Phantom Violet Galaxy S21 Unboxing! By Auto Technica

This is the Samsung Galaxy s 21 5g uh. I hate how complex the naming scheme is, but at least the one thing I will say is that the name the number matches the year we're in so something. But this is the s21. It's the 128 phantom violet edition, and I'll be I'll, be honest with you. This one definitely has been a confusing upgrade here. For me, things with this, don't make a lot of sense, and I'll get into that a little later, but starting off.

Let's talk about just the very obvious thing here and this is the box uh. You guys can see it's a lot different from what it is usually when we get a Samsung phone, so we all know infamously. Last year apple removed their power adapter from their phones and the thing is that Samsung has followed suit right alongside them. Four months later, they have also removed the power adapter from their phones. They, of course copied apple and said it's for environmental reasons, but you know whatever.

So this is a box without any charger, not many accessories in it, no headphones, anything just the phone and a charging cable. As far as I know- and I haven't really seen any unboxing videos or any videos on that matter- about this phone just yet, and I think that's going to be beneficial to me. Uh, the only video I watched was the initial impressions from MHD just so I knew which color to buy. I was confused about the colors and that's the only video I've watched I haven't watched any unboxing. I haven't watched any reviews, so this is going to be my honest, total first impressions, and before I open the box I'll just tell you guys exactly what I mean by the packaging.

So here I have the s10 box. I don't have a s21, so the s20 is very similar to this. From what I remember, this was a kind of typical box. You know it opened up phone on the top here and then underneath you had your accessories. You know earphones charger.

They had an USB a to USB adapter. They had a few extra tips and stuff. So uh it was not an empty box. You got stuff with your phone and this was actually a downgrade. In my opinion, uh quality wise the box felt so much cheaper, especially when you compared it to the s8 s9 and boxes of before, where this one had a little sleeve.

It came out of the sleeve. It had a very, very nice box, a very high quality, finish box. Here it opened up like a book. You know you were presented with a nice pull tab here with all the documentations in here very nicely included with the case and everything the phone right there and under here you had a tray under the tray. Things were even more neatly laid out like the money they spent on.

This box was very impressive. You had your charger right here. You had that, as I said, uh USB a to USB adapter, and you also had earphones and an USB charger. So again, you know just the quality of the box. Like simple things, like a tray that your phone rests on, it's gone like that's, not there on these newer boxes- and I complained about that earlier and I think that is something that Samsung has cut a big corner on which I'm not a fan of.

But let's see what the s20 box is. Like, I'm sorry s21. I know a lot of people hate when I spend too much time on the boxes, but I just really want to share with you guys so uh very simple, uh galaxy written on the side over here. Nothing really on the top except this barcode sticker. Not the side has Samsung written on it.

The side has the IMEI info and that's about it. The back has unlocked by Samsung s21 5g blah blah blah. So let's open it up there we go so two pieces of tape, no plastic outer wrap or anything, and that's it. The box just falls off and look at this even this like there's. The details of attention are a little missing.

This paper really is not fit well, not sized well to the box or anything. It's just kind of floating around in there the phone is up top and I will say this right off the bat looking at this angle, this color that that frame it shines, and it looks beautiful. So let me pull this out nice. This looks fantastic wow that look that color, it's beautiful in person. Okay, let me put this to the side.

Let's see so you guys can see just in here. The box quality is it's. I don't have a lot of words to say I don't have kind words, so I'm just going to keep them to myself. It's definitely a cheapo box uh. Let me put that aside.

You've got this box, another box in here with your sim card tool, and it does say here: cable inside, so that's, let's see yep, so you've got your uh unlocked, quick reference guide terms and conditions, and you've got USB. Let's see if it's c to c this time, uh come on yep, okay, so at least this year we've gone to an USB c to c cable, no longer an a to c um, I would have loved a power adapter included, but you know what that age seems to have passed by us. So let me put all this to the side and let's take a closer look at the phone. So let's take a closer look at this phone. It is covered in plastic front and back.

But let me just tell you these sides look amazing. So this is a golden like it's almost a rose gold finish. I don't even want to call it a gold, it's a very, very light gold. It definitely is way more rose gold than gold. So let me go ahead and pull off this plastic and let me just tell you right off the bat.

This looks fantastic and I just noticed something. So let me zoom in here right here on this plastic. You guys I'm not sure if the camera's picking it up. Let me see so right here. You guys can see, there's an uh.

