The Samsung Galaxy S21 is out. For $200 less than the Galaxy S20, this phone may be the one you want to have in your hands. It comes with a high-quality camera, 120Hz dynamic display, and a faster Snapdragon 888 processor.
This phone comes with a sleeker design and improved specs but also with some trade-offs. For instance, it doesn’t have a MicroSD slot. The charger is missing from the box. The screen resolution is also lower compared to the S20. And, it has a plastic back instead of glass.
Release date and price
You can pre-order this phone now. Its release date is January 29. The starting price of this phone with 128GB of internal storage is $799. Another storage option available in this regard is 256GB.
Design and colors
The look of this phone is impressive, thanks to the four options available in terms of colors. These options include phantom gray, phantom white, phantom pink, and phantom violet. The camera pump on the plastic back looks more integrated due to its seamless design.
Samsung has used polycarbonate instead of Gorilla Glass. Although this trade-off doesn’t feel cheap, it is not quite as premium as Gorilla Glass.
This phone comes in 6 x 2.8 x 0.31 inches and weighs 6.07 ounces. While it may be a bit heavier compared to the S20, it is still a compact phone.
Display
You will love the scrolling experience on this phone due to the 120Hz screen refresh rate. It has a 6.2-inch AMOLED screen that makes the colors speak. The difference this time is that the refresh rate is dynamic. Moreover, you can scale down this refresh rate to 48Hz to save on battery life.
Samsung has dropped down screen resolution from quad-HD to full HD in this handset. If you want to get the sharpness of quad-HD, you can consider having a Galaxy S20 or S21 Ultra.
Cameras
The camera hardware used in the Galaxy S21 is pretty much the same as that in the S20. There is a 12MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 64MP telephoto lens with a 3x optical zoom. You can use the hybrid 30x zoom to close things up even further. The good thing is that Samsung has used AI in the phone to stabilize zoomed-in shots. Camera lenses on both front and back can shoot high-quality stills and videos.
Performance
This phone comes with a Snapdragon 888 chipset, which offers a significant improvement over its predecessor. Launching multiple apps and switching between them is quite an impressive experience. The RAM on this phone is 8GB, which is lower than the S20’s 12GB RAM. It’s interesting to see how this phone does with a reduced RAM.
Battery and charging
The battery on this phone is the same as that in the S20: 4,000 mAh. Nonetheless, we can hope this phone would last a bit longer as compared to its predecessor on a single charge. According to the company, this phone uses AI to analyze phone use patterns to identify areas where it can conserve power.
In general, this phone may be good news for people who want to get a premium phone without breaking their bank.
