Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review: from the 2021 S series and the best one ever
No matter how beautiful the new design is, the galaxy s21 ultra and S21 + do not have the most prominent specifications we expect from the best S-series phones from Samsung. To get the right S-Series experience, you need to purchase the galaxy s21 ultra Full energy. Power, performance, camera, and battery technology to satisfy hardcore fans.
But with $
1,200, the samsung galaxy s21 ultra is a big investment, and definitely $ 800
for the galaxy s21 that we already reviewed. In addition, it faces strong
competition from outside - for example the Pro Max iPhone 12 - and inside
(Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy Z2).
I spent a
week with my samsung s21 ultra so consider it a very detailed first look, not
the final review at the moment. Andrew Martin is a phone editor, and I'll be
adding our ongoing ideas over the phone to this article in the coming weeks,
based on our final review.
But even after
seven days, the outstanding capabilities of the Samsung S21 Ultra
Obvious,
especially when it comes to the camera. The best Samsung S-series phones may be
here earlier than usual, but there is no doubt that it has a lot to offer.
Phone specifications Galaxy S21 Ultra
the design
Yes, the
Galaxy S21 Ultra is a great phone, but the dimensions and weight don't tell the
whole story. 8.9mm thick and 227g in weight looks pretty normal for today's big
smartphones, and when you place it next to the S20 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra, the
space is really small. However, this is a trick, as none of these phones is not
heavy to carry, nor great competition, and all of this has to do with the
distinct design feature of the samsung galaxy s21 ultra - a larger camera unit
- and its manufacture.
Instead of a
separate unit housed on the back of the phone as is the case on the S20 Ultra,
the wide array of cameras on the galaxy s21 ultra are the same as a body part,
machined from metal and separated by Gorilla Glass on the back panel. This is a
different approach than most other smartphones and it really gives the galaxy
s21 ultra a unique style - I especially like the "Solid Sculpted
Metal" design. It also looks nicer than the S20 Ultra. But all this leads
to a deterioration in the balance.
Balance is
important. This is what makes the phone in our hands natural and keeps it in
our grip. With a large metal block on one side of the galaxy s21 ultra with
four camera sensors, the rest is a bit out of order. Not much, but after a
while you start to feel it. Weight 227g becomes heavy after being held in a
vertical direction for a while, especially with one hand. It's not the end of
the world, but when the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra appears thinner, lighter and more
balanced in your hand, you know you are working with a smaller animal.
Whatever is
left, the edges of the galaxy s21 ultra are elegantly curved and comfortable to
hold, the volume and power buttons are reasonably placed, the stupid Bixby
buttons, shiny body smudges or fingerprints not covered. For that matter, my
review mockup is Phantom Black, a new color that Samsung provided in detail
during the presentation, so is it worth mentioning or is it just another black
phone? The answer is that it is well-rated and has one of the best black
finishes I've seen, and it connects to the Oppo Find X2 Pro Black Ceramic.
The matte
surface is broken by the brushed Samsung logos and the brushed metal etched
around the camera unit as well as the reflective glass on each camera lens. I
think it looks elegant and expensive. Lighter color versions are also
available, including some of Samsung's own colors, but this is actually one of
the first cases in which I can say purchasing black is a great option.
Camera
Like the
dimensions of the galaxy s21 ultra, the main camera specs don't really reflect
what they are. The specifications are as follows: a 108MP camera is connected
to a 12MP ultra-fast camera, 10x 10x zoom and 10x 3x telephoto zoom. Even with
laser auto focus, optical image stabilization, 8K video recording, and all kinds
of other features we've never seen anything on paper before. But in practice,
its capability quickly demonstrates that although we've already seen the
specifications, we haven't really seen it perform as efficiently as Samsung
here.
Let's talk
about zooming. At 10x and 3x optical zoom levels, the results are often
surprising. The images have a lot of detail, which was obtained through strong
software optimization, resulting in clear, sharp, colorful and balanced images
that you are happy to share. But there are some problems. Set it up against the
Huawei P40 Pro - which gave us a powerful 10x hybrid zoom in May 2020 - and
you'll see that Huawei can capture more realistic colors - and often more
detail in the process, however, the galaxy s21 ultra isn't as light as. This
makes it the most useful camera at this zoom level.
Use digital
zoom outside of the optical settings and the quality will decrease compared to
the optical level. Compare the 2x optical zoom of the iPhone 12 Pro with the 2x
Digital Zoom S21 Ultra, the results are completely different, the Samsung phone
hides the details and loses realism. The galaxy s21 ultra went to 3x optical
and was compared to the iPhone's 2x zoom and was similar in detail and tone.
With 10x
optical zoom, the good news here is that images are mostly useful, and include
up to 100x. The 100x zoomed photos on the Galaxy Ultra S20 were pretty poor,
but on the galaxy s21 ultra you can shoot with a marker and it's perfectly
legible. Even with 30 doubles, wildlife photos look good - good for sharing -
and they're a pleasant surprise. If a company wants to add these relatively
specialized and long zoom features it has to be usable, and it's found in the
galaxy s21 ultra.
What about
photos in general? Although the physical phone struggles with balance, the
images generated by the camera are not. Samsung's day of dazzling green and
stagnant blue skies is over, replaced by a more natural color palette and a
beautiful HDR system that works hard to reveal clumps of detail without ruining
the surrounding environment or appearance. Do you. It's not always 100%
effective, but to really get it back on the right track you have to work hard,
and there are times when Samsung is making a comeback and raising the sky.
