Google Messages and Discover Feed are native to Galaxy S21 series

Apart from unveiling the Galaxy S21 series, Samsung also announced its extended partnership with Google during the Unpacked 2021 event yesterday. The company said that it is bringing Google Nest integration into SmartThings and the SmartThings dashboard to Android Auto. A part of that announcement also mentioned that Google’s Messages app and Discover Feed will be ‘native’ to the Galaxy S21.

Google has made special optimizations to its Messages app to make it native to the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra. While Samsung Messages will still be the default app on Galaxy devices, people who want to use the Google Messages app can download it from the Play Store and they are bound to see various improvements.

Federico Casalegno, Head of Experience Planning at Samsung, said, “We made Messages by Google native to the S21 series to help you to stay close to your favorite people.”  The Google Messages app also features RCS compatibility for improved messaging compared to SMS, helping people send high-resolution images and videos, react to messages, and see rich web links.

Samsung also announced that Galaxy S21 users can choose Google’s Discover Feed as their default left-most homescreen pane. This change will also come to other Galaxy smartphones and tablets as a part of the One UI 3.1 update. Users can also cast their Google Duo video chats to their Samsung smart TVs.

The Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra will also be the first phones to get access to Google’s TalkBack screen reader, which is incredibly helpful to people with visual impairments. In a separate video, Android and Chrome SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer, mentioned to Engadget that Google and Samsung are working together to cut back on redundant services in the future.

Galaxy S21

• Model: SM-G991B
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.2 inch / 157.48 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21+

• Model: SM-G996B
• Dimensions: Bar: 161.5 x 75.6 x 7.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21 Ultra

• Model: SM-G998B
• Dimensions: Bar: 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.8 inch / 172.72 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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The best Galaxy S21 Ultra features aside from its exquisite design

The Galaxy S21 series is finally here and it’s available for pre-order before it starts shipping on January 29. The lineup consists of three models with the Galaxy S21 Ultra reaching the pinnacle of flagship engineering.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S21 Ultra was the highlight of Unpacked 2021 for more than one reason. The new design around the back panel looks gorgeous and this has been mentioned time and again, but beyond the attractive exterior, the device boasts a handful of significant upgrades over Samsung’s previous generations. Here are the best Galaxy S21 Ultra features and the main reasons why you should be excited about the new flagship:

A new era in mobile processing: The Exynos 2100

Samsung had to kill its own custom CPU project in order to even attempt to breathe life back into the Exynos platform, and that’s exactly what the company did. The new Exynos 2100 found inside the Galaxy S21 Ultra (and its smaller siblings) promises to revitalize the Exynos chipset family with a bit of help from ARM.

The custom Mongoose CPU cores are no more. In their stead, the Exynos 2100 chipset uses a combination of ARM Cortex-X1, Cortex-A78, and Cortex-A55 cores under license. In practice, the Exynos 2100 SoC should be able to keep up with the Snapdragon 888 alternative, performance and efficiency-wise. The Exynos and Snapdragon platforms haven’t been on a more equal footing in years, so the launch of the Exynos 2100 SoC is a pretty big deal.

Adaptive refresh rate with support for 120Hz at QHD+ resolution

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has the best (non-flexible) AMOLED display to date. Specifically, it’s of the Dynamic AMOLED 2X variety with an Infinity-O cutout for the selfie camera. The resolution sits at a respectable 3200 by 1440, and the panel is HDR10+ certified.

More importantly, the 6.8-inch Edge display has an adaptive refresh rate of 10-120Hz, and even more impressive is that it can run at maximum QHD+ resolution and 120Hz simultaneously. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is Samsung’s first smartphone capable of this performance.

Dual-telephoto camera system with incredible zoom potential

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has a unique camera system that does away with the conventional single-telephoto camera. It has two telephoto sensors, each with a resolution of 10MP, and they can achieve up to 100x Space Zoom.

More specifically, one of the 10MP telephoto shooters has an f/2.4 aperture, 35-degrees FOV, and 3x optical zoom. The other 10MP unit has an f/4.9 aperture, 10-degrees FOV, and 10x optical zoom. Both cameras take advantage of optical image stabilization (OIS) as well as Dual Pixel autofocus.

This combination should lead to a higher-quality zoom compared to any other mobile camera system Samsung has released so far. And the two telephoto lenses are accompanied by a brand-new 108MP shooter with Phase Detection autofocus and OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with Dual Pixel AF, and a laser autofocus module.

