Samsung Galaxy S21 5G Smartphone SIM Free Android Mobile Phone Phantom Violet 128GB, (UK Version)

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It’s a similar story with the Galaxy S21’s ultrawide camera. Take a look at the centre of the frame and the detail capture isn’t bad at all but as soon as your eyes drift towards the edge you begin to spot the telltale signs of a softening as well as the odd bit of chromatic aberration. The Google Pixel 6 has top cameras, clean software and an interesting design, all for a price that's slightly lower than the S21.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review - TechRadar Samsung Galaxy S21 review - TechRadar

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. If you're okay with ditching Android for iOS, Apple's iPhone 13 is the annual rival for the S21, and it's a bit smaller with fewer cameras, but has more processing power. With the phone’s night mode switched on, I noticed the Galaxy S20 did a better job than the iPhone 12 Pro at capturing street lights without blowing them out, while simultaneously boosting the brightness of dark alleyways without adding an artificially warm hue. If you take a look at the portrait comparison with the iPhone 12 Pro below, you’ll certainly spot the difference, and you might also notice that the Galaxy S21 has more defined edges around my subject:

That’s only a marginal 2.5% increase on last year’s model but it is significantly better than the iPhone 12, which the Samsung Galaxy S21 outlasted by roughly two hours under identical conditions. Samsung Galaxy S21 review: Cameras Along with that 8GB of RAM you’ve got the choice of either 128GB or 256GB of storage. The big news here is that Samsung has dropped microSD support from the S21, so you can’t expand on the built-in storage.

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G Smartphone SIM Free Android Mobile

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. 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.You’ve got four color choices at launch: Phantom Gray, Phantom White, Phantom Pink, and Phantom Violet (the shade you see pictured throughout this review) – we think Violet is the standout color here. The successor to the Galaxy S21 brings minor tweaks and also a camera overhaul, and if you can find it for a good price it's the one you should opt for.