Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have had this phone for around 6 months now as a replacement for a Samsung S8 and it connects faster to my vehicles Bluetooth and now works with my Samsung Level wireless headphones without freezing my phone which happened with the old S8. It takes such bright and clear pictures that I never use my Canon cameras anymore. I decided to get my $1,300 Canon EOS 7D with the attached $500 Canon 17-40 L Series Wide Angle Zoom out of the safe yesterday to compare the images. The polarized lens cover produced poor pictures so I replaced that with just a clear lens cover. Today in bright sunlight I took several pictures with the Canon and the Samsung S21 5G. The results convinced me to just put the Canon EOS 7D back into the safe since the Samsung S21 5G pictures were far superior as far as brightness and clarity. See the attached comparison pictures for yourself.

I like this phone, i had to retunr it unfortunately because it had a factory problem.

This device is gold. I sprung for the 256G option because there is no MicroSD support but the cost increase isn't great. In summary, the device is perfect fit for the hand, looks great, performs like a beast and makes minimal compromise. Unboxing / setup: There is minimal in the box, a USB-C to USB-C cable, documentation, a SIM tool and the phone. Setup takes some time if you are porting from another phone but the Samsung Smart Switch app makes it pretty easy where all you have to do is transfer all software, log in to Google and Samsung and it will do the rest, it just takes time to do so. Use: Battery life was lacking in the first few days but once it learned my habits after three or so days, I finish the day with 20% battery and 4-5 hours screen on time with 5G T-Mobile service in my area. I watch a lot of YouTube, read books, message, social media and game though out the day. What I was most impressed with is how well this phone fits in the hand. It is near perfect for small/medium hands. Most of the screen is reachable and one-handed texting is easy. The plastic back is a non-issue for me since it still feels premium and I use a case anyway. The Phantom Grey looks much better in person than in the product photos. The lack of Micro SD is a good move even if it is hard to swallow in my opinion. The reason I say this is the performance increase. Most faster Micro SD cards only read at 90 MBps whereas the UFS 3.0 built in provides 1748 MBps read, 756 MBps write which is outstanding! The price increase for the 128 GB is only $50 extra which is only a tiny bit more than a 128GB microSD card. I do understand the pain if you need more than 256GB though. Performance was a little choppy the first day or two as I assume the phone was indexing the filesystem and cleaning up after smart switch, but in the week since, zero issues. Performance on benchmarks is not on PAR with iPhones but you wouldn't notice in day to day use as apps open even faster. Camera: There is a bit of shutter lag, but if you can live with that, photos area AMAZING! I must disclose that the 3x camera is not optical in nature. It is a cropped 64MP sensor. Side by side to an S21 Ultra with an optical 10MP 3X, the difference is almost unnoticeable. The phone allows digital zoom up to 30x but I wouldn't go higher than 10x as it is unusable after that. There is no macro ability but if yo use the 3x, it gives you pretty close photos. Sound: Speaker quality is great! I can easily hear it playing music or podcasts while showering and it gets loud and clear. The phone supports all the big codecs via bluetooth and I recommend Samsung buds of any type as it supports a Samsung Scalable Codec. Display: I was worried about the 1080p display being too low, but it is an extremely good screen! It is bright, vibrant and detailed as the screen size is low. Connectivity: Calls are clear especially on HD calls. I have a Wifi 6 network and connection stays strong anywhere in my house. Switching from an iPhone 12 Pro, I noticed cellular signal on 4G LTE and 5G is stronger anywhere I am in comparison. I have got up to 650mbps via 5G midband as there is no mmwave in my area.

The good: -This phone does have a very nice feel and good size to it (don't listen to people misrepresenting it as "plastic", the finish and material feel to me exactly like my last phone, the iPhone 11 Pro) -It is very fast with a great screen, 120 Hz is snappy, 5G seems a little faster than LTE but not that much honestly. -Battery life seems good so far. -Software works well, UI is just as intuitive as apple in my opinion. With more customization options. The bad: -No charger in the box, this is honestly an insult to someone who just switched from iPhone and needed a charger. What on Earth were the clueless Samsung folks thinking with this decision I'll never know. (Other than "oh let's do it if apple is doing it") -No headphone port. That was one of the reasons I was excited to switch back to Samsung, my old S8 had a headphone port which I was missing. Another insult to the consumer...how many people were actually giving feedback that they didn't want the port? Clearly they were just copying apple's anti-consumer behavior. -Why not have a black color option for all models? This gray is not bad but you'd have so many more people switching over if you had a proper black option in the entry model. Not everyone wants a huge phone (which is the only reason I didn't opt for the plus or ultra...this is a huge wasted opportunity for Samsung to capture a larger audience) -limited to just 256GB if I want a phone I can use with one hand? Either offer a 512GB option or give the ability to put a microSD card in. This was also a very sloppy decision by Samsung too. In general Samsung continues to throw away big opportunities to win over former iPhone customers. Get your act together Samsung, you have a chance to be better than Apple. I hesitated a lot before trying this phone...over things you could have easily fixed with minimal impact to your costs. And they would go a long way towards winning over hearts of consumers.

This is a very good device. Performs well for almost three years. good camera.

