Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Review

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Review

It is February and time to blog about the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G review. We have been using the phone for two weeks and so far so good. If you are planning to buy Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, please read on and do ask if you have any questions.

Design and size

There are two colours for Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G and they are Phantom Silver and Phantom Black. We got the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Phantom Black.

The design of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is pretty unique especially the rear camera. The phone comes with 6.8 inch screen and it feels big at first but you will get a good grip thanks to the aluminium side.

The front screen is flat and less curvy on the side compare with the previous models and the front glass is CORNING® GORILLA® GLASS VICTUS™. This is the toughest Gorilla Glass in a smartphone so it minimizes scratches but we still highly recommend for a screen protector.

The front camera is located at the middle top and it does not obstruct anything at all. It is hard to imagine that single camera is able to take 40 MP photo with 4k video.

The back camera is Quad cameras and the design is a beauty. Instead of the usual quad cameras, Samsung managed to perfect the design in Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. We will explain more about the quad cameras below.

To protect the back quad cameras, there are many casings available in the market and we do recommend a casing for Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G.

What we like about the other aspect of the design is how they move the buttons to one side of the phone. Now you can use the thumb to use all the buttons so it is easier to use the phone.

The back panel of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is made of premium plastic. We prefer this than their back glass panel and this feels like matte metal and the Phantom Black colour is really cool and wicked! It is hard to get the finger print on the plastic matte back panel as we tried it many times.

It also comes with stereo speakers tuned by AKG. The sound quality is impressive but we do recommend a Bluetooth ear bud or speaker if you are at home or work.

Exynos 2100 chipset

There are many people talking about the specifications and the big numbers of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. First of all, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Malaysia comes with Exynos 2100 chipset as the Snapdragon 888 chipset is for US and China only. The CPU speed is Octa-core with 2.9GHz max.

While we read mixed reviews on Exynos 2100 chipset but after over two weeks of usage, there is not much issue on the speed as well as the heating of the phone like many speculates.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G comes with dual nano sim card, no external storage capability and no audio jack. The sim card slot is located at the bottom of the phone next to the speaker and the USB slot.

The Memory

There is no external storage means you don’t need micro-SD anymore. There are a few strong reasons for that. Do you know slow micro-SD can slow down the phone and it might also not fast enough to shoot 8k video. With solely internal memory, there won’t be lagging or slowing down when you multi task or shooting 4k or 8k videos. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G comes with option of 256 GB or 512 GB for Malaysia.

The Camera

One of the key features of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is the camera. The rear quad camera comes with 108MP Wide, 12MP Ultra wide, 10M Telephoto (3x), 10M Telephoto (10x) and Max zoom up to 100x digital.

We blogged about the 100x Digital Zoom and you can read it at https://www.placesandfoods.com/2021/01/samsung-galaxy-s21-ultra-100x-zoom-review.html

The rear quad camera comes with 108MP Wide, 12MP Ultra wide, 10M Telephoto (3x), 10M Telephoto (10x) and Max zoom up to 100x digital.

We see some small things with the camera especially on their normal mode. Screen optimizer mode is similar to AI (artificial intelligent) mode and it helps to identify whenever you focus on the subject.

These are the photos with the screen optimizer and without the screen optimizer.

We love both options and we will tell you why. Without screen optimizer, the color seems not be that ‘HDR’ or rich of colours but that is okay. You can actually edit the photos easier with filters than photos with rich in colours.

The photo with the screen optimizer comes with more accurate or richer in colours and it is good enough to share or to post on social media without any more editing or filters.

We seldom use filters or heavily edit our photos so we are happy with the screen optimizer mode. Of course on top of that, there is single take mode, night mode, pro mode, portrait and AR doodles.

The night mode is an upgrade from their previous models and we truly enjoyed it. We also notice that the camera now feels like an actual camera as there are shuttle clicks when you snap photo.

The night mode. Again we take two photos so you can see the comparison.

This photo is without screen optimizer.

This photo with night mode on. You can definitely tell the difference in terms of colours, brightness, sharpness and quality with the night mode on. The night mode is getting better and better thanks to AI.

The Video

The video is also one of the highlights of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. The key features are 8k video at 24fps and Director’s View.

The 8k video is up to 6x zoom while the HD and UHD mode can goes up to 20x zoom. Zooming is not available for video stabilization.

The 8k video is impressive but the rendering is painful. We put it to the test filming a very dark playground and the result is better than expected.

The Director’s view is something new. It was available at Samsung Note 4 but reintroduced again for Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. This is pretty good option for VLOG and we looking forward for future software update to make this option better with video stabilization or more.

The Battery

The battery is Li-Ion 5000 mAh, non-removable and it is available for Fast charging 25W, USB Power Delivery 3.0, Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging 15W and Reverse wireless charging 4.5W.

Please take note that Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G do not come with a charger but there are many options out there especially fast charger and fast wireless charging.

We tried using Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G with many apps and the battery life is good enough for the entire day. You can say goodbye to the powerbank.

Do we need to say more, you can now purchase Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G now at: https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-s21-ultra-5g/ or at Shopee at: : https://bit.ly/3t40SX7