Samsung Galaxy M21 Review.

In India, Samsung has been experimenting with the formula for a successful inexpensive smartphone portfolio, culminating in the M series. In general, Samsung emphasises three key features that any inexpensive phone should have: a large battery, a good display, and a set of decent cameras. All of this would have been fantastic just a few years ago, but even the most cheap apartment is becoming more feature-rich. High-refresh-rate screens, 64-megapixel quad cameras, liquid cooling systems, high-performance chipsets, and more are all available for less than Rs 15,000.

Despite this, Samsung's latest entry into the M-series family, the Galaxy M21, sticks to the essentials. A 6,000mAh battery, a best-in-class AMOLED display, and a 48MP triple-camera configuration are all included. The question I'll address is if this is reason enough to pay a starting price of Rs 13,199. Let's get started with the review.

It's difficult not to be harsh when it comes to smartphones under Rs 15,000, but the fierce competition for features at such a low price makes me doubt the Galaxy M21. When competitors like Realme and Xiaomi have stuffed their rival handsets to the brim with features, it appears that checking off the fundamentals will no longer suffice for Samsung in the affordable market. The enormous battery, on the other hand, is undoubtedly the highlight, and this is where the Galaxy M21 shines.

SAMSUNG GALAXY M21 FULL SPECIFICATIONS

Samsung Galaxy M21 Review: Design and display

The Galaxy M21 has skimped on physical aesthetics to build a robust device, as you'd expect from an inexpensive phone. The M21's body and frame are composed of polycarbonate, which has a glossy appearance but is not as brittle as glass. Although this is true for many inexpensive phones, the curved back panel makes for an easy fit in the hand.

Unless you shine a light on the black colour variant I received for my evaluation, there are no fingerprints visible. It scratches readily, with my review device showing indications of use after only a few hours of use.

The phone's front features an Infinity U-style display with a waterdrop notch that houses the selfie camera. The typical Type-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and speaker grille are all located on the bottom. Apart from the volume rocker and power buttons, there are no further controls. The phone's back features a capacitive fingerprint sensor and a triple camera module that is flush with the body, eliminating any wobble when put on a flat surface. The Galaxy M21 is also remarkably light, despite the fact that it has a 6,000mAh battery.

Samsung produces the majority of the displays used on smartphones from a variety of OEMs, so it's no wonder that it saves the best for its own products. Samsung is known for providing a class-leading viewing experience, whether it's an entry-level device or an ultra-premium flagship. The trend is followed by the M21's 6.40-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution. The colour accuracy and contrast levels of the M21's screen are excellent, as expected. The Galaxy M21 also has Widevine L1 certification, allowing you to watch HD video from streaming sources.

Because it had an OLED panel, the viewing angles were excellent, and the screen's blacks were more prominent. The screen's brightness was also excellent, making it simple to use in the hot Delhi summers. In the display settings menu, you can adjust the colour temperatures and vividness, of course. There's also a system-wide dark mode option, as well as a Blue light filter mode that accomplishes exactly what it claims. I may be going out on a limb here, but a faster refresh rate would have made this a truly spectacular display.

Samsung Galaxy M21 Review: Cameras

The M21's camera system is nearly identical to that of the Galaxy M31, with the exception being the lack of a macro lens. On the M21, there's a 48MP primary camera in a triple-camera setup, with an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 5MP depth sensor.

When the main lens is exposed to a lot of light, it produces respectable images with good dynamic range and exposure handling. Of course, there's Samsung's trademark brightening of colours in images to make them look more contrasty, but at this price, that's not a deal-breaker. Although the sensor struggles to concentrate on close-up objects, the detail is reasonable. Because the Galaxy M21 employs pixel binning, typical images have a resolution of 12MP.

There is a distinct 3:4 48MP option for taking more detailed images, although there were not a lot of extra details in the mode. In reality, in comparison to the 24MP mode, the 48MP option produced slightly dull-looking photographs.

The depth sensor is present to help with backdrop separation when taking bokeh images, but that is all it is good for. Although the ultra-wide sensor has a huge 123-degree field of view, it has a lot of aberrations around the edges. However, I was amazed by how the lens was able to capture a lot of detail and the perfect colour temperature, which is something I rarely see at this price point.

