Samsung on Thursday announced the Galaxy S21 Ultra is launching with S Pen support. Unfortunately, the optional $40 accessory doesn’t have Bluetooth, which means it won’t support features like air gestures. But don’t fret, because Samsung confirmed it will release an S Pen Pro later this year with support for Bluetooth and air gestures.
If you already own an S Pen from other Galaxy Note or Galaxy Tab devices, it will work with the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Meanwhile, the S Pen Pro will work with the Galaxy S21 Ultra and also be compatible with the Galaxy Note 10/20 series and Galaxy Tab S6/S7 series with One UI 3.1 and above installed. Samsung didn’t share pricing for the S Pen Pro.
The new S Pen can still do a lot when combined with the Galaxy S21 Ultra. For example, you can jot down notes, edit photos, and sign documents. You can also draw, navigate the phone, and much more. It’s an experience that will feel familiar to Galaxy Note owners. The S Pen also comes equipped with a side button for performing certain actions, so you’re not missing a ton if you don’t wait for the S Pen Pro.
Either way, the Galaxy S21 Ultra doesn’t have a slot to carry the S Pen, so you’ll either have to carry it separately or buy a carrying case (which when purchased with the S Pen, is bundled for $69.99). Considering how diminutive the S Pen is, carrying it separately seems like a tricky proposition, so a carrying case is probably the best way to go.
It’s worth clarifying that only the Galaxy S21 Ultra features S Pen support, so if you opt for the Galaxy S21 or Galaxy S21 Plus, you’re out of luck. It would have been nice to see Samsung’s entire lineup of new devices offer S Pen support, but we’ll take what we can get. Hopefully, there will be enough interest that the feature eventually comes to all Galaxy S series phones released in 2022 and beyond.
Facebook-owned Oculus has announced plans to bring two of its most-requested features to the Oculus Quest VR headset. (Sadly, neither is the ability to log in without a Facebook account). Multi-User accounts, which will allow several accounts to log into the same device, and app sharing, which allows those users to access each other’s apps.
Oculus has outlined how the new functionality will work in a blog post. There will be a Primary account holder who will be able to invite Secondary account holders, with Primary users able to share apps they have bought with the linked accounts. All gameplay functions, including progress, achievements and game saves will remain unique and separate for each user. Additionally, Secondary users can’t share their apps with any other users, including the Primary. Facebook says it is aiming to increase the VR community, whilst simultaneously cutting the likelihood of software piracy. It also adds that multi-use headsets will drive better engagement for developers.
At launch, the new functionality will be available to Oculus Quest 2 owners, who will be able to add up to 3 additional secondary accounts to their device. It will roll out to OG Quest users at a later date. When households with multiple devices become more widespread, the scheme will be expanded to allow Primary user apps to be shared across up to three devices. This will be reviewed over time and could change based on feedback from both users and developers.
Developers will find that from February 13th 2021, their apps will automatically be enrolled in the sharing program. If there are legal or other reasons for not including certain apps, the developer must switch it off in their Org manager page by February 12. From February 13th, all new submissions of apps for Quest or Rift headsets must be ‘shareable’, as part of updated Terms and Conditions which come into effect on that day.
More information and a list of conditions of the new features can be found in the blog post.
Samsung Galaxy S21 series, the finest Samsung smartphones for the first half of 2021, has finally arrived. Over the last decade, Samsung has added new features to every generation of the Galaxy S series to maintain its position as the Android smartphone landscape leader. Likewise, the Galaxy S21 series also brings several new additions. The Galaxy S21 series brings a slew of new camera features, and their inclusion in the latest Galaxy devices is quite likely to push these innovations to the fore. One of these new features is the improved telephoto setup on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, comprising not just one but two different cameras with optical zoom capabilities.
3x telephoto and 10x periscope cameras on Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra improves upon the telephoto capabilities of the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, both of which featured a periscope camera with 5x optical zoom. The Galaxy S21 Ultra, on the other hand, features two telephoto cameras, including a regular 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom along with another 10MP periscopic camera with 10x optical zoom. On top of the 10x optical zoom, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s improved periscope camera can facilitate up to 10x digital by cropping into the image visible in the viewfinder. The 10x digital zoom and 10x optical zoom effectively create 100x hybrid zoom together, thereby enabling Samsung’s Space Zoom feature.
