Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G 128GB - Phantom Violet

I'm a Pokémon Go addict. It's the primary use for my phone. So battery life is a number 1 priority for me. The S21+ lasts longer than any other phone I've had. I can play 6-8 hours straight with YT running in the background, Bluetooth on, GPS on, screen brightness turned up.Very impressed.The Samsung Switch feature was very useful for cloning all my apps, settings, data, files etc from my old Samsung to this one.Only slight downside I have is the lack of earphone jack, which seems to be missing from most modern phones now, but it obviously comes with the bonus of having more space for battery and performance. A simple cheap adapter has solved that issue, but it means I can't use a charger and earphones at same time.But everything else is great. The screen is ... MoreI'm a Pokémon Go addict. It's the primary use for my phone. So battery life is a number 1 priority for me. The S21+ lasts longer than any other phone I've had. I can play 6-8 hours straight with YT running in the background, Bluetooth on, GPS on, screen brightness turned up.Very impressed.The Samsung Switch feature was very useful for cloning all my apps, settings, data, files etc from my old Samsung to this one.Only slight downside I have is the lack of earphone jack, which seems to be missing from most modern phones now, but it obviously comes with the bonus of having more space for battery and performance. A simple cheap adapter has solved that issue, but it means I can't use a charger and earphones at same time.But everything else is great. The screen is a good size for my big hands, the camera quality is amazing, the overall performance of the phone is a lot snappier and responsive than older models. I'm enjoying it a lot!

Avoid at all costs

I used my Verizon promo to upgrade my phone. Now I have a pile and so many regrets. This is the worst and most expensive phone I've ever had. No screen protector works with fingerprint on the screen instead of the side function unlock that was WAY better tech. Apps glitch out and freeze. Apps don't auto update even with the settings properly adjusted. Auto rotate is always on and never locks in portrait whether turned on or off. The keyboard just stops functioning frequently and requires a full reboot even with shutting it down regularly. This thing gets waaaaaay too hot. The camera is awesome when it works but so many times the photos come out awful idk why but consistency is terrible. So many flaws that I was fine with until yall decided to release that "update" ... MoreI used my Verizon promo to upgrade my phone. Now I have a pile and so many regrets. This is the worst and most expensive phone I've ever had. No screen protector works with fingerprint on the screen instead of the side function unlock that was WAY better tech. Apps glitch out and freeze. Apps don't auto update even with the settings properly adjusted. Auto rotate is always on and never locks in portrait whether turned on or off. The keyboard just stops functioning frequently and requires a full reboot even with shutting it down regularly. This thing gets waaaaaay too hot. The camera is awesome when it works but so many times the photos come out awful idk why but consistency is terrible. So many flaws that I was fine with until yall decided to release that "update" informing your insanely high paying customers that it's our job to figure out how to make the fingerprint unlock work with a screen protector. How about just give us all our money back because you know you released a less than half--efforted faulty product. I'd rather have my 3 year old S10e back--it actually functioned like a phone. I see yall not producing more to sell, clearly a testament to how terrible this product is. Now I just have this pile and I'll be waiting til my 2 years for the next free upgrade to get a phone that works half decent. Do not buy this product. Makes me want to ditch Samsung altogether and move on to Moto.

Great phone for the most part

The S21 Ultra is a good phone for the most part!Pros: Great camera which takes crystal clear photos and offers various editing features. It even has this multi-take feature where it takes multiple pics during a session just like a photo shoot!The storage capacity of the phone is fantastic, edpecially if you're a person with lots of pictures, documents and videos on your phone. I use lots of Bible-based videos in my ministry, so this phone meets my needs very well with storage capacity and clarity of videos.The phone is quite customizable. Various themes are made available at no cost regarding the interface of the phone.Aesthetically speaking, the S21 Ultra is very sleek and pleasing to the eye. I have the phantom silver one and it has such a classy look. ... MoreThe S21 Ultra is a good phone for the most part!Pros: Great camera which takes crystal clear photos and offers various editing features. It even has this multi-take feature where it takes multiple pics during a session just like a photo shoot!The storage capacity of the phone is fantastic, edpecially if you're a person with lots of pictures, documents and videos on your phone. I use lots of Bible-based videos in my ministry, so this phone meets my needs very well with storage capacity and clarity of videos.The phone is quite customizable. Various themes are made available at no cost regarding the interface of the phone.Aesthetically speaking, the S21 Ultra is very sleek and pleasing to the eye. I have the phantom silver one and it has such a classy look. Tons of cases available out there for the phone as well...I should know I have 16 of them...Features on the phone function swiftly and seamlessly as well.Con: Over time the battery life of the phone has become increasingly less. Even while using battery saver mode, the battery life drains way too fast.Other than the battery life drainage being a little disappointing, the phone is overall a great device. It is my mini pocket assistant!

