Computer Shopper - UK (2020-10)

ISSUE392|COMPUTER SHOPPER 41

PROBABLY THEONLYsmartphone maker to
match Motorola in pumping out new models
is Samsung, its latest Galaxy handset arriving
in the form of the relatively low-priced A21s.
Surprisingly,givenit’smade with plastic
rather than Samsung’s preferred glass, the
Galaxy A21s is justaseye-catching as the
luxury S20range.It’sasleek-looking phone
with minimal screenbezels and an unobtrusive
hole-punch notch in the top-leftcorner.
The back of the phone is slightlycurved,
with the four camerasand LEDflasharranged
in atidy rectangle in thetop-leftcorner.A
rear-mounted fingerprint sensor also sits in
the centre,which can be used to unlock the
phone and authorise contactless payments.
The selfiecameraalso allows forfaceunlocks.
Our review modelcame in theblack colour
scheme,which looks rather nice with its
iridescent oil-slick finish. In fact,all three
colours –black,white andblue –havethis
rainbow-like effect, and they each look far
better than other phones at this price.

PLSANDTHANKYOU

The Galaxy A21s uses aUSB Type-C portfor
charging and syncing, whichisfound on the
bottom edgeand is flanked by a3.5mm audio
jack and solitary speaker grille.Avolume rocker
and power button sit on the rightedge, with a
shared nano-SIM and microSD tray on the left.
The huge 6.5in displayuses aPLS panel,
which is Samsung’s take on IPS. Unfortunately,
it’s all rather underwhelming: the 1,600x720
resolutionisn’t very high forsuch avast
screen, and it coversonly 73% of the sRGB
colour gamut. Colour accuracy isn’t up to
scratch either,witha
measureddelta-E of 4.23.
Some colours, such as light
green and dark redtones,
look particularly dull.
Still, the displayexcels
in other areas.Itreached a
gleaming maximum
brightness of 553cd/m2on
the adaptive brightness
setting, the contrastratio
is rather good at 1,267:1,
and viewingangles aren’t
tooshabby, either.
The Galaxy A21s is
poweredbySamsung’s
homebrewed Exynos 850
chipset, withamaximum
clockspeed of 2GHz,
backed by 3GB of RAM.

SAMSUNG GalaxyA21s

★★★★★

£180•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

One ofSamsung’s cheapest smartphones,
the Galaxy A21s is agenerally worthypick

ANDROID 10 SMARTPHONE

Forperformance,this

doesthe job in most

cases, thoughyou can

go faster forsimilar

cash. This was

demonstrated by

Geekbench4,where

the GalaxyA21s scored

990 in the single-core

test and 4,805 in the

multicoretest; the

£150Nokia5.3

managed 1,507 and

5,646 respectively.

It’s asimilar story

when it comes to

graphics. With 28fps in

the GFXBench

Manhattanonscreen

test and 15fpsinthe

offscreentest, it’s well behind the Nokia 5.3,

which produced 33fps and 20fps respectively.

On battery life,however,the Galaxy A21s is

amuchbetter prospect.Inour video loop test

it lasted 22h 48m,nearly afulleight hours more

thanthe Nokia 5.3. It also easily outlasted

other lower-mid-range Android deviceslike

the Xiaomi RedmiNote8and Realme 6,

neither of whichmadeitto18hours.

FOUR SCORE

The aforementioned rear camera array

comprises amain 48-megapixel lens,

supported by an 8-megapixel wide-angle

sensor,2-megapixel macro lens and a

2-megapixel depth sensor.A13-megapixel

selfiecamera sits on the frontofthe phone.

Aside fromthe slightly

weakeraperture on the

main camera, theGalaxy

A21s’s composition of

camerasisidentical to that

of theXiaomi RedmiNote

9. Due to lockdown
   restrictionswewere unable
   to directlycompare the
   two phones in thesame
   scene, but the Galaxy A21s
   managed to takeapretty
   good picture,regardless.
   It takes12-megapixel
   images by default –the full
   48-megapixel option is
   located in Pro mode–but
   in good sunlight, both
   settings managed to
   produce wonderfully

detail-rich images with

plentyofvibrancy.

We wereimpressed

by the Galaxy A21s’s

Live Focus mode,

which allows youto

adjustthe level of

background blureither

before or after you

press theshutter

button. The macro

mode is also alot of

fun forextreme

close-ups.

Then again,the

Galaxy A21s’s video

featuresare slightly

lacking. Youcan

recordineither Full

HD or 720ponboth

the front andback cameras, but there’s no

option to bump up the frame rateto60fps.

Youcan change the aspect ratio from16:9to

either 1:1orfull width, butthe lackofany

form of stabilisationmakes forsome pretty

wobbly-looking footage.

FINEADDITION

Videoquibbles aside,the restofthe Galaxy

A21s is asurefire success. Samsung has

carefully picked the right ingredientsfor

budget greatness, and while youcould find

fault with comparative CPUperformance,

you’re never going to get truly outstanding

speeds fromasub-£200 handset.

The Galaxy A21s is yet another fashionable

choice forphone buyers thataren’tkeen to

hand over flagship-sizedsums fortheirlatest

upgrade.Itwill continue to compete against

thebloated list of phones in Samsung’sfleet,

as wellasfrombudget hallmarks such as

Xiaomi and Motorola, but the Galaxy A21s

manages to exceed expectations.

NathanSpendelow

Battery life

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

See page 82 forperformancedetails

PROCESSOROcta-core 2GHz Samsung Exynos 850•SCREEN

SIZE6.5in•SCREEN RESOLUTION1,600x720•REAR

CAMERAS48 megapixels,8megapixels,2megapixels,

2megapixels•STORAGE64GB•WIRELESSDATA4G•

NFCYes•DIMENSIONS164x75x8.9mm•WEIGHT192g•

OPERATING SYSTEMAndroid 10•WARRANTYOneyearRTB

• DETAILSwww.samsung.com/uk•PART CODESM-A217F

SPECIFICATIONS

22h48m