Taeki Chan Samsung has just launched its new flagship phone; the S21 series for the year on 14th January 2021. The Galaxy S21 series includes; Galaxy S21 5G, Galaxy S21+ 5G, and Galaxy S21 5G Ultra.
While watching the launch live on Samsung’s Facebook, its flagship phone Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has caught my eyes all the way. Last 2 weeks, I had a chance to get my hands on one of the Galaxy S21 Ultra to test out its performance, and below is my review of Samsung’s 2021 highest specification phone; the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
First Impression
The phone is massive, but not so massive as the Galaxy S20 Ultra — and I think that’s all that matters. The Galaxy S20 Ultra was a bit too big. in my opinion. Samsung dialed the screen size in a tenth of an inch and that allowed it to shrink the footprint of the new phone by 2mm in height and fractionally in width. These small measurements are a big deal to me. The sizing reduction, while minor, makes a world of difference in usability. Samsung couldn’t escape adding some weight, however, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra is notably heavier than the Galaxy S20 Ultra at more than 229g.
The materials are top-notch. The phone has a beefy metal frame that encircles the device and two glass panels that sandwich the aluminum. Samsung went with matte finishes this year and I LOVE that. The glossy look to last year’s Galaxy S20 Ultra was a bit much. The clean look of matte surfaces is appealing to me as it makes the phone looks premium.
The camera bump is still large, but this time it feels more purposeful: Samsung blended half of the module into the phone’s aluminum chassis which they called it the “contour cut camera”. It now feels like an artfully designed camera module rather than a thing that just stuck out.
Amazing Display for Better Performance
The S21 Ultra’s screen is a 6.8-inch size screen with an edge-to-edge Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O display that refreshes anywhere from 10-120Hz adaptive refresh rate while capturing everything at 1440p+ resolution.
The idea is that the screen will crank up the refresh rate when it needs to for example; games and scrolling through articles benefit from a higher refresh rate but lower the rate when it doesn’t need to (when viewing a still photo or watching a movie shot in 24fps). Needless to say, the screen looks brilliant with buttery smooth animations. It’s also the brightest screen used in a portable device ever, with a maximum brightness of 1500 nits of peak brightness.
The display panel also equips with Eye Comfort Shield which automatically adjusts the blue light based on the time of the day, content you’re viewing, and your bedtime that helps us to relieve some of the stress of looking at the screen for a long period of time.
The screen is also strengthened with IP68 and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus; it is said to be the toughest Gorilla Glass yet and can withstand a drop of up to two meters. It also boasts an improved scratch resistance and that means one thing, the phone will be in a scratch-less condition over an extended time.
Powerful Camera
The Galaxy S21 Ultra offers 40MP with f/2.2 aperture selfie camera and an at the back a 108MP with f/1.8 aperture primary lens (24mm), a 12MP ultra wide lens (13mm) with f/2.2 aperture and a viewing angle of 120°, 2 telephoto lens;10MP with f/2.4 aperture telephoto lens (72mm) and a 10MP with f/4.9 telephoto lens (240mm) that’s capable of 30x hybrid zoom which is equipped with OIS on the telephoto lens.
Photos look sharp, dynamic range is impressive and Samsung’s ‘tripod lock’ software feature steadies the 30x and 100x zoom levels on subjects to prevent the viewfinder image from jumping around. It’s much easier to pull off the 100x ‘Space Zoom’ now, although punching in 100x is limited to being a neat party trick due to grainy images, while 30x is passable in the right light.
 |
| 0.6x Zoom |
 |
| 1x Zoom |
 |
| 2x Zoom |
 |
| 4x Zoom |
 |
| 10x Zoom |
 | |||
| 20x Zoom |
 |
| 30x Zoom |
The thing that impresses me with was its camera resolution and its improved zoom capability which now I could confidently say even if you zoom up to 20x, the quality of the photos were all still good!
Video Performance
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra allows us to shot videos in HD 30fps, FHD 30fps and 60fps, UHD 30fps and 60fps. It also allows us to shot 8K videos at 24fps. The improved 8K Snap lets its user grab crystal clear images from the 8K video footage that could capture all the live-action and get standout still shots almost immediately when the record button was pressed. With the Super Steady video at an improved 60fps, the footage will be buttery-smooth even in fast-moving or bumpy conditions.
