Samsung Galaxy S21 5G Review: Entry-level Flagship Drops $200 With Few Compromises

As a fan of smartphones who spends money on phones rather than on other vices, I often focus my attention on the high-end flagships. This year, Samsung is making a competitive pitch to also consider the entry-level Galaxy S21 5G, with a starting price of $200 less than last year's Galaxy S20 and competitive hardware.

Also: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review: Improving upon the S20 with a surprise from the Note

While big phones seem to be the trend for many companies, Samsung included, there is also something to be said for phones that can be easily handled with one hand, slid into any pocket, and powerful enough to challenge the flagships.

Also: Samsung Galaxy Note's future in question amid Galaxy S21 Ultra launch

The Galaxy S21 5G starts at $799.99 with four color options. The phone is available for pre-order with all kinds of trade-in and launch offers, as well, which makes the phone as low as $99.99 with the right trade-in.

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G specifications

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
• Main display: 6.2 inches, 2400 x 1080 pixels resolution (421PPI), Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O with adaptive 120Hz refresh rate
• Operating system: Android 11
• RAM: 8GB LPDDR5
• Storage: 128GB/256GB internal storage options
• Cameras: 64MP rear f/2.0 telephoto with 3x hybrid optical zoom, 12MP f/1.8 wide-angle camera, and 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (120 degrees field-of-view). 10MP f/2.2 front-facing camera.
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, GPS/Galileo/GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, UWB
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Barometer, Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor
• Dust/water resistance: IP68 rating
• Battery: 4000 mAh non-removable with fast wireless charging. Wireless PowerShare is also available.
• Dimensions: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm and 171g
• Colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Titanium, Phantom Navy, and Phantom Brown

The differences between the high end S21 Ultra 5G and the S21 5G are the display size and resolution, camera specifications, RAM/storage options, and battery capacity. The display and battery are driven by the size of the device, so you are getting a lot of phone for $400 less.

Also: Samsung's Galaxy S21 is official: Release date, price, features, specs, and everything else you need to know

Hardware

The most striking new hardware feature on the S21 is the new Contour Cut camera housing that extends the metal frame out from the right side and around the back. The cameras are surrounded by this metal frame piece, providing a rather unique camera array design.

Samsung has a new color palette in 2021, with the Phantom name at the beginning of each option. I was sent a Phantom Violet phone to evaluate with a lovely purple matte finish back, rose gold sides, and rose gold camera housing. The back of the S21 is made of plastic, while the S21 Ultra has a matte glass back design.

The Galaxy S21 is a gorgeous piece of hardware with minimal top and bottom bezels, no side bezels, and a small hole-punch centered front-facing camera. The power/Bixby and volume buttons on the right side with nothing on the left side.

The Super AMOLED display is obviously stunning and I'm sure will earn the highest title of any smartphone display soon. Samsung continues to improve its display, even when it seems there is little to improve since Samsung sets the bar for display technology on smartphones. Higher brightness, improved contrast ratio, and Eye Comfort Shield is incorporated in the S21.

Wi-Fi 6E support is included in the S21, but we won't be able to test this out since we do not have access to a 6E network. It's great to have as it provides some future-proofing to Samsung's latest flagship smartphone.

Also: Samsung Galaxy S21 starts at $799.99, launches Galaxy S21 Plus, Galaxy S21 Ultra with camera upgrades

Software

The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G launches with Android 11 and Samsung One UI 3. The Jan. 1, 2021 Android security update is present on our review unit. We may receive more updates on these evaluation units prior to public availability later this month.

I've been using One 3.x on a Galaxy S20 Ultra for a few weeks and am satisfied with the user interface. One thing I am pleased to see is the update to the launcher where Google Discover now appears as an option on the far left home screen panel. You can still switch to Samsung Free, but it's great to see Samsung providing users with options. In the past, I always turned off this panel because I didn't find Samsung's offering very compelling. This is the same for me with OnePlus and its old Shelf home screen panel.

We still find some Samsung apps, such as Internet, Messages, Samsung Notes, Samsung Health, and a few others, but you are given the option to select these apps during setup so you do not have to install them all and have more control over your phone than you did in the past.

Initial usage experiences

I've only spent a few hours with the S21. It feels quite small to me since I've been using big phones for the past year. The size is likely to be very attractive to those with smaller hands or who want a more portable phone. With my aging eyes and big hands, I'm all in on large smartphones for my own use.

The Phantom Violet has a lovely shade and looks great with the rose gold camera array. A plastic back is perfectly fine with me as it is more durable than glass with many people wrapping their phones in cases anyway.

Full review testing plan

A T-Mobile SIM is in the Galaxy S21, and I plan to spend lots of time testing it out, including having my wife use it since she is a major Samsung fan and likes a bit smaller phone. Here's what I plan to focus on, but please leave comments and let me know what else you would like addressed.

• Speed and responsiveness
• Cellular reception
• Battery life
• Camera performance compared to other mid-range phones in the $500 to $800 price range

Feel free to interact with me here or on Twitter as I work on the full review and other Galaxy S21 articles.