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Samsung Galaxy S21 FE
- Thread starter ian87w
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2GB RAM on my Note II held up until January of this year! But it was not the RAM that made me upgrade. It was a few vital apps breaking and the constant frustration of constantly hacking them to force them to work which became more frustrating than beneficial. I'm certain my S20 FE has another decade of reliable service if my Note II was any indication!
Not true at all. Heck, I'm browsing this forum with 2GB of DDR on an eMachines from 2008 and everything shows properly. My Note II was no exception. Browsing the web was possible with an HTC EVO with 512 MB RAM. Browsing the web is literally a core function of any smartphone including the ancient Nokia N-series.
Any smartphone, regardless of how old it is, can still do all these things in 2022:
1. Browse the web
2. Send/receive email
3. Play locally stored music
4. Take pictures
5. Send/receive text messages
6. Send/receive phone calls
7. Store files/download
8. Take notes
9. Calculator
10. Watch videos stored on internal memory/SD Card
Those core functions don't stop working due to age, although some sites might break due to SSL being evolved over time, but you can still see pictures/browse with any phone today. Now, apps depending on more recent OSs might not work, and many didn't exist when certain phones were made, but those core functions don't need a lot of spec to work, and all still work today.
Any smartphone, regardless of how old it is, can still do all these things in 2022:
1. Browse the web
2. Send/receive email
3. Play locally stored music
4. Take pictures
5. Send/receive text messages
6. Send/receive phone calls
7. Store files/download
8. Take notes
9. Calculator
10. Watch videos stored on internal memory/SD Card
Those core functions don't stop working due to age, although some sites might break due to SSL being evolved over time, but you can still see pictures/browse with any phone today. Now, apps depending on more recent OSs might not work, and many didn't exist when certain phones were made, but those core functions don't need a lot of spec to work, and all still work today.
6GB is the current sweet spot for Android. Most OEMs don't even optimize their skins well to utilize 8GB RAM or more. I have a Poco X3 NFC with 8GB of RAM, and I never see it utilize more than half of its RAM as the OS just keeps closing apps aggressively despite the plentiful RAM.
So 6GB imo is alright. Samsung even cut down the RAM of some of their flagship S22 from 12GB to 8GB RAM.
If you are concerned with RAM, the 256GB version of the S21 FE does have 8GB of RAM. Or just get the regular S21, which should now be available at a discount.
I still love my S20 FE. It has all the updates (except for the old apps I exempted from that) and still performs a ton better than anything in the past. Older phones with eMMC or NAND and 2-core CPUs could barely handle even one Android update, much less any updated apps without lagging a ton or running hot/using tons of battery for no apparent reason. Today, the hardware is less important since most duties are now handed off to the internet/cloud. I am still hoping this means a future where buying another phone over and over is obsolete (especially given our e-waste problem, and many people buying a replacement phone despite theirs working fine!) and it's just software that evolves. Moore's law is becoming more reality now than ever.
I still expect a total 10-year lifespan on my S20 FE. It's got a lot more future-proofing compared with my Note II, which still worked at the 10-year mark (although I bought it used on Amazon a year ago). I wonder what type of smartphone will be common in 2030? Hopefully something unique since most phones today have lost features or look alike, or are too big (that's my only complaint, all phones today are too big.) I'd love to see the 3.5"-4.0" slider come back. OR at least some phones that are not all glass slabs. Homogenization and stagnation are not good for innovation.
I do have one question though. My S20 FE 5G runs on Verizon, but I don't know if it's using 5G or not. It sometimes goes from 'LTE' (which I'm assuming is 4G LTE unless it's now an umbrella term?) to 'LTE +' which I'm assuming is 5G? Never figured that one out. It only goes LTE + in Indiana or in a large city, but it is indeed quite faster than 4G LTE, on par with regular wifi.
I still expect a total 10-year lifespan on my S20 FE. It's got a lot more future-proofing compared with my Note II, which still worked at the 10-year mark (although I bought it used on Amazon a year ago). I wonder what type of smartphone will be common in 2030? Hopefully something unique since most phones today have lost features or look alike, or are too big (that's my only complaint, all phones today are too big.) I'd love to see the 3.5"-4.0" slider come back. OR at least some phones that are not all glass slabs. Homogenization and stagnation are not good for innovation.
I do have one question though. My S20 FE 5G runs on Verizon, but I don't know if it's using 5G or not. It sometimes goes from 'LTE' (which I'm assuming is 4G LTE unless it's now an umbrella term?) to 'LTE +' which I'm assuming is 5G? Never figured that one out. It only goes LTE + in Indiana or in a large city, but it is indeed quite faster than 4G LTE, on par with regular wifi.
That was fast, sold. Samsung is nice but the basics aren't there yet. I will say I'm torn because I love the Galaxy 4 Classic and I would like to wear the watch but it's not working with iOS.
Ok will try the pixel soon and see how that xompares to the Galaxy.
I loved the 120mhz that my 11 pro max doesn't have though.
I got the phone for 360 off the street.
Ok will try the pixel soon and see how that xompares to the Galaxy.
I loved the 120mhz that my 11 pro max doesn't have though.
I got the phone for 360 off the street.
I haven't even seen an S21 FE in stores. Granted we just have Walmart, Best Buy and Office Depot (yeah, the 'K-mart' of office stores!) and Walmart still sells the S20 FE 5G for $699. It's like tech has just up and stood still since 2020 around here.