(gentle music)
- The Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus are officially here
and Samsung has brought all the latest improvements
that you'd expect from a flagship Galaxy design.
New specs, better designs, the works.
But the biggest thing about this year's new phones
isn't actually the phones themselves,
it's that after years of prices
that have been steadily creeping upwards,
Samsung has reversed course on this year's flagships.
They start for $200 less
than last year's Galaxy S20 models.
The S21 starts at just 799
and the S21 Plus at 999.
Now that's a big change
and that's despite the fact that these phones
are actually more advanced in some ways
like the new Snapdragon processor.
So what's the catch?
(bright music)
Well, there are a couple of changes that Samsung has made
to help hit those lower price points.
For starters, that base Galaxy S21,
it's back is made out of polycarbonate plastic
instead of aluminum.
And both phones have shifted from the curved screens
that Samsung has been using for years down to a flat panel.
Now, I happen to personally like flat panel phones
but if you're a fan of the old curve designs
it's something that you wanna be aware of.
There are a couple of bigger changes to specs though,
that Samsung has made here.
Both panels are lower resolution than last year's models.
Down to 2400 by 1080 resolution instead of 3200 by 1440.
They also come with less RAM,
just eight gigabytes instead of 12.
Now, does any of that actually make a difference
in daily use?
I don't know, but we will definitely have an answer for you
when we're able to fully review these devices soon.
Of course, there's still a lot of new things to like.
There's the new design which we'll talk about in a minute,
there's the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor
which promises to be even faster than last year's
and there's improvements to the already really good cameras
from last year.
(gentle music)
Now, at least head-on the S21's
do broadly resemble their predecessors
with edge-to-edge OLED dispalys,
hole-punched cameras
and the same 6.2 inch and 6.7 inch screen sciences.
Although again, they're flat panels not curved.
Flip it over though, and you'll see some differences.
Gone is the back piece of glass.
Now it's just either aluminum or polycarbonate
depending on which model you get.
Which in theory should be less fingerprinty
but for some reason isn't,
but the biggest design change on the S21 models
is the camera bump.
Now for years, as long as smartphone manufacturers
have been trying to cram in better lenses
and bigger sensors into our phones,
we've been stuck with these big ugly protruding camera bumps
and last year's S20 lineup was particularly egregious
with that massive squircle thing
that just stuck out of that otherwise beautiful glass back.
Now, the S21 and the S21 Plus still have a camera array,
but instead of jutting out,
Samsung has made it this seamless piece of metal
that smoothly flows from the metal rails of the phone
onto the back and a spiffy two-tone design that looks great,
especially on that purple and gold model.
Look, it's not perfect.
No camera bump ever will be,
but if I do have to get stuck with a camera bump,
and if you want good pictures on your phone,
you probably do.
I'd really love it to keep looking like this.
As for those three cameras, there's a 12 megapixel wide
a 12 megapixel ultra-wide and a 64 megapixels telephoto lens
along with a 10 megapixel selfie camera
in that hole-punch on the front display.
Now, if those sounded a little familiar to you,
it's because that these are virtually identical,
at least hardware-wise to the cameras on last year's S20
and S20 Plus.
That said, Samsung says that it has made improvements
to things like AI processing
and added some new camera features,
so there are some things to look forward to.
(bright music)
As for the phones themselves,
they're really polished pieces of hardware,
which again, this is Samsung's big flagship.
So it's sort of what you would expect from that.
Of the two, I prefer the S21 size,
but unfortunately that plastic back
just has it feeling cheaper than the S21 Plus,
which is a shame
because it's just a little too big for my taste.
Both phones are also surprisingly light,
possibly because there's no slab of glass on the back.
Those lighter weights are despite the fact that the S21
has a 4000 milliamp hour battery
the same as last year's model.
And the S21 Plus actually has a bigger
4800 milliamp hour battery.
As for ports,
they're what you would expect from a 2021 smartphone
which is to say, limited.
There's a USB-C port.
There's also a power button and volume buttons
no weird Bixby buttons here, no headphone jacks
although there is wireless charging.
If you need another way to charge your phone.
If you're getting the base Galaxy S21
you'll have a choice of four colors, white,
grayish black, pink, and my personal favorite
the purple and gold, which looks fantastic.
The S21 Plus has three colors which are slightly different
and in my opinion, a little better.
There's the same purple and gold
and the same black and gray
but the S21 Plus's silver option
is this really nice almost pearlescent silver,
that shimmers in different colors in the light.
It looks really good.
Both phones fully support 5G
with support for both sub-6 and millimeter wave 5G,
thanks to the integrated Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.
So it should work
with basically whatever phone network you have.
The Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus
are different type of flagship for Samsung,
instead of just chasing the absolute best phone
that they can make,
and don't worry,
they're also doing that with the Galaxy S21 Ultra,
which check out our other video on that,
but it really speaks to a different philosophy
that Samsung has taken here.
One that we started to see with last year's Galaxy S20 FE
which is to say
that they're looking to make these great phones
a little more affordable to the average consumer
which in a world of $1000 flagships
or $2,000 foldables is a really appealing prospect.
Now, whether or not the trade offs
that Samsung has made here
are something that we will definitely have to get into
and definitely have to see
but at least on paper, the S21 is exciting
and at least compared to last year,
far more affordable flagship
than we've seen from Samsung in a long, long time.
To the ones on last year's, dear God!
(indistinct)
Our video producer, Becca has told me that I'm wrong
and that the flat white one is better
but I'm on the camera right now.
- [Becca] It's true!