Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review

Design

The design here follows the line of the entire S21 series, with the main highlight being the large camera plate, which is no longer an independent island on the back panel, but blends into the metal frame. The S21 Ultra also has Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the dual-curved display and on its back, and the rear panel is matte and — oh, wonder — fingerprint-resistant. I compare all these changes to last year's S20 Ultra, and I'm happy to congratulate Samsung's designers, who are clearly back at work after a long sabbatical.

Yes, overall I would rate the design and build of the Galaxy S21 Ultra as excellent, which really feels like a premium product, as it should.

The good news is that Samsung retains the high dust and water protection of the body, which allows you to submerge the smartphone in fresh water. Note that the manufacturer does not recommend doing it on purpose, no matter how tempting it is to take underwater photos.

Sound and the Galaxy Buds Pro headphones

The other trademark for the company's high-end smartphones is the stereo speakers. The S21 Ultra still has one in the earcup above the display and one below, which provides extremely rich and loud sound. There is no headphone jack, which we have already taken for granted, and Samsung is seriously developing its portfolio of compact wireless headphones, and with this phone it presented its latest model - the Galaxy Buds Pro.

These headphones fit perfectly in the ear and can be worn during active activities without the risk of falling out. Among their more interesting features are the active isolation of ambient noise, which here is on a whole new level and works differently than the Galaxy Buds Live model. There's also an ambient noise-canceling mode, but the most valuable extra is the automatic reduction of music when the headphones "hear" you talking. A few seconds after you've finished your call, the music starts playing again at full volume and the active noise isolation is reactivated. The bad thing is that if you sing out loud, the headphones will still reduce the volume, which for me, for example, is a problem.

Display

I continue with the details of the display, which, as I mentioned at the beginning, is quite different from those of the S21 and S21+, and not only because of its size. The Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 6.8" screen with slight curves and is the largest of the trio. The resolution of this model alone is a whopping 3200 x 1440 pixels, which makes for an outstanding dot density of 515 ppi. And perhaps the best news - you can to simultaneously select the highest resolution and the new dynamic mode with up to 120 Hz display refresh. The latter means that the S21 Ultra will automatically change its screen refresh rate according to the content, switching between 10 and 120 Hz. This solution is intended to help saving power, as a constant 120 Hz refresh would be quite demanding on the battery, and it's not necessary anyway, and you wouldn't feel it at all with the phone.

The other advantage of the S21 Ultra is the significantly higher contrast and brighter display. It has 50% higher contrast and 25% higher brightness compared to last year's S20 Ultra. This means, on the one hand, that you will hold one of the most impressive screens in a smartphone so far in your hand, and on the other hand, outdoors, even in direct sunlight or on a very snowy day, you will see the image perfectly.

Integrated under the screen of the Galaxy S21 Ultra is Qualcomm's brand new fingerprint scanner, which I used for the first time with this phone. It is extremely accurate and fast in recognition and for me personally solves one of the more serious shortcomings of previous Samsung models. The scanner in question is also 77% larger in area than its predecessor, so it's also much easier to hit - in fact, I've never had a problem with it.

Fingerprint scanning is one of the biometric security options that the Galaxy S21 Ultra offers. There is also facial scanning technology that relies on the front camera. It is, by the way, a circle cut into the display, behind which a 40 MP sensor is hidden. It is possible to take 40MP selfies, but by default it uses 4-pixel-in-1 technology, so the better option is to go for 10MP selfies, which are better quality, especially in low light. There's also the new option for the S21 series that lets you choose whether selfies are more natural or brighter.

I conclude the topic with the display by just noting that it comes with a protective film stuck on it. To be honest, I'm not a fan of this solution, because it spoils the pleasant feeling of sliding the finger on the side of the curved screen, and the foil scratches much more easily. But in any case, we would certainly prefer to scratch the protector, which we then have to replace at some point, than the glass itself.

Main camera

The camera plate is significantly more solid than the one on the S21 and S21+, but there's a good reason for that. We're talking four cameras + laser autofocus here. Behind the main camera is Samsung's brand new 108 MP sensor, which is a noticeably improved version of the one used by last year's S20 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra. The manufacturer promises 12-bit HDR shots, which have a much richer color range and a much wider dynamic range compared to the S20 Ultra. Perhaps the most serious improvement, however, is in photos in more challenging lighting conditions. The Galaxy S21 Ultra has an improved night mode and noise reduction technology, and the ability to combine as many as 9 pixels in 1 allows you to take pictures even in near total darkness. So I come to the main camera. What sets the Galaxy S21 Ultra apart from most competitors in the premium segment, and which, in my opinion, would be your most serious reason to choose it among the three offerings in the S21 series.

The phone's second camera has a super-wide range of 120 degrees, and it also has autofocus. This is where one of the manifestations of artificial intelligence can be seen, with the help of which the camera can recognize a very close object and automatically switch to macro mode. That's right - it's possible to take macro photos with that same ultrawide camera, rather than another purpose-built one that you'd use two or three times a year.

With the next two cameras, things get even more interesting. So far, Samsung has seemed to stay away from the race for serious optical zoom, but with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, they are entering with full force. The smartphone has two 10 MP cameras, one of which provides 3x optical zoom, and the second - 10x. The latter is made possible by an advanced periscope system, which the manufacturer uses here for the first time.

