Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition

The Samsung Galaxy Note FE (Fan Edition) comes with the promise of the beautiful Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Priced at Rs. 39,999, this phone has reliability and the speed that made Samsung Galaxy Note 7 stand out in the flagship market.

However, the phone appears to be from the past since the market has moved on to better specifications. The phone comes with capable performance and stunning display, but it fails to compete with the much more advanced competition. Plus, it downgrades on the battery too. It is not the best phone to buy even if you are a Samsung fan, as it fails the test of time.

The Samsung Galaxy Note FE comes with a similar dimension as Galaxy Note 7, but the  difference is that it does not have the Samsung logo under the earpiece and the Samsung name on the rear panel. Despite a dated design, the phone sits comfortably in the hand.

A Gorilla Glass 5 gives excellent protection to both front and back, fitting seamlessly with the copper metal frame. On top of that, the phone arrives with IP68 water and dust resistance which allows it to stay fit after staying for 30 minutes under 5 feet of water. While not premium, the Galaxy Note FE has a sturdy and comfortable build.

The Galaxy Note FE arrives with a 2K resolution with the beautiful AMOLED screen that Samsung flagships come equipped with. The Galaxy Note 7 comes with a 5.7-inch FHD screen, which gives you an amazing 1440 x 2560 resolution. It is quite a battery drain, but Note FE also gives you the option of toning down the resolution to 720 x 1280.

However, the shortcoming of this phone is the 16:9 display, which is quite dated, considering the market is filled with 18:9 screens, even at cheaper rates. The color performance of the display is commendable. You have the freedom to switch between different color characteristics. The default is the ‘Adaptive Display’, which is quite good, but with high saturation.

The ‘AMODEL cinema’ mode makes the display suitable for HDR10 videos. The AMOLED photo mode puts the setting in Adobe RGB color space, and the Basic mode puts them in the standard sRGB scheme, which makes it pretty bright with exceptional contrast levels.

By giving different modes to tweak, the Note FE provides the user with the independence to choose their kind of beautiful display.

The Galaxy Note Fan Edition comes with Exynos 8890 chipset. The processor is competent, but it does not provide a blazing fast speed as expected from a Samsung Galaxy phone. Despite coming with 4GB RAM, you may find it difficult to run multiple apps at the same time on this set.

The multi-core score on this set puts it at 5168, while the Galaxy S8+ is at 6708 and the HTC U11 beats it at 6495. While it can run heavy games, you need to tweak it to moderate setting to get decent framerates.

The Samsung Note FE arrives with a 12MP camera, similar to Galaxy Note 7. It has an f/1.7 aperture which captures brilliant images. After processing, however, there might be a bit of over-sharpening.

In low light, the ambient light helps to brighten up images, but still they turn out to be a bit fuzzy.

The front 5MP camera is quite average. In ideal light conditions, the camera is able to preserve the light and dark contrasts, but in low light, it starts to falter and produce muddy shots.

The Note FE can record 4K images at 30 frames per second. FHD can be recorded at both 30 or 60fps. All in all, features like video effects, image stabilization and tracing can help while recording videos.

The Galaxy Note FE comes with a significant change regarding its battery. From the hefty 3500 mAh battery, the Galaxy Note FE drops to a smaller 3200 mAh. The battery gives a mixed performance. While light use can make you run the phone for the entire day, a bit of heavy use can strain the battery. You have to time your use correctly if you want a long-lasting battery.

Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition is a good phone, but it is not a correct phone for the time it comes in. Firstly, the 16:9 screen looks quite outdated. Then, the design remains something from the past. The processor and battery are decent but fail to compete with the other phones in the bracket. The cameras are adequate but not record-breaking.

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy Note FE appears to be a phone from the past. It is a capable phone, but not a recommended one. If you like this phone, it can be an excellent decision to consider other phones in a similar range but with better specifications like the Huawei Mate 10.