Galaxy S21 Review After 2 Years: Robust Performance, Excellent Gaming, Stunning Photography

Samsung's premium Galaxy S series has long been renowned for its top-notch hardware and luxurious design. Among them, the Galaxy S21 made a strong impression two years ago. However, many might wonder if the Galaxy S21 still boasts the powerful performance it had before after 2 years. How long does the Galaxy S21 battery last? Is the Galaxy S21 camera still capturing beautiful photos? Let's evaluate the Galaxy S21 after 2 years to find out!

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Elegant and Distinctive Design of Galaxy S21 Still Stands Out After 2 Years

Even after 2 years, amidst successors and competitors in the current market, the Galaxy S21 maintains an irresistibly attractive and luxurious appearance. Its compact size and finely textured plastic finish provide a remarkably comfortable and ergonomic feel. Although crafted from plastic, the Galaxy S21 remains robust, devoid of any flimsiness, and retains the inherent sophistication of Samsung's S series.

Speaking of a phone's design, it would be remiss not to mention the back panel. In the Galaxy S21, Samsung has adorned the camera module with an eye-catching rectangular frame, adding a metal layer seamlessly connected from the device's edges. This design not only serves as a focal point for the Galaxy S21 but also provides functionality by protecting the camera module, enhancing the overall elegance of the device.

Going beyond that, the Galaxy S21 features a display with exceptional performance, utilizing a Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel for vivid images and true-to-life colors. Particularly, the black display area achieves a deeper, more authentic depth. The Galaxy S21 boasts a 6.2-inch screen with Full HD+ resolution, providing a visually pleasing experience.

Additionally, the Galaxy S21 screen supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, ensuring smooth motion and responsive touch interactions. Although the screen size may be slightly smaller compared to most devices on the market today, considering its overall compactness and other screen specifications, the Galaxy S21 is fully capable of satisfying your visual needs!

Galaxy S21 delivers powerful performance, impressive gaming capabilities even at 2 years old

Before delving into the performance aspect, let's summarize the configuration details of the Galaxy S21 for your reference:

• Display: 6.2-inch size, Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel, Full HD+ resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate.
• CPU: Exynos 2100.
• RAM: 8 GB.
• Internal Storage: 128 GB.
• Rear Cameras: 12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP.
• Front Camera: 10 MP.
• Battery: 4,000 mAh, supports 25 W fast charging.

The design, both beautiful and elegant, is not enough to fully describe this premium phone, as the performance is also a shining aspect when it comes to devices in the S series! In the Galaxy S21, the Exynos 2100 has performed exceptionally well, delivering incredibly powerful performance. Even after 2 years, the Exynos 2100's performance remains impressive! To give you a clearer perspective, let's assess the performance of the Galaxy S21 using the One UI 4.1 interface and the latest update, One UI 5.0.

In this section, we will examine the performance of the Galaxy S21 on One UI 4.1 and after upgrading to One UI 5.0 using popular benchmarking software such as GeekBench 5, PCMark, and 3DMark. The conditions for benchmarking are as follows:

• The battery must be between 90 - 100% (battery below 90% will affect performance and results).
• Do not charge the battery while benchmarking.
• Benchmark 3 times consecutively and take the average result after 3 rounds of benchmarking.

Firstly, the results from PCMark and GeekBench 5 with the Galaxy S21 using the One UI 4.1 interface are as follows:

- GeekBench 5:

• Single-core/Multi-core score: 1,014 points/3,065 points.
• GPU Compute (graphics score): 7,418 points (OpenCL), 5,736 points (Vulkan).

- PCMark: 13,511 points.

For a 2-year-old smartphone like the Galaxy S21, the results are quite impressive. In the single/multi-core test, the Galaxy S21 scored 1,014 points/3,065 points. The GPU score is also remarkably high compared to other competitors with 7,418 points (OpenCL) and 5,736 points (Vulkan). Considering the results of these two tests, the Galaxy S21 performs exceptionally well, surpassing many competitors in the same category, even when using the One UI 4.1 interface.

Shifting focus to more demanding tests on 3DMark with two tests, Wild Life Extreme and Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. In the Wild Life Extreme test, the Galaxy S21 achieved 1,924 points with an average FPS of 11.50, a slight temperature increase of 4 degrees (27 degrees - 31 degrees), but only slightly warm, and a 1% drop in battery compared to the start of the test. Despite being 2 years old, the overall performance of the Exynos 2100 remains quite good, allowing the Galaxy S21 to handle various heavy tasks with ease.

To challenge the Galaxy S21 further, let's move on to the most demanding test, the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test (repeated 20 times). You can see the results below and pay attention to the Stability metric!

