Samsung Galaxy S21 & S21 Ultra hands-on review

19 Jan 2021


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travis999, 21 Jan 2021Even uglier than than the 20's,and it's still a p... moreI thought I was alone in thinking Samsung phones clog up and stutter. That was based on s7 egde and note 3 experience however. Have had 3 Huawei phones since and they are incredible longevity wise. Fast as hell (though currently have no gms and the security updates are not very frequent)

    Even uglier than than the 20's,and it's still a poxy Sammy, so will need hard reset after a few months, or it will slow down to a crawl.
    I avoided sammy for 15 years, tried a note 4,in almost every way, my HTC Desire 510 pisesd on the note, only thing note 4 can do that desire 510 can't is stylus, otherwise price for price, spec for spec, the desire wins hands down easy. And doesn't need a hard reset every 3 months, now that I've had others findings about Sammy confirmed by my own extended use, I won't ever bother with a Sammy again, new, second or even 3rd hand, far too much of a liability than a tool that's nice to use.. Come back HTC, all is forgiven, I promise I'll look at the new desire, if it gets wwe release..

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • LkB
      • 21 Jan 2021

      Samsung fan, 21 Jan 2021What is the difference between UFS 3.X memory on S21 and UF... more3.X must be 3.0, to hide fact older may be used.

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        • Anonymous
        • p%B
        • 21 Jan 2021

        LookAtMe, 21 Jan 2021We get it, you're an iPhone fan boy. For 98% of mobil... more98% of mobile users are not interested in S21, or flagship phones in general.

          • r
          • raycon
          • LaC
          • 21 Jan 2021

          LookAtMe, 21 Jan 2021We get it, you're an iPhone fan boy. For 98% of mobil... morefor 98% of people a 150$ budget phone is fine, if we're talking flagship level money.. well, Samsung is diluting the "S" line, now we have to look for "Ultra" if we want a flagship.
          Realistically Samsung hasn't been competitive for years, in US maybe, but globally it lack behind a lot, we all know it and there's no reason to argue over it

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            • Anonymous
            • 847
            • 21 Jan 2021

            Anonymous, 21 Jan 2021So no micro sd slot?No, also worse cameras, no accesories inside the box, cheaper displays in both of them, one with plastic back... And end paying more in relative terms as you get less features, the result of those cameras are worse than before and you also lose the extra accesories. That is.

            Wellcome to the future of featureless Samsung phones. Profits, profits!!! But not from me, that's for sure.

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              • Anonymous
              • LkB
              • 21 Jan 2021

              Snapdragon version has much better endurance than exynos version again.
              Difference is more than last year ..

              Using PCmark , SD888 S21 Ultra reaches bit more than 11h, while Ex2100 S21 Ultra less than 7h .

                • L
                • LookAtMe
                • 4$V
                • 21 Jan 2021

                Iphone 4ever, 21 Jan 2021Not so great...sorry. Camera is meh...the menu is ugly...li... moreWe get it, you're an iPhone fan boy. For 98% of mobile phone users, the basic s21 phone is fine.

                  • J
                  • James
                  • gML
                  • 21 Jan 2021

                  rafaelinux, 21 Jan 2021Wow. The photos are pretty terrible. The corners are awful,... moreAll smartphone photos bare to be honest but these are not great. Aggred.

                    • J
                    • James
                    • gML
                    • 21 Jan 2021

                    Nick Tagataka, 21 Jan 2021I'm not sure what's "fine" about having... moreWait for the full review ! I think the reviewer has taken them in pro mode ! Auto mode is much better than pro mode

                      • J
                      • James
                      • gML
                      • 21 Jan 2021

                      Iphone 4ever, 21 Jan 2021Not so great...sorry. Camera is meh...the menu is ugly...li... moreAtleast the photos out of the camera are not overshapened like iPhone 12
                      And that 60hz display 🤧

                        • I
                        • Iphone 4ever
                        • mYH
                        • 21 Jan 2021

                        Not so great...sorry. Camera is meh...the menu is ugly...like any Samsung ...and all the useless settings makes this phone a Meh Phone. Go and buy Iphone 12 my friends. You will love it.

                          Anonymous, 21 Jan 2021Please list out all the bloatware that you can't disable... 👍

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                            • Banana
                            • snL
                            • 21 Jan 2021

                            @Samsung Europe and the rest of the world want Snapdragon and not exynos.

                            Exynos is good for your low budget phones but not for 800-1200€ phones.

                            Really Samsung you sleep and this is why Xiaomi comes and destroy you all in the low budget market and middle segments and now high end.

                              What is the difference between UFS 3.X memory on S21 and UFS 3.1 memory on S21 Ultra?

                                Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021When are YOU going to go do some simple research and find o... moreIt doesn't smash Qualcomms CPU. Do you know why? It's not just about raw power. The CPU defines so much more in a mobile. For example battery efficiency. Snapdragon has far better battery efficiency than Exynos. Furthermore Snapdragon works a lot better with all types of apps. Also Snapdragons graphic driver is a lot better. It's so easy to compare. Look at the batterytests for Samsung phones that have Exynos and those Samsung phones that have Snapdragon. In GSMarenas tests the difference is huge. With Snapdragon you get around 30 hours more from the battery compared to Exynos

                                  Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021The amount of hate for Samsung here in the comments. The ca... moreI'm not sure what's "fine" about having a set of cameras that seems to produce worse looking photos than the one on the predecessor. Note 20/Note 20 Ultra were doing a much, much better job than this.

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • ntJ
                                    • 21 Jan 2021

                                    Alex, 20 Jan 2021Since when? I've got much more bloatware on my S10 com... morePlease list out all the bloatware that you can't disable...

                                      danwat1234, 20 Jan 2021Any throttling issues with long duration full utilization? ... more@danwat1234 all the flagships that use the 888 will have the throttle issue. even the iphone 12pro equivalent has throttling. I read on another site that we wont see throttling go away until 2.5nm chipsets come out. regarding Samsungs S21 series, I reallt think they should have engineered a way to have the same camera setup as the ultra all all three phones. because, people want the high-end camera offering, but not always the large size phone, because, for many, the ultra is too big, and so is the +

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • IbF
                                        • 21 Jan 2021

                                        So no micro sd slot?

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