See the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 100x Space Zoom technology in action in this hands-on video by our Senior Editor, Ben Sin:
With this improved telephoto setup, the Galaxy S21 Ultra may finally live to the Space Zoom hype. Although Samsung had introduced the Space Zoom feature with the Galaxy S20 Ultra last year, it was construed as a gimmick in most reviews. This perception of the feature as a gimmick forced Samsung to take a step back and limit the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s periscope zooming capabilities to just 50x hybrid zoom.
While other brands are engaged in spec wars, Samsung has presumably been focusing on an optimized harmony between hardware and software. This is why we don’t often witness the Korean brand headlining trends as often as it used to some five to ten years ago. It is not the first smartphone company to take advantage of two telephoto cameras instead of just one. Huawei, another noted pioneer in camera technology, launched the Huawei P40 Pro+ with two telephoto cameras in March 2020 and iterated the same on the Huawei Mate 40 Pro+. Although Samsung is behind by almost a year, it claims to master the technology by adding software features that use AI to stabilize and sharpen the image.
“Zoom Lock” for tripod-like stabilization
Like any other periscope camera, Galaxy S21’s 10x zoom camera also comes with optical image stabilization (OIS). In addition to OIS, which comes standard on all smartphones with periscope cameras, what sets the Galaxy S21 apart is the new AI-powered stabilization.
Samsung has loaded the Galaxy S21 Ultra with a feature called Zoom Lock. As evident from its name, the feature facilitates locking the frame when using either the 3x telephoto or the 10x periscope camera on the smartphone. This should enable clearer and sharper images of distant objects, especially while capturing celestial bodies such as the moon or the sun.
In his hands-on video as well as the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra hands-on article, Ben eloquently explains the working of the new 100x Space Zoom. The images turn out to be of excellent quality and remarkable sharpness. While we will continue to investigate this further, here are some of the images from out Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra hands-on:
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the ultimate overkill in the new 2021 flagship series, packing in a flagship SoC, a premium build, a great display, and an amazing camera setup, as well as all the extras expected on a premium flagship.
Samsung’s new Galaxy S21 series will ship without a charging brick in an effort to cut down on e-waste and manufacturing costs. To help make the move less of a burden on consumers, Samsung is lowering the price of its 25W charger from $35 to $19.
You can find the new pricing on Samsung’s website, where you can choose between the 25W charger in black or white. (Note: It appears the price drop hasn’t gone live yet, but we’re told it will be available at the discounted price.) The company is offering free shipping on all orders, and estimates that orders will ship by January 15 (as of this writing). Luckily, the Galaxy S21 series does come with a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box.
Samsung’s 25W charging brick supports rapid charging, delivering up to 3 Amp to give your phone power at a much faster rate than your standard 1A or 700mA charger, according to Samsung. The charger also features Power Deliver (PD) to provide the most efficient charging experience possible.
If you’ve been closely following the industry over the past few months, it was expected that Samsung would omit the charger when the Galaxy S21 series launched. There were numerous reports about Samsung dropping the charger leading up to today’s announcement, while the company deleted posts on social media poking fun at Apple for pulling a similar movie with the iPhone 12 series at the end of last year.
Smartphones have become much more prevalent across the world over the last decade, so chances are most people have a charging brick lying around, or they’ve switched to wireless charging. But it still stings to open a device that costs several hundred dollars and realize it doesn’t come with the right tools to charge it.
You can easily find a 25W charger that’s compatible with Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series, but if you want a wall charger made by Samsung, you can get it at a discounted price. Speaking of which, we’ve rounded up all the best Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra deals, so if you’re intent on buying one of Samsung’s new devices, we’ve got you covered.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 series has been announced a bit earlier than usual, but oh boy, it sure looks like these are going to be strong candidates for the best phones of the year—and we’re just 14 days into it. It is a massive improvement coming from last year’s S20 series, which had some top-notch technology like a 108MP camera in the case of the S20 Ultra, but had some rough edges.
