- What's up guys, Saf here on SuperSaf TV
and this is my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review
after one month.
Why do I have two S21 Ultras here?
Well, one of these is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 version
and the other is the Exynos 2100
and why do I have two of me here?
Well, that's because we're doing things SuperSaf Style.
(upbeat music)
So the S21 Ultra,
if you've been following me on social media
then you know that I've really enjoyed
using this over the past month
and I'm really happy with the way Samsung has taken feedback
from us reviewers and customers over the past year
and really bought lots of improvements
from the S20 Ultra to the S21 Ultra.
Now I'm going to be covering a lot of details
so this video is going to be pretty long.
So I'll leave some chapters down below
but before you jump to a particular section,
smash that like button for me
it will help with the YouTube algorithm
and it will help this video be recommended to more people,
with that out the way
let's start off with one of my favorite things
of the S21 Ultra and that is the display.
Now I know you guys are going to say
I say this for every new Samsung smartphone
but the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has the best display
on the market right now in my opinion,
it's sharp, it's vibrant, it's bright
and it's got great viewing angles.
Not only that this is the first Samsung smartphone
where you can have Quad HD plus resolution
with a 120 Hertz refresh rates on at the same time
and that gives you maximum sharpness
with maximum smoothness.
So traditionally Samsung devices
that had a 120 Hertz refresh rate
you could only have that refresh rate at full HD.
So I'm glad something has finally brought this
to the S21 Ultra
and it gives you an excellent viewing experience.
Sure, the bezels are roundabout the same as the S20 Ultra
and we still have this punch out
but I kind of liked this punch out
it allows me to do some fun creative wallpapers
by the way if you want to download the wallpaper
it's available both in a dark mode and a light mode.
So many people ask me about it
there'll be some links down in the description below.
Now, there is a slight curve on the edges
it's roughly about the same as the S20 Ultra.
It's not completely flat, but it's not completely curved
like we've gotten the note 20 ultra.
So I think it's a good balance
and we also have a great always on display.
This is something that I really like from Samsung
having that always on display
means you can really see things at a glance.
There the other new thing that we've got this year
is the 3D Sonic Gen 2 sensor from Qualcomm.
This has a larger area
and it's also faster and more accurate
and in using this over the past month
I've noticed that yes it is a little bit faster
and you do have less failures.
Now, my advice when it comes to
any in display fingerprint scanner
is to re-register the same fingerprint twice
and that just makes it a little bit of a better experience.
Moving on to the design,
I think Samsung actually done a really good job
we've got this camera module
which kind of melts into to the sides.
We've not really seen anything else like this
and I think loads of other manufacturers
are going to copy this design now.
So I actually really like it
I think it looks very unique
and I really liked the fact that Samsung has gone
for a matte finish across the board.
So we've got the Phantom black and the Phantom Silver here
which are the two main colors
although you can get some exclusive colors
directly from Samsung.
I think you guys already know
that I actually love the Phantom black,
it just looks so, so good.
But anyway the Phantom Silver is also really nice
and it's got a bit of a two-tone finish
which you might like.
Although I have notice it picks up fingerprints easier
than the Phantom black.
Now, if you want to mix things up, you can always get a skin
from our channel sponsor dbrand
I'm currently digging the icons drop from a Marques
really makes the device look even more unique
I'll leave a link to Dbrand down in the description below.
Now we do have IP 68 water and dust resistance as expected
and we've got Gorilla Glass Victus
both on the front and the back.
Now this is very durable
I'm not somebody who does drop tests
I'm sure others have done drop tests
but generally speaking
Gorilla Glass Victus is very durable.
Now let's move on to the cameras
and I think Samsung has actually done a really good job
with the cameras on the S21 Ultra.
There was lots of improvement needed on the S20 Ultra
and almost everything has been addressed here
on the S21 Ultra.
So I'm going to start with the ultra wide camera
it's great takes excellent shots, great dynamic range.
It can be slightly over-processed
I find in certain situations, but I'm confident
that this can be improved with software updates
but the new thing for the ultra-wide camera this time
which isn't on any of the other S21 devices
is the fact that it's got dual pixel auto focus.
This allows you to focus in super close
and get some excellent macro shots.
Now I'm not talking about
those hideous two megapixel macro cameras
that we see on so many devices.
No, this is actually using the ultra wide camera
so you do get some very, very good results.
The primary camera on the S20 Ultra
it did have some focusing issues.
So Samsung like they did on the Notes 20 Ultra
have bought over a laser auto focus sensor
which definitely does help with auto focus.
Now, this is the same size sensor
as we had on the S20 Ultra
and this gives you some excellent images, lots of detail
and a very natural looking shallow depth of field.
Now, one of the other issues that we had on the S20
and the Note 20 Ultra
was that because you had such a large size sensor
if you are close up to subjects
things would stop getting out of focus very very quickly.
So you might have a situation where
part of what you want isn't focused
and on the rest is not in focus.
Samsung has also tried to address this
with a focus enhancer mode.
