Samsung Galaxy M21 Specifications and Ultimate Review.

The Samsung Galaxy M21 is a mid-range smartphone from the South Korean tech giant aimed at those who want a good smartphone which offers for the price. Starting at Rs 12,499, the Galaxy M21 has an awesome display, monster battery with long battery life and decent front and back cameras. The phone comes in two variants, one with 4 GB RAM/64 GB storage and the other with 6 GB RAM/128 GB storage.

Tabular content for specifications at the bottom of the blog. For Review read from here.

See comparison between Galaxy M21 and Galaxy M31

Key Specs

What does the box contain?

The box contents are vey limited and straight. The box contains the usual documents, a sim ejector tool, a USB Type-C 15W charger with USB Type-C cables and the mobile. There are no Samsung earphones or any transparent case to put in the phone.

Is the Multimedia experience any Good? It is Damn Awesome

The Samsung Galaxy M21 has an edge-to-edge 6.4-inch AMOLED 60Hz infinity-U display and a small hole for the front-facing camera. The 6.4-inch super AMOLED display is great for watching movies, editing videos and reading e papers. Even though, many smartphones at this price offer IPS LCD screen, Samsung decided to offer its users nothing less than an AMOLED screen. The display is bright and colorful, thanks to the 403 ppi (pixels per inch) density. You can get the Galaxy M21 in Midnight Blue and Raven Black color options. The touch sampling rate of this smartphone is unknown and we felt it to be 120Hz touch sampling rate. With 84% screen-to-body ratio, the Galaxy M21 measures 159 x 75.1 x 8.9 mm.

There is Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection no the front and the back is made of cheap quality plastic which is prone to scratches very easily. Using a case or skin is suggested which is not provided in the box. Although the in-hand feel is average, I will suggest you to compromise on that.

How Powerful is the Galaxy M21?

Firstly, I can assure you that it works definitely fine while running simple applications and games. However, when you try playing heavy games like COD and ASPHALT, frame drops can be seen easily and the applications some what struggle to run. Playing at low settings and graphics can help provide a bit more smoother experience. Because, the Exynos 9611 faces faster CPU throttling and heating, the overall performance is compromised which compromises on the overall performance. Small applications like Telegram, Signal and WhatsApp or other Social media apps open really quick.

If you are a gaming freak then do consider the Poco M2 which offers the MediaTek Helio G80 SoC at a price less than Rs. 13,000. Of course the camera quality will be compromised and you will get an inferior display when compared to the Galaxy M21 (inferior only when compared to sAMOLED).

Samsung Galaxy M21 Camera review

The Samsung Galaxy M21 boasts a triple rear camera set-up and a single selfie shooter in the notch at the top center in the front. On the back of the phone, you will find a 48MP f2.0 sensor, a 8MP f2.2secondary sensor with a 123-degree ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5MP f2.2 Depth lens which is capable of taking portrait shots with live focus.

The primary sensor takes good looking shots. Colors look bright and the smartphone does saturate the background like the Sky and nature a bit at times. Skin tones are decent and are not messed up. Under harsh light, the software does control light and does not produce overly blown-out images. The 8MP Ultra-wide angle shots are the best that you can get at this price point. That’s typical of a Samsung Ultra-wide angle lens with 123 degree FOV (Field of View), the widest on any smartphone yet. Moving on to close-up shots, we were a bit surprised because the subject looked brighter and clear with very good sharpness and edge detection. The 5MP depth sensor does take decent portrait shots with good colors and edge detection. However, portrait selfies were disappointing as the edge-detection was very poor and the subject was blurred at various places.

Samsung Galaxy M21 Video Review

The 20MP f2.0 front camera supports 1080p video recording at 30fps. If, that’s not it then the rear camera records 4K@30 fps which many smartphones at this price lack. The image stabilization is a big question while recording 4K. So, you have to depend on the 1080p@60 fps for having good stabilized videos. If your camera is still and subject is moving, then the 4K video can look much better. Anyways, there are some serious focus hunting issues going on the with the camera here when it comes to video recording at 4K. So, it is very clear that the Samsung Galaxy M21 is not a good choice for video recording or vlogging. There is also option for recording Ultra-wide angle videos which are average in quality. The Samsung Galaxy M21 can record slow-mo videos at 240 fps.

There is sufficient external noise in the background while recording voice with Samsung Galaxy M21. Overall, the video quality was acceptable considering the price but the phots were more than what we expected form the rear camera and is one of the best at this price.

Camera App Features

Even though the smartphone was launched with limited Camera features, after a major update Samsung has introduced many pro features that were only a part of flagship series and the Galaxy A series, the companies most successful series. The single take mode lets you capture 10 photos and videos in a single press of the button. The recordings are processed and enhanced using AI and the best output is displayed to the user. The feature is very cool and comes handy in occasions like Birthday parties and stuff where you don’t want to miss a moment.

The Color filter mode lets you create your own custom filters by capturing photos and applying their filters to other photos. The option of Night Hyperlapse has also been introduced in the Camera App which lets you create a Hyperlapse even in low-light conditions.

Final verdict

So, summing up the photos taken in day-light are good and close-up shots are also great. The video quality requires improvement and faces some horrible focus hunting issues. Also, the portrait selfie mode needs to be optimized for poor edge detection. When compared with other smartphones at this price range, the camera quality seems justified and reasonable.

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And how does the battery last on the Galaxy M21?

The Galaxy M21 is powered by a 6,000mAh battery that can easily get you through two days. The 15W bundled fast charger will come handy which fully charges the phone in about 2 hours. Well, I don’t have any complaints with Samsung on that note because no smartphone in this price packs a 6000mAh monster battery. Yeah, there should have been a 25W fast charger which charges the phone in nearly an hour. But, again considering the battery back-up there are no complaints as charging the phone for even an hour or half will get you 10-20 hours of back-up. That’s cool right, the whole M series is indeed dedicated to bigger battery. The Samsung Galaxy M51 is the first smartphone in the world to pack a 7000mAh battery and still be super cool and functional like other smartphones.

How much is the storage and RAM on the Samsung Galaxy M21?

The Samsung Galaxy M21 is offered in two configurations: 6GB+128GB and 4GB+6GB. The memory is LPDDR4X and it’s very fast. The storage is expandable up to 512GB via microSD card. The top variant is priced Rs. 15,990 in India.

General features

Display

Design

Performance

Camera

Battery

Multimedia

Bottom line: Samsung Galaxy M21 Review Verdict

Overall, in my opinion, the smartphone is simply great considering the price. The smartphone’s strong processor will help to carry out simple day-to-day functions (Social media consumption) with much ease. the camera quality is great keeping in mind the fact that it is a budget smartphone. Moreover, the battery backup of the smartphone is just awesome. The battery will last for 2 days. The Galaxy M21 provides great value or money. If you are looking for Mid-Range phones then Samsung Galaxy M21 is a choice worth considering.