Samsung Galaxy S21 & S21 Ultra hands-on review
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- Yuri84
- 0T@
- 20 Jan 2021
"There's not a single corner cut this time around"
They did cut the headphone jack. Motorola Edge Plus has it, for example (same as a number of other high-end smartphones). I'm using Moto as example here because their spec sheets are quite similar, except for the screen and SoC (S21 ultra is newer, after all).
I'd buy it in a heartbeat if it had headphone jack. But no jack - no deal. I'm not going to spend another $500 for wireless headphones just to get the same level of audio quality I have using wired headphones (Sony headphones + tax).
- m
- mobileman
- pdH
- 20 Jan 2021
come on,hope you test also s21+ phone.
and,if possible compare SD 888 vs E2100 performance and battery options.
hmm, i cant understand,why samsung not include IR sensor its phone.
...but well, sure they leave charger and cables off.....safe for earth reason.. sure again.
i except alot thouse phone, but so i except also s20 models...lets see...
so, s21+ model test also...at least battery.
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- Anonymous
- xDq
- 20 Jan 2021
[deleted post]My problem with iPhone's post processing is how there are jagged edges and strange noise reduction techniques. It doesn't look realistic. I do like the way they deal with skin, however. Better than the rest, apart from Pixel. Pixel has the best post processing. Even better than Huawei. They just need less contrast and a bigger sensor (hopefully soon).
LG's post processing is great too. I have the V60 now and it's an excellent phone with great cameras, albeit rather giant :(.
If iPhones brought back the fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm jack, and gave users a bigger battery, I would consider them.
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- Anonymous
- uHZ
- 20 Jan 2021
The large sensor results in shallow depth of field. The part that is in focus is closest to the phone and the blurry parts that you are all complaining about happen to be far away from the focus point. Nothing to get flustered about.
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- Anonymous
- xDq
- 20 Jan 2021
Jaz, 20 Jan 2021When I look at the s21 sample photos and then compare to ph... moreThey have already done it from the S9 to the S10. Same camera (main one), same sensor size, and yet the results of the S10 are worse (I had the S10 for 2 days and compared it with the S9 that is mine). The S10 was worse, blurrier, with less sharpness (not in a good way), less details, more noise reduction, felt like a cheaper camera module compared to the S9 which was sharp, clear, with less noise even though the noise reduction was more relaxed.
Samsung is not good with cameras. They just know how to noise reduce images all the way until hardly any details remain.
Years ago, I tried their mirrorless with a large sensor (APS-C, Samsung NX1), and it had such horrible picture quality, I returned it quickly.
They're unable to do natural results. Their sensors are okay'ish but their post processing is junk and fake. They had good processing with the S4 Zoom, but then they returned to their abhorrent ways.
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- Anonymous
- 0xU
- 20 Jan 2021
CheckYourFax, 20 Jan 2021Yeah right. Most people in the comments here are either fro... moreI'm commenting as Samsung user past 10 years.
And I seen those samples, they're dissapointing. Look, if it would be from 1080p photo, then I would call it not constructive criticism, but this is full sized available samples. And they really look bad and smudged.
Please take a look at the lack of details of any texture. This quality could happen if the lens are low quality and "resolution" - which is common with low end budget phones up to 200 dollar price range. But not like this. I see that it is mixed both in not polished processing and both worse lens quality. Now the center of frame is ok, but surrounding are very strange. But guys, yes, it's a preview, let's wait for final results after week or so, then the review will be based on software, that would go together with the sales open.
And stop acting that your'e insulted of those claims of users, that makes your'e the fanboy, not them. Let's be objective!
- w
- walkman8
- 3q5
- 20 Jan 2021
GSM Arena needs to address the photo quality of samples of S21(Ultra) ASAP whether it's a faulty unit or pre-pre-production firmware. Honestly, I'd be embarrassed to publish such photos even on Instagram, let alone for something more professional.
- C
- CheckYourFax
- pp2
- 20 Jan 2021
Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021Yeah, sadly Samsung phones have a lot of them. But, some ma... moreThere isn't that much bloatware anymore. Google apps, Microsoft apps and its own ecosystem of apps, like SmartThing, CarReply, Samsung Health, Store.. etc but that's on the unlocked models. Carriers are allowed to push their own apps in the firmware using the Samsung CSC partition.
