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If you think the only cool new Samsung Galaxy S21 is the Ultra, you will definitely want to check out this review of the Galaxy S21 5G by tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ - turns out that the smallest of the S21 line is jammed with great tech and design, coupled with a screen that's big enough to enjoy movies and small enough to fit neatly in your hand or pocket. Not to mention the three pretty excellent cameras on this unit too.
This review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G features extensive demo photos and video footage to really show off the crystal clear imagery, details, portrait mode and, Dave's favorite, vlogger mode. All running Android 11 and available in four different colors.
Learn more at https://www.ATT.com/
Note: Thanks to AT&T for the loaner phone to aid in the production of this review.
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The latest and greatest from Samsung. Let's check it out
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[♪ Music Playing ♪ Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this
0:13
This is the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G. Now, it's a little confusing because Samsung has three different models of S21s
0:23
There's the S21, which is this guy. There's the S21 Plus. And there's the S21 Ultra
0:31
And basically, the difference is screen size. So this is a 6.2-inch screen
0:36
The S21 Plus is a 6.7-inch screen. And then the S21 Ultra is a 6.8-inch screen
0:44
Now, there are other component upgrades, and the Ultra has a fourth rear-facing camera, which is pretty cool
0:51
And of course, the price goes up as you get more sophisticated and bigger screen
0:56
But this is sort of the entry-level S21. This is a really nice device. I'm really a fan of this one
1:02
So, let me tell you that it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 with 8GB of RAM
1:10
and either 128 or 256GB of storage, depending on the configuration you get
1:15
It does not support microSD. Do not get excited that you can slip in an extra terabyte
1:20
You can't. Sorry. It is running the latest Android 11 and Samsung One UI 3.1
1:28
which is their layer on top of Android, to give you an even better user experience
1:33
which most people think is the case. Bluetooth 5.0. And here's something important. This is a 5G-ready telephone
1:41
But you don't have to use 5G if you don't want to pay for it
1:44
So you can use this on other networks or on, for example, the AT&T network without upgrading to 5G
1:52
And it'll work just fine with 4G, LTE, whatever other networks you have
1:58
It'll work just fine. And then when you're ready, you can bump up to that 5G speed and performance
2:03
Now, let's talk about the screen. I'll bring up a picture. So, let's see. I'll zoom in a little bit
2:10
And it features a very nice 6.2-inch Infinity-O display. What's Infinity-O? I know you're asking
2:19
That is the edge-to-edge design. You can see in this close-up, there's really no edge
2:24
It's really the picture comes just about to the very edge of the phone
2:29
It's very nice. It is a 120-hertz dynamic AMOLED screen. And here's the thing, though, is it is really nice
2:38
It's a really beautiful picture. And, in fact, let's go to a different one
2:42
I'll show you just another view. We'll turn this one sideways. So, here's another image
2:50
Here's the thing. It's not super high-resolution. So, it is 2400 x 1080
2:57
So, that's 421 pixels per inch. So, it's a dense image because it's a relatively small screen
3:05
So, it looks really beautiful. But if you were to upgrade to something like the S21 Ultra
3:10
you'll get a much higher-resolution screen. The question is, does that really matter
3:16
On this phone, with this screen, I have to say it is vivid
3:20
It is bright. It's a beautiful screen. It's a fast refresh. So, it looks really good if you're watching like an action movie or something
3:29
It is HDR10 Plus certified. So, it's full HD. And, yeah, it's lower resolution
3:35
That's one of the complaints people have. But I'm not sure that's a legitimate complaint
3:39
I'm not sure when you'd even notice. I mean, it just looks really nice
3:43
Now, another fun thing about this is that it is supporting or sporting the latest in Corning Gorilla Glass
3:51
This is actually Gorilla Victus. That's the latest generation. This is the toughest screen on any Samsung device you can buy today
4:00
Well, other than the other S21s. So, that means you should be even more resistant to breaks, cracks, chips, and anything else
4:08
Now, my daughter with her iPhone 12, not only is the front of her iPhone 12 damaged, but she shattered the back
4:16
How do you shatter the back of a phone? Because Apple decided to use a glass back on the phone
4:23
