South Korean tech giant Samsung welcomed a new decade on a strong note with one of its highly-anticipated Unpacked events. Among the models it brought in the Philippines following the said launch in January is one of its offerings for the 5G market, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G.
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| Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G Review; Four Months Later |
When it was announced, Samsung didn’t fail to highlight all of its strong points and features. But how did the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G fare in real-life usage four months after it was released? Let’s find out.
Get yours now at - https://bit.ly/samsunggalaxys21plusph.
PHYSICAL:
There’s no questioning the display quality of Samsung smartphones, let alone the models under its highly-coveted S series. Samsung has been known for its use of AMOLED screens that produce vivid colors and sharp details, just like the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G.
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| 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X FHD+ Infinity-O Display |
The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is the middle child in the latest S series of Samsung. Its screen is bigger than that of the Samsung Galaxy S21 but smaller than that of the Samsung Galaxy S21+ Ultra. On paper, it comes with a 6.7-inch FHD+ Infinity-O Dynamic AMOLED screen with an eye comfort shield and super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. In simpler language, this means that the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G delivers an outstanding display on top of a lag-free screen, as what one would expect from a device from a premium line. Viewing angles and brightness levels are impressive, too, and we didn't feel any eye strain when we used the device for long hours of Netflix binge-watching.
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| Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G Colorway |
The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G and its siblings still carry the same design language as the previous models under the S series. The premium feel brought by the glass and metal material used in its overall build is still evident. What's visibly a unique part in terms of its form factor is its camera module which now has a protruding metal casing with an accentuated color. The unit that we've been using for months now comes in Phantom Violet, and its camera module is in Rose Gold. This is a refreshing sight, especially with most smartphone brands usually sticking to the standard colors of white, black, blue, and gray.
Samsung claims that they have applied "groundbreaking protection" to the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G through the Gorilla Glass Victus. Truth be told, our unit has no additional screen protector, and for several months there were no deep or noticeable scratches on the screen. That said, the “toughest glass on a Samsung smartphone” mantra seems to hold up to this point. However, we cannot vouch that the same is true with the side frame and glass-clad back. Our unit now dings on its sides after a few accidental short-distance drops. So if you want to keep your device in pristine condition, it’s still better to be careful and use a protective case as much as possible.
On top of the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G are its antenna lines with two microphone pinholes. The bottom part also has the antenna lines alongside its speaker grille, USB Type-C port, and SIM tray. Noticeably, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack, so whether you like it or not, you need to use a Bluetooth audio device with the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G. Take note also that its SIM tray is designed to carry only two nano-SIM cards, with no slot for storage expansion.
The power button and the volume rockers are found on the right side, while only antenna lines are on the left side.
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BATTERY and PERFORMANCE:
The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G comes in two versions: one with Exynos 2100 with a 5nm SoC for the international market and the other with Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G with 5nm SoC for the USA and China. The unit that we have has the former, which aced in delivering a smooth performance.
The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is a very capable daily driver. We didn't have any problem multitasking and switching between various apps for social media, productivity, gaming, and streaming for four months. Its Android 11 with Samsung's One UI 3.1 OS on top is also very easy to navigate through. We've always found Samsung's user interface clean and intuitive, and with all the major improvements that Android 11 has, Samsung has adapted them on the Samsung Galaxy 21+ 5G.
It's a bummer, though, that the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G doesn't have an expandable storage, and we kind of don't get why Samsung chose this route. A 256 GB onboard memory may seem big enough, but of course, there will come the point where you have to delete photos or videos or uninstall apps to free some memory. For its RAM, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G comes with a fitting 8GB, another factor behind its smooth performance.
Gaming is also a breeze with the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G, and so far, we haven’t noticed any frame lags. With its Mali-G78 MP14 GPU, it can handle mobile games smoothly, even with higher settings. What we wish Samsung to improve, though, is the cooling system of the device. We noticed that it tends to heat up when playing games for long hours, which shouldn't be a problem with higher-end smartphones.
In terms of its battery, we say that the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is at a mediocre level. Light usage of the smartphone can give you more than a day of battery life. But then, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is a smartphone designed for productivity, so we are somehow expecting it to last longer, even with moderate to heavy usage. What we got was a single day’s worth of power instead.
To put things into perspective, we had the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G’s 4,800mAh battery fully charged at around 9AM, then went on with our daily routine. After almost three hours of heavy usage, the battery went down from 100% to 63%. The smartphone gets drained faster when used for gaming.
For this generation of smartphones under the S series, earphones aren't the lone thing evicted from the packaging. Samsung has also removed a charger plug, meaning, if you're buying a Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G, you're in to provide yourself your own power adapter. Samsung said that this is more of a sustainability move and that they want to minimize the impact of their products on the environment.
Anyway, when it comes to charging time, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G will give you 50% of battery life from a 30-minute charge, while getting that 100% will take you an hour and 15 minutes. These are pretty decent numbers for this department. There's an option if you want to utilize the smartphone's fast charging support.
For benchmark results, refer to the items below:
- Antutu - 610,562
- Geekbench Single-Core - 587
- Geekbench Multi-Core - 2,444
- Geekbench Compute - 3,464
- PC Mark Work Performance - 14,427
- PC Mark Work Performance 2.0 - 12,009
- 3D Mark Wild Life - 3.072
- 3D Mark Wild Life Stress Test - 3,070
- 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme - 943
- 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test - 945
- 3D Mark Sling Shot - Maxed Out!
