Galaxy S23 FE vs A54 vs S23...choices

[Gino76ph]

Hi

Would you say you that the older Galaxy A54 is a better value now because of the chipset (having decent performance), very decent photos & videos and a far better battery life than the newer S23 FE ?

Or would you say the S23 FE (after all those software updates) is a much more compelling device to invest on in terms of those aspects mentioned? Or is the overheating and poor battery life is still a reality?

Or would you guys rather just get the vanilla Galaxy S23 for its chipset, cameras and everything else?

[Gino76ph]

One thing i also hate with these new A-series (A35 & A55) is the weight. Putting protective glass is good. But it adds weight to the device. And i may be wrong but glass is not a good conductor of heat? So why put it in a device that can possibly shatter when fallen from a height. It boggles the mind. 

[Gino76ph]

Because of limitations on money I still consider the A54 and S23 FE as my choices if i can get my head around the slow charging speeds. 

But as I mentioned earlier the thing I hate most with these new A-series (A35 & A55) is the weight. Putting protective glass is good. But it adds some bulkiness to the device which is not great for my almost 50-year old arthritic hands.

And i may be wrong but glass is not a good conductor of heat? So why did they put it in a device that may possibly shatter when fallen from a height. It just boggles me. 

I do not do intensive tasks on my phones. And i've pretty much possibly seen hundreds of videos of "how to save battery life" or "How to improve performance" on only these days especially when using a Samsung device.

The advantage of the S23 FE obviously is the chipset, the smaller/more compact size and the cameras especially with the main and telephoto. All of that that apart from the average-ish battery life.

The A54 has better battery life and a more bigger (not necessarily wider or heavier) body and decent camera system.

I just needs to find that balance of I want my phone to be next.

[PaulC59]

My A54 5g is much smaller than my S24 Ultra. If I'm honest I don't think you will notice any difference in performance in normal use. I've not compared specs but I think the main thing you will notice is better camera and wireless charging on the S23fe. I've just charged my A54 up and it wasn't that bad, didn't take too long but as it drains much slower it doesn't need to charge as much. This link is an article comparing specs of an A54 5g Vs S23fe hope it helps https://www.phonearena.com/reviews/galaxy-s23-fe-vs-galaxy-a54_id5986#battery

[Gino76ph]

I've seen the comparison on GSMArena. 

It would be normal for the A55 to drain slower as it has the bigger battery. But you hope that with a somewhat flagship Exynos chip on the S23 FE albeit smaller battery capacity the battery life will be more optimised? But then again, with reports of overheating it sounded like there is thermal throttling happening which in turn affects the battery?  Would you agree to that summasion?

[PaulC59]

I've not had the S23fe but my S24 Ultra gets very hot when wireless charging in the car especially in warm weather. If i use the regular USB c charger I don't seem to get the heating up issue. I did previously have the S23 Ultra which had the same issue when wireless charging in the car but the S23fe is considerately different than the S23 Ultra I.e bigger battery and superfast charging so I couldnt say for sure

[Gino76ph]

I did hear that one way to take care of your phone's battery is not to charge it  for too long or in a hot or warm environment. 

Samsung is playing it too safe with slow charging speeds of 10 years ago i.e. 25w and 45w in their phones whilst other OEMs have 67w or 68w as standard.

[PaulC59]

I'm not sure of the cause of overheating but it is certainly worse in warm/hot environments and seems more prevalent on higher end phones. I mostly use USB charging but the wireless charging is useful e.g if going on long journeys where you use the sat nav and play media so stops it going flat in the car on the journey. If I were choosing between the two as a main phone I would decide how long I was going to use it and what I needed it for e.g to take nice photos etc. If it was a go between prior to an upgrade e.g just a year or 2 I would probs go for the A54 5g and save money towards the upgrade and have a useful backup phone when I get a new phone. If was intending on keeping it for longer and needed good photos from time to time and play the odd games, I would go for the S23fe as its still a good phone but probably more future proof. I see my A54 5g as an every day reliable workhorse and a great backup phone as its much less glitchy and more stable than my S24 Ultra i.e the more features in a phone means it has to work harder so more battery drain and chance for errors. My gut feeling tells me the S23fe is probably a good balance between features and battery life. I don't think you would be disappointed in choosing either phone so you can't really make a wrong choice, it's just a simple case of how you want to use it

[Gino76ph]

The problem with me is i don't keep my phone that long. AFA i can remember the longest phone i had used (and had to buy twice in the past) is a Xiaomi 12 Lite, a Galaxy S20 FE 5G and a OnePlus 10T. The longest time was around 6-7 months. 

I have this dilemma that if i don't like aspects of the phone based on my everyday usage I will just sell it. So, it's kind of  a mixture of a "go between" or partly everyday/long-term ish phone. 

In the past 5 or so years the number of apps I have been using and the tasks I am doing hasn't changed much. My work has been fairly stable (Thank God) on a typical M-F, 9-5 person. If i see something interesting out and about or during my travels I love to have a above decent phone to take photos of foods, landscapes, buildings, partner, etc. I do not vlog, stream, hardcore gaming, video editing or those heavy tasks.

If i was to get the S23 FE (which as it stands just under £500 on ebay) i'll probably get the 256GB version with the faster, more efficient UFS 4.0. But i dead hear the differences between 3.1 and 4.0 is minor. But for me any minor improvements I will take anytime.

My partner has the A54 128GB and i find the size just right for my arthritic hands (now with a non-healing lesion on my right index finger) and I do like the weight as well. Saying that the S23 FE has a smaller screen albeit slightly heavier but not much; I'm also worried about the glass body that the slightest fall will just break. The A54's advantage is not having that glass body. Or I could be wrong?

[PaulC59]

The A54 5g has a glass front and glass back with a plastic edge, i suspect it is almost identical to the S23fe in size. It might be better to nip into a phone shop and look at both phones and see how they feel in your hand. It might help you to choose

[Gino76ph]

The problem with that is Samsung may not stock the A54 as it's last year's model even if the S23 FE is there. So, i can have a feel of the phone if they are there but because they is a string attached to their back so it is not really ideal. And besides if i want to have a look at the software and UI the phones will be in retail/demo mode hence software are not updated.