Samsung presents its new flagship, the Galaxy S21 series

It’s hard to say who made it possible or who created the need to shorten the upgrade cycle; It may be due to the rush to fill the void left by a player from China that was almost pushed out of the smart device market. Or is it just a pandemic regime and a sharp increase in dependence on people’s technology?

Be that as it may, today we hear the first official news about the latest Samsung Galaxy S21 series phones, and they will appear on store shelves immediately – the first phones will be available to buyers on January 15.

Starting a trade is very confusing

Today’s full range of phones consists of three devices with different screen sizes: the “normal” Samsung Galaxy S21, the medium “Samsung Galaxy S21 +” and the large “Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra”.

It seems that the start of the trade in these devices will be quite chaotic and not all Lithuanian sellers will start it at the same time. Only one thing is known exactly – that you can reserve devices at retailers’ e-shops right now. And it is very likely that you will have them (except one, the Galaxy S21 Ultra with 512 GB of memory) in your hands tomorrow, January 15, at least that information was provided by the spokesmen of Tele2 and Telia.

Let’s start with the “baby”. It will have a 6.2-inch Dynamic Amoled 2X screen on the front and a 3-camera system on the rear. The cheapest version of this phone with 128 GB of non-volatile memory will cost 859 euros, devices with double the storage capacity will cost 909 euros.

The average screen size of the Galaxy S21 + will be 6.7 inches. The camera system also has three lenses. The price for the 128 GB model is 1059 euros, for the 256 GB model – 1109 euros.

The Samsung Galaxy Ultra, with a 6.9-inch screen and a 4-lens camera system and as much memory as possible, will hit market shelves and consumers’ pockets via Telia messengers. a little later, on January 25. Three variants of the device will be offered depending on the amount of internal memory: 128 GB (price in Lithuanian markets – 1259 euros), 256 GB (1309 euros) and 512 GB (1439 euros).

Features and innovations

In addition to the minimal technical information already provided, there are some important and unique features that are not necessarily present in Samsung’s competing products.

All Galaxy S21 series phones for the European region are based on the Samsung Exynos 2100 mobile platform.

Upgrading the 120Hz screen image to modern Android flagship models is perfectly normal. Meanwhile, the screen resolution is WQHD + (3200 x 1440 pixels), with the option to downgrade to FHD + (2400 x 1080 pixels) or even HD + (1600 x 720 pixels) to save power.

In photography and video, Samsung has focused on current and future content creators, social media stars. For convenient and fast baking of Instagram images, the Single Take 2.0 image capture format was created, even creating multiple photos with different filters, collages and short video clips from one frame.

And when taking an image, the Director view mode lets you freely choose which lens you want to capture the image from. In this way, you can shoot in 4 ways without stopping recording from a single point: a self-portrait camera, an ultra-wide field, a main camera, or a macro camera. And you can even shoot yourself on camera while the main camera is filming what you see before your eyes, capturing both the action and your reaction.

The camcorder is capable of recording at up to 8K resolution, 24 frames per second, and UHD resolution at 60 frames per second. Of course, the lower resolution movie modes are not forgotten either. Additionally, any frame can be “captured” during video playback so that even fast motion is captured seamlessly.

And it’s probably no longer necessary to mention that all 2021 flagships will simply have to support 5G connectivity. It is true that Samsung has not yet enabled the 5G functions of its phones in Lithuania, so you will not be able to check the ultra-fast data transfer speed on Gediminas Avenue in Vilnius or other places in Lithuania where this connection is already operating in experimental mode.

First impressions

Only 15 minutes before the delivery of the devices, I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with the new phones (more precisely, with the Ultra model). The most striking changes from previous generations should probably be called losses.

One loss that’s more gratifying than sad is that Samsung’s smart digital assistant Bixby is stepping down from its posts, which are immediately taken over by Google Assistant. More specifically, the right-scrolling news feed on the desktop is now based on Google Assistant, not Bixby.

Photo by V. Neverauskas / 15min / Google Assistant also found a place in the new phone, although Bixby still exists

As a reminder, word got out this summer that Samsung was considering Google’s offer to shut down the Bixby and Samsung App Gallery apps to tech archives in exchange for cash. Of the new generation of phones it seems that Google’s hook has not yet been fully swallowed, but we are already seeing the first steps in that direction.

The second loss is sadder than gratifying: As predicted, Samsung followed Apple and removed the phone charger adapter (but not the charger cable) from the device’s packaging, raising environmental concerns. But don’t give up the idea that environmental protection is more of an excuse against the average consumer than the real reason for the decision.

Photo by V. Fridgeuskas / 15min / Here is the complete content of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra package: without headphones and without charger adapter

The packaging of the device without the charger is approximately one third lower than with the charger. As a result, this has significantly reduced logistics costs (each container contains a third more Galaxy S21 than a Galaxy S20). Not to mention that the original Samsung charger for these phones can cost several tens of additional euros.

Especially since the charger cable is USB Type C – USB Type C, and adapters of this type have not been very common in recent years and have only been included in phone packages since about 2020.

V. Fridgeuskas / 15min photo / “Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra” profile looks strange

And when it comes not to Samsung’s global solutions, but specifically to the Galaxy S21 Ultra, that’s the first thought that came to mind when I looked at the phone from profile: that it was a bit reminiscent of a cult car. Only if in previous reviews of Samsung phones I tried to compare them to Volkswagen (because there are no big surprises, but quality is always guaranteed), then this time the cult car was … Fiat Multipla for aesthetic details. And the first words that a person who does not work directly with technology says about him is: “Who has as many eyes as a spider?”

So before you buy, think carefully if such an aesthetic will not be eye-catching. On the other hand, if function is more important to you than form, this aspect of appearance can definitely be ignored.