The S21 series comes with a lot of generational improvements, keeping most of these features while refining those rougher edges I talked about. The regular Galaxy S21 is no exception, featuring a 120Hz panel, a 4,000 mAh battery, and a Snapdragon 888 (and an Exynos 2100 in international markets), all in a relatively small (by today standards) package with a 6.2-inch panel. You probably want a case for your fiery new flagship, though, which is why we’ve compiled a list with some of the best Galaxy S21 cases currently available.
We’ve looked at everything from rugged cases that protect your device at the expense of thickness, to thin and light ones that just add a little bit of extra peace of mind without making it much bulkier, so you can add extra protection to your smartphone for whatever price point you’re most comfortable with. Here’s the cases we recommend for the Galaxy S21!
You can't go wrong with Samsung's official cases. They're sold in plenty of color choices to compliment your phone's colorway, and they provide basic protection against drops. (They also make the camera bump flush!)
Samsung's official clear case is the most barebones one out of Samsung's official lineup of accesories, but it provides strong protection while also not adding that much of a bulk in your pocket.
Samsung's official rugged case not only comes with protection for all sides and corners of your phone, but you also get two different color options as well as a detachable kickstand. It also manages to look pretty good, even though it's a bit on the bulkier side.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 official leather cover provides a similar degree of protection to other official cases on our list while also managing to be stylish and feel nice to the touch with a nice leather finish. It's the most expensive one out of our list, but trust us, it's great.
This Samsung Galaxy S21 case by Caseology provides a full-body layer of shockproof TPU to protect your device, and comes at pretty cheap compared to most options.
Want a hard case and want to show off your phone's colors? Then the Restoo Clear Case has you covered with a clear, rigid design that's perfectly paired with one of the many gorgeous S21 colors!
The Weycolor Silicone Case is a soft silicone case that provides full coverage for your phone and comes in various color options to help you stand out from the crowd!
Restoo is also providing a rugged option for the Galaxy S21, which manages to be slightly see-through while also serving its purpose as an all-terrain case that provides full protection.
This case from ESR adds a kickstand to the classic clear, transparent case design (also available on a translucent black option) and also manages to be pretty cheap compared to other official options that also have a kickstand.
Our round-up consists of a few options for the best Galaxy S21 cases for everyone and every price point. We went from everything from Samsung’s current officially available options to known third-party case makers such as Caseology and Restoo for the best third party options, as well as other cases we found on Amazon. We made sure to include our best picks for every type of case, from thin and light ones, to softer ones, all the way up to rugged cases that provide more-than-average protection. Since the phone has just been released, very few of these case makers have ratings or purchases, so we had to skip using that metric this time around!
As you probably already know, the Galaxy S21 series has been announced after a hot round of leaks and rumors (as well as teasers from Samsung themselves, because they love going with the hype train). There’s a lot of things that we’ve already said about these phones, such as the fact that they carry the latest flagship specifications as well as Samsung’s best camera technology to date, but Samsung decided to remove the charger from the box starting with these devices, following in Apple’s footsteps after they themselves removed it with the iPhone 12 series. Bummer.
So, yes, you have to buy a separate charger if you don’t already have one. Not all is lost, though, as we’ve compiled a list with some of the best Galaxy S21 fast chargers you can grab right now. From first-party options sold by Samsung to third-party chargers made by accessory manufacturers such as Anker, we have a lot of options on the table for you to check out, taking advantage of the fact that the S21 series supports up to 25W wired charging as well as 15W wireless charging. Read on to know more!
You can't go wrong with Samsung's official charging brick. It supports the full 25W charging speeds that are offered across the board on all Galaxy S21 devices, and it's just like the charger you would get in the box.
Anker is a very well reknown brand of third-party chargers, and the Anker Nano retains compatibility with the newest Galaxy S21 smartphones, allowing you to charge them quickly and at a lower price point.