So when you do get up to 30 centimeters close to a subject
then it's going to either automatically switches on
or you can put it on manually
and then it's going to give you a lot more in focus
which really does help
and this year we have two zoom cameras,
one is at three times and one is that 10 times
and the S21 Ultra has some of the best zoom
on any smartphone.
I like that they've got three as well as 10
so, you know, you don't have to be
at one extreme or another you do have that range
and even up to around 30 times,
you get some excellent excellent results
now you do have 100 times space zoom.
All right, it's called space zoom but it's good
compared to the S20 Ultra
is it something that I'm going to use much?
No, having this device for the past month
I've probably used the 100X zoom like four times
and that's been when I've been testing it.
Okay, fair enough you can take pictures of the moon
everybody likes taking pictures of the moon for some reason.
It's the same side, its tightly locked to us
it looks the same every time, but anyway
you can take pictures of the moon
and they do come out pretty good
but yes if you love 100 times zoom on a smartphone.
Although this is not something that's amazing
it's the best on a smartphone right now.
Now one area where the S21 Ultra
is not so good in my opinion is when it comes to portraits
the artificial bokeh effect
and with the one times zoom using the full primary camera
you can actually get some pretty decent results
but the problem is mainly
when you go to the telephoto portraits.
Now I assumed Samsung would be using
the three times zoom camera.
The iPhone for instance uses the 2.5 times telephoto camera
and that gives you the equivalent of a portrait
that you would get on a pro camera.
The S21 Ultra doesn't do this
it doesn't actually use the telephoto camera for portraits
it just uses the primary camera and punches in.
Now this results in very, very soft portraits
which I am definitely not a fan of
and I'm hoping Samsung can actually change this
and use the three times telephoto zoom for portraits
which I'm assuming would do better
instead of just cropping into the main sensor.
But yeah, if you are somebody who likes taking portraits
at two times, like I do then the S21 Ultra
is not great for that
and the selfie camera has also been improved.
You have probably heard me rant about this
for so many years.
Samsung devices generally tend to make your selfies
look super bright so they will make your skin tones
look very, very fair.
I've never been a fan of this, again,
Samsung has listened to us and now when you do open up
the selfie camera you'll have an option
to go for either natural or bright selfies.
I obviously went for natural selfies
and they do give you much more accurate skin tones.
Now, the selfies are still a little bit on the softer side
I've found in comparison to some of the competition.
I do think software updates may be able to improve this
but generally speaking, the overall camera package
for photos is very good.
When it comes to video as well
I'd say, this is one of the best smart phones for video
we do have up to 8K recording.
Now 8K recording is there
but it's still something that I won't be using a lot.
There's no stabilization at 8K
so the only way you'd be able to really use it
is if you had it on a tripod.
So yeah, it's that it's nice to have
one improvement that I'm definitely happy about
is the fact that we can now record
4K 60 frames a second across all of the cameras.
Traditionally on previous sensing devices
you'd only be able to do 4K 60 from the primary
as well as the selfie camera, but not the other cameras.
So I'm happy that this is here
and yeah, overall you get some excellent quality video
from the S21 Ultra.
There's also a pro video mode, which is nice to have
so if you are somebody who likes to tweak your settings
and things, then that option is also there.
Now I want to move on to the whole
Exynos versus Snapdragon debate.
So I've had both of these devices over the past month
and I'd say I've had roughly equal time
with my sim card in each of these.
The first thing that I going to talk about
is the camera differences.
So you might be thinking
how can these have camera differences
when they've got exactly the same cameras, right?
Well, the thing is the chip set also has
something called an ISP an image signal processes.
So when you take an image,
it actually goes through this image signal processor
gets processed and then goes to the smartphone
and the software then also plays a part.
The good news is in most situations
these are pretty much neck and neck.
So primary camera ultra-wide even in low light
I found these were very close.
The one area where I did notice a difference
was in the extreme zooms
I found that the Qualcomm Snapdragon version
just gave sharper and cleaner results
compared to the Exynos version.
Now I want to emphasize
that this is at the extreme zoom levels
and I'm hoping that maybe Samsung
can improve these with a software updates.
But apart from that,
generally the camera's were very similar.
Now let's talk about performance,
traditionally when it comes to Exynos versus Qualcomm
the Exynos version is quite a bit behind I've found
when it comes to performance and gaming
but after all the tests that I've done
and also test that some of my friends have done
even more detailed tests
in particular Thunder E from Booredatwork
and Tom The Tech Chap.
They've done very detailed tests
where they're also looking at things like frame rates
and what we've found as a whole is that in certain areas,
the Exynos is better
and in certain areas the Qualcomm is better.
It's very, very close and I'm pleased to say
that it finally looks like Samsung has caught up
with Qualcomm when it comes to performance
and performance is absolutely great on both of these.
They've been able to handle everything
that I've thrown at them.
Now, if you're still interested
in getting the Qualcomm version not the Exynos version
everybody keeps asking me
where do you get your core conversion from?
I would generally recommend getting it from Amazon
because Amazon U.S. actually works out the shipping
the import and customs fees and everything in advance
so you're not slapped with a bill later on
I'll leave an Amazon link down in the description below.