I don't know why in the heck they would do that. What difference does it make? It just means she has a much more expensive repair job
4:29
This is not glass. And I think that's good. It has a perfectly good hand feel to it
4:35
Odds are really good you're going to have it in a case. It deserves a case, in my opinion
4:40
And, in any case, I just don't get the whole glass thing
4:45
It's just a little beyond me on the back. All right, let's talk about cameras, and then I will jump into all those great demos
4:52
First off, on the front, as you can see here, and you can see in this close-up, there's a little punch-out in the top middle
5:00
And that is where the selfie or forward-facing camera is. That camera is 10 megapixels
5:06
It's 80 degrees at f2.2. It does a very nice job with selfies
5:10
And then on the back, there are three cameras going down on the side
5:15
It's a very distinctive design. For once, a company has said, let's just make the camera section significant and visible and part of design, as opposed to trying to hide it
5:25
So, on some of the designs, it's even a contrasting color all around that, which I think is kind of fun
5:31
Why not do that, right? So, from the top, it is a 12 megapixel ultra-wide, 120 degrees at f2.2
5:40
A 12 megapixel wide, 79 degrees of view at f1.8. And then finally, the bottom one's the beauty
5:48
It's a 64 megapixel telephoto lens, 76 degree of view at f2.0
5:55
So, that bottom camera captures a massive amount of data. If you're using this to capture video, you can capture 8K video at 24 frames a second
6:06
How big is 8K? Each image in 8K is 7680 by 4320
6:13
That is way more than this display can show. That's probably more than your TV can show
6:19
Why do you want all that? Why do you want 64 megapixels? Because you can then crop things and really tightly crop
6:27
And still, the portion that you've chopped out is going to look great because there's so much data
6:34
I'll show you that in one of the demos. It's pretty remarkable. In fact, let's just jump into the demos right now
6:41
Let's start with an ultra-wide angle shot. I was down at the University of Denver in, surprisingly, Denver, Colorado
6:47
And I stood in the same place and took this ultra-wide angle shot
6:52
And then this wide angle shot. And then just this zoom shot
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So, you can see from the same spot just the huge range that you have with the cameras built into this phone
7:04
And then here's a second wide angle shot I took of a different building down on campus
7:08
And it's just, I mean, this is really like ready to go into an annual report or to be published in a magazine
7:16
It takes really beautiful photos. Now, let's have one more that's a little fun
7:21
This is a full 64 megapixel photo. And I'm going to zoom in so you can see
7:27
There's an extraordinary amount of detail in this photographic image. Way more than probably you need for sharing it on Instagram or something
7:36
But the real benefit of having these 64 megapixel photos is that you can zoom and crop
7:43
And that still looks really good. One more. Samsung has a lovely portrait mode
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And here's a shot I took of my daughter. I did nothing special
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We didn't worry about the lighting or anything. I just went into portrait mode and blurred the background
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Super easy to work with. Now, let's look at video. First off, here's the video
8:03
I'll just do a regular video capture. And we'll do some zoom in the middle of it
8:07
And I'm going to be quiet so you can watch. Here's another video from the same place, but this time we're going to use slow motion
8:33
And for time lapse, I thought, well, let's just be right by the road. So here's a time lapse of some traffic on a road
8:39
Finally, my favorite is vlogger mode. Check this out. So I'm standing right by the road here and I'm trying this out
8:47
So I'm simultaneously recording the front facing camera and the rear facing camera
8:52
So I'm guessing that you're not going to be able to hear me very well, but it's a good demo
8:57
Anyway, that's what we got. I'm pretty darn impressed with the cameras
9:01
I got to say, it's really fun. And that vlogger mode, honestly, I'm super tempted to buy one of these just to get that mode
9:08
It's so useful and it would be so cool to be like walking around and doing stuff like this
9:14
Maybe it's just that I've spent a lot of time on Zoom, which has a very similar shared screen plus inset of your webcam
9:21
But it's just a really cool design and a really slick implementation
9:25
Very well done, Samsung. Now, what else can I show you? Well, first off, here's that selfie or portrait again
9:32
And as you can see on here, it's just beautifully rendered. It's a really nice camera