Hi Performance

The S21 5G has been great for the 5 months that I've used it. General stability and performance of the phone are its highlights - thanks to a year of regular software updates and a chipset that keeps up with the times (SD 888). The display on this phone looks stunning, and it boasts a fluid 120 Hz refresh rate that makes everything smooth and snappy. It gets bright enough such that it can be used outdoors for texting, paying and media control. The color profile of the display also switches under direct sunlight to enhance readability - it becomes more saturated. Haptics are tight and responsive, nothing to complain about there either.Battery life (!!) is one of the most important aspects of a mobile device. I am happy to say that the S21 5G has enough juice to ... MoreThe S21 5G has been great for the 5 months that I've used it. General stability and performance of the phone are its highlights - thanks to a year of regular software updates and a chipset that keeps up with the times (SD 888). The display on this phone looks stunning, and it boasts a fluid 120 Hz refresh rate that makes everything smooth and snappy. It gets bright enough such that it can be used outdoors for texting, paying and media control. The color profile of the display also switches under direct sunlight to enhance readability - it becomes more saturated. Haptics are tight and responsive, nothing to complain about there either.Battery life (!!) is one of the most important aspects of a mobile device. I am happy to say that the S21 5G has enough juice to last a day of medium to slightly heavy usage. Standby battery drain is also pretty consistent, never noticed an issue there. With the correct equipment, the phone will 'Super fast charge' at up to 25W, which will charge the battery from 0-100 in about an hour (or 0-50 in about 25 mins). It's nothing to write home about, but gets the job done. There is also support for wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, although both of these are slower and less efficient charging technologies that I would not recommend using (especially the latter, as it drains and heats up the phone battery).Cameras on the phone are generally impressive for photography. Under ideal conditions, the 12 MP main sensor is capable of some pretty sharp images thanks to post processing that sharpens images. The telephoto camera does a decent job upto around 8X, after which the image is pretty blurry. It can go up to 30X, but that is more of a gimmick than a feature. The only time I found 30X to be useful is while taking moon shots, the phone does those pretty well. Keep in mind it is not a real optical zoom but a crop in on a 64 MP sensor, so the algorithm is pretty impressive. Ultrawide shots are also detailed (12 MP) and look stunning with minimal distortion around borders. The selfie camera is alright, and only works great under good lighting. I don't shoot many videos, but the phone is capable of producing smooth 60 FPS videos with seamless transitions between the three cameras and good auto focus. HDR10+ videos look great, however there is oversaturation in those clips and they cannot be shared across platforms easily (not recommended).Finally, I'd like to talk about software. As mentioned earlier, the phone is generally very performant and stable. Besides, OneUI offers countless features that are pretty intelligent. For example, the gallery app is magical as photos can be remastered to correct some blur, noise, overexposure, etc. Furthermore, S21 features object eraser that can remove objects, shadows and reflections from an image! Personally, I think the reflection eraser is the most helpful, to remove glare and reflections from an image captured through a window (I often take images through car windows). OneUI 5 is generally heavily customizable, if that's something you treasure! However, I haven't really bought into the Material You design yet, I feel changing icon colors makes them harder to find and differentiate. Fortunately or unfortunately, OneUI has not gone through any major design overhauls, and OneUI 5 still looks very similar to older OneUI versions. It is a solid Android skin, and is genuinely helpful at times when navigating this big phone one-handed (menus are closer to the bottom of the screen, and buttons are generally larger and easier to click). With all that said, however, I am starting to feel quite bored after using OneUI for the last 3 years, maybe because Samsung doesn't change as much and add as many new and practical features as compared to the competition (like Google Pixel). The only new feature I've been genuinely impressed by has been the object eraser and remastering in the gallery app (since I bought the S21 5 months ago). And, unfortunately Samsung uses generic Qualcomm chipsets, which are very performant, but cannot be designed around new software features unlike in the case of Google and Apple. This will be more important in upcoming years, but as of now Samsung's S series is still a safe bet in terms of general stability, performance and connectivity. That reminds me, connectivity has been very good on this smartphone, with support for Wifi 6, 5G UW/mmWave and 5G sub-6 ("nationwide"). I believe the version of Bluetooth supported is 5.1, but regardless it has been pretty rock solid.Finally, as I conclude, I would like to comment on the overall design of the phone. I like the size, although I am a sucker for more compact phones and believe the S21 could have shaved yet another inch off as seen in the S22. I love the glastic back, and I believe it helps with that 5G mmWave action. The back design with the layout of the triple camera screams my name, and the camera frame is flush with the side aluminum frame of the phone. The curved design of the glass and glastic sandwich makes the phone feel comfortable with no sharp edges, however that also makes for a rather slippery phone (recommend using a phone case!). I prefer the boxier S22 which is also more compact and provides a more confident grip. Overall, the S21 has been a solid daily driver, although I yearn for some more fun and useful software additions as seen in the likes of the Google Pixel.

