The recently launched Samsung Galaxy S24 FE went against the familiar compromised trend of the Fan Edition lineup. Its upgraded and rich features make it compete with its siblings in the flagship S24 series. While it has features better than the S23 FE, the S24 FE can now stand on the same pedestal as the S24 and the S24 Plus, offering the same experience but more affordable.
DESIGN
S24 FE ships with the same attention in terms of design as the flagship S24 lineup. Glass and metal construction are paired with an IP68 water and dust resistance rating.
It has Gorilla Glass VIctus protection for the back and the screen and aluminum frame – the only slight difference is that the S24 series gets the stronger Armor aluminum and Victus 2 instead of Victus+ found in the S24 FE. Its predecessor, the S23 FE shipped with Gorilla Glass 5.
The screen gets bigger at 6.7 inches similar to the S24 Plus and brighter peaking at 1950 nits. The S23 FE had a 6.4-inch screen with 1450 nits peak brightness. This brilliant and bright 1080p screen features an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, wide viewing angles, high contrast look, and support for HDR10+.
You also get an optical fingerprint reader, Type-C USB 3.2, and hybrid stereo speakers(earpiece and bottom-facing speakers). The S24 FE is available in blue, graphite, gray, mint, and yellow.
CAMERAS
The S24 FE shares almost the same camera setup as the S24 series. It is a triple rear setup consisting of a 50MP main camera with OIS and a 12MP ultrawide. The only difference is the telephoto lens which is 8MP instead of a10MP seen with the S24 but both support OIS with 3X optical zoom. Also, instead of a 12MP selfie camera, we get a 10MP front-facing camera just as we had with the S23 FE. The S24 FE does 8K 40fps and 4K 60fps video recording for the main and selfie shooter respectively.
Camera performance is still identical to the S24 lineup and holds up really well when it comes to dynamic range and detail with boosted shadows and dialed-downed highlights. 3X zoom shoots are decent too.
Most shots taken by the S24 FE are well-detailed, punchy, and sharp with decent background blur for normal and selfie portraits.
PERFORMANCE
Here’s where there’s a small difference and I’ll explain why it’s small below. Samsung opted for the Exynos 2400e processor for the FE rather than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Synthetic benchmarks put the Exynos 2400e slightly behind but it ranks way higher than the Exynos 2200 of the S23 FE and surprisingly the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 of the S23 series. This means you can use the phone whether you’re a power user or a light user.
It also has Android 14 and OneUI 6.1 straight out of the box. It will get 7 years of software support – Android OS Upgrades and security patches just like the flagship S24 series. It comes with 8/12GB RAM and 128/256/512GB storage versions.
The S24 FE supports Samsung DeX and Galaxy AI features just like the S24 series, including Circle to Search, Composer, Note Assist, Chat Assist, Instant Slow-Mo, Generative Edit, Live Translate, and more. You also have access to other Galaxy AI features launched with the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 like Portrait Studio and Sketch to Image.
BATTERY LIFE
Samsung increased the capacity of the S24 FE to 4700mAh(the same capacity as the S23 Plus) from 4500mAh of the S23 FE. It still supports 25W fast charging – going from empty to 53% in 30 minutes. It also supports 15W wireless charging. In terms of battery life, it can clock a little over 11 hours which is a full day for most users.
VERDICT
The S24 FE redeems itself with big improvements across the board – from design, display, cameras, performance, and battery life – If you want the best that Samsung can offer at an affordable price, then the S24 FE is the one for you. Overall, the S24 FE is an excellent choice if you want to save a lot on a great phone.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
The S24 FE is available for purchase in Samsung stores across the country and online starting from Ksh 82,995 for the base model.
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates. Send tips to editorial@techtrendsmedia.co.ke
