Is Samsung Galaxy M21 a good phone? Honest User Review

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It’s been more than a year that I’ve been waiting to find a perfect phone for myself. I currently use the Oneplus 3T (I know it pretty old) which surprisingly works well for me. The single-camera is however not up to the current standards though I use the GCam for OnePlus 3T. A few months back I had a demo of the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and I concluded to not buy the Samsung Galaxy S20+ in India. If that was the case, why did I purchase the Samsung Galaxy M21? Is Samsung Galaxy M21 a good phone? Here’s my honest review.

The Contenders

Let me first clarify that I haven’t bought this for myself. My dad is using it. In fact, he had been using a Redmi 1s (the one that I got in a flash sale 5 years back) and it worked almost flawlessly over the years. Off late, most of the apps weren’t getting installed due to the old OS plus multi tasking and poor battery ensured we hunt for a new phone.

The budget for the new smartphone was set at Rs 13,000 (+/- 500) and that meant that there were many contenders.

RedMi 9 Pro

For starters, the Redmi 9 Pro was the perfect one at that price. The Quad Camera setup, Octa-Core Snapdragon 720G, and 18W fast charging. This one missed by a close whisker as at the end moment I decided to get the M21. The major reason was the OS, I’ve Redmi phones are filled with adverts which I hate. Though this had the SD 720 (perhaps the only phone with this processor in this range) the OS experience forced me to pass it on.

Realme Narzo 20

The Realme Narzo 20 comes with a triple camera setup along with an 18W fast charger with a massive 6000 mAh battery. It also has an octa-core processor. The reason I gave this a pass was the Mediatek processor and the probable junk apps in the OS. (I haven’t used it though, an assumption) Also considered the Realme 7 but passed due to the above-mentioned reasons.

Moreover, both these phones were Chinese phones. While it wasn’t a concern for me, considering my dad was able to use a phone for 5 years that too without major complaints.

Only because the apps became heavy & most of them didn’t support the OS as the phone maxed out with updates. Why do Android/App devs do that? I mean at least the apps should support older OS if the phone is perfect. And by support I mean let the users use the app, no need to have a team to maintain it.

Anyway, I got the Samsung Galaxy M21 and my dad has been using it for close to a month now. So Is Samsung Galaxy M21 good or bad? Here’s my honest review of the Samsung Galaxy M21 with inputs from my dad.

Why I got the Samsung Galaxy M21

I’m not going to talk about the box content and stuff here and emphasize more on the phone itself and why I got the Samsung Galaxy M21. The Samsung Galaxy M21 comes with a 6.4″ Super AMOLED screen – the best screen in the price segment. While it is 6.4″, the 19.5:9 ratio makes it comfortable to use. The screen is surely one of the best I’ve seen and the colors are quite vivid.

In terms of the power under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy M21 is powered by a Samsung Exynos 9611 octa-core processor. While I’ve written about how the Exynos processor heats up and underperforms compared to the Snapdragon counterpart, I bought this phone. My dad isn’t a power user and uses the phone for emails, web browsing, document viewing, and editing. So for him, this seemed a good choice.

Lastly, the major reason to get this was the massive battery. The Samsung Galaxy M21 comes with a 6000 mAh battery with an 18W fast charger. Compared to my dad’s older phone with a 2000mAh battery, he’s elated with this one. The phone has been consistently lasting for 3 full days over the last few weeks and he loves it.

My Samsung Galaxy M21 Honest User Review

While my dad uses the phone most of the time, I spend some time during the evening to play around. Well, it’s a new phone, how can I not play around. To keep things simple, I break down my user review of the Samsung Galaxy M21 into two parts – the Good and the bad.

The Good

• Screen: Simply brilliant, the vivid colors make it one of the best in the segment. Watching videos is a great experience.
• Multi-tasking: As per benchmarks, the Exynos is nowhere close to SD processor. However, I was quite happy with the multitasking ability of the Samsung Galaxy M21. Though there were some rare random freezes that were almost unnoticeable.
• Clean UI: Coming from Oxygen OS, I loved the Samsung OneUI on the phone. It’s pretty clean in terms of the icons, fonts, and even colors. Lots of customization options out of the box.
• Battery: The best part about the Samsung Galaxy M21, the 6000 mAh battery on paper translates well into real-life performance. Even the 18W fast charger is good enough.

The Bad

• Bloatware: I was surprised to see a Samsung phone loaded with bloatware apps. While I don’t remember exactly how many, but there were about 12-15 pre-installed apps that you cannot uninstall. Apps like Facebook, Netflix, Chingari, Mx TakaTak along with a whole lot of other apps. Though there aren’t hidden ads in the UI, the bloatware is not something that amused me.
• Average Camera: Though the phone comes with a triple camera setup with a 48MP main sensor, the photos aren’t that great. While the photos have the typical saturation you see in some Samsung devices, the images aren’t sharp when you zoom in. At times even my OnePlus 3T with Gcam took better photos. Also, there is a noticeable shutter lag at times. So if you are a shutterbug, do rethink before getting the Samsung Galaxy M21.
• Fingerprint Scanner: The fingerprint scanner is mounted underneath the camera module at the back of the phone. While the position is perfect, the sensor isn’t one of the fastest.

Final Verdict: Is Samsung Galaxy M21 good?

There are quite a few other phones in this price segment that ‘may’ give better performance. But there’s no non-chinese brand smartphone apart from Samsung. A fingerprint magnet, the Samsung Galaxy M21 isn’t a bad phone overall. As a daily driver, this is a good phone. However, if you are a hardcore gamer, a heavy user, or a shutterbug, maybe you’d want to give a second thought to the Samsung Galaxy M21.

But if you are getting one for your yourself, your parent or the elderly, the Samsung Galaxy M21 is good. A large and vivid screen with a large battery and a decent camera is what most of the people need. Overall, at a price point of just around 12K, the Samsung Galaxy M21 is indeed a good phone.

In fact, I had recommended this phone to almost 4 people and all of them got it and are quite happy with the performance. Are you a Samsung M series user? What are your thoughts? Comment down below, tweet to me at @Atulmaharaj, DM me on Instagram, or Get in Touch with me.