The galaxy
s21 ultra currently takes photos that are pleasing to the eye, which was not
the case with the S20 Ultra. The Note 20 Ultra is optimized for the S20, but
the S21 Ultra is better for both. I take pictures with it like I do with iPhone
12 Pro - content whose results would be great and I don't feel the need to
check and download the footage as I don't trust it. I hadn't believed this
level in a Samsung camera before.
I haven't had time yet to try all the features on the camera due to the large size. Here are some of the things I have tried and they work fine that I haven't seen on other phones. In Video Pro mode, there is a new BT Mix audio option, which allows the phone to record audio from a Bluetooth source and the phone itself, and combines natural ambient sound with narration. I've tried this with a pair of Galaxy Buds Live and it's really very effective. I see bloggers greet them. One-shot mode, in which the camera captures a range of content from one short video clip, offers more options and more effective artificial intelligence.
Performance and performance
The 6.8-inch
Dynamic AMOLED display supports a resolution of 3200 x 1440 pixels at 120Hz,
but can be swapped to a lower resolution to save battery. The refresh rate is
adjustable, and depending on your activities it switches to the optimal
setting. The screen supports HDR10 + and has a large brightness of 1500 nits.
Not
surprisingly, it got incredibly bright, so I didn't feel the need to move it
over half the brightness. The high refresh rate is very effective, perhaps
before I see the text remaining readable with very fast scrolling. Accuracy
remains at its highest level yet throughout the life of the phone. Watch
YouTube at 1440p provides dynamic and interesting content. For example, Ghost
Town Living videos at this resolution are bright and colorful, but they also
reveal that the default default display mode greatly enhances color, and
switching to natural is easier on the eye in certain situations.
The galaxy
s21 ultra doesn't have a pronounced curve around the edges of the screen, as it
falls somewhere between the S20 Ultra and the Note 20 Ultra. It is less curved
than the Huawei P40 Pro. Scrolling is comfortable, but the huge nature of the
phone means that swiping your finger from the bottom of the screen actually
requires two hands to work safely.
Samsung
added support for the galaxy s21 ultra to the S Pen and tested it with the Note
20 Ultra Pen. Rejection of the palm is subtle and taking notes on the screen is
easy and natural. However, the phone does not support the Bluetooth
functionality of the Note 20 Ultra S Pen, so additional features such as remote
shutter release are not available. There's also no storage space for the S Pen
when it's not in use, so it's questionable how useful this feature will be. If
you really own it, you can buy an ugly case for the S21 Ultra to hold the S
Pen.
I am using
galaxy s21 ultra with Samsung Exynos 2100 processor, which is used in UK,
Europe and parts of Asia. In the US, the phone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon
888. Both have 12 GB of RAM if you choose 512 GB or 256 GB for storage, or 16
GB of RAM with 512 GB for storage. Unfortunately the galaxy s21 ultra doesn't
have a microSD card slot so choose carefully here, as you have all the physical
storage space.
Strangely, at the time of writing, Asphalt 9: Legends is not compatible with my galaxy s21 ultra, which removed normal gameplay. Instead, I played Real Racing 3 and Crazy Taxi and had no performance issues, as you'd expect from a phone of this power. I've ignored every other job the same way and I wonder if most people do anything over the phone, they'll be taxed.
Security and connectivity
Samsung has
finally upgraded the great fingerprint sensor and didn't use the endless,
amazing sensors included in the S10, Note 10, S20 and Note 20. The new
ultrasound sensor is the biggest improvement at the moment because it really
works when you want it. And it does this most of the time on the first try. It
still requires some tweaking, and a software update has already improved it,
but it does have the potential for fast and reliable face recognition thanks to
the mess. Unlocking Samsung phones has never been easier.
Even though
my galaxy s21 ultra has 5G, I don't have 5G coverage in my home area so I
wasn't able to rate its performance. 4G LTE connectivity was similar to other
phones, but Wi-Fi was not completely reliable. Before and after the beta
software update, the phone did not have a strong connection to the home Wi-Fi
network, even when it was still near the router.
Connectivity issues occurred while watching YouTube videos, and the 1440p version was continuously buffered, but switching to 720p fixed the issue. This also appeared when downloading game data, as the connection either got stuck or crashed by mistake. I have not tried to do this with any other device including galaxy s21 ultra. This is likely a software issue that needs to be fixed by update and is not affecting my colleague's phone. So, it didn't affect the overall result and Samsung told us the problem.
Software
In my review
of the galaxy s21 ultra, Samsung has Android 11 with UI 3.1 on top, and a
security update for Android has been installed since January 1st. UI 3.1 isn't
much different from UI 2. You still have the same big, bold icons, the same
smooth transition and overall reliability, plus a little bit of hassle. Visual
changes are tough - the PIN entry screen has been redesigned with an easy
button press, blurry backgrounds, alerts on the notification screen are smaller
and less intrusive, and volume controls are louder.
Samsung's
power control option is tedious. The side switch (not the power switch
according to Samsung) activates Bixby, and you can access power control via a
softie in Notification Center. However, it doesn't showcase a great Android 11
power menu with Google Pay and Smart Home controls - these are just the usual
Samsung power and restart buttons. This is the default setting, and if you are
looking for it, the side switch functionality can be changed in the settings.
Samsung Pay
and Google Pay live together, but Samsung has removed the Magnetic Secure
Transaction (MST) feature, which was used to trick old payment terminals into
believing you had removed the physical card. Useful in some parts of the world,
and removing it will definitely disappoint some, but NFC - powered by galaxy
s21 ultra for Google Pay - is so popular that most people don't use MST at all.
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