Another 2-port alternative that comes at a cheaper price is one of RAVPower's USB-C chargers, which can charge up to 2 devices at 18W speeds. It won't max out the full 25W charging on the S21, but it's good enough!
If you want to charge your Galaxy S21 and another device simultaneously, then Anker's PowerPort Atom III will give you what you need, letting you to charge 2 devices at the same time.
Keeping it up with Samsung's official options across the table, there's their official wireless fast charger, which will charge the S21 with 15W speeds with no cables involved.
Anker's wireless charger can charge your Galaxy S21 up to 10W, which is a tad lower to what you will be able to find with Samsung's official charger, but also comes in way cheaper than the Samsung alternative.
This wireless stand from Anker provides the same functionality as the regular, pad-like wireless charging, including the same charging speeds, but it comes in a stand form similar to the official Samsung wireless charger. It's also way cheaper than Samsung's offering, too.
This Letscom wireless charger has the fact that it's 'ultra-thin' among its selling points, but it can charge pretty much any wireless charging-compatible device, including the new Galaxy S21 series, at a price that doesn't break the bank.
This charger from WJOY comes with a lot of options, including the ability to fast charge the new Galaxy S21 series + 2 other devices at the same time with 2 USB-C ports and one USB-A port. It also comes with a braided USB-C cable out of the box.
Our list of the best Galaxy S21 fast chargers consists of official Samsung products mainly because they’re the most likely to charge at full speeds and give you the same experience you would be getting with a charger that comes in the box. However, Samsung’s official accessories also come at a premium compared to third party offerings, so we also threw in a bunch of third party chargers and wireless chargers for you to choose from.
In the case of the charging bricks, all of the ones in the list can fast charge your device in similar times to the official 25W charger, while the wireless chargers are a step down from Samsung’s 15W stand, clocking in at 10W: not much can be done here since we weren’t able to find a wireless charger that could actually charge these phones at their full speed.
So, you picked up the Samsung Galaxy S21, Samsung’s newest flagship device. That’s great! Now, it’s time to make sure your expensive new purchase remains in pristine condition. Whether or not you need a case is up to your phone habits, but you can prevent scratches and blemishes by picking up one of the Galaxy S21 screen protectors below. You never know when a stray key may touch your screen! We rounded up some of the best Galaxy S21 screen protectors so that you can make sure your smartphone stays in mint condition.
Make sure you get the right screen protector for your phone! The Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra are all slightly different sizes, so each set of screen protectors will only work with one model of the Galaxy S21. The recommendations below are for the standard Galaxy S21 screen protectors – we have other guides for Galaxy S21 Plus screen protectors and Galaxy S21 Ultra screen protectors if you’re buying those phones.
Sometimes the classic tempered glass screen protector is all you need. QHOHQ's three-pack of screen protectors are meant to go on bubble-free and are water-resistant while offering no troubles with the Galaxy S21's touch screen.
Want to make sure your data is protected in a public setting? A privacy screen protector is a smart idea. This screen protector will not only protect your screen from scratches and dings, but it will also make it difficult for others to read what's on your screen!
If you're not a fan of tempered glass, a film screen will also work great! Film screens offer less protection overall, but also generally look and feel better than tempered glass.
Blue light can really affect your ability to sleep! Block the troublesome blue light from your phone with Olixar's anti-blue light screen protector, and sleep better at night.
You have our favorite recommendations, but you may be wondering what the best of the best is. I personally like film screen protectors over tempered glass, as the feel is better, and I don’t need too much protection for my screen. I’ve used ESR in the past, so I know the ESR Liquid Skin screen protector is going to be good. The camera protection is just a bonus! Also, anything that prevents blue-light from shining through at night is a good thing, so Olixar’s Anti-Blue screen protectors are worth the look. Granted, you can also block blue light with software or phone settings, but if you want to always block blue light and are not using your device to watch videos, a screen protector like this can be the least hassle to mess with.
When it comes to Galaxy S21 screen protectors, though, what you’ll want will depend mostly on how much abuse your phone will go through! So make sure to pick the best product for the job and stay tuned as we’ll be updating this post regularly with more options as they become available!
