A Review of the Samsung's Unpacked Event “Welcome to the Everyday Epic"

Highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S21 phone series is finally here! At its virtual event, Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung jumped into the year of 2021 with several outstanding products. The Korean tech giant unveiled an improved trio of smartphones, a pair of advanced wireless earbuds and a new tracking device the Galaxy SmartTag tile.

Let’s see what can we expect from Samsung's devices that could make our days epic.

Samsung Galaxy S21 series

All the S21 series devices have 120Hz refresh rate with an AI-based auto blue light control for user’s eye health, Exynos 2100 (5nm) chipset (Snapdragon 888 in US/China), no microSD expansion slot, a 5G connectivity and dust/water-resistance. All three devices can record video in up to 8K quality at up to 24fps and have the same selection of camera modes, such as pro mode, night mode, Single Take, Live Focus, slow motion, and more. The S21 series is supported by Android 11.

Image credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S21 is a low-cost model and with its 151.7mm x 71.2mm is also the smallest model from the devices presented at the Unpacked event. Three rear cameras remain the same as for its predecessor S20, the 12MP ultra-wide, 64MP telephoto and 12MP wide lenses placed in a bump that wraps around the top left rear of the device. The 10MP front camera is placed in the punch-hole at the top of the display. You will be able to choose amongst four colours - Phantom Gray, Phantom White, Phantom Violet and Phantom Pink. The starting price for 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage will be around $1,249.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus is pretty much the same as his brother the S21, only bigger, it measures 161.5mm x 75.6mm and has a more powerful battery to keep him alive throughout the day, 4,800mAH. Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Pink, Phantom Violet, Phantom Gold and Phantom Red are the colours that you will be able to choose from. For the basic option with 8GB RAM and 128 GB of storage, you will have to pay at least $1,549.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the only device that supports an S pen. For capturing perfect photos there are the outstanding 108MP wide-angle, 10MP periscope telephoto with 10x optical zoom, 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and 12MP ultra-wide lenses and a laser autofocus sensor. As for the front selfie cam, it's sitting at a casual 40MP. To power all the features that the Ultra provides, there is a rocking 5,000mAH battery built-in. The Ultra comes in the following colour options: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Titanium, Phantom Navy and Phantom Brown. For the best of S21 series and the biggest of them, it measures 165.1mm x 75.6mm, you will also have to pay the highest price, starting at $1,849.

Samsung has added some new features to Galaxy phones that will be highly appreciated by photo and video enthusiasts. Director’s View is a feature added to the camera app, which helps users to switch between various cameras on the fly, for example, users can see themselves and also switch between the wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto lenses to record content. Then there is a Single Take mode for shooting dynamic slow-mo videos, the Portrait Mode has gotten some improvements and there is a Vlogger View feature that lets you shoot with the front and rear lenses simultaneously. To make sure you have the best experience with shooting videos or making vlogs, Samsung also added support for multi-mic recording, which can be very useful if you also get the new Galaxy Buds Pro.

Pre-orders for the new Samsung Galaxy S21 devices went live on January 15, but official sale starts on January 29.

Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro

Samsung is back with a more traditional-looking pair of wireless earbuds, may we dare to say a cheaper rival to Apple’s AirPods Pro, the Galaxy Buds Pro.

Image credit: Samsung

Samsung incorporated a swath of enhanced audio features, such as active noise cancelling and audio boosting tech. The newest earbuds have a more intelligent active noise cancellation which automatically initiates the Samsung's Ambient Sound mode when you're talking. Samsung's earbuds have three microphones, a Voice Pickup Unit, a Wind Shield tech for clearer phone calls and for a more stable sound an 11mm woofer and 6.5mm tweeter. One of the best features (360 Audio) that comes to life when using Galaxy Buds Pro with a Galaxy S21 phone is more immersive audio when watching Dolby Atmos content.

The Galaxy Buds Pro is capable to automatically shift between Galaxy smartphones and tablets. The battery is promised to last up to eight hours of playback with ANC turned off, having an extra 20 hours stored in the wireless charging case. If the ANC is activated, you'll get 5 hours of playback, with 13 hours stored in the case. For a quick 5 minute charge up you'll get another hour of playback.

The more ergonomically designed earbuds come in three colours - black, silver and violet to match the new S21 shade - and are already available to order since January 15th.

Price of Galaxy Buds Pro: AU $349

Samsung Galaxy SmartTags

Image credit: Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy SmartTag device is a small plastic tile-like location tracker that can help you track down lost possessions and devices. You can attach a SmartTag on anything you think of, we suggest on the things you usually misplace and use Samsung’s app SmartThings Find to locate them. The SmartTags should work even when the tag is offline or out of range, it should store history of the tag’s locations and according to Samsung, the replaceable coin battery should last months.

There are going to be two models, a regular SmartTag and a SmartTag Plus. The SmartTag works with a Bluetooth Low Energy connection which sends signals to your Samsung’s SmartThings app to track down missing items, while the SmartTag Plus uses an ultra wide-band (UWB) tech for spatial and directional tracking to get more accurate locational data.

The SmartTag will go on sale on January 29 in the US and UK, later in the year also the SmartTag Plus. Unfortunately, there is no mention of them yet on Samsung’s Australian site, although other revealed devices are listed. We assume the SmartTags will be launched later in Australia if they are at all.

Price for Galaxy SmartTag: US $29 / £29 (around AU$37)

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