Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review after using it for more than a month, cameras, top features, photo and video comparison, problems we encountered while using it, and our recommendation on whether you should have them.

samsung s21 ultra Review

Well, it's been a little over a month since I started using Samsung s21 ultra and in this review, I'm going to guide you into what it has been like to use this phone over the past month, my first impressions of the features that really highlight the experience of setting this phone up and how it compares to other phones. I have used both Android and iOS and we are going to do some deep dive into the camera system of this phone because it is awesome. So, there's a lot more to this review.

Design - Samsung S21 Ultra

Let's dive right in first and talk about the design from this phone. The S21 Ultra feels solid. I mean that in both its build and its weight. This phone weighs a ton compared to most phones that weigh 229 grams, but Samsung designed this phone in a way that makes weight control easier. The Galaxy S21 is almost an alternative like the iPhone 12 and Pixel 5, but it's much longer and because they didn't make it wider, they ended up making a phone that was as easy to hold and comfortable as possible with a phone that weighed a lot.

Now, one more thing that I want to mention is how beautiful this phone actually is, I got the phantom black version. And personally, it looks amazing. The back doesn't show the fingerprints easily and the way they integrated the camera clips with the band surrounding the phone really well Samsung does a great job of wrapping this phone and I love that all sides of the phone were also protected by a film and everything was packaged very well.

Setup - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

Next, let's talk about the setup process and how I'm going to talk about the setup process with this phone. I'm going to talk about it as if I never owned a Samsung phone before because well, this is actually the first Samsung phone I have ever owned and before you spark me in from the comments because I know some of you will. I know I don't know how I've lived on this earth up to this point I've never owned a Samsung phone. I get it.

To set up any smartphone nowadays, there have been some quirks here. The first step is not to log into the Google account that you use on a previous Android device to import settings like Wi-Fi. The second weird thing is that you have to download a specific app from Samsung called Smart Switch to your Android device, transfer from it and let both Pixel 5 and Galaxy S21 Ultra run Android.

There should really be a way to transfer wirelessly from one Android phone to another regardless of the manufacturer of the phone. This should make this process much simpler. Now one of the downsides of the S21 Ultra was something that originally came to me because when I was setting up the phone, I didn't create a Samsung account, I discovered almost everything use is a Google product and I don't really need to set up a Samsung account so I did it - she.

If you log in with your Samsung account or create an account and are not careful, you will do so by subscribing to the really annoying ads that Samsung will place as alert notifications and other Samsung apps.Also given that this phone costs over a thousand dollars, it's totally ridiculous. For me, Samsung treats you that way with ads.

To turn off the OS the ads you can go to on your Samsung account page in the settings head to the privacy section and select the Personalization service and make sure it is turned off. You also need to be careful when opening some Samsung apps for the first time. There will be an additional switch for ad customization services. You will need to make sure that we are not identified in these applications if you want to try and limit ads from appearing in the United States.

Screen - Samsung S21 Ultra

Okay, so now that we've talked about the initial setup of the phone now, let's talk about some of my impressions of the S21 Ultra Samsung s21 ultra after using it for over a month.

The first thing you really notice about this phone when using it is the screen and that smoothness of movement is one of the best screens I have ever used on any smartphone. 120Hz screen makes everything feel clean and fast.

Display and high refresh rate

Samsung's single UI animation allows high refresh offer to be the real star. Applications load very quickly thanks to the phone's processor as well as its support for Wi-Fi 6 and the processor is able to handle almost everything. I manage to throw it into everyday use.

Battery Life - Samsung S21 Ultra

The battery life for me was also good. Even with a 120Hz display, I still get around seven hours of full screen time. Charging and battery can easily last all day in normal use The phone is another hardware feature that really sets me apart. It's very good.

Touch

They can go from really subtle to really intense and overall. I think Samsung has done a really good job with touches on this phone. It's very much comparable to the touch experience on iPhone. Although I will say I think my iPhone 12s touches are just hair better and that could happen due to the devices the two companies are using or I could just be the way iOS tree of tactics versus Android.

Amplifiers

The speakers on this phone are decent, as Samsung uses backfire. The speaker is at the bottom of the device and the speaker is inside the screen towards the top of the phone that we have seen using other phone manufacturers in the past. Sure, it looks loud enough but it has also been found with other TT phones This screen has loudspeaker technology like the Pixel 5 when compared to a regular front-facing phone and speakers, like the iPhone 12, the sound output from the iPhone 12 looks more clear.

Eye protection shield

Another thing that I love about this phone is all the adjustments you can make to the screen. One of those features that I absolutely love is called IComfort Shield. It changes the color temperature of the screen throughout the day. It's easier on your eyes, especially in the evening hours, so the daylight will be more blue during the day and the screen will turn more amber the evening before you go to bed.

Well I wish the phone had an ambient light color temperature sensor with another phone that manufacturers like Apple used I think the eye shield features still get what you want perfectly in a phone screen. Less blue light in the evening. You can even change the screen color temperature yourself if you like and you can put it in a table which is something I do because I feel the auto mode doesn't do that turn the screen amber enough for my light. Ning.