- C
- CheckYourFax
- pp2
- 20 Jan 2021
Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021When are YOU going to go do some simple research and find o... moreThe Exynos smashes the Snapdragon in terms of CPU performance. This is because the Exynos is clocked higher. They're the exact same CPU cores.
The Snapdragon still smashes Exynos in terms of GPU performance, even though Exynos has catched up by upgrading to the G78 and using 14 Mali cores instead of 10.
The Snapdragon and Exynos both have similar (maybe even the exact same) 26TOPS Neural processors. I don't think anybody is going to find a noticeable difference except in benchmarks.
Samsung has its reasons to still be making their own chips, they don't wanna be reliant on Qualcomm anymore, but it was a good step to quit making your own CPU cores do what Qualcomm does: using ARM's premade CPU designs. They're not giving up on Exynos because they want to be the biggest chipmaker by 2030. Samsung has fired the CPU R&D teams, and stopped trying to reinvent the wheel, and the Exynos 2100 is the result of that.
- C
- CheckYourFax
- pp2
- 20 Jan 2021
Lyndino, 20 Jan 2021"Nobody should draw conclusions until we've had o... moreYeah right. Most people in the comments here are either from another brand, trying to hate on Samsung for every little small detail, or are basing their opinions on subjective things. There isn't a lot of constructive criticism other than "it's bad".
See I agree that the blur is there, but slight fisheye lens blur can actually rather easily be mitigated using software algorithms, especially on a 108MP camera, since the pattern is very predictable. Like I said, the Mate 40 Pro does a really good job on an even smaller lens.
I just really hope it's not the lens itself that's just of really low quality, but why would Samsung do that on an 1100 phone, a good quality of such size wouldn't save a really big amount. But even then, it can be mitigated with AI. Still sucks though, but it's not a huge deal as long as it gets fixed.
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- Anonymous
- ucy
- 20 Jan 2021
stinkfist, 20 Jan 2021Samsung again use their own CPU for European market is a ma... moreWhen are YOU going to go do some simple research and find out that Exynos 2100 has been almost confirmed to smash the Snapdragon 888?
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- Anonymous
- p%B
- 20 Jan 2021
Neo, 20 Jan 2021everything is nice, except those unlimited and useless bloa... moreYeah, sadly Samsung phones have a lot of them. But, some may be uninstalled. The other ones just disabled.
Imagine an entry level Samsung with so much bloatware. At least the flagship phones are powerful enough for all that bloatware.
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- phat55
- XIX
- 20 Jan 2021
What game is being played in the review video of the S21 Ultra???
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- Anonymous
- 39y
- 20 Jan 2021
No jack, no sd, no notification led, shit camera, this is total crab
- S
- Steve
- gML
- 20 Jan 2021
[deleted post]3 major android updates and security updates for 5 years!
Everyone update after 3 years anyways !!! Stop whining.
- J
- Jaz
- iif
- 20 Jan 2021
When I look at the s21 sample photos and then compare to photos I took on my S20+, I immediately see something that just doesn't add up. The camera. lens etc is EXACTLY the same including the size of pixels, aperture etc. I have never taken a photo with my phone and seen such softness in photos as what I can see in the samples here. It doesn't make sense, there is no way for Samsung to go backwards in image quality using the exact same camera system as before. I suspect something else is at play here, possibly pre-release software.
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- Anonymous
- 8Kf
- 20 Jan 2021
Lyndino, 20 Jan 2021"Nobody should draw conclusions until we've had o... moreNon-final software is lame excuse.
Phone is already for sale.
It is firmware of retail units as well.
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- Anonymous
- XP3
- 20 Jan 2021
Frmg, 20 Jan 2021Honestly, I don't care abou plastic in back, as long a... moreSand is harder than glass. It will scratch whatever glass is on your phone. Just don't get sand on your phone.
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- Anonymous
- 0xU
- 20 Jan 2021
Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021The amount of hate for Samsung here in the comments. The ca... moreThis is not connected to any hate or fanatism. Just pure observation from biggest Samsung users.
You mean we can't post any negative reaction? Just tell how good and amazing it is? (* i think it will be case like for a few weeks forward none of the reviewers will post full sized samples. Even dxomark told that they're reviewing it, but no intention to deliver review this month. Especially till January 28th).
And what is seen with those full size samples posted, this is the lack of image quality, not over processing (color and contrast rendition). There is huge smudginess at the corners. Not acceptable even for a Poco phone, for example. It's not 200-400 dollar phone to be fair - on that price that would still make me think it is not fine.
Open your eyes!