Samsung Galaxy S21 5G 256GB Pink - Amazon (Renewed)

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There’s a good 10MP selfie camera that produces far more realistic and natural images than previous Samsung attempts. It comes with lots of new camera modes, including the ability to shoot from multiple sensors at once

Another benefit these chips have over their predecessors is that the 5G modem is built-in, rather than sitting separately. All Galaxy S21 models have support for at least sub-6Ghz 5G (that’s the only one available in the UK so don’t worry about mmWave support) and you don’t need to pay extra for the 5G version as you did last year. Camera Samsung has opted for a lower-spec screen than the one on the S20, with a Full HD+ 6.2-inch display, but it offers a 120Hz refresh rate for super-smooth scrolling and graphics, plusfantastic colors, and strong brightness levels – and we didn’t notice the lower resolution in most of our testing. With its 4000mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S21 isn’t a multi-day device and you shouldn’t expect the same mammoth endurance offered by the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. But with real world use I never struggled to make it through the day on a single charge.Overall, the camera system might not make it the best camera phone around. But, it’s capable and reliable, with that trademark pop of colour you’d expect from a Samsung flagship. Battery life The S21 is the lowest entry point to Samsung’s flagship phone line and it comes with a few key changes to last year’s Galaxy S20. Expandable storage is gone, you’ll have to make do with a plastic rear and the screen’s resolution tops out at just FHD+. On top of that, you’ll have to spend extra for your own charger and headphones – cheers for setting this precedent last year with the iPhone 12.

The Galaxy S21 phones were the first devices to use either Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 (US) or Samsung’s own Exynos 2100 (just about everywhere else). Those were the latest generation of top-end chipsets when the S21 range launched, though they've since been superseded. This is the earliest we’ve seen Samsung unveil its flagship smartphone in quite some time, with a typical release happening in March. But, with the pandemic continuing to have an impact across the globe, it looks like this year might be quite different in general. Design and Screen Benchmarking doesn't show everything, but we've found everyday tasks on the phone have been faster than previously with the handset more than capable at handling gaming, multi-tasking and having multiple apps open in split-screen view too. The other thing to note here is that the Galaxy S21 doesn’t come with a charger in the box. Samsung has followed in Apple’s footsteps by not bundling a charger with its new phones as it seeks to cut down on e-waste. If you want the best Samsung camera phone possible, then you’ll need to invest in the significantly more expensive Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. The cheaper S21 has a set-up that’s very similar to the outgoing Galaxy S20, albeit with some tweaks to the software.

If you’re after a camera that can get really close to a subject without sacrificing detail, you might be better off with the S21 Ultra as that has a duo of dedicated zoom lenses. 3. You want a phone that’ll last multiple days Glasstic is the company’s own name for the material, which as the name suggests is somewhere between plastic and glass. It doesn’t feel as premium as a glass rear, but the matte finish also means it doesn’t feel like cheap plastic either. In Geekbench 5, the Samsung Galaxy S21 returned a multi-core score of 3367. That's notably better than the Galaxy S20 (the one featuring the Exynos 990 chipset) that returned a score of 2699. The company is instead just offering internal storage, and again this seems to be a cost-saving measure from Samsung, but it’s likely to disappoint anyone who wants the most affordable handset but needs a lot of storage. The easiest way to differentiate between case types is the material that they’ve been made for, as this typically determines the characteristics of a specific case.

The software available on this phone works well, and you've got access to a whole host of extra Samsung services on top of the normal Android apps you expect from a modern smartphone. This is the current high-end chipset from both companies and the Galaxy S21 is one of the first phones to use them. Like Apple’s A14, they’re both built on a highly efficient 5nm process which to non-techies is a key reason why it offers improved battery life compared to the S20. Still, there’s plenty to appreciate and the Galaxy S21 is sure to be one of the best Android phones of the year, with highlights including several camera additions and a strong focus on offering buyers a unique new design and a lower than expected price tag. The Galaxy S21 camera hardware hasn’t changed from the previous year’s phone, as Samsung’s big sensor upgrade happened between the Galaxy S10 and S20 generation. With the S21 it’s all about the software, and Samsung finding a way to slim down the camera module. The majority of cases are compatible with wireless charging, however it’s worth noting certain protective cases which are extremely bulk or those which have a metal construction will not be compatible.We’ve only had the chance to test the Exynos 2100 version of the S21, and it seems like a major improvement over previous generations of Samsung’s chipset. In the past, the Exynos variant tended to lag behind the Qualcomm-powered phones in some areas but here the gap seems to have narrowed. Samsung’s made a few cuts to the Galaxy S21 that make it feel less “flagship” than past Samsung hero phones. Whether this is a blessing or a curse will depend on your personal expectations, but in general I think the move is the right one as it has let Samsung reduce the phone’s RRP.

We’ve got a full Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review with a full in-depth look at the spec-beast in Samsung’s range. Price and release date Has Samsung made the right decision here? Largely, we think, yes. It won’t be popular with everyone, but crucially it’s allowed Samsung to cut the price of its Galaxy S21 series, and it won’t be hugely detrimental to most people’s everyday experience with the phone. We’ve yet to test the Samsung Galaxy S21 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset inside, but the Galaxy S21 Ultra performed well with this chipset inside so we’d expect similar results from the S21. The S21 runs Android 11 out of the box with Samsung’s One UI 3.0 skin, which is among our favorite software interfaces. The phone has since been updated to Android 12, and it will be getting Android 13 when that's available too.As mentioned, Samsung has done this to help keep the price of the new phone down, and unless you’ve used a phone with a QHD resolution we don’t believe you’ll be able to easily tell the difference– we found that all the videos we watched on the S21 looked suitably high-quality on the Full HD+ panel.