Samsung One Ui vs Pixel UI

Now one question you might have especially if you have watched a lot of YouTube videos, especially the ones about Pixel and Android devices is what the UI does. I like better user interface than Samsung or straight from Google Pixel. Launcher version of Android and I must say I still am.

Pixel launcher for Android is just hair better than Samsung overall I think Samsung beat it very good UI and I didn't find much that I don't like in comparison to it in stock. Android experience gets pixels except I wish it had Google Assistant call screen and all for me the features available on pixel phones as exclusive features. Also, Samsung's 1UI weirdly ignore focus mode scheduling which is something I rely on that helps keep me away from distracting apps at night and is integrated into the Android OS.

Samsung app drawer

So, I'm not sure why it's not in Samsung. OS Now The only thing I really don't like about Samsung's 1UI is the app drawer I used a lot for the Google app, it's a big list that you can scroll through and you can do it Soon Samsung devices feel like they just took home screen pages from Apple and imported them into the app drawer. It looks like a retro design that gives Google's experience on pixels and Apple's decision to let users get away from having to scroll through multiple pages of home screens.

change the font

One of the other single cores that Samsung's UI can do is that you can not only change the font size of the UI but the actual font itself. When you do that sometimes, it will actually change the fonts inside the apps which just seem kind of weird like looking at Twitter with a cool jazz font that looks kinda silly.

Edge panels

Now since this screen is so huge, Samsung has a feature called Edge Panels that you can access by swiping from the right of the screen to open a small panel that you can access Customize to show your favorite apps. You can also use this feature to create a split screen mode, which I already think is quite well done. To use it if you already have an app open, you can open the Edge panel, drag the app file from it onto the screen, and then open it. This split screen app can also save your favorite split screen pairs for edge panel too.

Unlocking the S21 Ultra

The Galaxy S21 Altra unlocking is one of my favorite things about this phone because it doesn't have only one way to authenticate in a two-way phone and under the screen is the biometric fingerprint sensor and face unlock.

Fingerprint sensor

The fingerprint sensor under the display in my test is quite reliable as long as you had a good fingerprint scanner when you first set up this feature. If you don't need to recheck all parts of your finger, and you find I have to do this for one or two. My fingers then worked better.

Face unlock

The face unlock is surprisingly fast S 21. It is used by Ultra because Samsung uses only the front camera to achieve this and it feels just as fast as Google can unlock the face on the previous Pixel 4 XL. Now, I doubt it's as safe as the face unlock technology used by Google and Apple that uses face depth sensors, but for most people I think it will be fine and I have to say that having two authentication methods in the phone was a game changer for me I used this Phone during the last month. Sometimes I'm at home and want to surf the web and pick up the phone and before I even get a chance to put my thumb on the fingerprint sensor the phone really unlocks with the face unlock. It's really a fast and great experience. Then there are other times when I'm outside and around I'm wearing a mask or singing calendars or whatever else gets in the way of my face, maybe a hat with a low visor etc.for those situations, you get the fingerprint sensor that still gives you a very fast way to authenticate in your phone, Especially when compared to having to type in a passcode.

Bixby vs Google Assistant

Another weird Samsung S21 Ultra, this one is Bixby. Am I using it? Well, it sounds a little more robotic than Google Assistant or Siri but it is. Thing. If you're like me, you probably already have Google Assistant speakers in your home and want to use a. Remote as a primary assistant on this phone and by default Samsung doesn't really allow it you can reset double press of power button to turn on Google Assistant. However, there is a solution. You can only download ixby button assistant remapper APK. Install that then open the side switch for advanced settings then under double press select open the app then select the Reset Bixby button assistant tool as the app and boom.

Now when you double press the power button, Google Assistant will start another thing that is so good in Android compared to iOS that you can really customize this phone to your taste. For example, suppose you are a Google fan, you really like Google pixel player and what they do software on pixel phones, but you really like Samsung devices better. So what you can do because of Android is that you can actually download a pixel player that someone made that looks like the official Google Pixel launcher put that Samsung S21 Ultra and with this phone, it's really easy to do. Applications. Choose default apps. Home app and switch from Samsung One UI to any home app you want.

Camera

Well now one of the things that really set this phone apart is the camera system. I think what Samsung specifically did with the S21 Ultra is smart that gives you both in 3X and 10X optical zoom. What I want to take is an enlarged image that I find I either want to zoom in a little bit or zoom in at the maximum and it has visual options for this result and the images have nice crisp appearance and good resolution versus using the zoom software on other phones the pictures they take will look. Are blurry or it will not have good resolution or quality.

10x optical zoom (zoom)

Overall, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is a beast when it comes to photos. Having 3x1x wide angle optical and 10x zoom cameras gives you a lot of versatility when you shoot with a smartphone and I love it. See the details you get on a statue in the city center. Be careful with the 10x optical zoom. That's how far away from me to get a 10x zoom shot with a smartphone. Yes, that's how good the 10x zoom camera is on this phone.

