Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus

Style and substance

The Galaxy S21+ is in the middle of Samsung’s next-gen S21 smartphones, but was designed to be more than just another variant of the same theme. It comes with style and performance in mind, including a vivid screen and feature set that work together to suit your own preferences.

The 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display is easy to notice, maintaining the striking quality that has made Samsung screens so easy on the eyes. And that extends to useful features like the new Eye Comfort Shield designed to adjust the blue light based on where you are, how much light is around you and the content you’re watching. It’s a subtle feature that helps make this phone easier to view with less eye strain.

It doesn’t hurt that the adaptive 120Hz refresh rate returns to ensure smoother scrolling and swiping when navigating the screen. Turn the phone over and the matte haze finish keeps fingerprints to a minimum, while maintaining a slick appearance worthy of a powerful device. And with phantom violet debuting as a new colour, the aesthetics turn up a notch.

What does that ‘+’ get you?

There are some things you get here that you won’t in the smaller Galaxy S21. For one, it gets you a bigger screen, but there’s more to it than that. With a 1080p HD resolution on the 6.7-inch display, there is a benefit to overall battery life. The Galaxy S21+ houses a large 4,800mAh battery inside, putting this phone into easy all-day performance territory. All that efficiency should lead to less anxiety over making it through a full day.

You can feel a little extra protection with Gorilla Glass Victus on both the front and back for some peace of mind. And unlike the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the screen is flat, not curved, in case you prefer it that way. In addition to that, the Galaxy S21+ supports Ultra-wideband (UWB) for better Bluetooth communications, and an easier way to track your phone in case it’s been misplaced.

Despite the large size, there is no microSD memory card slot, which is in line with the other Galaxy S21 models. You can start off with 128GB of internal storage, or go bigger up to 256GB.

Cameras ready to fire away

The Galaxy S21+ shares the same camera array with the smaller Galaxy S21. That includes 12-megapixel wide and ultra-wide lenses, plus a 64-megapixel telephoto lens that uses a crop factor to help you zoom in closer. On the front, you get a 10-megapixel camera.

Samsung’s latest software enhancements are also available to use, including Single Take 2.0, which lets you capture still photos and video using all the camera’s lenses at once. Vlogger’s View lets you shoot video with the front and rear cameras simultaneously. Super Steady Video can help with jittery hands, while Director’s View offers a new perspective for every shot.

Portrait mode now offers extra features to improve and expand on how and when to capture the right portrait or selfie. With the telephoto lens, 30x Space Zoom gets as close to the action as possible, with Zoom Lock available to keep things steady. Shoot a video in 8K resolution, and you can save a snapshot within the video as a high-resolution photo.

The need for speed

The Galaxy S21+ is already 5G-enabled, meaning it’s ready and waiting for next-generation wireless networks to expand throughout Canada. The advent of 5G should deliver speeds considerably faster than 4G LTE connections. With that kind of speed, viewing, streaming, creating and sharing content will only feel smoother.

Samsung also included support for Wi-Fi 6 to get the most out of any Wi-Fi network broadcasting the latest standard. UWB will lead to better Bluetooth connectivity, particularly with newer products, like Samsung’s own SmartTag Bluetooth Locator.