samsung-galaxy-s21-review

Samsung Galaxy S21 Review Leave a comment

Unlike Apple or any other company, Samsung also manufactures many other products apart from smartphones. Despite all these products, they still manage to deliver top-notch quality in every aspect. As far as smartphones go, Samsung is a top 3 contender in everyone’s list for the best smartphone of the year, and this year is no different. Samsung launched their galaxy s21 series to compete against the world’s best smartphones. And as far as reviews and user experience go, it’s holding on very well. 

Samsung develops the best android smartphones in the market, and the best of their best smartphones is the new Galaxy S21 series. It’s Samsung’s try at achieving the best default smartphone. Unlike S21 Ultra, it is not heavily loaded but with this phone, Samsung checked the right set of boxes on users’ experience, and we will talk about that below.

Specifications

This year’s Galaxy S21 is $200 cheaper than the last year’s Galaxy S20. Here are the specifications of the Galaxy S21.

  • It comes with an 8 GB RAM, 128 GB & 256 GB internal storage. Powered by Exynos 2100 – International and Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 processor.
  • Galaxy S21 has a 6.2 inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 1080 x 2400 pixels resolution. Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and an Always-on display.
  • The rear camera consists of a triple-camera 12 MP (wide) + 64 MP (telephoto) 1.1x optical zoom, 3x hybrid zoom + 12 MP (ultrawide) Super Steady video.
  • Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery + Fast charging 25W + USB Power Delivery 3.0 + Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging 15W + Reverse wireless charging 4.5W. 5G Enabled.
  • It is available in eye-pleasing colors such as Phantom Gray, Phantom White, Phantom Violet, and Phantom Pink.

Every year the prices of flagship phones increase, so whenever there is a decrease in the price of a phone, it’s because of a decision made intentionally by the company. Every smartphone that cannot be the highest-end thing is basically a balancing act to add more value. 

Samsung’s goal with this phone was to combine the right set of features to appeal to the average audience and honestly this is the best approach. With all the competition in the market, not every customer is going to afford your highest-end smartphone (S21 Ultra). You release a smartphone that meets all the demands of the audience and cut minor corners that aren’t noticeable.

Design

Galaxy S21 comes in four different colors and to be honest, they are the best colors anyone could ask for. The two-tone color gives the phone a more professional and classy feel. The metal camera bump that pops out at the back towards the edges also gives the phone a nice touch.

The camera bump on the back of the phone is the only metal and the rest of the back is plastic which is barely noticeable and not in any way cheap. It gives the phone a lighter weight and saves them money, so it works!

Display

This smartphone has a 6.2 inches display, which feels fittable and easy to access all four corners of the screen and also the reason behind the lighter weight of the phone. The display is very bright and readable outdoors with vibrant colors.

The display has a built-in larger ultrasonic fingerprint reader which works better than ever and is the same as the S21 Ultra. The top front of the screen has a small selfie camera cutout which is barely noticeable to the eye and almost blends in with the screen.

Resolution

Samsung dropped the screen resolution on this phone from the previous 1440p to 1080p now, and there are good reasons for that. 

One being that it’s a pretty sharp display considering the 6.2 inches to 1080p, most people won’t even notice the difference between this display and a 1440p one. The other is that last year, In order to switch to a smooth 120-hertz display, you had to use the screen at 1080p. The 1440p display couldn’t be possible with the 120-hertz refresh rate at the same time.

So, Samsung decided that people would go for the 1080p with the 120-hertz smoothness every time, instead of 1440p which most people don’t care about anyway. So they made the sacrifice.

Performance

This is an aspect of Galaxy S21 in which Samsung went super high end. This phone has the same processor (Snapdragon 888) chip as the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is the fastest chip in a phone.

And it comes with 8GB of RAM, which is very good. But if you compare it to other high-end phones which have higher, it doesn’t have much of a performance difference. This 8GB RAM holds fairly on its own, the phone still runs smoothly with heavy multitasking and no performance issues for that to be a factor.

With Samsung’s heavy software and all the AI, it doesn’t have any issues at all and runs the same as the other higher-end phone which is a major plus. 

5G with the Galaxy S21

The Galaxy S21 also now supports 5G which is a good sign, as for now, it makes your phone future proof as well. And now almost all the other higher-end flagship phones are working towards launching 5G compatible phones. Apple also made a pretty big deal and claims about 5G, so it’s definitely something worth considering. And lastly, the Galaxy S21 supports both sub-6 and mmWave versions of 5G, which means the US users will have the choice to choose between the three major carriers. And 5G isn’t the sole reason for people to get this phone as 5G is barely available on the market and for now, it’s just a nice addition to add to your smartphone. 

In the end, S21 is a very solid smartphone and definitely worth the price. And it’s only 50 dollars to upgrade the storage double from 128GB to 256GB, which is useful since the expandable storage is gone now. Against its competition, S21 is going to rank very favorably with the fastest chip, great cameras, and display. It is safe to say Samsung made the right choice with this phone.

Camera

The thing between S21 & S21 Ultra cameras is that the Ultra is all about high specifications and numbers. Their main focus was on the camera and providing the users with the “Ultra” experience. So, the smart thing Samsung did with the S21 is that giving a camera with taking out all the features of the Ultra that most people won’t probably need. 

The ultra wide-angle lens on the S21 is even better than the S21 Ultra. On the Ultra it starts from 0.6x, whereas on the regular it captures an even wide-angle picture with 0.5x capacity.

The triple camera rig consists of the main camera, an ultra-wide-angle, and a 3x telephoto lens with a 30x stabilized zoom. The autofocus on this device is pretty sharp despite the lack of laser autofocus. And the portrait mode is probably the best on any device at the moment. Samsung’s stepping it up. 

There isn’t much missing from the camera apart from a macro mode and laser autofocus but most people don’t use it. That’s why Samsung saved a few bucks from that.

Software: OneUI 3.1 and Android 11

When One UI was first announced in 2018, It received a warm welcome from users. Three years later, OneUI 3.1 along with android 11 in the S21 just feels so unreal. The elegant interface and redesigned widgets for the lock screen add so much more depth to the user experience. 

Now, the One UI 3.1 updated version comes with a ton of helpful features such as a Samsung DeX, which lets the Galaxy S21, and all other Galaxy devices that are compatible to be connected to an external screen to turn the phone into a desktop type experience. 

Battery

This phone is powered by a 4000 mAh battery. Many other smartphones have bigger batteries these days, for example, S21 Ultra has 5000 mAh. But before people start trashing this battery or look at it as a downgrade, It’s still a big battery and lasts all day giving a 5 – 6 hours screen-on time without any problem.

Not to mention, Apple’s biggest phone iPhone 12 Pro Max has an even smaller 3678 mAh battery which works perfectly for it.

Conclusion

The expandable storage is also gone this year. This phone has its pros and cons but it had to happen as the whole phone dropped 200 dollars than last year, so it was inevitable that some features were going to be dropped out, but the decision they made was very perceptive. As they only compromised on the stuff that wasn’t being used so much.

Let us know what you think about the Samsung Galaxy S21, and if there are any parts we missed feel free to drop a comment!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *