It lends the phone an especially striking look, and it helps the phone stand out from the current crowd of iPhone copycats. When it comes to video, the Galaxy S21 can record at up to 8K resolution at 24fps, although if you’re short on space (a 20-second clip at 8K is roughly 200MB) then you can bump the resolution down to a fully-stabilised 4K at 60fps. 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. More usefully there’s also 4K at 30 and 60 frames per second, as well as Full HD at 30, 60 and 240fps. It doesn’t feel as premium as a glass rear, but the matte finish also means it doesn’t feel like cheap plastic either.

Samsung Galaxy S21 review: 2021 is off to a great start Samsung Galaxy S21 review: 2021 is off to a great start

Learn all about upgrades, how to set up parental controls, and read through some of our personal recommendations. The triple rear camera comes with 30X space zoom, an ultra-wide-angle lens and Live focus, so you can adjust the amount of background blur to get just the right effect. Benchmarking doesn't show everything, but we've found everyday tasks on the phone have been faster than previously with the handset more than capable at handling gaming, multi-tasking and having multiple apps open in split-screen view too.The gold camera array on the Phantom Violet variant is particularly good-looking, and it feels slimmer than on the Galaxy S20, so it doesn’t jutt out from the rear of the phone so much. Finally, virtual lighting is now available in the portrait mode and a new zoom lock feature has been added to the phone’s 30x “Space Zoom”, which helps neutralise shaky hands at greater zoom lengths.

SAMSUNG Galaxy S21 - Cheap SAMSUNG S21 Deals | Currys SAMSUNG Galaxy S21 - Cheap SAMSUNG S21 Deals | Currys

Kicking things off, the most obvious difference is that the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus and S21 Ultra, all have a new design for 2021. It has 15W wireless charging and has wireless PowerShare, which allows you to top up compatible devices such as the Galaxy Buds or Galaxy Watch 3 by simply placing them on the back of the phone. It’s the same triple-lens rear array then: 12MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide, and 64MP telephoto capable of a 3x hybrid optical zoom. The results aren’t going to compare to what you’ll get from the two telephoto cameras on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but this is still a fun feature to play around with. All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S21 feels like a premium device, although it’s unlikely to feel as top-end as the Samsung Galaxy S20 if you own that handset, or the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Samsung has used screens that curve attractively into the body at the left and right edges for a number of generations now, but this has been dropped for the Galaxy S21. Back to the S21, and the chipset is powerful, the camera software has improved over previous models, and the battery life is strong, giving you a solid day of use from a full charge, alongside effective fast-charging and wireless charging options.

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The decision to remove the microSD slot and bundled charger are the only blots on the landscape; otherwise, the Galaxy S21 represents another sublime flagship offering from Samsung. Following in the footsteps of Apple and Huawei at the tail end of last year, the Exynos 2100 has a maximum clock speed of 2. 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).The Galaxy S21 has a matte finish on the back too, as well as a new two-tone “Phantom Violet” colour scheme – which you can see in the images in this review. If you need lots of space on your smartphone for games, music and video, you’re better off going for almost any other top Android phone, as most will let you slot in a microSD card. Reverse wireless charging is also supported, so you can use your phone’s power to top up devices such as Qi-compatible wireless headphones, but we found that to be slow, and it’s a feature you’d likely only want to use in emergencies. Or if you want a newer model there's now the Samsung Galaxy S22 line - but those phones will cost you more. It’s also the first phone to use Samsung’s Exynos 2100 processor, which promises faster speeds and improved efficiency over the previous flagship chip.