9:38
It's done such a nice job. Now, it's a 4000 mAh battery, so that's plenty enough to run you for the full day
9:46
And it supports Power Delivery 3.0 and it has wireless power share
9:51
So you can set it up into a mode and you can actually have the back become a Qi wireless charging pad
9:58
That's perfect for charging up your Samsung earbuds or maybe your friend's phone that supports wireless charging
10:05
but their battery isn't as good as your battery. So you can get a lot of bonus points charging their phone off of your phone, as the case may be
10:11
Now, it also is IP68, which is nice because that's a rating that means it can be up to 5 feet deep in water for up to 30 minutes
10:21
Which means that if you're, I don't know, at the pool and it drops in and you dive in immediately and grab it, you're good
10:29
If someone spills their coffee on it and you wipe it off, you're good
10:34
If you're cleaning your teeth and your kids come along and they knock it into the sink, rinse it off and let it dry and you're good
10:41
I mean, isn't it about time these devices were a little less super precarious, right
10:46
Super fragile. So it's great to have it where it can handle the environment
10:51
That's pretty darn important. Now, let me give you some dimensions and we're just about done with this
10:57
So, it is 5.9 inches by 2.8 inches by 3 tenths of an inch thick and it's 6 ounces
11:04
This is small and light and it fits beautifully in your hand
11:09
It fits in your pocket. This is sort of the little guy of the S21 line, but boy, it sure doesn't feel like you're getting all the low-end tech
11:18
This is really nice. The camera, everything. Really, there's a lot I like about it
11:25
Now, to be fair, there are some legitimate concerns and complaints. One of which is that lack of that micro SD card support
11:33
Kind of a drag. They could have done that. They didn't. The screen is lower resolution, but it's a smaller screen and you're paying less for it
11:41
So I think that's a fair trade-off. Some people are a little more testy about that than I
11:46
And if we do the world's fastest unboxing, let me just show you. It comes with a card and then everything else is in there
11:53
Everything else is in this box. Everything else is out. So what's in here? Well, it's a good question
11:59
It comes with USB-C charging cable. Woot! And the only other thing that it comes with is some paperwork
12:07
So AT&T Personal Cloud, AT&T Let's Get Started, and Terms and Conditions
12:14
So what's missing? No earbuds, no wall charger. Literally, that's everything. So you need to bring your own charger
12:23
I don't think that's a big deal. You can pick one up for $20. It's not like it's a big investment
12:29
But reality is you probably already have 20 or 30 of them in your house
12:34
You can also, if you have a USB-C computer, you can plug it in your computer to charge it
12:39
So people have given Samsung a lot of grief about this. And I'm not sure it's warranted
12:44
Now, to be fair, Samsung was giving Apple a lot of hassle
12:50
when Apple decided not to include wall chargers in the Apple iPhone 12 line
12:56
And then they go turn around and their S21 has no wall charger either
13:00
So you can't really criticize someone else and then do the same thing
13:04
It doesn't really look great. But that's sort of my whole list of things that you might want to know about
13:11
Otherwise, it's fast. It has a beautiful screen. The cameras on it are remarkable
13:18
The software to manage all the camera systems are really great. There's a lot to like about this
13:24
This is a really nice, I would say this is one of the very best Android phones
13:28
on the entire market right now. So that's pretty cool. What's left to talk about is the price
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But before we get to the price, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you to subscribe to my channel
13:41
Just a click or a tap on that subscribe button on the lower right and we are connected
13:45
And I appreciate that. Alright, great. This is the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
13:53
It comes in violet or gray or white or pink. And the violet is really nice
13:59
You definitely want to check that out before you make a color decision
14:03
And it is $799.99. Or, if you want to do monthly payments, AT&T offers $26.67 a month for 30 months
14:14
And you can check all of that out at AT&T.com. You can get it elsewhere, but AT&T is the company that loaned me the phone to review
14:21
So I'm going to promote them. Check out AT&T today or go somewhere else
14:26
Either way, this is really a nice phone. There's a lot to like about this Samsung Galaxy S21
14:32
And I'm going to go back to playing with that portrait mode
14:36
So I'll catch you in my next video
#Gadgets & Portable Electronics