- 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme - Maxed Out!
CAMERA:
The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G has three rear cameras: one 12MP F2.2 ultra-wide shooter, a 12MP F1.8 wide-angle sensor, and a 64MP F2.0 telephoto lens. It also has a 3x Hybrid Optic Zoom, up to 30x Super-Resolution Zoom, and an Optical Image Stabilization.
Putting all of these technicalities into real-world usage, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is undoubtedly a capable mobile camera. Clarity and vividness are its strong points for daylight shots may it be on its standard shooting mode or using its ultrawide camera. Caveats are also absent in terms of the performance of its 64MP telephoto lens when used in well-lit places.
The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G cameras are still as useful at night as they are during the day. Its Night Mode helps a lot in managing noise and providing sharpness on photos taken under low-lit environments. Hands down for the main sensor, no matter the environment or lighting condition, it still gives the best output. We can easily give it a 10/10 score!
However, you might want to go Pro mode and tweak some settings when you use the ultra-wide camera at night, as the default shooting mode somehow falls short in giving outstanding shots. This is the same story when it comes to the zooming capabilities of the device. During the day, zoomed photos give just the right details, but photos have apparent noise at night.
One significant change in the camera UI of the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is that the Live Focus is now dubbed as Portrait mode. But other than the name change, it pretty much remains the same. Its function is still to give a natural-looking bokeh effect on portraits.
Speaking of which, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G has a 10MP Dual Pixel selfie camera. While it's numerically smaller than what smartphones in the midrange and the flagship segments have, it still does a pretty decent job delivering selfies that you can post online without any touch-ups. There are also interesting AI-enabled background effects to add spice to your selfies. These include Regular Portrait, Studio Lighting, High-key Mono, Backdrop, and ColorPoint. Each of them acts like a filter that automatically tweaks the colors, the background blur, and other factors of your selfies.
Here are the camera samples we took using the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G:
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| Playground, Normal |
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| Playground, Ultrawide |
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| Playground, x10 Zoom |
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| Pool, Normal |
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| Pool, Ultrawide |
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| Playground, Night, Normal |
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| Playground, Night, Night Mode |
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| Pool, Night, Normal |
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| Pool, Night, Night Mode |
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| Tiny Flower, Close-up |
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| Selfie, Normal |
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| Selfie, Wide |
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| Night Selfie, Normal |
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| Night Selfie, Wide |
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| Underwater |
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| Underwater Selfie |
Overall, we can say that Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G has a great set of cameras that can be used in almost all conditions, including underwater. Yes, it does not have a dedicated macro lens, but it still takes great close-up shots.
FINAL WORDS:
For those loyal to Samsung and who have grown comfortable using the devices it produces, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is undoubtedly a very reliable all-rounder. However, other options in the market could bring similar if not the same performances than what it offers at more affordable price points. But then again, if the price is not an issue, the Galaxy S21+ 5G is one of the best, if not the best, high-end smartphones in the market that gives an excellent overall user experience.
How much is the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G price in the Philippines?
- The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G price in the Philippines is Php54,990 for the 8GB + 128GB variant, and Php57,990 for the 8GB + 256GB model.
- Those who will get it at Lazada Birthday Sale this March 27 can score it for only Php44,990 and 47,990 or a 10,000 pesos discount on its SRP.
- Get yours now at - https://bit.ly/samsunggalaxys21plusph.
When will be the Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G available in the Philippines?
- The Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G is now available in the Philippines.
Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G Specs Philippines:
- Dual SIM, dual standby, supports 5G connectivity
- 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X FHD+ (2400 x 1080) Infinity-O display, 120Hz screen, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection
- IP68-Certified, Water and Dust Resistant
- Dimensions: 161.5mm x 75.6mm x 7.8mm
- Weight: 200 grams
- One UI 3.1 based on Android 11
- Octa-core (1x2.9GHz Cortex-X1 + 3x2.80GHz Cortex-A78 + 4x2.2GHz Cortex-A55 CPU, ARM Mali-G77 MP11 GPU, Exynos 990 octa-core processor, 7nm+ process
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 internal storage, non-expandable
- 12MP f/1.8 Dual Pixel PDAF OIS main wide + 12MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide + 64MP f/2.0 PDAF OIS telephoto triple rear cameras, up to 8K 30fps video recording
- 10MP f/2.2 Dual Pixel PDAF front camera, up to 4K 60fps video recording
- Multimedia Player
- Samsung DeX for PC/TV/Monitor
- 32-bit/384kHz Hi-Res Audio
- Stereo Speakers sound by AKG, Dolby Atmos
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band
- Bluetooth v5.0
- NFC
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo
- USB 3.2 Type-C with OTG function
- Sensors fingerprint (ultrasonic, under display), light, proximity, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetic, barometer
- Battery: 4,800mAh non-removable with Wireless PowerShare, 25W Fast Wired Charging, 15W Fast Wireless Charging
- Colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Violet, Phantom Pink, Phantom Gold, Phantom Red
- Price: Php54,990/Php57,990