Night photography, on the other hand, is a problem that low-cost phones have been attempting to solve for a long time. In low-light situations, focusing is a problem with the Galaxy M21, and it was also a concern in our M31 review. A software upgrade from Samsung might significantly boost the amount of detail in the night mode. Even yet, when photographing at night, it is best to employ flash photography.

The phone's selfie camera is a 20MP lens that performs well in daylight but struggles in low light. Although there is some skin smoothing, which is to be expected, the live focus feature for front-facing bokeh images is quite good. The phone features a 4K mode for video recording, but you'll be better off with the 1080p super steady mode, which will give you respectably smooth footage.

Samsung Galaxy M21 Review: Performance and software

The Galaxy M21 is powered by the Exynos 9611, which is the same SoC as in the more costly Galaxy M31. While this chipset has no technical flaws, it does have a noticeable amount of lag that I noticed during routine day-to-day activity. There was a slight delay between clicking a photo and previewing it, which was especially noticeable while viewing 48MP photos.

When I had more than 5 tabs open in Chrome, there was a notable latency when I tried to open additional tabs, and when I had numerous heavy programmes open in the background, there was a considerable lag when trying to open more apps. You may call me a nitpicker, but I'm used to smooth performance on phones like the Realme 6 and the Redmi Note 9 Pro, both of which use the MediaTek G90T and Snapdragon 720G processors. The M21 type that I received has 4GB of RAM, but you can upgrade to a 6GB version for Rs 15,499 more.

Now, I'm not implying that the M21 is a sluggish phone. In fact, the M21's Geekbench results are on par with the Redmi Note 9 Pro and the Realme 6. However, in comparison to the M21, it appears to me that the Redmi and Realme devices have a lot superior software and hardware integration. The M21 will not disappoint you for the first hour or two if you want to play PUBG on a cheap.

You may keep the visuals at Smooth and the frame rate at Extreme for a lot more delightful experience, but after around 60 minutes, the device will start to lag. All informal games, on the other hand, went off without a hitch. On the back, there is a capacitive fingerprint sensor that works well and is extremely responsive for authentication reasons.

Samsung's OneUI 2.0 skin is one of the finest user interfaces out there, and it's presently operating on all of its latest smartphones. The Galaxy M21, like the M31, runs the stripped-down One UI Core, which is missing features like Bixby Home and Samsung Pay. Apart from that, you'll be able to use all of OneUI's features, including dozens of theme customizations, improved animations, dark mode, and modified icons.

Samsung Galaxy M21 Review: Battery life

It wouldn't be a leap to state that the Galaxy M21 has the best battery life of any smartphone in its price range. The massive 6,000mAh battery comfortably lasts one day of use and is on its way to lasting two days before dying. The phone lasted nearly 30 hours in our normal battery test, which involves looping a film at half brightness and volume. Only 12 percent of the phone's battery was depleted after an hour of PUBG Mobile, which is incredible in my perspective. The only complaint is the 15W charging, which takes over 2 hours to fully charge the phone.

Samsung Galaxy M21 Review: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy M21 is priced at Rs. 12,499 in India. As of Sep 23, 2021, it is available for the lowest price on Amazon in India.

The Galaxy M21 is a budget-friendly version of the M31, featuring a slightly lower-resolution primary camera and no macro lens. Both of these are little features that will go unnoticed by cheap phone consumers. What matters is that the display, performance, and battery life of both phones are similar. Yes, the M31 comes with 6GB of RAM out of the box, but the M21 has the same configuration for approximately Rs 2,000 less. If you're wondering whether the Galaxy M21 is better than, say, the Realme 6 or the Redmi Note 9 Pro, the answer is a bit of a mixed bag.

 On the one hand, the M21's massive 6,000mAh battery is a huge plus, and the AMOLED display is a sight to behold at this price. Even yet, the M21 falls short in terms of performance and camera, and a faster refresh rate screen would have been a great addition. In comparison to the punch-hole format screens on competing Realme and Xiaomi devices, the design looks a little archaic.