Samsung Galaxy S21 – One Year Review, Part 1: Screen & Battery Life

12 April 2022 was a milestone for me. It marked the 1 year anniversary of my Galaxy S21, as I bought it on 12 April 2021.

Therefore, to mark this milestone, I decided to post a review of how things are going, and if I think it’s met all my needs as per my checklist.

And for the purpose of keeping things short, I’ve decided to split it up into different sections – which I’ll upload in stages. Part 1 – the screen, and battery life!

Full HD/2K

As I was stepping down from the 1440p display of my Galaxy S9+, to the Full HD+ 1080p screen on the Galaxy S21, I was initially a bit worried about the inferior screen resolution of my new phone.

However, I thankfully haven’t experienced any issues, and with normal use, it isn’t possible to see any difference whatsoever – unless you’re pixel peeping under a microscope!

I didn’t want to step down from a 1440p display, and I don’t understand why the base S21 is being sold as a flagship despite having a worse screen resolution than the S21 Ultra. 2400x1080p, vs 3200x1440p.

If compactness is the requirement, then unfortunately there’s no choice – it’s the S21 or nothing. If, however, maximum screen resolution is your thing, then the S21 Ultra is your ticket.

However, I respect that for my budget and phone size requirements, I needed to compromise on something. And the first compromise was screen resolution.

AMOLED

Thankfully, the screen technology is the same across all three S21 models, so although I’ve got a lesser resolution, it’s still an AMOLED display.

Size

I chose the base model Galaxy S21 precisely because of its smaller size. As per my checklist a year ago, I wanted a smaller phone than my Galaxy S9+, which had a 6.2″ screen, but the top & bottom bezels meant its body was nearer to 6.5″.

The Pixel 4a & Pixel 5 were perfect in this regard, but I eliminated them from my final checklist, respectively, due to the 4a’s lack of IP water & dust resistance rating, and the 5’s unreliable wireless charging and screen gap issues.

The Moto G30, despite being much cheaper, was also too big. Also, in my hands the bigger 6.5″ Galaxy S20 FE felt similar to the 6.7″ S21+.

The upgrade to the S21+ didn’t make sense, and the S21 Ultra was much bigger at 6.8″, meaning the smaller S21 5G was the only option if I wanted a small but brand new Galaxy S flagship phone.

120Hz vs Battery Life

The 120Hz mode has been something I’ve used only sparingly.

Initially, the ultra smoothness of motion on my Galaxy S21 was too much for my eyes, and I had to disable the Adaptive screen mode in order to allow my eyes to adapt to the new screen.

I think it was a double-edged sword, though. The S21 as a whole was so much smoother than my Galaxy S9+, and with the 120Hz refresh rate it was so buttery smooth that my eyes couldn’t cope!

However, once I became accustomed to the smoothness, I turned Adaptive mode back on. And… wow, what a difference! It’s so smoooth!

My Galaxy S9+ isn’t that bad, especially now that I’ve halved the animation times in Developer Options. But in contrast, the S21 felt so much smoother in 120Hz mode that I didn’t want to disable it ever again.

But, I kinda have to… it’s only something I use at home, when I’m not too worried about battery life. When I’m out and about, it’s something I’ll automatically turn off.

Despite its Adaptive name, I’ve found that my S21 tends to favour 120Hz all the time, regardless of the app or activity, which means battery life depletes quite fast – especially if I’m also using the Camera.

Which I often do.

The standard, “sluggish” 60Hz refresh rate doesn’t bother me – just as long as I’ve got the longevity to continue using my phone for most of the day without needing an emergency recharge.

This is something I did on my trip to Prague in May 2022, even putting my phone into Extreme Battery Saver (EBS) mode right from 100% – a practice which extended my phone’s battery life to between 12 to 14hrs per day.

That figure is a bit of a guess – after a nice breakfast at around 10am every morning, I left my hotel room at about 11am and didn’t return until about 12-1am. On one or two days, it was even later than that!

And when I returned, after a whole day of using only Google Maps and the Camera, I’d have at least 20% battery left.

I know. Most tech geeks hate the term ‘Power Saving,’ especially if it means disabling the features for which you bought the phone in the first place.

But for my holiday in particular, I found the EBS mode was a lifesaver, and enabled a full day of use without needing to lug around my portable power bank or rush back to the hotel to plug in and recharge.

In my next post, I’ll chat about my S21’s audio.

KPH tech blog