With Samsung set to launch the Galaxy S21 in about a month, the leaks are coming thick and fast. As soon as we think we know everything about these phones, a new leak comes along, providing us with even more details. But while we've seen plenty of renders, imagery of actual hardware has been much harder to come by. Now that's changing in a big way with the release of hands-on first impressions video featuring the Galaxy S21+, and we're all losing our minds.

Although the bottom corners of the phone are hidden behind some tape, this is still our best look yet at the front of the S21+. Samsung has somehow managed to shrink the bezels even further than the S20, and it looks as though they are almost completely symmetrical.

Something else to note is the finish on the back panel. For years now, Samsung has been making phones with ultra-glossy backs that pick up fingerprints like there's no tomorrow. It changed things up with the Note20 Ultra, but it was unknown if the S21 would follow. Previous renders appeared to show the device with a matte finish, but it was hard to tell with any certainty. Thanks to this video, we can now be certain that the S21 is leaving the glossy finish behind — for this color at least.

The filmer briefly talks about the photos the phone captures, reporting that colors like blue and green don't look quite natural. That's no surprise, as Samsung is known for over-saturating photos, but anyone hoping that would change here will be disappointed.

Although no numbers are given, the reviewer says he is more than happy with battery life, stating that the phone easily lasts a full day even with heavy video calling. This is likely helped by the S21+ getting a 4,800mAh battery, 300mAh larger than its predecessor.

Finally, the handset was put through a Geekbench test, and this is where we were able to confirm that this is the S21+. While the video refers to this phone as an S21, model number SM-G996U refers to the S21+ in particular, and is likely a T-Mobile model with the Snapdragon 888.

The S21+ scored 1115 for single-core and 3326 for multi-core performance. For comparison, the S20+ only scored 830 and 3087, respectively. That's a decent upgrade, especially when you consider that this is likely unfinished software that still needs optimizing before release. Let's hope the Exynos 2100 can match its Qualcomm counterpart.

The S21 range looks amazing, and with each passing leak, I can feel my excitement grow. You can watch the full hands-on video above, and see everything else we know about the S21 here.

Source: Random Stuff 2