Tag Archives: 2021s

"The only real flagship of the Galaxy S series of 2021 is the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which has exceptional capabilities, especially from the camera, at a lower price than its predecessor."

• High performance, versatile camera

• Nice AMOLED screen

• Elegant new design

• Long battery life

• Latest software from Google and Samsung

• The price is lower than last year

• Shaky Wi-Fi connectivity

• Intermittent loading issues

• The top-heavy design affects the balance

• No microSD card slot

As cute as the new design is, the Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 + do not have the technical specifications that we expect from the top S-series phones from Samsung. To get that true S-series experience, you have to buy the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is fully focused on performance, screen, camera and battery technology to please hardcore fans.

But at $ 1,200 that is Galaxy S21 Ultra This is a sizeable investment, certainly compared to the $ 800 Galaxy S21 already tested. In addition, it faces serious competition both on the outside – for example the iPhone 12 Pro Max – and on the inside (the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Fold 2).

I am one week in the time that I live with the S21 Ultra. So, consider this a very detailed early look rather than our final test at this point, but both myself and mobile editor Andrew Martonik will add our continued thoughts to this article over the phone over the coming weeks as we build our final review out.

But even after seven days, the extraordinary capabilities of the Galaxy S21 Ultra are clear, especially when it comes to the camera. The top Samsung S-series phone may be here earlier than usual, but there's no doubt that it has a lot going for it.

design

Yes, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is a big phone, but the dimensions and weight don't tell the full story. The thickness of 8.9 mm and the weight of 227 grams sound pretty normal for large smartphones these days. Placing them next to the S20 Ultra and the Note 20 Ultra actually takes up less space. This is deceptive, however, because it isn't as good as any of these phones or much of the competition, and it all has to do with the S21 Ultra's standout design feature – that large camera module – and its construction.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Instead of being a separate module on the back of the phone like the S20 Ultra, the S21 Ultra's massive camera array is part of the case itself, molded from metal and separated from the Gorilla Glass back. It's a different approach than most other smartphones and really gives the S21 Ultra a unique style – I especially like the “solid metal” design. It also looks a lot better than the S20 Ultra. However, all of this comes at the expense of balance.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Balance is important. This makes the phone feel natural in our hand and holds it securely in our grip. Since there is a large lump of metal with four camera sensors on one side of the S21 Ultra, the balance is easily disturbed. It's not a lot, but after a while you feel it. The 227g weight gets tiring after being held in portrait orientation for some time, especially with one hand. It's not the end of the world, but when the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra feels thinner, lighter, and more balanced in the hand, you know you are dealing with an animal.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Balance aside, the sides of the S21 Ultra are neatly curved and comfortable to grip, the volume and on / off buttons are well placed, there is no stupid Bixby button in the way, and the matte body is not covered in smudges or fingerprints . On this subject, my test model is in phantom black, a new color Samsung talked about extensively during the launch event. So is it worth the attention or is it just another black phone? The answer is that it is actually judged very well and is one of the best looking black surfaces you will see. With the ceramic black Oppo Find X2 Pro, it's just right for you.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The matte finish is broken up by a glossy Samsung logo and the chiseled polished metal that surrounds the camera module, as well as the reflective glass over each camera lens. I find it elegant and expensive. There are versions in lighter colors too, including some exclusive Samsung colors, but it really is one of the first times I can say that buying the black one is a good choice.

camera

As with the Galaxy S21 Ultra's dimensions, the camera's basic specs don't reflect what they look like in real life. The specification is as follows: A 108 megapixel camera includes a 12MP ultrawide, a 10MP 10x periscope zoom and a 10MP 3x telephoto zoom. Even with laser autofocus, optical image stabilization, 8K video recording, and many other features on paper, this is nothing we haven't seen before. In practice, however, its ability quickly makes it clear that while we've seen the specifications before, we haven't implemented them as effectively as Samsung did here.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Let's talk about the zoom. At 10x and 3x optical zoom levels, the results are often astonishing. The photos contain a variety of details that are not compromised by aggressive software enhancements. This results in crisp, sharp, colorful, and balanced images that you are happy to share. However, there are some problems. If you compare it to the Huawei P40 Pro, with which we received a high-performance 10x hybrid zoom in May 2020, you will find that the Huawei can capture far more realistic colors – and often in greater detail. However, the S21 Ultra is not as underexposed as the Huawei, so it is the more consistent camera at this zoom level.

