SMARTPHONES
Samsung packs in everything you could want in a phone, including superb cameras, striking design and tremendous speed
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
SCORE
PRICE 128GB, £641 (£769 inc VAT) from samsung.com/uk
Samsung clearly wanted to start 2021 with a bang. It released its Galaxy S21 family of phones a month earlier than previous years, giving it a hefty head start over rivals who choose to use Mobile World Congress (MWC) in late February to launch this year’s models.
Of the three Galaxy S21 phones, this is the “entry-level” model. In truth, the plain S21 is nothing of the sort as it shares many of the same high-end features as the other two phones in the range. There are cutbacks, of course, but I’m not convinced of their importance.
For example, the back is made of
plastic rather than metal, but this isn’ t immediately notice able in the flesh. It also lacks the 108 M Pc am era of the S 21 Ultra, and its two telephoto cameras, but–as you can see from the gallery oppos it e–the 30x“Space Zoom” is effective. Nor does the plain S21 support the S Pen stylus, which is a separate purchase anyway.
So that’s what you could have won; look at the specifications and what the S21 does have boils down to everything you could possibly need from a flagship phone in 2021. There’s a (mostly) bezel-free 6.2in 120Hz display, a triple rear camera array and Android 11. It’s also the first phone to use Samsung’s Exynos 2100 processor, which promises faster speeds and improved efficiency over the previous fl ag ship chip.
New design
One glance at the photos reveals the other big difference between this S 21 and the S 20: the design. The vertically aligned “Contour Cut” rear ca me ra housing is pushed neatly into the top left of the handset’s rear, with curved corners that blend into the phone’s frame. It stands out from the crowd of iPhone copycats.
The S21 has a matte finish and comes in a choice of colours, including a striking two-tone “Phantom Violet”. Despite the phone’s plastic rear panel, it certainly doesn’t feel cheap. The S21 is still IP68-rated for dust and water-resistance, which allows it to be submerged in water at a depth of 1.5m for up to 30 minutes.
As before, the S21 has an in-display fingerprint sensor, located in the bottom portion of the screen, which Samsung says is 1.7x larger than on its previous phones. This instantly unlocks the phone, which is useful if you’re wearing a face mask: this bamboozles the face unlock feature, which otherwise works instantly.
The S21 supports 5G connections as standard, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5. It even supports 15W