Now it's time to go back to my imaginary trip to New York, for which I would take the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The reason is that this quad camera is one of the most capable and versatile in a smartphone to date. In addition to quality photos in good conditions and in low light, the camera provides the ability to choose the most suitable lens for the situation, whether you are shooting landscapes, tall buildings, portraits, macro shots or want to get close to the top of the Empire State Building.

Three scenes shot with the ultra-wide camera, standard camera, 3x optical zoom and 10x optical zoom:

The S21 Ultra, by the way, retains the so-called Space Zoom, which reaches a maximum of 100x zoom. Of course, in the final version the results are not impressive, but up to 30x zoom the images are quite usable. However, Samsung is trying to make those super close-up shots at least more stable when taken by adding the Zoom Lock feature. It helps eliminate the shaky hand effect that can ruin any shot, especially when you're using serious zoom.

Night shot:

Night shot with 10x optical zoom:

Selfies with Galaxy S21 Ultra:

More Galaxy S21 Ultra shots:

The Galaxy S21 Ultra also has news regarding video recording. The smartphone allows 4K video recording at 60 fps with all cameras - the four main ones and even the front one. This will be convenient for people who use footage from different cameras to later edit a common video with them, and also introduces the Director's View function. With it, you can record simultaneously with the front camera and one of the main ones, and when recording you have a constant view of three points of view and a convenient way to switch between them. Stabilization on all cameras, whether optical or electronic, works great, and sometimes the recording looks like it's being assisted by a gimbal.

Configuration and extras

The configuration of the Galaxy S21 Ultra is based on the new Exynos 2100 chipset, which I already told you in detail in the review of the S21 and S12+. It is an 8-core processor, manufactured using a 5-nanometer process and with a built-in 5G modem. It is accompanied by 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of built-in memory, but there is also a version with 512 GB of memory, where the operating system is as much as 16 GB. A microSD card slot is missing in both cases, so keep that in mind when choosing.

The smartphone is the first to support the new Wi-Fi 6E standard, and it also supports ultra-broadband technology, which we understand will allow the device to be used as a key for select car models. However, the uses of this technology do not end there, and we are sure to hear about new ones.

Here I will also pay attention to one of the big news surrounding the premiere of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is the first smartphone in the series with S Pen support. That's right - Samsung allows you to use a stylus on the S21 Ultra's screen. But that doesn't mean the pen is exactly the same as the one on, say, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Here, the S Pen does not fit into the body of the device, and it does not even come in its kit. It is sold as an accessory, and you have to buy the rather rough case in which it is stored. This means that, on the one hand, you will make an additional investment in these accessories, and on the other hand, you will make your smartphone much heavier and rougher. That's why I think that if you want a stylus, it's best to look directly at the Galaxy Note series, which I use myself. I strongly hope it will be continued after the S Pen is transferred to other models.

Battery and charging

As befits a smartphone with the Ultra name, the battery is also impressive. Its capacity is 5000 mAh and the good news is that it provides up to two days of usage time. Although the display is large, with high resolution and up to 120 Hz, the new adaptive refresh rate mode and optimizations with the new Exynos chipset seem to help the battery performance to be more solid. In the evening, I usually left the phone with about 45 to 55% charge and it lasted until the afternoon of the second day.

It's disappointing, and I'd say strange, that Samsung doesn't really push charging speeds. The Galaxy S21 Ultra supports a maximum of 25W charging, which is far behind that of competing models from Xiaomi, OnePlus and Huawei, say. The Koreans are taking a far more conservative approach on the matter, much like Apple, following the latter's example even with regard to the kit, which no longer includes a charger.

However, there is no shortage of increasingly popular extras such as wireless charging, although it is only 15W, as well as inverted wireless charging, with which you can charge, for example, your new headphones by simply placing them on the back of the S21 Ultra.

Software

I conclude the review with the topic of the software. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is based on the latest Android 11, which Samsung covers with its modified One UI interface in its latest version 3.1. I will only mention here that the smartphone offers tons of settings and customization options, has one of the smartest solutions to deal with the large screen and easier one-handed navigation, and also the good news is that Samsung allows you to replace their news stream Samsung Free with Google Discover, which I'm sure most of you would prefer, like myself.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about this smartphone is that it enters Samsung's new list, where devices can count on updates to 3 major versions of Android. Starting this week, the manufacturer also promises 4 years of security updates. This is rare for smartphones running Google's operating system, for which the length and timeliness of software updates has been a problem for years.

Below the line

This was my review of the Galaxy S21 Ultra - Samsung's most functional and advanced smartphone yet. It improves on its predecessor on a number of fronts and fixes many of its faults, making it easy to make it onto your options list if you're looking for a premium model.

For the S21 Ultra, I will say that I like its drastic design change, the outstanding display with 120 Hz refresh at maximum resolution, the capable super zoom camera that no longer has the problems of the S20 Ultra, the pumped-up configuration and the solid battery with nearly two days of life. Among the minuses, I will note the low charging speed, which seems to me unacceptable in 2021, as well as the lack of a microSD slot. The latter is not a problem for me, especially considering that the device comes with 256 or 512 GB of memory, but I'm sure it will be a problem for many users.