My Last Samsung Phone (not in a good way)

I am not with AT&T, but this was the only option for the S21 Ultra 128gb. I purchased this phone from Samsung unlocked. My biggest complaint is the lack of expandable storage - I could not migrate my Note 20 to this phone because 128GB wasn't nearly enough. FYI - the better the camera, the more powerful the specs, the more storage the phone will need. Eliminating expandable storage on a flagship phone is such a step in the wrong direction that I will never purchase another. I also had to switch my UI because the Samsung UI randomly reset my short cuts so they no longer worked. They've been made aware of this problem by many users, but have yet to fix it. I love the idea of an amazing phone camera, but if the phone has limited storage those huge files are a ... MoreI am not with AT&T, but this was the only option for the S21 Ultra 128gb. I purchased this phone from Samsung unlocked. My biggest complaint is the lack of expandable storage - I could not migrate my Note 20 to this phone because 128GB wasn't nearly enough. FYI - the better the camera, the more powerful the specs, the more storage the phone will need. Eliminating expandable storage on a flagship phone is such a step in the wrong direction that I will never purchase another. I also had to switch my UI because the Samsung UI randomly reset my short cuts so they no longer worked. They've been made aware of this problem by many users, but have yet to fix it. I love the idea of an amazing phone camera, but if the phone has limited storage those huge files are a liability. Forcing users to a cloud model where content can basically be held hostage, either by design (terrible download options) or future monetization is something I refuse to participate in. Long time Samsung user breaking up with you after Note 8, Note 9, Note 20, S21 Ultra, Tab A, Tab S7+, several earbuds and Galaxy Watches 1st gen, 3, 4, and 5. It's not me - it's you...

Pleasantly Surprised!

Having had an S8 in the past then went to an A31 for the last few years the S21 FE 5G was a huge improvement. Only one thing lets it down is the battery, and this is similar for most of the S range. Battery life is far superior on the A series.What has surprised me the most is the quality of the camera! Chose the S21 over the S22 for the slightly higher capacity battery even though the camera specs were much better on the S22, on paper at least! We use my phone for filming video reviews and this is a huge improvement both in resolution, colour and even sound. Our wireless lapel mics connect to the camera without having to use a third party app as we had to on the A31, and the sound is clear and has no interference that we experienced on the previous phone. And the ... MoreHaving had an S8 in the past then went to an A31 for the last few years the S21 FE 5G was a huge improvement. Only one thing lets it down is the battery, and this is similar for most of the S range. Battery life is far superior on the A series.What has surprised me the most is the quality of the camera! Chose the S21 over the S22 for the slightly higher capacity battery even though the camera specs were much better on the S22, on paper at least! We use my phone for filming video reviews and this is a huge improvement both in resolution, colour and even sound. Our wireless lapel mics connect to the camera without having to use a third party app as we had to on the A31, and the sound is clear and has no interference that we experienced on the previous phone. And the big winner is low light photography, absolutely stunning and crystal clear! And then there is the 30x zoom. For the first time ever I have been able to take a clear photo of a full moon instead of it turning out as a white blurry blob! Can even see the craters.More than happy with this phone.