Maybe the biggest camera drawback with the Galaxy S21+is that it cannot shoot videos in 4K as they had replaced the 4K videos with its UHD format videos. Nevertheless, it allows us to shoot videos in 8K format.
And with 8K Video Snap, you can pull epic high-resolution photos straight from 8K video. So you don’t have to choose between shooting video or stills.
The new Director’s View mode, which enables you to capture video from multiple cameras simultaneously – for example, you can use the front and back cameras to capture reactions as well as your main video. You may also choose either wide-angle view, normal view, or 2x zoom view for your front camera view.
Keep in mind that there’s no microSD card slot for expandable storage, so if you’re keen on taking lots of 4K 60fps or 8K 24fps video, you may want to look into at least the 256GB or 512GB storage sizes – and the latter of those sizes also bumps up the RAM to 16GB.
The best thing about the Galaxy S21 Ultra was its camera. Samsung has retooled its main camera with lasers – to remedy the auto focus issues on the Galaxy S20 Ultra and also upgraded the specs to keep up with the demands of processing those large 108MP photos, 40MP selfies, and 8K video without as much as a hiccup. This also means that you will be able to take many photos one after another in 108MP resolution without lag on the phone!
Motion Mirror. One of the new features that is available in the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the Motion Mirror. Motion Mirror lets you project your phone to your TV so you can follow a workout routine. As you keep in step, you’ll see your moves right alongside your instructor. This was something really useful especially for those who wanted to work out or record a Vlog explaining something in a video.
Performance
The Galaxy S21+ is equipped with Samsung’s very own Exynos 2100 chipset also enables better quality and faster performance in terms of its procession and scrolling. Paired with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 and 16GB of RAM, it was the most exciting thing about this phone as it was a very big jump in performance.
We found that it was buttery smooth when we are watching any movies on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The sound was great too as it phone comes with stereo speakers tuned by AKG and 2 speakers; on the top and bottom of the phone
Supports 5G
HyperFast 5G lets you download a whole season of your favorite show in a flash. The 5G-compatible chipset delivers faster speeds to keep you connected as you upload or download. While HyperFast Wi-Fi connects you to everything you love quickly and reliably.
Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra features a sizeable 5,000mAh battery with a maximum rate of 25W (5W higher than the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus) power charge. This is a larger battery than you’ll find in most devices. Its dynamic refresh rate and out-of-the-box FHD+ resolution setting afforded the Galaxy S21 Ultra some pretty impressive battery life. On lighter days, I got two whole days out of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, ending the second full day with about 20% remaining. On heavier days running around the city shooting lots of photos, videos, and a little gaming, I got just over one full day. On average, I expect most people to get just over a day and a half from the S21 Ultra.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra also features fast wireless charging up to 15W, and reverse wireless charging at up to 9W. The reverse wireless charging can be useful if you have another phone or a pair of truly wireless earbuds that need a quick jump.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G does not come with a charger but there are many options out there especially fast charger and fast wireless charging.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra comes with a cutting-edge design and maxed-out features. It has the best of everything at Samsung mobile: design, materials, display, camera, performance, and battery life.
I love how the Matte black looks and feels. Its 108MP photos quality and its improved ability to focus really impresses me too even though you can still get a little bit of smearing if you don’t hold your hands quite still enough, in general, the low light of this phone is stellar. This was all thanks to the new ISOCELL Bright HM3 108MP sensor which improved the focusing and low-light performance of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, especially when aided by the new laser-guided focus assist.
Despite that, I had never seen any phone’s photo that could show such detailed details on the computer even when it’s zoomed in.
If you’re a fan of big displays, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will certainly fit the bill. The 6.8-inch display will feel pretty massive to just about anyone. The display is bright and vivid, and I had no trouble using the Galaxy S21 Ultra outdoors at any time.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra also supports a new S Pen accessory from Samsung. This pen has less functionality than the Bluetooth-enabled S Pen in the Galaxy Note series, but it can be useful for doodling or taking notes. And if you do want those features, Samsung will be selling an S-Pen Pro later this year.
The Samsung Galaxy S21Ultra was priced at RM 5,299 (256GB) and RM 5,899 (512GB) with 2 colors for selection; Phantom Black, and Phantom Silver. For more information or for purchase, check out Samsung’s official website at http://www.Samsung.com/my.
