Hey, what’s up? MKBHD here. New intro, as well as brand-new phone. This is the Samsung Galaxy S21 Follower Version, even though now it’s 2022 as well as we’re probably like a month away from the brand-new Galaxy S22, but we have a new S21, huh. So I’ve had my hands on this phone for a couple days currently, since last year really. But actually, I feel like this is an incredibly secure wager of a phone. It’s really tame, doesn’t actually make any type of mistakes, possibly also a little bit dull, however this is something a great deal of individuals are gon na like. So this is the second Fan Edition now that we’ve seen, so we’re kinda discovering the formula of exactly how Samsung suches as to do this, and also essentially it’s sort of similarly Apple’s been doing the SE, as well as a great deal of various other phone suppliers do this, however it’s a lot of one-year-old parts that get placed back together as well as in a more affordable phone. And the largest repetitive component of that formula is the rate. They’re releasing with this phone at 699. Now, the S20 Follower Version secured my Phone of the Year Honor back in 2020, it won a trophy and also whatever, for introducing at that rate as well as sticking out, and now, now, well, the landscape has actually altered a whole lot since after that. There’s a lot even more
competition at this tool flagship rate price therefore this phone isn’t as much of a standout win as it was over a year earlier. I believe you’ll see what I indicate. So within, it’s the high-end things. Not outrageous bleeding edge but right at the front runner level. Snapdragon 888 and either 6 or 8 jobs of RAM, a 4500 milliamp hr battery, triple electronic cameras, as well as up front featured is a 6.4-inch 1080p, 120 hertz AMOLED screen, and this is a wonderful screen. It’s level for one, I like that. It has slim, even bezels with a somewhat thicker chin and afterwards it has a finger print visitor down low below at the lower below the screen, plus a selfie cam cutout at the top-middle for the 32-megapixel selfie cam. I believe this is a win for Samsung the display screen business. They’re just still so damn efficient screens that this is right up among the very best, brightest ones you’ll locate in phones in this class. It has a 240-hertz touch sample price. It’s extremely responsive. I mean, yeah, this screen is front runner for certain. And also the style is just incredibly safe. It undoubtedly looks similar to the normal S21 however this is a brand-new matte dark grey appearance with the camera component once again pushed right up to the edge as well as curving over the side of the phone. It’s obtained IP68 water resistance, 15-watt wireless charging. It’s got reverse wireless charging. All practically flagship stuff. Yet from this exact moment on, you can see the Fan Edition formula kick in below where they start to reduce a couple of edges as well as drop a couple of points down to conserve that price
therefore the actual concern will be, do you appreciate those type of minor tweaks? So with the design, and you might have been able to see this already, it’s a plastic back, and likewise, they didn’t fairly totally devote to matte black, so it’s this dark gray that sadly grabs a little bit a lot more fingerprints than I would like, and there’s additionally these metal rails all the means around, which is more resilient as well as much less most likely to break when you drop it, and it clarifies these little cutouts on either side for your antenna travel through for millimeter wave. Currently, the routine S21 was likewise plastic with steel rails however the Follower Edition reduces that back even a little bit further where the electronic camera intermediary isn’t in fact a component of the rail any longer. There’s a seam between that. You can see below on the routine S21 steel rail includes the electronic camera bump. Right here on this brand-new Fan Edition, that’s an all-plastic back. So I still like the cam bump style. This is probably the least impressive variation of it. You could not ever before notice any one of this stuff if you put the phone in an instance, yet that is an actual difference. And also then there’s even smaller things, like this phone is, although it has a larger battery than the S21, it’s extremely light, and also I think that was, you recognize, I initially took it out of the box and it felt kinda like among those fake dummy phones where it’s really huge yet does not have much weight. However yeah, that’s probably just ’cause I’m originating from phones that have more steel as well as glass. The fingerprint reader underneath the display screen, it’s right around the same place as the regular S21, quite reduced on the display right here, yet it’s an optical
