The Galaxy S21 batting order is now available. Before you buy one, the biggest takeout you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, along with the Galaxy S21 Plus 5G and Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, is that Samsung cut the US monetary value of each by $ 200 ( the savings are less in early countries ). intelligibly this was n’t done out of generosity and Samsung ‘s made trade-offs to hit that lower price on the Galaxy S21 : The wall charger and headphones do n’t come in the box, the phone does n’t have a microSD card slot for expand storage and it has 4GB of RAM less than the S20. Samsung besides removed half of the pixels from the screen and replaced the Gorilla Glass from the binding with polycarbonate, which is a courteous way of saying plastic. even with those sacrifices, the Galaxy S21 and its get down price of $ 800 ( £769, AU $ 1,249 ) is more appealing than the S20. In fact, each earphone in the S21 batting order has more to distinguish it from one another than the S20 series did. Out of the trio, the S21 is the no-brainer “ you ‘re ascribable for an upgrade ” call that you ‘re likely to get from a carrier. And a batch of people are going to get this phone. Read more: Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. S21 Plus vs. S21 Ultra : Specs comparison chart
8.8
Galaxy S21 5G
Like
- Lower price
- design
- Android 11/OneUI 3.1
- eminent refresh rate blind
Don’t Like
- Less RAM
- display is only HD
- Gets warm when using it
- Lacks a microSD time slot
The S21 is a significant rethink by Samsung, which may have tried to push the S20 to be excessively premium. But the company found a good balance in terms of price, features and design for the S21 .
The Galaxy S21 gets a striking new look
Without a doubt the beginning thing I notice about the S21 is its plan. This two-tone approach gives the call an art-deco sensibility. Well, kind of. Samsung made the television camera bump bigger and more industrial-looking. I can about envision person at Samsung searching for the perfect drill press to make the camera cutouts precisely the correct size. The bump apparently melts into the sides. The purple and gold S21 I reviewed ( the color ‘s called apparition purple ) gives off some major Mardi Gras vibration. The S21 besides comes in other “ apparition ” colors, including grey, pink and white. On, there are limited-edition apparition colors in gold and red .
Watch this:
Review : The Galaxy S21 5G surprised us with its changes
The formative back has a matte eat up and feels great. I know people have strong feelings about plastic on phones. But this is n’t the hollow-feeling plastic you found on phones five or six years ago. The S21 feels well-made. ( Although the results of our Galaxy S21 neglect test may suggest otherwise. )
Around the front is Corning ‘s Gorilla Glass Victus, which we first base saw on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. As a complete box, the S21 has a come to design .
Lower resolution screen with a high refresh rate
The hole-punch screen, which Samsung calls the Infinity-O display, is my current darling workaround for avoiding a notch or big bezels. The S21 ‘s two-dimensional display with its bantam black bezel looks in truth contemporary. It has Full HD resolution, which is a measure gloomy from the Quad HD resolving power on the S20. But in casual practice, that ‘s not as dramatic a change as it sounds. A distribute of it comes from the adaptive shield refresh pace that fluctuates between 48 and 120Hz depending on what ‘s being displayed. therefore if you ‘re playing a game like Alto ‘s Odyssey, Call of Duty or Forza Street you can see them in all their crispen graphic beauty. And when you are n’t, the display has a lower refresh rate in club to save on battery life . Sarah Tew/CNET
Same S20 camera hardware, but with improvements
The television camera hardware on the S21 is precisely the same discover on the S20 and that ‘s not a bad thing. On the back are three cameras : a wide, ultrawide and telephotograph. I rather like the ultrawide on the S21, it might be my favorite ultrawide television camera on an Android call. Photos look capital. Autofocus is firm and can switch between foreground and backdrop quickly. In video recording, autofocus trade is n’t as fast, but when it grabs focus it seems to hold on to it. I besides like in video manner having an onscreen clitoris at the top to toggle between different resolutions and frames per second gear. Read more: S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Pixel 5 : Which telephone has the best night mode ? Take a expression at respective photos I shot with the Galaxy S21 below . Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET Patrick Holland/CNET For selfies you now have an option for Bright or Natural. Which is excellent. Skin tones in selfie photos look good, particularly with all of the “ face ” effects turned off. But I should note, there are people who like to have the option. therefore, there ‘s that . Patrick Holland/CNET Samsung added a fun new video recording feature called Director ‘s View. While you record, there are thumbnail previews of live feeds coming from all the other cameras. There is a side-by-side format for vlogging or a stack format if you ‘re shooting vertically. This lets you record yourself with the selfie television camera and show what you ‘re seeing or reacting to using any of the rear television camera you choose .
