Thread by @sondesix

[GALAXY S21 ULTRA - LONG-TERM REVIEW]

It has been 11 months since I used my Galaxy S21 Ultra (Exynos variant) for the first time.

Weeks before the Galaxy S22 series' launch, I'm finally ready to do my long-term review of the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

It's going to be a long one. 👀

PART 1
DESIGN

You know how much I love this phone's design.

How?
Well, I always did a monthly design appreciation thread of this phone, just to show how great the phone looks in different lighting conditions. The sign couldn't have been more obvious.

It is hard for Samsung to make the design look better than this and even the Galaxy S22 Ultra can't please me enough to think it has a better design than this one.

This Phantom Silver colour also suits the design really well, and so does the Phantom Black that looks really bold.

The colour of the Silver's rear side can also change dramatically with different lighting conditions and the phone's angle.

Oh, and even in the same lighting condition, the colour can also change dramatically because of the angle.

Just look at these pictures, for example.

Other than being beautiful, it is also really comfortable to hold, despite its size. The weight distribution of this phone is also really good, a lot better, compared to its predecessor (Galaxy S20 Ultra) despite being slightly heavier.

The curved edges also help the phone to become really satisfying to hold without a case, unlike iPhone 13 Pro Max, for example.

The only thing that I dislike about this design is the fact that the rear side can attract fingerprints quite easily, despite being a frosted glass.

PART 2
CAMERA

Another one of my favourite parts of this phone would be its camera. From the processing, features, and its versatility, I think Galaxy S21 Ultra has the most well-rounded camera system of all smartphones available today.

The results coming from this phone's camera is truly awesome, in most conditions.

Daylight shots with all lenses look really good. Well-detailed, minimal noise, vibrant colours with accurate white balance, great exposure and contrast, and just incredibly pleasing overall.

More samples...

I can only choose a few pictures, out of thousands I have captured with this phone, but they are excellent.

1st pic: 3x tele, portrait mode
2nd pic: 3x tele, a bit less than ideal condition
3rd pic: 10x tele, I have to say I love this shot
4th pic: 10x tele

Macro shots look great when captured with the phone's main camera. That Laser Autofocus does help in improving the focusing speed and especially its accuracy. I do think that all other lenses still have a better autofocus accuracy due to them having Dual Pixel PDAF,...

... but it does perform a lot better than Samsung's prior 108 MP phones. Using the Focus Enhancer feature can result in a lot better or a lot worse results, depending on the situation (pictures shown below).

Moreover, Samsung also have their new Expert RAW app, bringing a new...

... image processing capability, including a better detail preservation and improvements in dynamic range compared to the stock app.

For videos, this is where it gets interesting. From my full-review that I uploaded last February, I said something like...

..."I see a huge improvement in low-light videos compared to the S20U." Yep, that was mostly wrong and I should've tested its video capabilities more thoroughly.

Videos in daylight are mostly really great, with noticeably less frame-drops when compared to how it was...

.... with its earlier firmware versions. The stabilisation is great, with colours that are pleasing (with a very accurate white balance), very good details, and great dynamic range. I doubt it is better than something like an iPhone 13 Pro Max,...

... but it is definitely great for an Android phone.

Video quality in low-light has been performing better than how it was before. Low-light videos are still on the soft side, even though still very usable.

Oh, and selfie photos and videos are excellent!

PART 3
DISPLAY

Bright, Gorgeous, Vivid, and Rich.

That's how I would describe Galaxy S21 Ultra's display. It is just so pleasant to look at. Watching videos with the S21 Ultra is a wonderful experience. I have nothing more to say about it.

But, I do have to say that Samsung phones still lack the diverse customisation settings for their displays. Seeing how so many other manufacturers out there offer more customisation options for their display settings,...

Samsung, as "a leader in the mobile display market," should have more comprehensive display settings to take a full advantage of the phone's incredible display.

Overall, Galaxy S21 Ultra's display is still really impressive & worthy of being a benchmark for smartphones to come.

PART 4
AUDIO QUALITY

Audio quality through my wireless headphones sound fantastic, with plenty of details and even though I don't really like Samsung's audio settings, I just left the equaliser to normal & turned the Dolby Atmos on to its Dynamic mode. It sounds excellent!

Audio quality through the phone's built-in dual stereo speakers is mostly really great. It has plenty of details of a pair of phone speakers, and even though they can't match those gaming phones' excellent speakers, the speakers of the Galaxy S21 Ultra are still great enough.

PART 5
Performance

Fast, buttery smooth, and fluid.

That's how I feel after using the Galaxy S21 Ultra, running Exynos 2100 + One UI 4.

It is definitely a lot better than the S20U and especially when the phone still runs One UI 3.1.

You can do things rapidly with this phone.

I still get occasional heating problems, but after One UI 4, that issue happened less frequently.

When the phone gets above 41°C or so, it does get laggy and stuttery. Not what I experienced, even with my iPhone 11 when it overheats.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied.

Gaming performance is a hit and miss, though.

The overall performance is very good, a lot better than my S20U with E990.

But, it can get pretty hot more easily, and when it gets hot, I can notice a few frame-drops, especially when playing games that run high refresh rate.

