Galaxy S21 FE One UI 6.0 Issues

[Gino76ph]

I have planning for a long time to get this phone because of it's great design and feel in the hand albeit being a few years old now and it's ageing processor.

Most reviews I have read and seen online are saying the same thing: overheating and battery life drain.

But I wanted to touch upon the latest One UI 6.0 update. 

Has the overheating and battery life drain issues been resolved after the update?

Is it worth getting this phone in 2024?

[Star_girl]

Tbh if your phone is fast and you're happy with the camera and how you interact with the phone system, like if you can do most things, you can at least wait until the new phones become cheaper in a few months. I upgraded because my previous phone was awfully slow, poor battery life and some camera shortcomings, but if you are happy with your current phone, wait. Updates not even ready for the S24s...

If you weight between s21 series and s22 series, I'd say get s22 series, might not seem much different, but there are some worthy improvements in s22 series.

[Gino76ph]

There is no way I will be getting an S24 today as it very new, software & UI may not be that optimised and the prices.

I'd stay away with any Samsung with an Exynos chip (such as the S22 line) because of it's performance. And i'm not even talking about benchmarks. I'm talking real-time / real life usage.

I'm tempted with the S23 phones simply because they came out last year, software and UI will now well be very optimised, prices has come down significantly and because it has the Snapdragon chip.

The reason why i want an S21 FE because of the price, the size & form factor (not too big or too small for my hands) and software and UI would have been well optimised since it's release. But, i still need reassurance that the battery life endurance or standby drain (because of the SD888 chip) is not that bad as 100% of the reviews I read has been fairly unanimous.

[Star_girl]

I absolutely get your point. I usually used to buy last year's model or even years behind model because specs wise, most smartphones can do alot and whichever one yo7 chose to use you still get alot of practical and entertaining features that will just let yo7 enjoy your phone.
As about the s24U, it's a great phone, software wise, but I am not impressed with the camera. Yes it's the colours are more vivid, the battery lasts longer, but for this money, I was expecting better camera. So I don't advice you to pay 1k plus for this phone just yet, like you said, it's safer to use older phones. The AI is good, but unless you need the features for every day life, you go days without not needing to use them. I'd still stay with the Note20U tbh, just because I am not impressed with S24U camera, I mean, in low light, they are just grainy and no matter what editing app I tried to use, it's not getting them much better. 😞
Plus the Note 20 U just catches more detail somehow, it's got a wider, better sensor or something.
Tbh I don't think you get better battery life unless you buy the phone straight out of the box or replace the battery. Until the S24U all my Samsung phones battery life became poor over time and although they received software update, i think it's really the hardware that fails in this aspect. One way to remedy the situation is that I am using power bank, that I am using even with the S24U just to maintain battery life.
I have read and watched reviews about IPhones and some of them say that it has better battery life and there are many that say that IPhone battery life is decreasing over time as well and it doesn't last a whole day and many compare it Samsung, so from that point of view I don't think there are miracles to be expected.
Unless you want Chinese phone, which are very praised, but idk, not my favourite to use or recommend.
So in the end it just goes down to what you expect of a phone to do that will satisfy your needs.

[Gino76ph]

True, True....

I have been an Android user for 14 years. Compared to iPhones they are much much better for dozens of reasons.

I had an S21 Note 2 years ago. Sold it as it was too wieldy /chunky for me. And it was also weighty on my hand.  I would probably go for an S21 FE or an S23 Plus right now (if I have the money) again due to their almost perfect size for my hands. You can find a very good/mint condition S21 FE on ebay for well under £300. You'd be lucky if you can find an S23+ for under £500 still. 

As i mentioned previously (or maybe in another thread) Xiaomi phones are getting a lot better. Their main flagship line (the "numbered" series like last year's Xiaomi 13) are the ones to look out for. The Redmi Notes are their midrange line-up (similar to the Galaxy A-series). The newer Hyper OS UI is a better version of their older MIUI and unlike that OS it feels lighter, performance is a wee faster (even though MIUI feels a lot faster than One UI anyway), way less ads and you can uninstall most first-party apps now.  Samsung has started putting ads on their phones, you can't uninstall some first-party apps (you can only disable them) and performance is still not great because of so many bloateware and having a separate app store...just like Xiaomi. Samsung is only better with faster updates.

Another issue with One UI are animations. If you install a third-party launcher the Android animations and gestures are still not as smooth as Hyper OS or Oxygen OS. One UI's animations and app icons still look childish, there is no way to install third-party icon pack (unlike others), the app scrolling is horizontal (copying iOS) and not vertical and there is no universal way to hide apps (unlike others). And also, battery charging remains ancient slow. Other Android OEM's have catched up with Samsung on that aspect. It's either Samsung just want to do things by themselves disregarding market trends or ignoring user feedback altogether. We simply do not know what's on their minds right now. 

If you think about it the prices of their devices are expensive for what they are. It may be better value if you buy a 1 or 2-year old Galaxy flagship or go with OnePlus or a Xiaomi 13 or 14 which btw will be announced today at MWC in Barcelona. 

if you want a good back up phone probably go with Galaxy A3x or A5x or an old flagship (like S20 or S21 FE). Avoid Exynos at all cost. OnePlus CE line are also a good choice tho the screens are not AMOLED. You can also go for Poco but updates may not be as fast than Samsung tho specs wise they are better. 

[Star_girl]

I believe that is very subjective.
The best thing is to make your decision based on what suits you the most.
When I used a Poco the software did not seem very stabilised. They may have gotten better, but I am not willing to try anymore.
I am not into all that animation thing, I look at how fast a phone is working and if it's good and versatile at using Microsoft Files and One Drive, which I absolutely love in the Samsung. Tbh the pre-reinstalled apps don't really bother me, and I receive it as a service that is saving me from having to look for them. This said, the Poco had some Chinese ones that I never heard about and I don't need and it was running kind of slow. Plus it wasn't very good with Microsoft. But it's OK, I needed to buy a phone urgently at that time, and the Poco served me well.
Like I said in a previous post, I would chose the bands I know, Samsung, IPhone or Google, the last two I never used but I know what to expect of them because they are the most talked about and I would use one without even reading the specs too much.

But I know the Chinese phones have gotten better and they seem to be the best deal specs vs price. So like I said, the best thing to do is to buy the Device that serves you the best in every way.

[Gino76ph]

I stand by my experience with owning chinese phones such as Xiaomi. OnePlus (another chinese company) is somewhat of a good balance of performance, decent cameras, audio and updates. This is if you get their flagship / upper mid-range devices. 

I stand also by my criticism with the issues of a Samsung phone (animations, app scrolling, hiding apps, etc.) based on my extensive years of experience owning and using them.

But you are right. Get something that would best suit your needs. And wallet. But nowadays, there is almost no "ideal" phone for oneself because there is always something that you don't like e.g. Sansung S21 FE  with great cameras, decent performance, so-so battery life but fast updates. That's just an example. 

[Members_1NHGiHf]

Dont buy it. Ive had constant issues. 

[Gino76ph]

I've sold my Galaxy S21 FE a few days ago.

Now, I'm planning on getting an S23 FE. And yes i've read the reviews.

But im still tempted to get a cheaper midrange such as the Redmi Note 13 Pro or the Poco X6 Pro because of higher battery capacity, much better performance (not benchmarks but the overall UI smoothness) and a lot faster charging speeds albeit so-so / "decent" main and selfie camera quality.

Any thought?