Update S21 Ultra On Sale Review – Readers chose the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra as the best phone of the year. It faced stiff competition, especially from the Google Pixel 6 series, whose vanilla model was our Editors’ Choice for 2021. But we’re now a year away from the phone’s launch, so how will the Galaxy S21 Ultra compare in 2022?
Obviously, this phone is still a favorite among our readers, so we know how everyone feels. However, today we get to see the Galaxy S21 Ultra through the lens of 2022. Not only do we have the Galaxy S22 series around the corner, which we know from all the leaks will include an ultra-flavored Note variant, but we also have the greats of OnePlus, Google and Xiaomi to think about.
Update S21 Ultra On Sale Review
With all this in mind, is this phone worth buying today? Let’s dive into our long-term review of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and find out.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review: The Android Flagship To Beat Technology News, Firstpost
For our original phone review from January 2021, we rated the Galaxy S21 Ultra 4.5/5 stars, making it one of the best phones of the year. We got to know what the phone had to offer in the main processing, display and camera departments. Especially compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which didn’t impress us too much, especially when it comes to its design.
Six months after the phone’s launch, we’re still in awe. Even compared to Samsung’s new list of foldable phones, the Galaxy S21 Ultra was a worthwhile purchase. Its starting price of $1,200 prevents us from continuing to recommend it.
With six months to go, it’s time to give the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra the long-term review it deserves.
So far, the closest and newest 2022 Android competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra that we’ve seen is the OnePlus 10 Pro, a phone you can’t even buy outside of China. Interestingly, most of the features on that phone are similar to or weaker than the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review: The Best Android Smartphone That You Can Buy?
For example, the battery sizes are the same (5000 mAh). The screens are also very similar: large WQHD AMOLED screens with an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S21 Ultra has more RAM (up to 16GB) and internal storage (up to 512GB). The camera features of the Galaxy S21 Ultra are also very different from the OnePlus 10 Pro.
Except for two areas, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s spec sheet is still better than the OnePlus 10 Pro.
In fact, the OnePlus 10 Pro only beats the Galaxy S21 Ultra in two areas: processor and charging speed. The 10 Pro’s processor is Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which is the 2022 flagship. The Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 from the previous Galaxy S21 Ultra are by definition no match for it. However, those chipsets are still monsters, not as monster as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
In fact, the 10 Pro’s charging speed is the only thing Samsung can’t compete with. The 10 Pro is literally three times faster than the Galaxy S21 Ultra for both wired and wireless connections. It’s a shame and we sincerely hope that Samsung corrects this discrepancy with the Galaxy S22 series.
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Outside of the Android ecosystem, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max is scheduled to launch in late 2021 and is an obvious competitor to the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Again, Apple’s A15 Bionic processor is slightly more powerful, but not enough to significantly separate the day-to-day experience. The Samsung phone remains competitive in the display, storage, and charging departments. The Galaxy S21 Ultra also offers a more flexible and robust camera package than Apple’s last premium iPhone.
Anyway, the point is that even in 2022, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still a beast of a phone when it comes to raw specs. Even after a year, the phone can compete with other premium flagships. On the software side, the phone has already received the Android 12 update with One UI 4 customization on top. You can get more information about what’s new at the following link.
Great specs are important to making a great phone, but so is design. After all, the flimsy design can make the phone obsolete after a year, as it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to its modern counterparts.
Thankfully, while testing the phone for this Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra long-term review, I never felt like it wasn’t great. That’s notable because it wasn’t on the 2020 model. Surprisingly, Samsung got away with the brutal, and I’m just saying: ugly, design of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The S21 Ultra’s slow motion built into the side of the device and curved (but not overly curved) sides give it a minimalist aesthetic that looks modern even five years later.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review: Dark Knight Rises
Of course, this is a big and heavy phone. At 229g, depending on the model, the Galaxy S21 Ultra will be a brick in your pocket, if it fits there at all. Unless you have very large hands, its massive build will be a bit cumbersome to hold and trying to use the device with one hand is foolish.
However, people who want phones in this category already know and accept it. People like me wish there was a way to get all the features and specs of the Galaxy S21 Ultra in a smaller, lighter form factor, but that’s not happening any time soon. Because the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still beautiful.
One of our biggest issues with the Galaxy S20 Ultra was its camera. Despite having great hardware, the phone struggled with some basic features like autofocus. However, the Galaxy S21 Ultra has ironed out all the issues we had with its predecessor, easily making it one of the best smartphone cameras of 2021 – or any year for that matter.
Galaxy S21 Ultra Camera vs: Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max | Huawei P40 ProPlus | Google Pixel 6 Pro
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Review
It’s no wonder the camera is still amazing today. Not only does it produce great photos, but its dual telephoto system, including a periscope lens, allows for versatility. Focusing is no longer an issue, and the latest One UI 4.0 software is rich in shooting options, including classic portrait and night modes. Combined with the aforementioned Snapdragon 888 processor, taking photos and videos is super fast.
Speaking of video, the phone can record up to 8K at 24fps or 4K at 60fps, with the latter also available from the front camera. All of the rear cameras benefit from solid stability, and Samsung also has some additional software tools for recording video. Director’s View lets you switch between wide and zoom lenses while shooting, or you can use it to automatically generate snapshot clips as well as multiple images.
Below you can see some photos taken with the Galaxy S21 Ultra after receiving the One UI 4.0 update at the end of November 2021:
Obviously, nothing is perfect and the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera still has room for improvement. For example, Samsung can still overload colors in some cases, and sometimes the software is a bit sloppy with acceleration rendering.
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If those two things bother you, you can always use Samsung’s new Expert Raw camera app. This app essentially removes Samsung’s computer systems from the equation and gives you full access to the S21 Ultra’s camera hardware. We don’t recommend this for casual users, but if you think the general camera software is taking things too far, you’re probably not a casual user.
When Samsung coined the “Ultra” moniker, it was clear the company would reserve that title for phones that have everything you want. In fact, some might even argue that the Ultra phones we’ve seen so far have been overkill in some areas; for example, 16 GB of RAM is completely unnecessary.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy S21 Ultra doesn’t live up to its name somehow. This is where the phone gets lost.
The other two Samsung phones to date, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, have expandable storage. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is the outsider here, and it’s pretty underwhelming.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5g Review
It’s true that expandable storage is becoming a headphone jack, by which I mean it’s disappearing from high-end flagships at an alarming rate. Samsung can be forgiven here for simply following the trend, but I think we should keep anything with “Ultra” in its name at a higher level.
This is especially disappointing when you remember that the phone is capable of 8K video recording, which records files at an average of 10MB per second. Of course, the 512GB variant of the phone would solve this problem, but a microSD card slot would be cheaper and easier to use.
Rumors suggest the Galaxy S22 Ultra may also lack expandable storage, so that’s it.
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