I have been a loyal user of google phones since the nexus line and have had a Pixel xl and pixel 3 most recently. What I love about the pixel line is that they run android in it's purest form. Pixels are very simple with no overdone UI, added menus, or bloatware. Unfortunately the pixel 5 that is currently available has poor specs in comparison to the S21. For the same price the S21 provides a faster processor and double the storage space. The transition hasn't been too difficult after I made a few changes. I went to the app store and download the Google phone, calendar, messages, and photos apps and set all of those as my defaults. I also setup Google assistant and turned off Bixby. I also use the Google simple date and weather widget that has been offered on pixel phone for years. From a UI standpoint I have customized the S21 to look just like a Pixel. The only thing I can't change is the app drawer with scrolls side to side instead of up and down. The most difficult part of changing phones has been the lack of a fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. The S21 has a fingerprint reader built into the screen. It has taken me some time to adapt, but overall the in screen reader works fairly well. One note, DO NOT USE A TEMPERED GLASS SCREEN PROTECTOR IF YOU WANT TO USE THE ON SCREEN FINGERPRINT READER. I tried 3 different tempered glass screen protectors, all of which said they supported the on screen reader. Unfortunately none of them worked well enough. Currently I am using a thin plastic screen protector and it works well causing no issues with the fingerprint reader. One downside for the S21 is the battery life. Most days I have around 30% remaining when I go to bed, but under very heave use the phone will barely make it through a day. I could have gone with the S21 plus or ultra, but I wanted the smaller size of the S21 and the lower battery life is just a small sacrifice. For most people it should be just fine. Overall the S21 has been a good phone and from a spec standpoint is one the best Android phones available at this time.

Love it. I've had every iPhone from the 3GS in 2009 all the way up to the XS Max in 2018. The only other phone I had in that time frame was the Galaxy S8+ in 2017 which I really liked. I also got the iPhone 12 Pro at launch so I actually am able to compare these two. But so far I've really enjoyed all that the S21 and Android has to offer. I like learning different operating systems and Android/Samsung's UI has come a long way since 20117 and the Galaxy S8. As mainly an Apple user, there are things Android DEFINITELY does better than iOS and vice versa. I love how customizable Android is. As far as the S21 I went with the base level because I'm to the point now where I don't want to go over 6.2 or 6.3 inches for a phone. The camera quality on the S21 blows me away. I think it's better/more vibrant than the 12 Pro. Also the screen gets SO bright which I love! Samsung screens on the phones and TV's are top notch and I WISH my iPhone got this bright. I could write a lot more but I'm pressed for time. All in all, I'm glad I got this phone and really like it.

I keep my phones longer than most, and don't use it for gaming or social media, so my opinion might not be that relevant to most. I went from an S5, so the upgrade was quite dramatic. I wanted a phone with good sound, good camera, pocketable size, and customizable. Double tap for on and off and being able to program the side button is great. I have Bixby hidden away where I never see it. The camera is fantastic. I also love the spigen liquid armor case that I got for the phone.

We love our Galaxy phones, especially the cameras! We always get asked what phones we have because our pictures come out so clear and the color is amazing.

Awesome phone, takes great pictures, keeps internet connection and has decent battery life

I Love this phone and am so glad I traded up from the Samsung Galaxy S10. I wish this phone came in black but after I thought about it, it is in a case so the color does not really matter. This phone also has more ringtone options, even retro and I love my new ringtones, the camera is awesome and my google assistant is the best thing ever. I haven't had to use directions yet but I am sure they will work as well as all my other Samsung phones. I only buy unlocked phones and so far this is excellent.

Bought it to replace an iphone7. It was easy to transfer all the contacts and photos from iPhone to android. A well built phone easy to maneuver in settings. Screen is very clear, camera is very clear. Battery power lasts all day which I love the most of all the features. The only downfall I didn’t like where the power button is. Right below the volume buttons which I sometimes hit the power button instead of the volume button and shuttoff the phone.

The phone is of course great, all the S series phones from Galaxy have been amazing. To be honest if you have an S20 I wouldn't recommend upgrading to this unless you want to go extra and get the S21 Ultra because the difference in overall specs between the S20 and S21 are pretty much none. You would honestly be wasting your money to upgrade from the regular s20 to the s21.

Works well, great camera, and 120 Hz adaptive display is very smooth

Design is amazing, scrolling on my phone feels amazing, and feels premium. I love this phone

Samsung galaxy is dependable great phone that i know i can count on. BestBuy sales guy's were extremely helpful and very patient answering all my questions making me feel far more comfortable about my purchase. They even helped my friend set up all her acvounts on her new phone which impressed me.

Bought this item as part of a gift set for a friend. She is very happy with the expedited shipping and availability of the product. This phone takes superb photos !! This phone along with the case are a great technological upgrade. I paid less to Best Buy than I would have to the manufacturer.

This was a good phone, I will purchase an S23 for my next phone.

So far I've had the phone for about 2 months. I like it. The only thing I find annoying is trying to take a screen shot. Half the time the phone screen turns off. Like where I have to hit the side button again. Not completely off. It hold a charge great.

Very nice call recommended to anyone I'm very good at features