates to try and fix it. It remains to be seen if this problem will persist.
When it comes to speakers, I think OnePlus has a slight edge here. They both have headphone stereo speakers that sound pretty good. Not as good as the high-end one, but good enough for a nice experience. That said, the S20 FE is a bit smoother than the 8T, especially when it comes to vocals, which is why I give the 8T an advantage.
And of course this should come as no surprise, but none of the phones have a headphone jack. Up to this point, both phones have been exchanging blows. And if both phones match so evenly, why is there a difference from RM400? Is it really all just the Samsung badge tax?
Well, not quite. Remember I said that the S20 FE is the most complete flagship? Well that starts with the camera.
The camera
This is probably the biggest point of difference between phones. I always thought the S20 FE would be a bit better when it came to photography due to my preliminary tests, but I wasn’t sure how. That is, until I took a lot of side-by-side shots.
The S20 FE features a triple camera setup. It has a 12MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera that gives you 3x optical zoom. Both the wide angle and the telephoto have OIS, which is nice to see.
On the other hand, the OnePlus 8T has a quad camera setup. There is a 48MP wide camera with OIS, a 16MP ultra wide camera, but the remaining two are completed with a macro and a monochrome camera.
Those are a bit useless to me so I’ll focus on the wide and ultra-wide.
In daylight, both the Galaxy S20 FE and the OnePlus 8T are pretty evenly matched. In my opinion, it really depends on your preference here. The OnePlus has more natural and realistic colors, while the S20 FE has the oversaturated look that you would probably recognize from Samsung’s flagship products. However, the SE images are much sharper and more detailed, but I know some people find it unnatural.
Personally, I like the sharpness of the images from the S20 FE, but I like the true colors of the OnePlus 8T. The FE also beats the 8T when it comes to zooming with a better range and much more detail.
Both phones also have punch-hole cameras on the front with the S20 FE having a 32MP sensor, while the 8T has a 16MP shooter.
That said, when it gets dark. Well things start to look really one-sided with the S20 FE basically screaming the 8T’s butt cheeks. I took these images on the handheld with the phone’s respective night mode settings and the difference was quite shocking.
In every scene, I thought the S20 FE consistently produced the best image. It had less noise, more detail, and less noticeable sharpening. And the most obvious difference was in this scene. This was filmed in a very dark room, with only a little light pouring in from outside.
At first glance, the image of the OnePlus 8T looks much brighter, but when you look a little closer you can see a great lack of detail. I thought, this was because it was out of focus, or there was a blurry handshake, but it’s not. What I found out, however, was that OnePlus used a much higher ISO than the S20 FE.
That last picture, the S20 FE was at ISO 2500 while the OnePlus 8T was at ISO 25000. So yeah, a big win here for the S20 FE.
Premium features
In addition to the main pillars of what makes a good smartphone, the higher the price, the more important some of the lower quality of life features become. I like to call this the “premium features” or intangibles that differentiate a top-of-the-line phone versus a good-value flagship. And when it comes down to it, I think the S20 FE has a more complete feature set.
For starters, the S20 FE has IP68 water and dust resistance, while the OnePlus 8T does not. And while the S20 FE loses in the wired fast charging war, the FE comes with wireless charging unlike the 8T.
Samsung can also take advantage of the features of its ecosystem like Samsung Pay, something that a company like OnePlus does not have access to. When you add them together, they definitely make a difference to the entire flagship smartphone experience.
Of course, that’s not to say that the 8T doesn’t have its own unique features. The Alert Slider is one of my favorite features, and it’s still very useful on the 8T. This phone also comes with Oxygen OS, which I definitely prefer over One UI.
The 8T even has nicer haptics. The taps feel more like taps on the 8T as opposed to the FE. It’s a satisfying little difference.
Interestingly, and I really think Samsung dropped the ball on this one, the OnePlus 8T has a glass back, while the FE uses Samsung’s “Glasstic” plastic nonsense to feel like glass.
Really, Samsung? This is a RM3,399 smartphone and you couldn’t even give me a glass? I mean yeah, they both still have great builds and really nice click buttons, but just because I know this is plastic doesn’t feel too good, especially since Samsung is so well known for their quality build.
The verdict
Okay, now that we have everything on the table, what phone should you buy? Honestly, I didn’t expect this to be this close. I thought the 8T would bring the FE out of the water.
But, I think it really comes down to two factors: Do you need a full flagship smartphone experience, and can you afford the RM400 difference? If your answer is yes to both then I would go for the S20 FE. It is a very complete package, and I would even say that it is the only S20 that I should buy this year, and that is no small thing.
It’s excellent across the board when it comes to performance, battery life, camera, and build, despite the plastic back. So when you combine that with the high-end premium features it inherits from its more expensive siblings, I can start to see where the RM400 is headed. And that makes it an excellent Samsung flagship to buy for the price.
But if you are more like me, I would prefer the OnePlus 8T.
You see, I don’t need an amazing camera. If my goal is to take photos, I would take out my camera. And most of the time when I don’t have my camera, I think the 8T’s shutter is good enough for what I need.
I will be very sad to lose the water resistance, but I don’t think that alone is enough to spend RM400 more because I can live with the other limitations.
Photograph of Zachary Yoong with the Sony A7 III.
[ad_2]