Now, another thing that generally has an impact
because of the chip sets is the battery life
and I've had an interesting experience
because I started off with the Exynos version
and honestly speaking, my battery results were very mixed.
Some days I was getting good battery life
some days it was absolutely terrible.
However, about a week and a half in I got a software update
and then since the Exynos version
has given me excellent battery life.
The Qualcomm version as soon as I've had it
it's been giving me very good battery life.
I'm getting around about six hours of screen on time
this is me because I am a heavy user
it might differ to what you're getting
but in my experience, the battery life
has been very very good on both and very similar as well.
Although the Qualcomm version
might just get the slight edge.
Now, Tom The Tech Chap has spent a lot of time
actually doing a detailed battery tests
and in his test the Qualcomm version
got around 20 minutes, extra time.
So, we're looking at around about 5% extra battery life
over the day
that's not as significant as what we've had previously
so again, generally speaking
I think either of these that you go for
it's not going to be that much of a big difference.
Now you may already know that the S21 Ultra
no longer comes with a charger out of the box.
I've ranted about this a lot in previous videos
so I'm not going to go on about that a lot more here
for me personally, it's been fine.
I've got lots of other chargers at home
and I generally just use wireless charging anyway.
Wireless chargers are very cheap
and they're also very convenient
because when it comes to bedtime, I can just drop the phone
on the wireless charger, wake up to it fully charged
and that's generally what I've been doing
with the S21 Ultra.
Now we also have reverse wireless charging
I have not used reverse wireless charging
apart from filming this clip of B roll.
But nevertheless, it's there if you want to use it
if you do want to charge your buds
on the back of the S21 Ultra, you can do that.
Now let's talk about software so we do have One UI
the latest version
and I generally really do like One UI
you've heard me say before.
I think Samsung well one of the first
to really look at one handed usage
and how everything's formatted is really good
for one handed usage
and I've had, I'd say about two, maybe three updates
since I got the S21 Ultra, which is very good
'cause it's only been a month.
So if Samsung continues this
and brings lots of software updates
and improvements over time.
Then I'll be very very happy with this and the speakers
we do have serious speakers
and they sound really, really good.
Now, one new thing that we've got on the S21 Ultra
which you've never had on the S series before
is support for the S pen.
I like options, so I'm glad that this is here.
However, there's a couple of things
so this isn't included, you have to buy it separately
and if you do buy it separately, realistically speaking
you're going to have to get it with a case because otherwise
where are you going to really put this.
Now, here's the thing here's one of the cases
that I've got here, it's a really nice case
and the S pen is tucked away here on the side
and you can use it whenever you like and can be very useful.
The only thing is this is already a very big phone
and when you add a case to it
which makes the phone wider than it is
then I don't think it's the most comfortable device to use.
Also on this case in particular
when you do take the S pen out, there's a gap here.
So, you know, you can feel it when you're holding it
so I really don't think many people
are going to be getting the S pen.
It might appeal to a very small niche
but if you are somebody who values an S pen,
I still think the Note series
will be the better option for you
but I mean, it's a nice to have.
If somebody really wants an S pen with the S21 Ultra,
you can get it now.
Finally I want to talk about the storage and the price.
So you may already know
that the S21 Ultra does not have a micro SD card slot
Samsung traditionally on pretty much
all their S series devices has had a micro SD card slot.
I think the S6 was an exception but other than that
they've all had a micro SD card slot.
Of course, if you're somebody who absolutely needs
a micro SD card slot then this is not going to be for you.
But I think most people should be absolutely fine
and there's a good reason for that
and that is that Samsung is offering double the storage
for just 50 pounds or $50 more.
On top of that the S21 Ultra is coming in at a lower price
compared what the S20 came in at last year
and keeping those things in mind.
I think a lot of people
can just go for the 256 gigabyte option
for a little bit more that's what I would recommend
and I don't think you're going to have
that much of an issue with storage.
Now you can go all the way up to 512 gigabytes
but I think 256 gigabytes is the sweet spot
and that's the S21 Ultra.
If you've made it all the way to this point of the video
as always, I absolutely love you
thank you for making it here.
As you can tell I really do like the S21 Ultra
it's one of my favorite devices.
I think Samsung has done a great job
and they've really ticked a lot of boxes
for a lot of people
and if you, after the best from Samsung right now
this is the device to get.
I would say this is the best smartphone of the year so far,
although I know it's February
but I really think this sets the bar high
for the rest of the smart phones coming in the year.
That's what I think what do you guys think?
Do drop me a comment below, let me know your thoughts.
I hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful
if you did then do it, that thumbs button for me
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so you don't miss any future coverage.
I'll leave some related videos linked here as well
there's an iPhone 12 Pro Max camera comparison
versus the S21 Ultra
and I've also done a detailed hands-on comparison
of this versus the Notes 20 Ultra
which might be a good option for some people right now.
Thanks for watching this is Saf on SuperSaf TV
and I'll see you next time.
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