Use the digital zoom outside of the optical settings and the quality will decrease compared to the optical levels. Compare the 2x optical zoom of the iPhone 12 Pro with the 2x digital zoom of the S21 Ultra. The results are very different. The Samsung phone blurs details and loses realism. Increase the S21 Ultra to 3x optically and compare it to the 2x zoom of the iPhone. They are very similar in detail and tone.

Aside from the 10x optical zoom, the good news is that the photos are mostly usable, and that includes up to 100x. Photos taken with the Galaxy S20 Ultra with a maximum of 100x zoom were ridiculously bad, but the S21 Ultra allows you to photograph a sign and it remains perfectly legible. At 30x, even photos of wild animals look good – divisible good – and it's a welcome surprise. If a business wants to add these relatively niche, long zoom features, they need to be usable and reside on the S21 Ultra.

How about photos in general? While the physical phone struggles with its balance, the photos generated by the camera don't. Gone are the days of Samsung's radioactive greens and constant azure skies being replaced with a more natural color palette and a beautiful HDR system that works hard to bring out masses of detail without ruining the surroundings or subject. It's not always 100% effective, but you actually have to make an effort to get it off track, and there are times when Samsung is typing again and making the skies better.

The S21 Ultra takes photos that are immediately pleasing to the eye, and that wasn't the case with the S20 Ultra. The Note 20 Ultra has improved over the S20, but the S21 Ultra goes way beyond either. I use it to take photos like I did with the iPhone 12 Pro – content where the results are great and I don't feel the need to review and retake the shot because I don't trust it. I've never had this much confidence in a Samsung camera.

I just haven't had enough time to try out all of the camera's functions as there are many. Here are a few that I've tried that can't be seen on other phones. In Pro mode for video there is a new BT Mix audio option that allows the phone to record audio from a Bluetooth source and from the phone itself, delivering natural ambient sound paired with commentary. I've tried this on a pair of Galaxy Buds Live and it's really very effective. I can see it is being welcomed by vloggers. The single take mode, in which the camera captures a variety of content from a short video, offers more choice and more effective artificial intelligence.

The S21 Ultra takes photos that are instantly engaging, and that wasn't the case with the S20 Ultra.

In Director's View, videos are recorded with all cameras at the same time, and you can choose which view is used at what time. It also adds a picture-in-picture view of the selfie camera for reactions and comments. It works well and switching between cameras is smooth and quick. However, I would have liked a full editing suite for this mode that would allow you to capture video from any camera at any time. Without this, you have to edit on the fly, with the end result being created on the go.

What else? Edge detection for portraits has been improved. Samsung dropped the old Live Focus name in favor of the more explanatory portrait name here. The selfie camera has a natural or light setting for better colors and the A.I.-controlled scene recognition works faster, as does the optional instructions for composing best shot scenes. On the other hand, 8K video is still a memory hog and meaningless to most people, despite being technically impressive.

• 1.
  Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
• 2.
  Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Galaxy S20 Ultra

I haven't done much research on the lowlight features yet. In the dark, the phone introduces noise as it compensates for the lack of light and, in situations with better lighting, often smooths out clouds and the surrounding area. I've been with the S21 Ultra's camera for less than a week and only a few hundred photos, but right now it's well on the way to being the best Samsung camera I've ever used and one of the best cameras out there there is moment.

Screen and performance

The 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen supports a resolution of 3200 x 1440 pixels at 120 Hz, but can be switched to a lower resolution to extend the battery life. The refresh rate is adaptable and changes to the optimal setting depending on your activities. The screen supports HDR10 + and a whopping 1500 nits of brightness.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Unsurprisingly, it gets incredibly bright so I didn't feel the need to bring it far above half brightness. The high refresh rate is very effective, maybe even more effective than I've seen before. The text remains legible even when scrolling very quickly. I kept the resolution at the highest level for all of my time with the phone. Watching YouTube at 1440p produces very lifelike, extremely attractive content. For example, the Ghost Town Living videos are bright and colorful at this resolution, but it also highlights that the standard vivid screen mode enhances colors too much and switching to the natural setting is easier on the eyes in some situations.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The screen of the S21 Ultra has no pronounced curvature on the sides and is somewhere between the S20 Ultra and the Note 20 Ultra in this regard. It's far less curved than the Huawei P40 Pro. Swiping is convenient, but the phone's top-heavy nature means that swiping from the bottom of the screen really does require two hands to be safe.