Reliable, but not remarkable

Having been both a former Samsung phone owner (S10) and a Google Pixel owner (Pixel 4), about a month ago I decided to switch back to Samsung with the S21. To get it out of the way, let me first say that the phone is reliable and proficient at most things. Response times are fast, charge lasts me an entire day with heavy use, and Samsung takes the normal Android user experience and improves upon it with small UI tweaks here and there to make things work and work well.BUT, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Due to my career field, one of the crucial features I was looking for when upgrading my phone was a solid camera and camcorder, which is where I'm focusing my review.While not perfect either, the best feature on the Pixel 4 was by far it's camera. I was ... MoreHaving been both a former Samsung phone owner (S10) and a Google Pixel owner (Pixel 4), about a month ago I decided to switch back to Samsung with the S21. To get it out of the way, let me first say that the phone is reliable and proficient at most things. Response times are fast, charge lasts me an entire day with heavy use, and Samsung takes the normal Android user experience and improves upon it with small UI tweaks here and there to make things work and work well.BUT, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Due to my career field, one of the crucial features I was looking for when upgrading my phone was a solid camera and camcorder, which is where I'm focusing my review.While not perfect either, the best feature on the Pixel 4 was by far it's camera. I was never worried about being able to capture that "perfect moment". The Pixel had excellent response time, was user friendly, and provided decent photo editing/retouching tools. Unfortunately, I have quickly noticed that my Samsung S21 falls short almost across the board. Even after endless setting adjustments, photos almost always have a noticable delay between pressing the shutter and the photo actually being taken, frequently resulting in missing the most ideal shot in the moment. Editing tools aren't as robust, to the point I now find myself using the Adobe Photoshop app on my Samsung to perform edits I would have simply done with the Pixel 4 camera tools.I will admit, the "Pro Photo" and "Pro Video" modes on the Samsung provide a plethora of control options, mirroring that which you would find on professional cameras/camcorders and if I'm putting in the effort, I can manually dial in to create fantastic shots. But when I'm off the clock, wanting to just "be in the moment" during a family event, trying to grab some quick Auto photos and videos, the S21 disappoints. Compared to other phone options, I would still recommend the S21 with 3.5 stars (I guess I'll have to round up to 4). It still trumps the Pixel and iPhone in so many other areas in terms of general use (HDMI over USB-C, I have missed you dearly— glad to have you back!). But from a media creation standpoint, this isn't my favorite purchase and I'll look forward to my next phone purchase in 2-4 years.

Save your money and look elsewhere

Only got a year in a half out of this phone. I have had so many battery and interface issues despite following guides online. My phone is up to date with its security updates and everything else but still acting like a brick. When I first got it there were slight bugs, nothing I couldn't deal with considering the model was only a couple months old at the time of purchase. The reason I bought this phone in the first place was to try out Samsung (originally an iPhone user.) I was very impressed with the app speeds, battery life and camera quality but now most of my apps take forever to load, randomly freeze, or I press it and it doesn't open up. Battery life has tanked on me as well. Now, I am stuck with an overheating phone that doesn't turn on for hours and freezes ... MoreOnly got a year in a half out of this phone. I have had so many battery and interface issues despite following guides online. My phone is up to date with its security updates and everything else but still acting like a brick. When I first got it there were slight bugs, nothing I couldn't deal with considering the model was only a couple months old at the time of purchase. The reason I bought this phone in the first place was to try out Samsung (originally an iPhone user.) I was very impressed with the app speeds, battery life and camera quality but now most of my apps take forever to load, randomly freeze, or I press it and it doesn't open up. Battery life has tanked on me as well. Now, I am stuck with an overheating phone that doesn't turn on for hours and freezes more than any piece of technology I've ever owned before. Suspecting that it's probably a memory leak but I really don't have the patience to toy around with this phone any longer. I am saddened because I wish I could write a good review, I paid lots of money for this phone but shame on Samsung, gave me a terrible first impression with their phones. Looks like I'm going back to Apple. Save yourself the extra $$ and stay away from this model. I wouldn't doubt if the S22 develops similar issues too.

The Best Phone I've Owned so Far!