A Wacom digitizer ensuring compatibility with S Pens and more

Along with a new display comes a digitizer capable of reading S Pen inputs. The Galaxy S21 Ultra can be paired with an optional S Pen, and later this year an S Pen Pro variant with added Bluetooth connectivity will be available.

What’s more is that the Galaxy S21 Ultra is also compatible with existing S Pen models from the Galaxy Note and Tab series, as well as third-party styluses including: Hi-uni DIGITAL, Staedtler Noris Digital, Wacom One Pen, and LAMY AL-star black EMR.

UWB (Ultra-wideband) is poised to make your smart life smarter

Samsung made a long-term commitment to UWB a few months ago and the company has now released two new phones — the Galaxy S21+ and the Galaxy S21 Ultra — boasting this technology. They join the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, both of which were released in autumn.

UWB is a low-energy radio technology that enables precision location and the use of location-tracking devices such as the Galaxy SmartTag Pro. It also allows for nearby file sharing, and UWB will soon enable your Galaxy S21 Ultra to act as a digital key for cars equipped with the technology. Car brands including Audi, BMW, Ford, and Genesis have already partnered with Samsung to offer this functionality.

These are some of our favorite Galaxy S21 Ultra features but perhaps you have other reasons to love Samsung’s latest flagship phone. Feel free to share them in the comment section below.

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Galaxy S21 lacks an important Samsung Pay feature

The Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra come with various improvements over their predecessors. However, Samsung has also removed some important features from these phones, including the microSD card slot, the bundled charger, and 45W fast charging. The new flagship phones also lack an important Samsung Pay feature that was available in the Galaxy S20 series.

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S21 series lacks MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) for contactless mobile payments via Samsung Pay, at least in the US. It is still unclear if the feature has been removed in other markets as well, but there is a good chance of that happening.

Future Galaxy smartphones won’t have MST for Samsung Pay

The company has also indicated that its future smartphones won’t come with MST due to the rapid adoption of NFC-based payment devices worldwide, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. So, don’t expect the Galaxy Note 21, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 2, and the Galaxy S22 series to feature MST.

The MST feature emulates a credit card or debit card’s magnetic card stripe when placed next to a PoS (Point of Sale) device, making it think that a regular card has been swiped. The Galaxy S21 series will still be able to make mobile payments through Samsung Pay using NFC and QR codes. If you have a Galaxy device with MST built-in, you can continue to use it for mobile payments in the future.

People might face problems while making mobile payments with the Galaxy S21 series in developing markets like India, where NFC payments still haven’t caught up. In such markets, MST is a great feature to have. So, if you are a heavy MST user in a country where NFC payments are not common, you might want to hold on to your current Galaxy device.

Rival payment solutions like Apple Pay and Google Pay also use NFC, and with the removal of MST, the South Korean smartphone giant has one less tool in its arsenal to attract consumers. Do you think Samsung has made a mistake by removing MST from the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Galaxy S21

• Model: SM-G991B
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.2 inch / 157.48 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21+

• Model: SM-G996B
• Dimensions: Bar: 161.5 x 75.6 x 7.8 mm
  
• Display: 6.7 inch / 170.18 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

Galaxy S21 Ultra

• Model: SM-G998B
• Dimensions: Bar: 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.8 inch / 172.72 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Exynos 2100
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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Samsung reveals under-display camera tech, but there’s a catch

The mobile industry has been making all the effort in recent years to get rid of bezels from our smartphones, and putting the front-facing camera under the display is considered the next frontier for manufacturers as a way of providing a viewing experience uninterrupted by any camera notches or holes. Samsung has long been rumored to be working on such technology, with rumors suggesting we could see an under-display camera on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 later this year.

But it turns out Samsung is set to bring under-display cameras to its notebooks first, as revealed by the company’s display division today through a teaser video. The video reveals that thanks to the under-display camera, Samsung’s OLED-toting laptops will have screen-to-body ratios as high as 93%. Samsung hasn’t actually announced or teased any actual notebook with an under-display camera, but it sure looks like it won’t be too long before the technology becomes reality.

Of course, what we really need is to see under-display camera tech on Galaxy smartphones, but just how soon that will happen is anyone’s guess. Samsung will have to do more than just make UDC tech feasible before it brings it over to its smartphones and tablets, and while rumors suggest the Korean giant is very close to doing so, it’s probably best to temper our expectations until we see something more concrete than a concept video.

Wow ⊙∀⊙! Samsung Display reveals its under-Display camera technology for the first time, which will be used for OLED notebook screens first pic.twitter.com/Fu4Ublvsru

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 14, 2021

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