Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review

25 January 2021


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  • A
  • Alex
  • qC@
  • 26 Jan 2021

So the Preview turned out to be true: image quality is terrible. Main cam pulls it out somehow during the day (with softness on the edges), but turns ugly at night as any other camera in this phone. The only difference with other cameras is that they suk big time during the day too: details and texture are all washed out.
Exynos 2100 seem to be the main (only?) advantage of this year's model: got some performance gain together with the lower power consumption, that's a relief for Exynos region.

    • D
    • AnonD-546724
    • pZ5
    • 26 Jan 2021

    Don't want to ruin the party but benchmarks are now
    released and the Exynos variant is still ~15% slower
    than its Snapdragon sibling.

    657k on antutu ? Last year's Mi10 Ultra (S865) was good for 640k.
    On the other hand the MI11 (S888) released alongside the S21U is good for 710k.

    Samsung keeps releasing two version of their flagships :
    One with current year performance, one with last year performance

    And I'm not only talking about raw numbers, but also about battery life and photos quality which proved to be inferior on Exynos S20s.

    And regarding gaming, The Mali GPU still is vastly inferior the to Adreno.
    A whole gen behind despite having more graphics cores.

    Can you imagine Chevrolet selling only the Camaro V6
    in Europe and charging V8 money for it like it's just the same ?

    Jeez

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • gBV
      • 26 Jan 2021

      "Night Mode works on the long-range tele, too. It helps to improve the exposure, but other than that - you won't get a better image than the standard mode."
      The night mode sample images do look better, apart from double images.

        • G
        • George
        • gIY
        • 26 Jan 2021

        Congrats for the ones that will still buy this phone no matter what. For me since i won't buy it i have to say that i don't understand how Samsung managed to use their latest tech and still not be able to offer something special or better than older phones did already in the market especially when it comes to main camera's output which is what i usually focus on.
        I also have to admit though that indeed in other reviews on youtube i noticed that the photos taken were looking better than what i saw in GSMARENA's review but still didn't get impressed anywhere so far.
        It's a pitty to see in general that newer flagships can't beat the older ones and even though i never bought an Iphone or Pixel device for me these two are the best phones and most balanced for taking photos.
        I've been using Xiaomi together with gcam for the past few years but i am tired of trying to find which gcam app is the best or which gcam developer is the best and has the latest version or which config is the best and bla bla bla. Hence my next option will be the upcoming Google Pixel flagship and end of the story.

          Too narow for the max model

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 0p}
            • 25 Jan 2021

            fruitcake, 25 Jan 2021Will be waiting for a Exynos review of this phone before,i ... moreThis review is exynos device.
            GSMArena office is in Bulgaria ( no idea which city, Phone Arena is also Bulgaria).

              • A
              • AT
              • Cxn
              • 25 Jan 2021

              Anonymous, 25 Jan 2021So, main camera is 26mm and periscope is 240mm. But Samsun... moreMain camera focal length on GSMarena is incorrect. It should be 24mm. In the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Event, they stated right there @42m00s in the presentation.

              https://youtu.be/TD_BZN0bn_U?t=2520

              This is why 0.6x = 23mm, 3x = 72mm and 10x = 240mm

                Will be waiting for a Exynos review of this phone before,i decide to give it a chance,its only January,so know Samsung trying to get buyers back,they might bring out a new version of this phone that offers the micro sd card slot,if the sales are bad,Samsung should have made these phones more affordable in Europe after what they did with the the S20 models and Rubbish Exynos chips,that they knew themselves was miles behind Snapdragon version

                  Another day, another overpriced Samsung crap with awful camera...

                    Gsmarena.com, you guys should get your phone (ultra) checked. Of all the Reviewers Online, your photos are the least impressive. The only issue most reviewers feel, that needs to be improved with software, is the level of noise in video, especially at night. Otherwise photos seem stellar in most conditions.