fingerprint viewers instead of the ultrasonic ones on the rest of the S21 line. You can see it shining the light on your finger prior to unlocking. Currently, again, this is minor, and also this one still does seem to be rather fast. I signed up both my thumbs. It’s absolutely still faster than the Pixel 6’s optical finger print visitor, yet it might not function with some moisture on my hand or some damage on the display in addition to the ultrasonic ones in Samsung’s extra expensive phones. There’s a solitary audio speaker near the bottom, which becomes part of a stereo system with the earpiece audio speaker, but it’s definitely still pretty easy to block this one, as well as you’ll see when it’s obstructed, even though the earpiece is still producing noise. And also the haptics are overall a small step down from the various other front runners, the S21s, the Pixels, also the OnePlus 9 Pros of the globe, not rather as tight as well as precise. And afterwards the triple electronic cameras back right here, you got one 12-megapixel primary, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, as well as an 8-megapixel 3x telephoto, as well as they are very solid. You have actually got OIS on that major cam. It places out sharp photos with a superficial deepness of area. Terrific reputable shots in great light, as you would certainly anticipate. In some cases a bit noisy or fuzzy in reduced light, but seriously not poor. I would certainly give this easily a B+ electronic camera, hanging with a whole lot of front
runners but not really beating any kind of. And also after that, maybe most importantly, is the truth that this S21 series will certainly be dated or old the 2nd the S22 collection appears, which resembles right nearby, and also they normally likewise go down the rates of the S21 series when the S22 series appears. Additionally, on a sustainability note, there was no charger in package. It’s that tiny box once again that generally simply features the phone, a cable, and also some paperwork. So I guess that’s a lot more flagship experience stuff, if you wan na consider it that method, yet absolutely nothing much better. The real concern with the Follower Version, once again, is do any of these little imperfections take away from the flagship experience that it’s obtaining you? Do they matter to you? Like the little extra bit of plastic on the back, does it make a big difference? Not actually. Does the optical finger print viewers on the front versus the ultrasonic mean anything to lots of people? No. Does the 8-megapixel telephoto cam on the back versus the previous 64-megapixel with a bigger max zoom actually matter? 9 out of 10 people most likely won’t notice. As well as so truthfully this would certainly all be entirely great with me in this
phone if the S21 had not been literally simply sitting at 699 for the majority of the past couple of months, and also right now, reconditioned ones are opting for 599 on Amazon.com. To ensure that’s the crazy component of this phone’s existence now in 2022. It’s like the S21 Fan Version was lighting the market on fire with generally offering us all this front runner things for like $300 less than anticipated, yet currently in this new landscape, you have actually obtained ta fit someplace in between Pixel 6, which is an incredibly excellent value at 599 with an arguably better video camera and software program experience, and after that the higher-up phones, some of which are even in Samsung’s very own schedule. The fact that this FE is so similar to the S21 but is introducing so close to the S22, that’s the swing as well as a miss in my viewpoint. Like I believe this phone would certainly have undoubtedly killed that 549 and even 599 or something like that, however it didn’t. This launch price and timing is what kind of simply mixes it in with the remainder of the market. This has taken place to Samsung before. The Note20, you might bear in mind, was the recipient of the Breast of the Year trophy since it was just a phone that was, it was great, however it simply valued itself out of where it was meant to
land in the market, and it was really not a poor phone in any way. This is not a bad phone in all and I believe whole lots of individuals who purchase it with the blinders on, they’re gon na truly like this phone. But if you take your blinders off, there’s a whole lot even more around in this landscape around this rate which is a much more intriguing choice. So wonderful performance, familiar software, actually wonderful video cameras, a battery upgrade, and also, obviously, Samsung’s remarkable display screen. This is a terrific phone. You know, at this price, people are gon na be cross-shopping. They may wan na take a risk on a Pixel or on a OnePlus 9 or, I do not recognize, an iPhone SE for that matter. There’s a whole number a lot more happening in this area. Round’s in your court. What do you assume of the S21 Fan Version? Let me understand. In either case, that’s been it. Thanks for viewing. Catch you people in the following one. Tranquility.