Don't insert sim card insert sim card and that's because right at the bottom, you guys can see they've inserted, they've added us. The microphone right here is right next to sim card tool, and it can very easily be misinterpreted uh. Let me see if I can get a better angle on that, for you guys so this is a microphone, and this is the sim card ejector. So they have the sticker on the sticker right here that don't put the sim card tool into that microphone because you will end up damaging it. So that's a why not just move the sim card tray or move that microphone to the other side? Samsung, okay, some things they just do confuse me.

Okay, so let's lift off this plastic from the back nice all right. So, as usual, their phone is completely covered in plastic, including the camera module. So let me go ahead and lift that off as well, but I will say this phone, this color, it just works. I was very skeptical when I saw the renders of a gold and purple phone, but damn this looks amazing, so you guys can see those cameras uh. There is a plastic on the front as well, for the display very thin.

It's not really a screen protector, it's just a more of a packaging kind of in transit, security, kind of thing and there's uh plastic from what I can see all around the frame of the phone. So let's go ahead and peel all this off as well all right, so I've got all the plastic off, and this back just looks fantastic. Here's the s20 next to it, and you can just see how bland this looks in comparison to this. Even this is a simple design. This just looks so much nicer, uh size, wise they're, actually way more similar than I expected them to be very, very similar in size.

Just the s21 is a hair wider. They seem they have the same height just in width. This seems to be a little wider and I suspect that's because this has a flat display now, instead of a curved uh glass on the edge. So let me go ahead and power on the s21, let's see what it's like, and I'm going to set this up real, quick and get back to you guys. You know, use it for a couple of minutes and give you my initial impression.

I am definitely liking this flat display, even though it is a step back it definitely. It doesn't feel like a downgrade. If, if you know what I mean um, it feels and looks very high quality, so uh, let me use it for a little, and you know to start off the bat, the bezels they look really thin. They don't look big almost impossible to tell on camera. In a way, this looks fantastic, uh, very, very small bezel, so I'm going to go ahead, set this up, and then I'll come back to you guys with my initial impression.

So I set up the phone, got everything going and messed around with a couple of things, and here are my initial impressions number one. The flat display is not that big of a change from the s21 s20s uh slightly curved one. I really thought there would be a bigger difference, and I was very kind of uh. I was like oh man, I just started to like that very lightly curved glass, but this is just as nice, and one big benefit is that the bezels are actually not that different at all. So let me just show you.

The bezels are really not that different. If you look at these side by side, I was really impressed. Let me just show you guys so uh. Of course the bottom is actually even thinner of a bezel, and this is an overall much, much nicer experience, not just because of the flatness just because you're going to have more durability now and durability is very important. I think for phones, people often go for looks over durability and durability.

I think is a much more important factor and on that topic of durability, the back is now no longer glass. It is a plastic finish very similar to the galaxy s20 Fe, not glass, like on the previous s20 and again initially, I was perplexed. I was like. Why would they do that? Why not stick to glass, but after using the s20 Fe after looking at this and holding it in person, I will give you a little of a controversial take here. This is better and this is better because one it doesn't attract as many fingerprints.

It doesn't get as dirty 2. It cannot crack. Furthermore, it is way more durable. Number. Three, this matte finish, is actually a lot nicer to just touch and feel it is definitely.

I think you know both are good, but this one is just a little nicer and overall it hides these uh blemishes like smudges, so much better. So the s21 I was a little skeptical of the plastic back, but I think it looks good now. I will say this at this price point: it's not excusable. You know we should get a lower price point because of this, but when you think about the s20, Fe is just 100 lower than this. So lowering the price on this creates a whole other problem.

That's a whole other dilemma, but the glass back being gone for me, not that big of an issue. Let's talk about the advantages of this design also- and that is that now that this aluminum frame is kind of incorporated into the back design, we actually get all three cameras covered and protected by this aluminum housing, and this housing is definitely going to be a lot more durable, there's just so much less surface area of this glass, so the lower the surface area, the chances of it breaking immediately reduce. So just look at how big the surface area of the glass is on this. Compared to this. This is just three holes, and they are actually recessed a slight bit into that aluminum frame, whereas this actually sticks out it juts out.