                      • A
                      • AndroidUser
                      • 8g%
                      • 25 Jan 2021

                      The Ultra is the most compelling one out of the S21's, and yet another review has mixed feelings about it. Samsung absolutely needs to add back MicroSD, MST, and a charger for the S22, and also stop segregating the phones and making the S21 and S21+ third class citizens using 1080p in 2021, even $400 phones with oled screens had 1440p! And this isnt about costing cutting, the S10 had all those features and cost less.

                      I am a samsung user, and will be getting an S21U but ONLY because trade in value/CB/accessories/etc make it so the transition from S20 to S21U is basically free. Otherwise I'd say the S21 and S20 base models are the worst Samsung has ever made in terms of price to features, while the S10 was a homerun.

                        • J
                        • Jk19
                        • fCI
                        • 25 Jan 2021

                        Anonymous, 25 Jan 2021It’s better device than S20 ultra in every way, but Samsung... moreEcho that, and not the fastest charging support. Not even near. Mi giving 125W charger, that's insane. And nore companies are putting faster chargers. Atleast try for 50-80w charger. Or maybe Sam has battery fear since note 7.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 8mp
                          • 25 Jan 2021

                          GSM Arena nitpicking there's nothing wrong with these images they are great. And those night mode shots are superb

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 0p}
                            • 25 Jan 2021

                            Note10PlusIsBoss, 25 Jan 2021Samsung should be ashamed of themselves ripping off custome... moreBe sure that at this point, the project of upcoming phones are very advanced.
                            When a product is announced, they are already working on the next generation.

                            As far as I have read on twitter, none of the expensive future Galaxies have sd slot. Also more phones (midranges) may lose charger and earphones .

                              • b
                              • ben7337
                              • 4@N
                              • 25 Jan 2021

                              Is this review of the Exynos model or the Snapdragon model? Asking specifically out of curiosity about the battery review.

                                Nice review GSMA!

                                I get the issue with standard low light shots and thankfully, it'll be improved with software updates.

                                However, on my S10, I rarely use auto mode in low light. I will always switch to night mode, as it does a great job for the photo's I like to take.

                                With that in mind, I am so excited to be receiving my S21 Ultra this week!

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0p}
                                  • 25 Jan 2021

                                  So, main camera is 26mm and periscope is 240mm.
                                  But Samsung advertises as 10x. Again fooling costumers.

                                  I know all phones lose performance as ISO goes high, but a 1/1.3" has obligation to deal better with ISO1000. Samsung and Apple have always been the weakest at high iso among expensive phones.

                                    I am re-posting my own comment from the other thread. This is for Samsung to continue processing the photo, after it has been taken, to increase detail, dynamic range and sharpness via AI

                                    "...
                                    Samsung should do what iPhones do with Zooming (they use a similar algorithm to Google's Super Zoom), and (Samsung should) Improve Details in the 108MP and even 12MP photos, which is, they use post processing to improve detail and sharpness even further. It's like built-in lines of the algorithms, which actually improve the resolution and detail in the final image, via AI, after the photo has been taken, thereby circumventing many of the limitations of the actual sensor, even beyond regular HDR image processing. This is the sharp contrast between the Viewfinder photo and the final taken one. That's why the final taken one, especially for zoom, in the iPhone us surprisingly good, even at 10x.

                                    SAMSUNG, YOU NEED TO DO THIS."

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 0p}
                                      • 25 Jan 2021

                                      Anonymous, 25 Jan 2021It’s better device than S20 ultra in every way, but Samsung... moreTo enlarge the periscope from 104mm to 240mm, it is necessary to decrease sensor size.
                                      Otherwise, module would be way bigger.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • nU7
                                        • 25 Jan 2021

                                        Sadly it only comes with the (yet again) inferior Exynos where I live.
                                        The exynos is still a lower performance and battery , harsher thermal throttling than the Snapdragon, and what's more is still sold at an higher MSRP than the SD variant.

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