Samsung Galaxy S24 FE hands-on review: necessity or niche-filler? | Stuff

Introduction

They don’t yet have the lineage of Samsung’s Galaxy S flagships, but the firm’s Fan Edition mid-range phones have now become an annual occurrence. The Galaxy S24 FE is the latest, taking most of the things I loved about January’s mainline models – including a healthy dollop of Galaxy AI – and being a bit more modest with the spec sheet in the name of cost-saving.

It’s the same basic formula Samsung used for the outgoing Galaxy S23 FE, except a larger screen and beefier battery mean the new iteration is more in keeping with the Galaxy S24+ than the pocket-friendly Galaxy S24. Which is handy, given recent price reductions make the smaller model even cheaper still if you shop around. At £649, is the Galaxy S24 FE a smart buy for the Samsung faithful in search of a big-screen handset – or have there been one too many cutbacks to earn a recommendation?

I only had a few days with the phone at the time of writing, so a full star rating will wait until I’ve done proper battery testing and in-depth camera comparisons. But in the meantime, here are my first impressions.

Design & build: feels familiar

From a distance, you’ll have a hard time telling the FE apart from a full-fat Galaxy S24+. It’s a few millimetres taller and wider, on account of the slightly thicker screen bezels, and a scant 0.3mm thicker (8mm vs 7.7mm). This is undoubtedly a big phone, but the familiar flat sides gave me plenty to grip onto.

Samsung has pretty much carried the design over wholesale, with the only other giveaway being the colours on offer for the rear glass and aluminium frame. The S24 FE has more pastel-like Blue, Mint and Yellow options (along with Grey and Black) to the metal-like hues found on the S24 proper. A glossy finish on the rear glass helped keep fingerprints a bay on my Blue review unit, and the matte aluminium frame felt suitably high-end. I like how Samsung has stripped back the messy CE information from the rear, too – it cheapened the look of the S23 FE.

Like its predecessor you’ll find the SIM tray on the top edge, rather than the bottom as on the flagship S24s. Otherwise it’s a dead ringer, with the same three protruding camera lenses at the rear, power and volume buttons at the side, USB-C port and speaker cutout at the bottom, and punch-hole selfie cam up front.

An optical under-display fingerprint sensor gets the job done, even if it’s not quite as quick to recognise your fingers as the ultrasonic sensor seen on the top-tier Galaxy S24 Ultra. I still think it sits a little too close to the phone’s bottom edge, too. Face unlocking is handy for skipping the lock screen, but it isn’t secure enough for banking apps.

Given last year’s phone had IP68 dust and water resistance, it’s no surprise to find a similar degree of protection here. I certainly wasn’t caught out by an afternoon of camera testing in heavy rain.

Screen & sound: AMOLED all the way

They might be a matching 6.7in, but because the Galaxy S24+ took a much-needed step up in resolution, this new Fan Edition’s 2340×1080 AMOLED panel isn’t stepping on any toes. It still looked sharp and detailed from arms’ length, and the marginally thicker bezels aren’t in any way distracting.

A 60-120Hz dynamic refresh rate meant scrolling was very smooth for the most part, though I would still prefer an option to force 120Hz on all the time. It’s a similar deal with the always-on display; it defaults to “tap to show”, but I’d rather have it permanently on during daylight hours for at-a-glance time and notification checks.

Colours are as vibrant and engaging as I’ve come to expect from Samsung’s OLEDs, giving pictures and videos plenty of punch. HDR10+ support meant compatible content could show fantastically detailed highlights alongside deep shadows. It doesn’t get quite as bright as the full-fat S24 models, but there’s still enough output to see the screen clearly in direct sunshine. It compares very favourably with other mid-rangers and sub-flagships.

Top marks for the down-firing main speaker and front-facing earpiece tweeter, too; as long as you aren’t expecting much in the way of bass, they’ll impress you with their clear mid-range and potent volume.

Cameras: potent processing

Samsung hasn’t rocked the boat in terms of sensor setup, meaning the Galaxy S24 FE has the same rear trio as its predecessor. A 50MP unit leads the way with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilisation; it’s joined by a 12MP, f.2.2 ultrawide and an 8MP, f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom and OIS. There’s also a 10MP, f/2.4 selfie cam up front.

On paper, these aren’t too far removed from the ‘proper’ Galaxy S24 and its 50MP/12MP/10MP rear cams, and both phones have Samsung’s undeniably effective image processing – but rivals have really stepped up in terms of pixel count, zoom magnification and colour treatment, so they’ll need to put in a serious shift in order to impress.