I thought Director ‘s View would be more like a catch, but I can see people wanting to experiment with it. The only downside is that it outputs an HD video. But it ‘s the thumbnail preview that sells me on it. I ‘d love to see this thumbnail preview interface when I ‘m recording a 4K video or as a Pro Video mode accessory . Sarah Tew/CNET
The S21 has the Snapdragon 888 chip
Powering the S21 is the raw Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip along with 8GB of RAM. In our benchmark tests, the S21 scored better than final class ‘s S20. In use, it handled everything from photograph edits to gameplay ( at 120Hz ) merely fine. The 888 check besides allows for some new features like Director ‘s View. The merely tell that the S21 was working hard was that the rear got warm downloading large files like games and videos, or when I played a game for longer than 20 minutes. One time while running the benchmark test 3D Mark the call heated up. In the battery settings, I had Enhanced Performance turned on, which targets all apps that are n’t games. 3D Mark is a benchmark app for gaming. I turned Enhanced Performance off and ran 3D Mark again and the phone did n’t get hot. Weird, correct ? Check out our benchmark scores below .
3DMark Slingshot Unlimited
Galaxy S21
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10,070
Galaxy S20
9,092
OnePlus 8T
9,802
iPhone 12
10,988
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Geekbench v.5.0 single-core
Galaxy S21
1,084
Galaxy S20
887
OnePlus 8T
855
iPhone 12
1,591
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Geekbench v.5.0 multicore
Galaxy S21
3,282
Galaxy S20
3,186
OnePlus 8T
3,118
iPhone 12
3,847
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
When it comes to battery life, this is a one-day earphone. It ‘s on par with stopping point class ‘s S20, which had the same size battery. I however have several more battery tests to run and will add the results to this review soon .
The Galaxy S21 has Android 11 and OneUI 3.1
The S21 comes with Android 11 topped with Samsung ‘s OneUI 3.1 interface. I love it. There are more ways to default to Google services, such as using Google Pay rather of Samsung Pay, or adding the Google Discover News feed to the home blind rather of the Samsung interpretation. There are besides modest touches like pop-up book windows for adjusting audio levels that look uninfected and mod. There are besides new widgets that you can add to your lock screen. I ‘m a big fan of how a lot the software is weighted toward the bottom of the display, which makes one-handed seafaring easy.
Read more: Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 Review
The Galaxy S21 supports 5G
And last, the Galaxy S21 is a 5G phone. It supports both sub-6 and mmWave versions of 5G, meaning in the US you ‘ll have your choice of the three major carriers. 5G should n’t be the sole rationality to get this telephone. But the S21 will be many people ‘s first gear 5G telephone and its speeds and connection should improve as carriers keep improving their 5G networks .
Samsung Galaxy S21 specification vs. Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 FE, OnePlus 8T
Samsung Galaxy S21
Samsung Galaxy S20
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
OnePlus 8T
Display size, resolution
6.2-inch Flat FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x, 2,400×1,080 pixels
6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED; 3,200×1,440 pixels
6.5-inch super AMOLED; 2,400×1,080 pixels
6.55-inch AMOLED; 2,400×1,080 pixels
Pixel density
421ppi
563ppi
405ppi
402ppi
Dimensions (Inches)
2.80×5.97×0.31 in
2.72×5.97×0.311 in
6.29×2.97×0.33 in
6.33×2.92×0.33 in
Dimensions (Millimeters)
71.2×151.7×7.9mm
69.1×151.7×7.9 mm
159.8×75.5×8.4 mm
160.7×74.1×8.4 mm
Weight (Ounces, Grams)
6.03 oz; 171g
5.75 oz; 163g
6.7 oz; 190g
6.63 oz; 188g
Mobile software
Android 11
Android 10
Android 10
Android 11
Camera
64MP (telephoto), 12MP (wide-angle), 12MP (ultrawide)
12-megapixel (wide-angle), 64-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (ultrawide)
12-megapixel (standard), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 8-megapixel (3x telephoto)
48-megapixel (standard), 16-megapixel (ultrawide), 5-megapixel (macro), 2-megapixel (monochrome)
Front-facing camera
10MP
10-megapixel
32-megapixel
16-megapixel
Video capture
8K
8K
4K
4K
Processor
Snapdragon 888
Snapdragon 865 (5G)
Snapdragon 865 (5G) Samsung Exynos 990 (4G)
Snapdragon 865
Storage
128GB/256GB
128GB
128GB
128GB, 256GB
RAM
8GB
12GB
6GB
8GB
Expandable storage
No
Up to 1TB
1TB
No
Battery
4,000 mAh
4,000 mAh
4,500 mAh
4,500 mAh
Fingerprint sensor
In-screen
In-screen
In-screen
In-screen
Headphone jack
No
No
No
No
Special features
IP68 rating, 5G-enabled, 30x Space Zoom, 10W wireless charging
5G enabled; 120Hz refresh rate; water-resistant (IP68)
120Hz screen refresh rate, support for 30W fast charging and 15W fast wireless charging
5G enabled; 120Hz refresh rate; dual-SIM capabilities (nano-SIM and e-SIM)
Price off-contract at launch (USD)
$800 (128GB), $850 (256GB)
$999
$699
$749
Price (GBP)
£769 (128GB), £819 (256GB)
£799 (4G), £899 (5G)
£599 (4G), £699 (5G)
£549
Price (AUD)
$1,249 (128GB), $1,349 (256GB)
AU$1349 (4G), AU$1,499 (5G)
AU$999 (4G), AU$1,149 (5G)
AU$1,149
first published Jan. 21 .