In this test, the Galaxy S21 achieved 1,871 points with a Stability score of 57.5%, the score is quite good, but the stability is not as impressive as expected. Moreover, during the test, the Galaxy S21 consumed 10% of the battery (from 95% to 85%) and the temperature increased by 12 degrees (30 degrees - 42 degrees). This temperature rose quite quickly after only the third repetition, so personally, it felt quite hot, and the overall result was only relatively satisfactory, not as good as expected. So, how about upgrading to One UI 5.0?

First, let's look at the test results from PCMark and GeekBench 5 when the Galaxy S21 is using One UI 5.0, specific results are as follows:

- GeekBench 5:

• Single-core/Multi-core Score: 514/2,201 points.
• GPU Compute (Graphics score): 7,536 points (OpenCL), 5,356 points (Vulkan).

- PCMark: 13,281 points.

Comparing to the One UI 4.1, the scores after upgrading to One UI 5.0 are quite similar, with a slight decrease in single-core/multi-core scores (514/2,201 points), while GPU scores remain stable at 7,536 points (OpenCL) and 5,356 points (Vulkan).

In the Wild Life Extreme test, the Galaxy S21 with One UI 5.0 achieved 1,598 points with an average FPS of 9.60, a slight temperature increase of 2 degrees (38 degrees - 40 degrees), and a 1% battery drop compared to the start. It's evident that with One UI 5.0, Samsung has gradually optimized power consumption and temperature when handling heavy tasks on the Galaxy S21.

In the more demanding Wild Life Extreme Stress Test repeated 20 times, the Galaxy S21 running One UI 5.0 achieved 1,901 points with a stability score of 63.2%, higher than when using One UI 4.1. Although the results show that the Exynos 2100 performs better when upgraded to One UI 5.0, the temperature increases rapidly, reaching 42 degrees from 28 degrees, and consumes 11% of the battery throughout the test. However, I believe Samsung will address these issues in the future through upcoming updates!

- Gaming Experience on Galaxy S21

With impressive performance, how does the Galaxy S21 handle gaming? I'll experience popular games like Arena of Valor, PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, and Genshin Impact to provide you with the most authentic insights into the gaming capabilities of this 2-year-old phone. Additionally, I'll use Perfdog software to measure the frame rates of each game; you can check it out here!

Note: In the gaming test of the Galaxy S21, I will prioritize the smoothness of the game first, and then focus on image quality. Therefore, both frame rate and image quality in the game will be pushed to the highest level supported by the Galaxy S21.

• Arena of Valor

The first game I experienced is Arena of Valor. The Galaxy S21 can easily set graphics to the highest level, and you can see the settings below.

Certainly, Arena of Valor cannot pose a challenge to the Galaxy S21. In this national game, even when pushing the settings to the highest, the Galaxy S21 can easily handle and smoothly play the game. I effortlessly took down opponents with smooth graphics, displaying seamlessly without any lag. The average FPS measured is impressive at 61/60 FPS, so in this game, feel free to confidently push the settings to the highest level!

• PUBG Mobile

The next game I experienced is PUBG Mobile - a survival shooting game loved by young people and popular in many countries. In this game, the Galaxy S21 can set graphics to HDR and frame rate to Ultra. However, for an even smoother experience, I will reduce the graphics to Smooth and frame rate to Extreme as shown below.

Thanks to lowering the graphics to Smooth, playing at the Extreme frame rate has made in-game actions smoother. The most notable is the average FPS measured at 59.5, with no sudden FPS drops, making it easy for me to run and defeat opponents. While visuals may not be emphasized this time, colors and details in the game are vivid and clear.

• Call of Duty Mobile

Moving on to Call of Duty Mobile, for this game, I'll still apply the same rule of pushing the settings to the maximum with Very High graphics quality and Maximum frame rate as shown below.

Despite being a relatively graphically demanding game, the experience in Call of Duty is impressive even when pushing the settings to the highest. The average FPS measured is at 56.3/60, with slight fluctuations at times. Controls are highly responsive, scene transition effects are smooth, and the in-game visuals are incredibly vibrant.

• Genshin Impact

​For the final game on the Galaxy S21, I experienced Genshin Impact. For this game, I pushed the FPS to 60, and you can see the various image settings more clearly in the image below.

In this heaviest game, the Galaxy S21 can still perform quite well. However, in my personal experience, while the colors in Genshin Impact on the Galaxy S21 are relatively good, the screen experiences considerable lag, actions are only moderately smooth, and the temperature rises quickly during gameplay. Therefore, I find the Genshin Impact experience on the Galaxy S21 to be passable but not as good as expected.

Overall, the Galaxy S21 performs exceptionally well in gaming, and if you want to play at high settings, the device can handle it very well. However, for heavy games like Genshin Impact, there is still a minor drawback with the device getting too hot during gameplay.