PART 6
Software and Operating System

My Galaxy S21 Ultra runs Android 12 on top of Samsung's One UI 4 (build number: BULC).

As usual, One UI 4 remains one of my choices for Android skins, even though I still think that Pixel's Android 12 is the most coherent Android skin yet.

For the balance between features, customisation options, look and feel, integration with haptics, and other aspects, I think One UI 4 is one of the best.

And... NO MORE ADS!

With Good Lock, it gets even more customisable too.

Read my thread here:

https://twitter.com/sondesix/status/1439785085184532481?t=9jCRTgXdQc_HsOhJK9hgAg&s=19

Most problems I have with this phone (bugs, stuttering, and so on) have something to do with software, so it's up to Samsung whether they want to fix it or not.

Things like taking screenshots and screen recording are still not working well on One UI.

Taking screenshots can get really slow and screen recording is still not reaching 50 fps, based on my experience.

Read my One UI 4 review here:

https://twitter.com/sondesix/status/1465886176343048195?t=2_b8K3IBvtP4d1xCGfFxAQ&s=19

PART 7
Productivity, Multitasking, and Usability

Galaxy S21 Ultra brings the first S Pen support for the S-series, and I've never thought that I need a stylus for my phone... Well, until I use one.

The experience of using an S Pen might not be as good as using it with...

... a Galaxy Note, but it is enough for me to think that I need an S Pen for my productivity stuff now, like taking notes for my university stuff, taking notes for a meeting, studying or calculating without having to use any paper, signing a letter, and so on.

Aside from that, the tools in the Samsung Notes app are very diverse too. I feel like I've missed out on something really good because I haven't used a Galaxy Note before.

Multitasking with this phone feels like a joy. My S21 Ultra has 16 GB of RAM and it is a dream for heavy...

... multitaskers like me. I can do so many things at the same time with this phone (and I've done something like this on multiple occasions, not rarely), and the phone is able to handle it almost flawlessly.

Gestures could've been better, and that is definitely a...

software issue + that's what makes my multitasking experience not totally flawless (One UI 4 still couldn't match iOS when it comes to gesture fluidity).

The 2nd gen ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that is located under the screen of the S21 Ultra also works great.

It is so fast and very accurate, with minimal failure, even when my fingers are wet after.... nevermind.

Moving on... The haptics of this phone is actually really good. Much better than S20 Ultra's and definitely enormously better than older Samsung phones.

After One UI 4, the haptic feedback implementation gets even better than that. From using the camera app, doing simple stuff like opening Device Manager, and even when plugging in the charger, the haptic feedback is very satisfying. The tightness and strength are better on...

...iPhones/OnePlus phones, but the implementation here is really good compared to other Android phones (except maybe on Pixel? Idk, haven't tried Pixel 6 yet).

I think that's it. Probably I forgot about this phone's other important features, but overall, it is excellent.

PART 8
Battery Life

Well, this is a part that is disappointing to me the first time I've used this phone, and it has been disappointing me even more since then.

I thought it was just because on my first week with the phone, I was using it crazily. But then,...

...I realised that the phone's battery life is just not that good for me.

I only get 4 to 4.5 hours of screen time for every charge and I've been using this phone the exact same way as I used my S20 Ultra. My S20 Ultra had better battery life, and...

...the difference is quite significant, for phones with the same exact battery capacity and using an SoC that claimed to have improved the power efficiency significantly.

Charging the phone is quite fast, though. And it is also very efficient, because despite only having 25 W...

... charging speed, it can fill the 5000 mAh battery from 1% to 100% in just a few minutes over an hour. Not as fast as some other phones out there, but still usable.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT, CONCLUSION, AND RATING.

Even after almost a year, Galaxy S21 Ultra is still one of the most capable smartphones ever. With excellent camera performance and a versatile camera system, fast and smooth performance, incredibly beautiful design,...

a gorgeous display, and reliability + productivity features that are so diverse and almost complete. It makes me so happy to see Samsung finally learn about what they did wrong with the S20 Ultra because let's get one thing right. The upgrade from S20 Ultra to S21 Ultra...

...is quite minimal, but the refinements are enough for me to recommend this phone to anyone who wants a great smartphone with less compromise.

Cons (-)
- Can get laggy when the phone gets hot
- Gestures could've worked better
- Gaming at 120 Hz still needs some work (some frame drops)
- There are some unfixed drawbacks that still exist on One UI 4

So, what do you think about the Galaxy S21 Ultra?

And for those of you who are still using the S21 Ultra, will you upgrade to the S22 Ultra?

Let me know in the replies!

Damn...
I forgot to share the link for video samples captured by the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Here you go:
• 4K@30 fps, good lighting:
• Full HD@30 fps, low-light:
• 4K@30 fps, low-light:

Aaaand I also forgot to give the rating. I was too rushed lol.

Design: 9.7/10
Photography: 9.4/10
Videography: 8.7/10
Display: 9.8/10
Performance: 9/10
Software and OS: 9.2/10
Productivity, Multitasking, and Usability: 9.3/10
Battery life: 7/10

Overall: 9/10 (solid!)