What to know
- The Galaxy S24 FE is one of the better smartphones of the year.
- The new Fan Edition Galaxy smartphone has a significantly larger screen, slightly larger battery, better cameras (both front and rear), and all the Galaxy AI features found on Samsung’s flagship the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
- The S24 FE is also faster, tougher, and comes with 7 years of OS updates.
- Priced at $649 (₹59,999), it captures the mid-range segment like no other device and is definitely worth a gander if you haven’t upgraded your smartphone yet.
Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, the company’s latest mid-ranger, is here! The new Fan Edition device comes with a ton of improvements over last year’s Galaxy S23 FE and, I can’t believe I’m saying this, it’s mostly because of its AI features.
Much on it is the same as its predecessor, but the S24 FE borrows heavily from the more expensive Galaxy devices like the S24 Ultra too. At $649, it greatly balances features and price, and has definitely had me drooling. Unlike the unreliable Pixel devices and the recently launched iPhone 16 series that is incomplete in more ways than I can count, Samsung Galaxy S24 FE is one device that is worth its slightly increased price from last year. Here’s why I’m itching to get my hands on the new Galaxy S24 FE.
Galaxy S24 FE is significantly improved
As a long-time Pixel user and lately a Nothing Phone owner, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 FE has a really strong pull for me. From the better camera to the hardware, everything’s got me going. Even the AI implementation looks useable.
The Galaxy S24 FE is not far from its predecessor, the Galaxy S23 FE. But the $50 bump in price from last year is more than justified for such things as a bigger screen, longer battery life, more durable panels (front and back) and all the AI features that Galaxy AI has to offer.
Galaxy S24 FE has a stunning camera!
Galaxy’s ‘Fan Edition’ smartphones are known for their impressive camera setups, and the S24 FE doesn’t disappoint. This year, the photos and videos captured by the triple camera setup are further improved thanks to the ProVisual engine – a first for the FE line. The integration of this flagship technology to the Galaxy S24 FE will understandably invite comparisons with the S24 Ultra, and will also understandably fall short of what the latter can produce. But in its price bracket, the Galaxy S24 FE blows the competition out of the waters.
Other improvements include better night photography, recording videos up to 8K at 30fps (as opposed to 24fps on the S23 FE), and a much-improved 10MP selfie camera.
But where the actual sensors come up short, Galaxy AI fills in the gaps.
All the AI on the Galaxy S24 FE
If you’re into AI, you’re going to have a blast with the S24 FE. All the Galaxy AI features are here which is a big plus since you don’t have to break the bank to try them out. The features, which are generously integrated across different apps, can greatly simplify daily tasks or at least let you have fun with the features themselves.
Take for instance Call assist on the Phone app. It uses Samsung’s live translation feature to automatically translates the conversation when one or both parties don’t speak the other’s language. The latest 6.1.1 update also brings live translation to third-party apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Meet, which is super sweet.
Live translation is also a key part of the Interpreter app that translates conversations between people without a common tongue. Its new ‘listening mode’ listens to what’s being spoken and automatically translates the words without your having to press any buttons or fiddle with it. Just open the app, select the languages, and let it rest. It’s a fun tool to make friends and explore on your own when travelling.
Then there’s Chat assist with the AI integrated into the keyboard. With it, you can use the generative language features to compose written content, rewrite text, translate, and proofread. You know, the usual.
The Notes app also gets a few AI features that allow for automatic formatting of notes, changing styles, summarizing long notes, and using the sketch-to-image feature to add full blown AI images to your notes. The Voice Recorder app similarly transcribes and summarizes transcribed recordings, all on-device, and saves them to the Notes app for later referrals. If the AI gets some words wrong, you can edit them yourself.
The Browsing assist feature uses the AI summary function particularly well to save time when reading long articles online, considered by some to be one of the more useful AI implementations.
There are a few other AI goodies, such as Photo assist that use generative edit to remove unwanted objects, and Portrait studio that turns your selfie into a cartoon, if you’re into that, or any sketch into an image. The Drawing assist feature, which is also integrated into the Notes app as mentioned before, creates AI images out of simple sketches, though it may be harder to sketch without an S pen.
Finally, there’s Photo ambient wallpaper – one of the more unique AI features – that changes the ambience of your wallpaper depending on the weather. Now that’s cool! Who needs a weather app anyway? Or even to look out the window!
There’s also ‘Health assist’ though it’s currently tied only to the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch7. Did we miss Circle to Search? Of course, that’s on there too. But you already know what it does, so we’ll let that be.
Long story short, the AI integration in the S24 FE is extensive and potentially quite useful. Depending on your habits, you may find some more alluring than others. I particularly find browsing assist, live translation (in both calls and Interpreter) and photo ambient wallpaper to be of especial interest.
All day battery, large display, new Exynos 2400e chip
The Galaxy S24 FE is a much bigger device than last year’s S23 FE. At 6.7 inches, the FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x Display is as big as the Galaxy S24 Ultra – a huge plus for movie buffs and mobile gamers who also get better graphics with ray tracing.
But with a large display and next-gen mobile gaming comes the need for an equally large and efficient powerhouse. With a 4700 mAh battery, there’s more juice here than on last year’s S23 FE, but less than the S24 Ultra. But a single charge should still last a whole day, even with moderate to heavy usage, and at half the price of the flagship, it’s more than what us mid-range budget users could ask for.
This year’s chipset, the Exynos 2400e (with a better CPU and GPU) is also an upgrade over the Exynos 2200 on the S23 FE. Support for 4.5W reverse wireless charging is good to see, as is the availability of a 512GB storage option.
The only gripe I have with the Galaxy S24 FE is how far the rear triple-camera setup protrudes out of the body. It’s not as bad as the iPhone 16s, but the slight wobble it produces can get annoying. The bezels are also thicker, but only very slightly.
Galaxy S24 FE is durable, built for longevity
The Galaxy S24 FE has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the front and back and an aluminum frame that should keep the device protected from light scratches and falls. Besides, Samsung has had a better track record of producing reliable hardware than most Android companies. Samsung has announced 7 years of OS updates for the Galaxy S24 FE so the device should remain relevant for years to come.
The five color options – Blue, Graphite, Gray, Mint, and Yellow – ensure that there’s something for everyone. Sure, you could get the S23 FE at a heavily discounted price right now. But the S24 FE proves to be a game changer on all fronts and promises to future proof you for quite a long time to come. It also affords a decent compromise between the low-end and the flagship level Samsung smartphones.
Although I’ve never been a huge Samsung fan myself, the Galaxy S24 FE has more than enough features at the right price point to change my stance. Personally, I can’t wait to try out some of the AI features like Call assist, Interpreter, and Ambient wallpaper, and record 8k videos at 30fps (slow-mo flex, here I come).