Samsung added support for S Pen pens to the S21 Ultra, and I tested it with the pen on a Note 20 Ultra. The rejection of palms is correct, and it is easy and natural to write notes on the screen. However, the phone does not support the Bluetooth function of the S Pen of the Note 20 Ultra, so no additional functions such as the remote shutter button are available. There's also no way to stow the S-pen when it's not in use. So it is questionable how useful this feature will ever be. You can buy an ugly case for the S21 Ultra to hold the S-Pen if you are really set on having it.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I am using a Galaxy S21 Ultra with the Samsung Exynos 2100 processor which is used in the UK, Europe and parts of Asia. In the US, the phone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. Both have 12GB of RAM if you choose 128GB or 256GB of storage, or 16GB of RAM with 512GB of storage. Unfortunately there is no microSD card slot on the S21 Ultra. So choose it carefully here as this is all of the physical space you will have.

Oddly enough, Asphalt 9: Legends is not compatible with my Galaxy S21 Ultra at the time of writing, which robs me of my usual go-to game. Instead, I played Real Racing 3 and Crazy Taxi and saw no performance issues at all, as you would expect from a phone with this performance. It shook off every other task in the same way, and I'd be surprised if anything most people do on a phone taxed it.

Security and Connectivity

Samsung has finally upgraded the gruesome fingerprint sensor and not used the endlessly unreliable sensor found on the S10, Note 10, S20, and Note 20 phones. The new, larger ultrasonic sensor is an immediate improvement as it actually works when you want it to, and for the most part on the first try. It still needs some tweaking, and a software update has already improved it, but there is fast and reliable facial recognition for those times when things get messy. Unlocking your Samsung phone has never been easier.

Although the S21 Ultra has 5G, I don't have 5G coverage in my area so I couldn't judge its performance. 4G LTE connectivity was similar to other phones, but Wi-Fi wasn't entirely reliable. Both before and after a pre-release software update, the phone did not maintain a strong connection to my home WiFi even when it is near the router.

I ran into connection issues while watching YouTube videos as 1440p versions were constantly being buffered, but switching to 720p fixes the problem. They also occurred while downloading game data that got stuck or accidentally disconnected. I haven't experienced this with any other device, including the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It's likely a software issue that should be fixed with an update that doesn't affect my colleague's phone. As such, this didn't affect the overall score and we notified Samsung of the problem.

software

My test S21 Ultra has Android 11 with the One UI 3.1 interface from Samsung and the installed Android security update from January 1st. A UI 3.1 is not that different from a UI 2. You still have the same big, bold icons and smooth transitions and the same overall reliability and minor annoyances. Visual changes are hard to spot – the PIN code entry screen has been redesigned with easy-to-use buttons and a blurry background, on-screen notification notifications are smaller and less intrusive, and the volume controls are larger.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Choosing Samsung's power regulators is still annoying. The side button (according to Samsung no on / off button) activates Bixby and you access the power control via a software button in the notification shadow. Even then, the excellent Android 11 power menu with Google Pay and Smart Home controls won't appear – it's just the usual Samsung power and restart buttons. This is the default, and the functionality of the side button can be changed under Settings if that's what you're looking for.

Samsung Pay and Google Pay live side by side, but Samsung has removed the Magnetic Secure Transaction (MST) feature that was used to fool old payment terminals into stealing a physical card. Only useful in some regions of the world, its removal will surely frustrate some, but NFC – which the S21 Ultra supports for Google Pay – is so commonplace that most people haven't used MST at all.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Samsung Daily, the useless swipe-in ​​panel of news and other nonsense that sits to the left of the home screen, has been replaced with a Samsung Free that apparently only focuses on news from the Upday service. It's terrible too, but can be replaced or turned off entirely with the slightly less terrible Google Discover page. Bixby is also on board. I'll say the speech recognition is very accurate, but I just can't find a reason to use it through the Google Assistant.

battery

The Galaxy S21 Ultra's battery performance assessment is just beginning, but the signs are good that the 5,000mAh cell will easily last a full day, or possibly two business days, with light use. It supports 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging and reverse charging.