So you know if this were to fall on its back. If I were to just drop it flat very high chance that this glass breaks first before anything else, but with this I think the camera lenses should be safe, and we would- and I think most people will never have to get these camera glasses- replaced, unlike the s20 ultra and s20 lineup, where that was a common occurrence. So, overall, with the build quality, I am happy with it. They feel great. The buttons are fantastic, they are just as tactile as any Samsung phone.

I will say this, though um I do find it weird that both the power and the uh, the volume buttons are on the right side and the left side is completely empty. Not a single button switch or anything here, not even the sim card tray. So it's it almost is like. Why not just put the volume or power button on this side so that it's easier to take screenshots that are on other sides of the phone. Just there's small things like that.

That always bug me, but whatever not a big deal. The bottom has an USB port. It's got the speaker grille, of course, and it's got the sim card tool and, as I showed you guys earlier, that microphone next to the sim card, which is a kind of dangerous place to put it, but otherwise that's the design. Let's talk about the phone itself, so this does use a similar, ultrasonic, fingerprint scanner. It works exactly as fast as the s20 did so not really any improvements there.

The optical one has been a little more reliable and faster in my experience, but we got the ultrasonic on this and there's not much. I can say beyond that. Let's talk about one thing I did notice and that is bloatware. So there's weird stuff on this there's something called Samsung Galaxy, free, which now I realize is actually uh their version of the Google now card. So we finally have Google.

Now, if you go left from the home screen like you, do on pixel phones, and you can have Samsung free here. If you want, I don't know why anyone would, but that's something. That's there. Unfortunately, you cannot remove it. That is something that is always there.

Uh there's this Samsung global goals' thing. I don't know why this exists and why it's on my phone beyond that you'll see Facebook is on here by default. You have Spotify by default, and you have literally an entire folder of Samsung bloatware. They put it in there for you because they're like ah you're, not gonna, use it, and it's weird. You know you still got Bixby.

So if you hold the power button down, Bixby still lives, uh I'll, just show you guys a demo Bixby somehow lives. I don't know why but uh yeah. So there's that and there's a Microsoft folder, so not only is Samsung putting their own bloatware, and they have now taken money from Microsoft to include bloatware. Now this is not new. The s20 had it as well, but I thought I just pointed out and of course there's a Google page so right off the bat, a lot of junk and the Samsung free and global goals is definitely a new one.

This has, I haven't seen that one before so display and speakers. These are actually very similar to the s20 uh in any in every way. Like I listened to music, I watched a couple of videos: the audio quality, the volume output level, the display brightness, the display um, the quality all seem almost identical. So what I think is happening here is you're getting a s20 in a redesigned package and the redesign package is cheaper, which is good, and I think it has some good upgrades now there is one place where I did notice a difference, and that would be the zoom camera so again guys. I haven't had a lot of time to spend with this, so this isn't a review or anything, but I will show you exactly what I know so let me go to gallery.

I took a photo on both this and my s20, so let me grab that, so I took a photo of my tripod from where I'm sitting over there, and this is 30x zoom. So this is what it looks like on the galaxy s 21, and this is what it looks like on the galaxy s20. Now this is a day and night difference. This just looks so hazy, though the brightness everything is off, like it's just a noticeably worse photo in comparison uh. This is still possible.

This one just isn't but uh a big improvement on the telephoto camera for sure, so I'm impressed uh that Samsung has actually been true to their claim that their camera system, especially the telephoto, has improved. Now. I will definitely do a lot more testing on this to see what it's like. But overall I am uh. It's looking positive to me.

So that's gonna, be it for this one guys. This is the Samsung Galaxy s21. As I said, this is the 128 phantom violet color. I am in love with this color, the gold and purple they work so well together. Never thought I'd say that.

But yes, this is a very good-looking phone. I love the size. The display is great, and the price at 800, especially with the trade-in, offers you're getting a very good deal so far, so I'm very, very excited to make more videos on this, and if you haven't already be sure to follow me and to subscribe to the channel, I have a lot more s21 videos coming. I have a galaxy s21 ultra, that's going to be unboxed as well. So if you haven't already go check that out, if it's uploaded I'll have a link in the description as well and a couple of cases as well, I've got a few cases that I've got from Samsung for this, so we're going to try those out as well so be sure to subscribe.

If you haven't already and follow me on social media as well, I've got all the handles right here on the screen and, of course down in the description below. If you want to, you know, check out any of the products that I have on here today or in the future. I have Amazon affiliate links as well, so go check those out. Thank you so much for watching guys I'll catch you in the next one. You.

Source : Auto Technica