With only one afternoon of shooting in overcast and wet conditions, I’m not ready to give a verdict on image quality. The below samples will speak for themselves. TLDR? Expect Samsung’s familiar saturated colours, exposure settings that favour highlights over shadow detail, and well-judged amounts of sharpness to bring out the detail without adding unwanted extra crunch to your snaps.

The camera app offers up 2x zoom by cropping the main sensor, and will fall back to it instead of the tighter aperture telephoto lens in dimmer lighting. I could definitely tell which photos were taken on the zoom lens, as colour and definition were a step behind the main shooter. Overall, though, all three lenses are a close match for exposure and contrast.

Serious smartphone snappers will probably demand more from their hardware, but the majority will be pleased by the phone’s processing – and will appreciate the expansive selection of AI-enhanced editing tools on offer. The Galaxy S24 FE can generatively expand photos you’ve cropped too tightly on to an impressive degree, and the way it strips out window reflections is very useful if you’re not a Photoshop expert. The Portrait Studio is more fun than functional, turning pics into oil paintings or cartoons.

Software experience: a Galaxy of AI

Galaxy AI is quickly becoming one of Samsung’s main smartphone selling points, so naturally the Galaxy S24 FE comes bundled with the lot. That includes Circle to Search, which is still exclusive to Samsung and Google phones. It’s very handy for looking up images, with contextual info like where to buy products or how to get to a particular place.

Productivity gets the biggest boost, with Note Assist automatically formatting and summarising long pages of text, Transcript Assist translating and summarising audio recordings (with consistently good accuracy) and Chat Assist adjusting tone and grammar for those text messages that need to sound more professional. Regular travellers will also appreciate live translation, including while you’re on phone calls, and in-person conversations.

These all depend on you using Samsung’s own app library, of course. Galaxy AI can summarise or translate web pages, but only in the Samsung Internet app; if you’re wedded to Google Keep or Chrome, you’re out of luck. The Samsung ecosystem is extensive, with entire folders waiting in the app drawer the moment you set up the phone. Samsung fans will feel right at home, while newcomers will rightfully feel a little lost.

OneUI is at least easy to navigate now, with streamlined Settings menus making it easy to pick which features you want and which to safely disable. Samsung remains one of the best brands for quick software rollouts, and has committed to seven years of version updates and security patches – great if you want a phone for the long haul.

Performance & battery life: chipping in

With a home-grown Exynos 2400e chipset and 8GB of RAM, the Galaxy S24 FE slots in directly beneath the European Galaxy S24 in terms of performance. The 4nm silicon has been downclocked a bit, and is cooled by a slightly larger vapour chamber, so promises to maintain peak power for longer.

Benchmark apps put this processor behind the current crop of Snapdragon-powered mid-rangers and sub-flagships, but not by a colossal amount. 2048 and 6406 in the Geekbench single- and multi-core tests put it within spitting distance of its bigger brother. In reality, this felt like a perfectly snappy and responsive phone, running apps at a great lick and never sweating with basic multitasking.

I’ve yet to properly play any demanding games on it, but the more basic 2D titles I did manage to download ran perfectly smoothly. Samsung says its GPU can handle ray tracing effects with the best of ’em, but my experience with the regular Galaxy S24 suggests Qualcomm-powered rivals will still be the top pick for dedicated mobile gamers. A score of 3549 in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test all but confirms it.

The S24 FE gets a small but welcome 200mAh battery capacity increase over its predecessor. The 4700mAh cell isn’t quite as large as the one inside the Galaxy S24+, but it was still enough to get me through an entire day of regular use without needing to recharge before bedtime. I’ll need to spend more time with the phone before giving a final verdict, but first impressions suggest it’s not quite a battery life champ – but won’t leave you stranded either.

Wired and wireless charging speeds haven’t changed at all, meaning a maximum 25W over USB-C – and much less on a Qi pad. This is mediocre at best for 2024.

Samsung Galaxy S24 FE initial verdict

On first look there’s plenty to like about the Galaxy S24 FE, and not just if you’re a Samsung fan. The nicer materials, bigger battery and more potent processor help it keep pace with a rapidly improving mid-range market, and bring the firm’s convincing AI features to a more appealing price point.

Photography doesn’t seem to have taken much of a leap from the outgoing handset, though, and not everyone will appreciate the larger screen size. I also can’t overlook the fact that the Galaxy S24 proper can be had for less cash, at least at launch. I’m sure that’ll change once discounts and reductions come into effect, but right now you’ve got to really want that bigger screen – and not have the budget for the S24+ – to make this your first choice.

Samsung Galaxy S24 FE technical specifications