14 DAY TRIAL // As the world’s number one phone manufacturer, Samsung knows very well that not everybody wants high-end mobile devices, therefore building models that don’t cost a fortune is mandatory.
In fact, flagships aren’t the phones that bring home the bacon and help grow the market share, but affordable models and mid-rangers that pack a super-good value for the money.
Samsung Galaxy A21s is one of the models that are supposed to be rather affordable but still provide users with the typical Samsung magic, something that you’d truly expect from a device that’s part of the Galaxy series.
But before anything, I must remind everyone this is a phone that can be yours for less than $200 and depending on where you live, it could go as low as $150. For comparison, the Galaxy Note20, which right now is the best phone in Samsung’s lineup, is available from $999 for the base model.
Therefore, it’s critical not to set really high expectations when it comes to the A21s, simply because it’s not this device’s purpose to impress you with top-notch performance and stunning camera photos.
And you’ll understand why in the next few lines.
First and foremost, the A21s isn’t necessarily a head-turner, but it’s not ugly either. For me, it’s just a generic Samsung phone, and for most people, this isn’t a bad thing at all. And it’s all thanks to the Samsung brand itself, which has become famous for offering good value for the money and premium quality builds on its devices.
The back of the phone is made from plastic, not glass as it’s the case of more expensive Galaxy phones, but that’s quite alright. Plastic is pretty durable too, and since you’re not paying a lot on the A21s, this is quite a welcome feature.
Despite its dimensions (163.7 x 75.3 x 8.9 mm / 6.44 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches), holding the A21s in hand isn’t really that hard, although you might find it quite a challenge to use it with just a hand. The device tips the scales at 192 grams.
The display of the phone is the first thing that let me down. As I said so many times before, I absolutely love Samsung’s AMOLED displays, and Apple does too, as the Cupertino-based tech giant uses screens built by the South Korean firm on its iPhones. The A21s, on the other hand, is equipped with a 6.5-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with 270 ppi and 82.8% screen to body ratio.
All of these substantially impact the display quality, and colors are thus washed out even in the menus. I mean, you could very well use this phone to watch YouTube videos and play games, but don’t expect a stunning quality anyway, and the display is the first to blame.
Power on the A21s comes from an Exynos 850 chip, which is actually a low-end 8nm processor that’s supposed to be optimized for reduced energy. In other words, the performance isn’t necessarily the key focus, but the battery life, and this is the reason it’s specifically aimed at more affordable devices.
The octa-core processor is paired with a Mali-G52 GPU chip and 3GB or 4GB of RAM, depending on the configuration available in each country. The 3GB A21s is offered with 32GB of storage, while the 4GB model comes with 64GB.
A microSD card slot is also offered if you need more storage, and the chances are you do, especially if you intend to use the A21s for playing games.
But is this the kind of model that you can use for playing games? Yes and no.
And it all depends on what games you want to play. The problem is that if you throw anything more demanding at it, the A21s really struggles, and it’s all because of its limited performance capabilities. However, titles like Candy Crush and anything like that should run quite flawlessly, albeit in some cases, you might have to wait longer than anticipated for the whole thing to load.
While the A21s isn’t really dressed to impress in terms of gaming, it does have a battery that can amaze some customers. The 5,000 mAh unit is enough to get you through the day if you’re a heavy user, but it can easily last up to two days per charge if you don’t unlock the phone every few minutes. What’s more, it comes with 15W fast charging, which is a welcome extra on a device that’s so affordable.
There’s no wireless charging or reverse wireless charging because really now, let’s not forget the price range that we’re talking about.
On the other hand, the device comes with Bluetooth 5.0, NFC (depending on the region where it’s available), and a fingerprint sensor that’s mounted on the back (and which honestly I like more than a version embedded into the screen because it’s more accurate and easier to locate with the finger without looking at the phone).
The camera performance leaves a lot to be desired despite the A21s coming with four different sensors:
- 48-megapixel main sensor
- 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor
- 2-megapixel macro sensor
- 2-megapixel depth sensor
But again, I need to remind everyone the purpose of the A21s isn’t to be a market leader but to serve as an affordable Android phone wearing the Samsung badge. So yes, the A21s can take decent pictures that aren’t supposed to become a work of art, but this is quite fine given you’re not paying a fortune for the whole thing.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Galaxy A21s is the kind of phone that delivers exactly the package that you’d expect to get just by looking at its price point.
The good thing is that it doesn’t promise to do more than it’s actually able to do, so it’s an honest smartphone that you can really trust.
However, the A21s disappoints in several key areas, and it all starts with the display, continues with the processor performance, and ends with the camera. All of this makes this Samsung Galaxy phone more appropriate for those who use a mobile device for things like phone calls, texting, and browsing the web, as it can’t handle anything that’s more demanding.
So who’s it for? The Galaxy A21s is just the perfect phone for my mother, as she’s the kind of user that just doesn’t want to buy a phone whose battery can’t go for more than two days per charge. She mostly uses WhatsApp, Facebook, phone calls, and a bunch of other apps, and the A21s is fully prepared to deal with such a usage pattern.
Other than that, I think that the A21s is priced too close to other Samsung phones that provide upgraded features and an OLED panel. And this should make people think twice before getting this phone in the first place. Is the A21s worth the money since for a few extra bucks you could get a lot more?
This is a question that customers aren’t the only ones who should find the answer for, but Samsung too.