Super zoom

Now, the phone has a super zoom feature which is a must. The party trick for me but it's not something I found very practical but another feature I didn't even notice that I was on this phone until the phone asked me to shoot in full 3-4 high resolution at 108MP and the images produced by this mode are just amazing coming from a smartphone.

Compare photos

In terms of how much you can crop the image and still have a detailed usable image. When comparing the Galaxy S21 ultras photos to iPhone 12 and Pixel 5 and yes, that's not a perfect comparison because iPhone 12 Pro Max. It will produce better photos, so keep that in mind. In general, the Galaxy S21 will outperform the other two when it comes to zooming due to the optical cameras with different focal lengths, neither the iPhone 12 nor the pixel 5 can even zoom to 10x like the Galaxy S21. Now the iPhone 12 Pro Max can reach the maximum pixels at 7x zoom. Here is a comparison of 3x zoom between all of these three phones. You will notice that the Galaxy is the clear winner.

When you look at how these phones perform with the LED flicker removed with all of them turned on, you will see their default settings that the iPhone performs slightly better in this scenario compared to the S21's photos and pixels. When shooting with the main camera of each phone, there isn't much difference between them unless you are shooting in Samsung's 108MP mode, the differences in color and tone are the last thing you'll notice when comparing the S21 Ultra's pixel photos and iPhones.

IPhone photos tend to be brighter in tint to a slightly warmer green tone as pixel photos have a slight purple tint and overall coolness overall says S21s nearby. The same mean goes for the selfies produced by every iPhone that tend to look a bit warmer and have a little glossy, sweet look to them.

Pixels for whatever reason here in our test shot look awesome with anything done with highlights and shadows around my shirt and then this galaxy selfie that's fine. really good. Slightly cooler than the iPhones we expect also Samsung finally allows you to turn off all face smoothing allowing you to see all the details and imperfections of my face as it is in real life, that's a decision.

Video quality

I applaud now when it comes to video, these cameras generally have more distinct differences as with photos, the cameras that the Galaxy S21 changes give you a lot of versatility when shooting video. Well, the 1X main camera sensor produces the best shots of my opinion, the other one is the cameras are not too far away and produces some usable shots which give you have options for the story you want to tell through the shots you take. It also provides you footage that you won't get with other phones at this time. Price even iPhone 12 Max won't give you 10x optical zoom for videos When comparing the video produced by the S21 with other phones like my iPhone 12 and Pixel 5 again, no comparison. Ideal because the iPhone 12 Pro Max shots will do that to be of slightly higher quality.

With all phones on default settings and not using any super stabilization or any other stabilization mode in general, there is a recurring feature when comparing and comparing videos from these three phones. IPhone shots tend to be a little warmer than the Galaxy S21 or pixels and brighter with less noise overall.

Now take this example from a sky-to-lake shot.The S21 and Pixel both produce more noise in the shot compared to the iPhone. In another comparison with this panning shot in front of an old house, the iPhone has slightly less noise and produces a brighter image. They requested 21 changes in skewness of the video with a grade of A. Slightly more purple and the 5 pixels seems to look warmer at the end of the shot probably due to the phone's auto white balance setting, but overall I think the iPhone still produces the best shot here.

This is another example of a street view. The changed iPhone and S21 shots are pretty similar here. I think the iPhone shots are. Just. Hear better and then the five-pixel shots are just as bad as you might not see them whenever you are viewing them on the phone screen, but when you zoom in or view these shots on a larger screen file, like in the iMac, they seem to apply the animation filter to the stills. . It just looks strange. Overall, I think in general the iPhone video quality is better than the s21 ultras, but the altar gives you more options when composing your shots with the multiples of the cameras of different zoom lengths and you can even shoot at 8K, if you need it. So all of these things combined make the S21 Ultra a really great choice for phone camera and still photography.

Well, these are my thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra after using it for over a month. The hardware in this phone is pretty good. really good. It feels like an excellent phone and Samsung's good decision to sprinkle its apps with ads and trying to get users to subscribe to add customization is disappointing. It is easy to find a workaround. Really this was the source of my main problem with this phone, which is telling you something. It is a really well executed product. Now, for me personally, would this be the phone that I have. Always around me no, maybe not.

Well, I found that I really liked the size and screen of this phone while at home reading articles about it while browsing social media. On the flip side when I'm outside, I find that the size of this phone is just that it's kind of cumbersome fitting in my pocket, it feels very big and heavy and I find I prefer a slightly thinner, designer phone when walking out and about. Therefore, I might be attracted towards the Galaxy S21 or S21 plus.

But if you go with one of these phones, you lose the awesome camera system from the Ultra. So, it really depends on how long you wait for one of the best video clips and stills phone cameras this year. You can probably buy them for a slightly manageable phone to put in your pocket and take with you while you're outside in general, I think that's a great option for people who They like big screen phones or want one if not the best camera system yet on a phone in 2021.

Well, I hope you found this explanation helpful and informative and if you did and liked it make sure to add your opinion in the comments below and if you have any questions whatsoever about the Samsung Galaxy S21Ultra phone, be sure to leave them in a comment below. If you want to see more reviews like this on Samsung Google and other tech products, thanks for watching.