S20 FE, who's thinking about it?

[BotanicalStig]

Here is the link if you'd like to try for yourself. Weirdly, the photo I shot shows the red of the s8 screen. So I guess the display isn't INCAPABLE of showing the color red.

https://youtu.be/ESxn1cLz-Ig

Looks orange on both of my s20 fe- we put all 3 phones side by side and watched the video. Color representation is totally different. I understand that this is normal, just doesn't seem accurate.

 

[david61983]

Here is a comparison off an hdr YouTube video test. Red generally renders as orange, gold or pink.

Whites and grey (ie dark mode menus/toolbars) appears green/turquoise. Also, detail seems to be much lower than the S8. Out of focus at times, almost. Text is crisp- but images seem to suffer.

I have two phones showing the same symptoms - so it's a feature here, not a defect.

Definitely disappointed in the screen compared to a phone that's almost 4 years old.

Any hope that Samsung can send out a calibration patch? Seems unlikely.

Yeah my reds look orange. This is definitely one of the worst displays I've seen on a smartphone.

 

[californiajay]

Curious too. I've tried everything and can't see much of a difference. Looks pretty trash no matter what I try.

Mine is set to vivid, nothing else set up for the look of the screen. Have you taken the screen protection that came on the phone (if yours did) off? It makes a difference.

I'm having big trouble with this phone at this point. Seems that if the phone dialer is on the screen and I put my ear to it, a good percentage of the time it will press a number that I had not intended to press. There is a setting to delay key presses but unfortunately if you use this to delay the time it takes for the phone to recognize that you have mistakenly pressed a number, using this setting delays ALLL presses on the phone.
It's ridiculous and may actually be a deal breaker for me.
Anyone else seeing this behavior? Make a call or two keeping the dialing pad on the screen and every now and then take your face away from the phone so that the screen lights up. Then put your ear to the phone. Do this a few times, it doesn't happen very often but when it does it is very annoying, especially if you are on a call with something that is asking you to press number in a menu or something. See if you ever press a number not wanting to.
I am actually at the point where I am going to try and reset the phone. This is unacceptable to me and I will return the phone if the reset does not fix it.

 

[loganweaponx007]

I'm honestly not seeing this on my device. Sent the link to the wife to watch and asked her what color was th first part of the video, she said red. Showed my kids the video and asked the same thing, same answer. Maybe there is a batch of poorly calibrated displays. Very strange, try to exchange it I guess.

 

[californiajay]

I'm honestly not seeing this on my device. Sent the link to the wife to watch and asked her what color was th first part of the video, she said red. Showed my kids the video and asked the same thing, same answer. Maybe there is a batch of poorly calibrated displays. Very strange, try to exchange it I guess.

Probably a good idea. I may do the same for my issue.

 

[BotanicalStig]

Not going to exchange, I don't think it's a defect. If it weren't for the s8 spoiling me I'd be very happy with the display.

Still have time to think about a return. Only other phone I'd go for is the pixel 5 but I'd rather keep this. The FE is better in every other way.

At least the display doesn't look like one+ with green splotches and gradients throughout. It's at least consistent... Just consistently odd.

 

[bkdodger2]

I also think you can't compare older Samsung phones to current ones.. they tweaked their calibrations..

 

[californiajay]

I'm beginning to think that the proximity sensor issue I am having has to do with they way it was designed and not a software but. It is just set to turn the screen off when the phone comes in contact with the face. I doubt anything will ever change that. Too bad, I guess I will just have to be more careful when lifting it to my ear.

 

[THEPRFCT10]

I'm beginning to think that the proximity sensor issue I am having has to do with they way it was designed and not a software but. It is just set to turn the screen off when the phone comes in contact with the face. I doubt anything will ever change that. Too bad, I guess I will just have to be more careful when lifting it to my ear.

I posted this exact same problem in a different form post and share your concern this virtual proximity sensor is apparently much different than previous hardware dependent proximity sensors.

It was interesting to watch them run through the test of the sensors on my phone via smart tutor and we did verify that it works however it is extremely sensitive.

There is a simple workaround if you don't want it to do that whenever the screen comes on while up against your ear if you could see it via your peripheral vision simply push the power button to force the screen to stay off and once you take the phone away from your ear should you need to reference it you'll have to push the power button again to wake the screen up.

how much rather do this than try to do a factory data reset that I truly believe will not solve this issue.

 

[loganweaponx007]

Is this first phone they did this with, using the camera seems like it would drain more battery.

 

[californiajay]

I posted this exact same problem in a different form post and share your concern this virtual proximity sensor is apparently much different than previous hardware dependent proximity sensors.

It was interesting to watch them run through the test of the sensors on my phone via smart tutor and we did verify that it works however it is extremely sensitive.

There is a simple workaround if you don't want it to do that whenever the screen comes on while up against your ear if you could see it via your peripheral vision simply push the power button to force the screen to stay off and once you take the phone away from your ear should you need to reference it you'll have to push the power button again to wake the screen up.

how much rather do this than try to do a factory data reset that I truly believe will not solve this issue.

