The best thing about buying a Galaxy S21 is its low price. Samsung has cut $200 on this smartphone to make it accessible to a large audience. But let’s not forget that this cut in the price is not coming out of generosity. This phone comes with some trade-offs that make a higher price unjustified. For instance, this phone doesn’t include a charger and headphones in the box. The phone doesn’t have a MicroSD slot. It has 8GB of RAM, compared to 12GB that of the S20. The screen resolution has been brought down to full HD from Quad HD. And the company has replaced Gorilla Glass from the back with polycarbonate, which is a fancy term for plastic.
Even with these trade-offs, the Galaxy S21 is the best phone that you can buy for $800. That fact of the matter is that it may do even better than the S20 in certain areas.
The striking new look
Design is, undoubtedly, the first and foremost thing to notice about the S21. Even though the camera bump looks more significant compared to most smartphones available in the industry, it adds pretty much to the overall design.
Samsung has widened the color range for this phone. You can choose from purple, gold, gray, pink, and white. The phantom gold and red are the limited edition versions that you can buy.
The matte finish on the plastic back feels great. It’s understandable for most people to dislike the plastic back, but we are not talking about the hollow-feeling plastic here. It’s a well-made plastic back that hasn’t lost its premium charm.
Higher refresh rate and a lower screen resolution
The Galaxy S21 does pretty well with a seamless display that is only interrupted by a punch-hole to house the selfie cam. The super-slim bezels and a brighter screen make the display more attractive. Although the company has stepped down from Quad HD to Full HD in this phone, the quality of the display is still pretty much up to the mark.
The best feature of the display is the high refresh rate, which can go up to 120Hz. This refresh rate fluctuates between 48 and 120Hz. This refresh rate remains high right when you need it. The phone shifts to a lower refresh rate when you have to save the battery.
Improved camera setup
The camera hardware on the S21 is pretty much the same as that on the S20. There are three rear cameras and one front cam. The three rear cameras include a wide lens, an ultra-wide camera, and a telephoto lens.
The autofocus feature works super-fast, as it can switch between background and foreground pretty quickly. this feature is not that fast in the video mode, though.
The selfies you take from this device are bright and more natural. Even if you turn all of the 'face' features off, the photos look good.
The video mode comes with a lot of improvements and upgrades, including thumbnail previews and live feeds from other cameras. These features work really well if you are into a vlogging endeavor.
Performance
The performance of this phone is powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, which is undoubtedly faster than the Snapdragon 866. The processing and graphics performance make this phone up for intense tasks. There is a 4000mAh battery unit in this phone, allowing you to run processor-intensive tasks for longer durations. These specs and battery performance make this phone a more reliable device to run 5G. The best thing related to the 5G compatibility of this phone is that it supports both sub-6 and mmWave versions, meaning that you will be able to choose between three major carriers in the US.
All in all, this phone is a great option if you are considering an upgrade. Even the trade-offs do not tend to hurt its value.