This is how my initial use worked. Starting at 9 a.m. on a full battery, the S21 Ultra handled an hour of podcast streaming, some photos, general social and web usage, an hour of YouTube, some light games, and being connected to a smartwatch. It ended the night with around three and a half hours of screen time and 29% battery remaining. This corresponds to the battery life of a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

There may be some differences in power consumption between the Exynos and Snapdragon S21 Ultra phones. Martonik, DT's mobile editor, uses a Snapdragon S21 Ultra and ended a day on 50% battery life in 15 hours, including two and a half hours of screen time.

The Galaxy S21 does not come with a charger. While I don't think this is a problem in itself, I've had some issues charging with third-party chargers. I charged the phone every night I used it. In three cases it was charged by about 20% and stopped. I only noticed that in the morning. I used a Google Pixel 4 charging block and cable. I will continue to monitor this and experiment with other chargers. Just like the Wi-Fi issue, it doesn't affect the review score and we have informed Samsung. This is likely an isolated issue as it does not affect my colleague's S21 Ultra.

Price and availability

The Galaxy S21 Ultra can now be pre-ordered. The delivery is expected to take place from January 27th. It is available through Samsung's own online store, Amazon and other retailers, as well as most network operators. The 128GB version is $ 1,200, the 256GB version is $ 1,250, and the 512GB version is $ 1,380. In the UK, the S21 Ultra costs £ 1,149 for the 128GB model, £ 1,199 for the 256GB model and £ 1,329 for the 512GB model.

Our opinion

Let's take this step at a time. The Galaxy S21 Ultra isn't the biggest phone out there, but it definitely feels that way. However, the new design and color choices are Samsung's best. The camera is versatile and extremely powerful. The processor offers more power than ever before. There are a few minor issues with software and connectivity, however. Samsung continues to strive to deliver a stunning screen, and the price is significantly lower than its predecessor. Last year, however, it became clear that you don't have to spend more than $ 1,000 to get a really great smartphone. The advantages still definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra really wins when placed alongside the other Galaxy S21 smartphones. It's the only model that really looks and feels like an S-series flagship. Samsung's shift in product range and pricing structure means that the S21 Ultra is the only version for you if you really want to own the latest and greatest in the S series phone, by which we mean the best technology for the most stylish case. The very good news is that when you receive them you will not be disappointed.

Is there a better alternative?

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has two main competitors: the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The iPhone is slightly cheaper, has a great camera, arguably more compact and easy to drill, and the software and long-term ownership experience are excellent.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra may have a slightly older processor, but you probably won't notice. The camera is not that powerful, but it still takes great photos. It's slimmer and more balanced, plus it comes with the S Pen pen, and there's a place to keep it too. It's also a lot cheaper than the S21 Ultra.

Both are strongly recommended. If you don't mind spending more money and want to stay with Samsung, then the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is excellent and will really turn heads with its foldable design. If you're looking to save a little money and prioritize the camera's capabilities, take a look at the iPhone 12 or the Google Pixel 5.

How long it will take?

If you get a two-year contract, the S21 Ultra will almost certainly still feel fresh in the end. There's no reason why it won't help you for another year.

If you handle the phone properly, it should be durable too. It is IP68 water and dust resistant, and the screen is covered in Gorilla Glass Victus, which is said to withstand damage from drops of up to six feet. We wouldn't put this to the test, but it does indicate that the screen can handle pocket and bag pulling in and out, and will survive general use without scratches building up.

The software installed at the time of writing is fully up to date with Android 11, OneUI 3.1, and the latest Android security update. Samsung recently committed to deliver three Android updates to various devices, including the S20 series. It is therefore to be expected that the S21 series will offer the same benefit. However, it is unknown when the updates will arrive on your phone after they are posted by Google.

Should you buy it?

Yes. It's the most advanced Android smartphone you can buy right now, and it makes decisive use of the high-level technology it contains.

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