Galaxy S21 with a 4,000 mAh battery, sufficient for all-day use

In addition to its powerful performance and impressive gaming capabilities, the Galaxy S21 features a 4,000 mAh battery, which is not overly impressive compared to the general standard at the current time. So, how long can the Galaxy S21 last on a single charge? To answer this question, I will conduct a battery test (following the standards of Mytour) to check how long the device can operate with various tasks.

Below are the results of the battery test for the Galaxy S21 that I obtained:

This is one of the most demanding battery tests as it requires continuous usage under maximum brightness. However, the result achieved by the Galaxy S21 with a 4,000 mAh battery is quite surprising. The total usage time is 7 hours and 7 minutes, not significantly different from devices with larger batteries. When comparing this result with devices with the same 4,000 mAh battery capacity, the Galaxy S21 indeed performs slightly better.

During the loop test, you can see that the Galaxy S21 consumes power quite evenly, with tasks using 11% - 17% of the battery. Tasks such as web browsing or Facebook usage consume around 11% - 15% of the battery per hour, while playing Liên Quân Mobile increases the consumption to approximately 15% - 17% per hour.

Even after 2 years since its release, and with a not-so-impressive 4,000 mAh battery, the results are enough to show that the Galaxy S21 can easily meet your usage needs for almost a day with various tasks. For lighter tasks and combined with power-saving mode, the Galaxy S21's operating time can be extended even further!

The Galaxy S21 camera delivers authentic images, and the night mode works well

As mentioned in the design section, the Galaxy S21 features a setup with three rear cameras and a selfie camera at the front with the following specifications:

• Telephoto lens: 64 MP resolution, f/2.0 aperture, 29 mm focal length, phase detection autofocus, OIS stabilization, 1.1x optical zoom, and 3x hybrid zoom.
• Wide-angle lens: 12 MP resolution, f/1.8 aperture, 26 mm focal length, phase detection autofocus, OIS stabilization.
• Ultra-wide-angle lens: 12 MP resolution, f/2.2 aperture, 13 mm focal length, 120-degree field of view.
• Selfie camera: 10 MP resolution.

With these specifications, how do the creations from the Galaxy S21 turn out? Firstly, in well-lit conditions, the Galaxy S21 produces images with good detail, vibrant and lively colors, appearing more vivid than the actual scenes. Zooming in reveals fine details, and the contrast is balanced.

To sum it up, just point the camera, and you'll get beautiful photos instantly! No need for adjustments, no need for additional features—Galaxy S21 produces high-quality content effortlessly! When capturing close-ups by holding the phone near the subject, the Galaxy S21's image processing capabilities shine as the background gently blurs, naturally highlighting the main subject.

Going beyond, the portrait mode on the Galaxy S21 delivers impressive results. Specifically, the portraits not only exhibit natural and harmonious colors but also showcase excellent background blur. The background is subtly blurred, avoiding any distractions and keeping the focus on the subject.

In backlight conditions, the improved AI processing of the Galaxy S21 ensures a well-balanced photo with vibrant colors, avoiding overexposure or color loss in sunlit areas.

Certainly, capturing beautiful scenes in well-lit conditions is always an advantage. In low-light situations, the Galaxy S21 still manages to produce aesthetically pleasing photos, with some slight blurring and overexposure due to blurred and bright lights. However, when combined with the night mode, it's a different story.

With the night mode, the Galaxy S21 effectively addresses the issues mentioned earlier. Lights become clearer, details sharper, and the problems of overexposure and blurring are practically eliminated. The colors and saturation are improved, resulting in vibrant and natural-looking photos.

As for wide-angle shots, the image quality remains impressive, comparable to photos taken in normal mode. Colors remain vibrant, saturation is balanced, and the wide-angle is sufficient to capture a panoramic view. Of course, some distortion at the corners may occur, as mentioned in the previous Galaxy S21 review after extended use. Nevertheless, the overall photo is still visually appealing with lively colors.

Samsung devices typically boast selfie cameras that capture beautiful and natural-looking photos, a feature particularly appreciated by female users. The Galaxy S21 is no exception in this regard.

Photos from the selfie sensor exhibit natural colors, devoid of artificial enhancements. The skin beautification feature provides a bright and smooth complexion, a quality not often achieved with rear cameras. This is undoubtedly a feature that female users will appreciate in the Galaxy S21.

Conclusion

Even though it has been two years since its launch, the Galaxy S21 still performs exceptionally well, delivering robust performance, excellent gaming capabilities, and a relatively decent battery life. All these aspects reaffirm that the Galaxy S21 remains a device worth considering even at the current moment.

So, what are your comments and reviews on the Galaxy S21 after two years? Feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Thank you for reading and showing interest in my article.

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