I got this phone as a gift last Christmas and I couldn't have asked for a better gift. I've always been a devoted Apple user and never thought to ever get a Samsung phone. However, after seeing an ad for the Samsung Galaxy S21, I could not get my eyes off of the design and the amazing colors! After I got my Phantom Violet S21+, I thought I'd take a long time to get used to it, but that is not the case at all! From the getgo, I was so excited and got used to the system fast. I grew to love the customizability and features this phone provided. Not only that, but I love the camera quality—it can zoom in so clear and so far. Further, I can't get enough of the design and how fast this phone is, as well as the battery-life (seriously the battery-life is so good.) I've ... MoreI got this phone as a gift last Christmas and I couldn't have asked for a better gift. I've always been a devoted Apple user and never thought to ever get a Samsung phone. However, after seeing an ad for the Samsung Galaxy S21, I could not get my eyes off of the design and the amazing colors! After I got my Phantom Violet S21+, I thought I'd take a long time to get used to it, but that is not the case at all! From the getgo, I was so excited and got used to the system fast. I grew to love the customizability and features this phone provided. Not only that, but I love the camera quality—it can zoom in so clear and so far. Further, I can't get enough of the design and how fast this phone is, as well as the battery-life (seriously the battery-life is so good.) I've even convinced many of my friends—who are die-hard Apple users—to liking this phone, and most of them plan to get one this Christmas for themselves! It's just so in tune with how you want it to look and operate, something I couldn't do on any of my old phones. Overall, I love this phone and don't plan on upgrading anytime soon, it's just great. If I do end up upgrading, I'll definitely have Samsung as my top choice, because after switching over?... I seriously can't look back.

a beautiful and amazing phone!

The Samsung S21 is the best! My old phone was starting to get way too slow and was outdated with it's small amount of features so i started looking for an upgrade, doing research and looking at what brand would be best, some other brands had some ok features but when i looked at Samsung it was almost to good to be true! the customizability, features, battery life, processing power, screen, cameras, and design were all amazing. so i finally settled on getting the s21 because of its amazing features and perfect price point Even though most of Samsung's lineup is amazing. I'm a gigantic tech nerd and I love having the freedom and customizability of Android with all the benefits of having something kinda like an iPhone with One UI and Samsung support, such as quick ... MoreThe Samsung S21 is the best! My old phone was starting to get way too slow and was outdated with it's small amount of features so i started looking for an upgrade, doing research and looking at what brand would be best, some other brands had some ok features but when i looked at Samsung it was almost to good to be true! the customizability, features, battery life, processing power, screen, cameras, and design were all amazing. so i finally settled on getting the s21 because of its amazing features and perfect price point Even though most of Samsung's lineup is amazing. I'm a gigantic tech nerd and I love having the freedom and customizability of Android with all the benefits of having something kinda like an iPhone with One UI and Samsung support, such as quick share and Samsung Dex. I love the amount of processing power the phone has, it may not be as powerful as the plus or the ultra but it's still amazing compared to my old phone, The amount of storage from my old phone is a major upgrade too, My old phone had only 64 GB of memory which was very restricting but now with my new phone I feel free to download pretty much anything I want or need, as it is right now I have about 8 or 9 different emulators installed and I'm absolutely loving it! It feels like I have the full capabilities of a PC right in my pocket with all of the file managing and software tools, and the 8GB of RAM is also so freeing I feel like I can open up as many things as I want and it won't slow down one bit. I love listening to music and the 32-bit 384 kHz audio tuned by AKG makes it so much better especially knowing I have almost the best audio I could be getting out of my phone. being able to connect multiple Bluetooth devices at once is so cool especially with the media output feature! I love the slightly raised camera module with lines that blend directly into the frame of the phone it's so sleek and modern looking and I honestly really like the The look of the polymer back on the phone, It makes repairing (if ever needed) much easier from what I've heard. the cameras are also amazing with the amount of options, and I really appreciate the addition of the 0.5 wide angle, I use all the time and I really love it, although learning the pro camera mode settings has been a bit tricky compared to my old phone but I love being able to save raw images and the amount that I can edit photos and videos. The 4000mAh battery is great especially with the power efficiency of the AMOLED display, I can go the whole day without having to charge my phone. The wireless power sharing is also pretty amazing and I imagine makes everybody i show it to really consider buying the new Galaxy compared to the new iPhone because of how useful it is. but I'd say the feature I appreciate the most is the screen with its AMOLED 120hz display and a pretty good ppi too, it's the most beautiful display I've seen on a phone, The only thing I worry about is the screen durability since I don't have a screen protector on because of the in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that works lightning fast, but so far I only have some minor micro scratches with daily use. i can't explain how much I love my new phone, it's so beautiful, It truly makes me so happy using it everyday, thank you Samsung!