![]() The S21’s camera hardware is essentially unchanged from last year. For as often as we unlock our phones, even milliseconds make a difference in how responsive the phone feels. It can read from a larger area, and to me, it feels faster than last year’s sensor did. ![]() Samsung is consistently great at making screens, and even though the S21 doesn’t showcase the company at its best, it’s still a great display.īut more than any other upgrade or downgrade this year, the spec that had the most tangible effect on my experience with the S21 was the new fingerprint sensor under the screen. To those screen spec downgrades, I say this: whatever. Unlike the Ultra’s more advanced screen technology, this screen’s refresh rate bottoms out at 48Hz, and it also uses more traditional OLED tech instead of the newer LTPO version in the Ultra. The screen has an adaptive refresh rate that can run at up to 120Hz, so scrolling and animations are very smooth. I don’t mind curved screens so long as they fit with the ergonomics of the phone, but here, I think Samsung made the right call to go flat. They’re flat, too, which many people prefer to curved edges. The S21 also drops the screen resolution down from last year’s 1440p panel to 1080p on both the regular and Plus versions. Samsung also saved costs by standing pat with the cameras - they’re virtually unchanged from last year. ![]() There is no microSD card slot for expanding the storage, which stings a bit as Samsung was a bit of a holdout in keeping the microSD card around in its flagships until recently. It lacks MST, Samsung’s tech for paying at credit card terminals that can’t read NFC. While we’re on the subject, here are some of the other ways Samsung has cut costs on the S21 compared to last year’s Galaxy S20. There are three cameras on the back of the S21. The back of the base model is plastic, but it feels good. The S21’s screen is only 1080p, but it’s flat and looks great. (It’ll be hard to buy a phone without 5G if you’re spending over $500 this year, anyway.) The networks aren’t good enough yet, but if you’re keeping your phone for a while, you may regret not having it in the years to come. However, if you’re due for an upgrade anyway and you have the choice of getting a 5G phone, you probably should. I still think that you should not upgrade your phone just to get 5G. My take on 5G has therefore shifted a bit. However, I can also see some improvements over last year. In my testing in the Bay Area, I still find that 5G often isn’t notably faster than LTE, and the mmWave version of 5G is still very difficult to find. The Snapdragon 888 also means these phones support both kinds of 5G in the US. I’ve asked Samsung how many years of software updates it will guarantee for S21 users and will update this review if I hear back. Just as importantly, the choice to go with the newest and best Qualcomm processor means the Galaxy S21 has a better chance of lasting you three or more years before the inevitable march of Android software bogs it down or leaves it behind. You just run the app and select “Show System Apps" from the floating menu button, then scroll down to the Phone system app (my phone shows 3 system apps called Phone, the right one to choose was the first one listed), and select it.Samsung prioritized putting in a fast new processor above all else There is no telling when Samsung will fix this (I've not found them to be particularly responsive in the past), but I've found a workaround via a free (and ad free) third-part app on the Google Play Store called: Keep Screen On I found a couple of threads on Samsung's forums that indicate that I'm not the only one having this issue. After updating my Samsung Galaxy phone from Android 7.1 Nougat to Android 8.1 Oreo, my phone screen would dim after just a few seconds into a call and then blank & lock my phone a few seconds after that, even with my screen timeout set to 30 minutes and even on speakerphone (so no proximity sensor was involved)!
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