Thanks but it's really not an issue of being too sensitive. It's more that it waits too long to turn off the screen when bringing to my ear. My Pixel 3a actually turns the screen off even before it comes in contact with my face. The Samsung waits till just that exact point and sometimes it just feels a touch against a number key. Pressing the side button is not an acceptable answer for me as I really shouldn't need to do that every time I want to go back and forth between looking at the screen and holding it to my ear. Besides I like having that side key set to end a call.
I think that what I need to do is just get into the habit of angling the phone away from my face and only allow the top part by the speaker to come in contact with my ear and not allow the rest of the screen to touch my face.. This seems to work. Just a shame that we both have to resort to non standard ways of using this phone. I do hope that otherwise it turns out to be a good one.

 

[THEPRFCT10]

Thanks but it's really not an issue of being too sensitive. It's more that it waits too long to turn off the screen when bringing to my ear. My Pixel 3a actually turns the screen off even before it comes in contact with my face. The Samsung waits till just that exact point and sometimes it just feels a touch against a number key. Pressing the side button is not an acceptable answer for me as I really shouldn't need to do that every time I want to go back and forth between looking at the screen and holding it to my ear. Besides I like having that side key set to end a call.
I think that what I need to do is just get into the habit of angling the phone away from my face and only allow the top part by the speaker to come in contact with my ear and not allow the rest of the screen to touch my face.. This seems to work. Just a shame that we both have to resort to non standard ways of using this phone. I do hope that otherwise it turns out to be a good one.

I completely understand and agree with you 100%, yes.

If nothing else it was interesting to have a conversation with Samsung and have them explain to me the difference with regards to this virtual proximity sensor.

But I agree hopefully other than this, this phone proves to be quite the impressive device I was hoping it would be.

 

[californiajay]

Well it's gotten great reviews so far. I took advantage of the free offer for adding another line to my account which I was wanting to do anyway. So I can give it a couple of weeks or so and if I don't like it by then I'll probably buy the Pixel 5 and sell this one on ebay.
I must admit the on screen fingerprint sensor is wonderful. Far better than I thought it would ever be. Pleasant surprise.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Well it's gotten great reviews so far. I took advantage of the free offer for adding another line to my account which I was wanting to do anyway. So I can give it a couple of weeks or so and if I don't like it by then I'll probably buy the Pixel 5 and sell this one on ebay.
I must admit the on screen fingerprint sensor is wonderful. Far better than I thought it would ever be. Pleasant surprise.

If you got it free just from a new line (like I did with T-Mobile), I would expect a lot of pushback about unlocking it to sell until after the 24 months of offsetting credits that make it free. In the past you could convince them to do it so you could temporarily use the phone on another carrier but they have temporary unlocks now, so..........?

 

[X1tymez]

If you got it free just from a new line (like I did with T-Mobile), I would expect a lot of pushback about unlocking it to sell until after the 24 months of offsetting credits that make it free. In the past you could convince them to do it so you could temporarily use the phone on another carrier but they have temporary unlocks now, so..........?

I got my phone unlocked from T-mobile after 3 days. I played roulette with the reps. Afterward I flashed unlocked firmware to my.

 

[BotanicalStig]

I got my phone unlocked from T-mobile after 3 days. I played roulette with the reps. Afterward I flashed unlocked firmware to my.

Wow only 3 days? It took me 2 weeks to find someone who would unlock my s8+... And that was 3 years after I paid for the phone =/ t-mobile is not easy to work with in that regard.

I can also say the finger print scanner is pretty nice. I prefer them on the rear (so I can grab my notification shade without reaching) but it's been very reliable. More reliable than the s8 rear sensor (I won't miss that POS)

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I got my phone unlocked from T-mobile after 3 days. I played roulette with the reps. Afterward I flashed unlocked firmware to my.

What was the reason anyone gave in case I want to carrier unlock my S20 FE now? I doubt telling them I want an unlock to sell the phone before the 24 month commitment ends will work with any rep. The carrier could be left hanging if a ne'er-do-well snagged a free phone via a 24 month commitment, then closed the account and could sell the phone. That lock makes a phone pretty useless for 24 months without the account. Yeah, perp wrecks his credit but that's not much consolation for the carrier eating the cost of a phone.

TIA

 

[X1tymez]

Wow only 3 days? It took me 2 weeks to find someone who would unlock my s8+... And that was 3 years after I paid for the phone =/ t-mobile is not easy to work with in that regard.

I can also say the finger print scanner is pretty nice. I prefer them on the rear (so I can grab my notification shade without reaching) but it's been very reliable. More reliable than the s8 rear sensor (I won't miss that POS)

Man! Guess I'm the lucky one. I don't like using carrier brand phone, but I go whoever had better deals.

T-mobile used to have unlocked app on their device, but they make us call in to request.

 

[BotanicalStig]

Man! Guess I'm the lucky one. I don't like using carrier brand phone, but I go whoever had better deals.

T-mobile used to have unlocked app on their device, but they make us call in to request.

They kept giving me the old "hmm, not sure why the app won't work! Let me get you to such and such they'll get you taken care of!"

Needless to say I heard that for half a month until my next payment went through. Then the "final payment" came in a month after I had switched to visible. So sick of carriers ha!

 

[californiajay]

I'm not concerned with unlocking this phone. Since it was free for me, I don't think it's gonna be much of a priority for me to sell on ebay as afree phone. If I decide to sell it, I'll just list it as a T-Mobile phone. There are enough T-Mobile users out there now that I still think the phone will be worth it to someone.