I have one eye on the first wave of US Presidential election results as I size up these two devices. The emerging trend in the fight to the White House seems to be ‘Too close to call’. Coincidentally, that’s also my verdict on this slugfest. Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition) and the OnePlus 8T are among my favourite devices this year. The Rs 40,000 – 45,000 price band has been OnePlus territory for a while now. In an interesting twist, Samsung has turned the tables on OnePlus with a device that packs serious value. Samsung’s recent price cut (from Rs 49,999 to 44,999 with an additional cash back of Rs 4,000) pits it directly against the OnePlus 8T (Rs 42,999 onwards). Let’s see how these devices stack up in our shootout
Form: It’s glass vs glasstic (we’re not sure if it’s a word yet); OnePlus scores with its elegant glass back while the FE’s plastic back looks premium and can pass off for glass. The FE also comes in a range of funky colours. Both devices feel great in your hand with a similar heft and thickness. The FE has an edge with its IPS68 dust and water resistance.
Display: Very evenly matched, both displays are around 6.5 inches with a 1080 x 2400 pixel density and pack around 400-odd pixels per inch. The Fluid AMOLED display on the OnePlus 8T is slightly brighter with 1100 nits but I found it tough tell the difference whether I was on Netflix or scrolling webpages under harsh sunlight. Both displays feature a 120Hz refresh rate.
Battery: This one boils down to fast charging vs the convenience of wireless charging. In terms of battery performance, both devices fared equally well in my daily routines and should comfortably last a whole day with camera and video drains. While both devices feature a 4500 mAh battery under the hood, OnePlus has bundled a 65W charger in the box – 0 to 100% in 39 minutes flat. The S20FE is capable of 25W charging but the ‘in-box’ charger is only 15W. However, the FE evens it with wireless charging that is super convenient especially at a time when we’re mostly in WFH mode.
Performance: If spec sheets are the only yardstick, then this is an easy win for OnePlus 8T with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor and two hardware variants – 8GB/128GB &12GB/256GB. The FE is powered by the Exynos 990 processor (that you will find in the S20 flagships) and comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal memory. The SE offers the added flexibility of extendable memory (up to 1TB), while the 8T comes with Android 11 out of the box. It will be a while before 5G networks go mainstream in India; the 8T is 5G ready, while the FE isn’t.
Camera: The FE wins the rear camera round with its triple camera (12MP primary sensor + 8MP telephoto sensor + 12MP ultra-wide sensor) that offers 3X digital zoom and shoots slightly better images in lowlight. The 8T opts for a macro lens and depth sensor instead of a telephoto lens in its quad cam set up. Things are more evenly matched in the selfie department.
The verdict? It might boil down to personal preferences and usage case scenarios in this evenly matched showdown. While power users with a strong need for speed (includes the fast charging) might lean towards the 8T, the FE might win favour with camera buffs and if you appreciate nice to have features like wireless charging.
Views expressed are author’s own