Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Review

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G is the corporate’s most premium smartphone but, with a robust concentrate on cameras. Identical to the Galaxy S20 Extremely (Assessment), this new mannequin boasts of 100X “space zoom” and 8K video recording, however with an improved capturing expertise and even higher picture high quality.

We’ve already talked concerning the design and foremost specs of the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G in our current first impressions article, so for this assessment, we’ll dive straight into the cameras and system efficiency first. In the event you’re critical about pictures or capturing video, then you ought to be within the Galaxy S21 Extremely, which is probably the most able to the three Galaxy S21 fashions. Nonetheless, is the value justified? Let’s discover out.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G worth and variants

Earlier than we start, let’s rapidly go over the variants of the Galaxy S21 Extremely which might be accessible in India. In different international locations, Samsung has decreased the launch costs of the Galaxy S21 collection, nonetheless resulting from taxes and foreign money charge fluctuations in India, the costs have gone up a bit in comparison with final yr’s fashions. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G begins at Rs. 1,05,999 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and there’s a second possibility priced at Rs. 1,16,999 which has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

It’s expensive for certain, however nonetheless prices lower than what Apple is charging for its iPhone 12 Professional collection. The bottom variant of the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G looks as if it must be the extra common mannequin of the 2, however remember that there isn't any microSD card slot for storage enlargement this time, so in case you suppose you’ll be capturing quite a lot of 8K video, you may need to contemplate the upper storage variant as an alternative.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G cameras

Whereas the digital camera capabilities of the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G stay largely just like these of its predecessor, Samsung has reworked the implementation, particularly of the telephoto cameras. There’s a new-generation 108-megapixel major digital camera which does nona-pixel binning, combining info from 9 pixels into one, for extra detailed 12-megapixel pictures.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G is all concerning the cameras

There’s a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digital camera and two telephoto cameras. The latter each have 10-megapixel sensors, however with several types of optical zoom lenses. One has a 3X optical zoom, whereas the opposite is able to 10X, with a periscope-style lens. There’s no point out of hybrid zoom this time, nonetheless there’s nonetheless some AI processing being utilized at increased magnification ranges.

Samsung continues to market House Zoom, which on the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G, goes all the way in which to 100X. At such a excessive magnification, it will possibly get very difficult to border photographs appropriately. particularly in case you’re capturing handheld, which we skilled with the Galaxy S20 Extremely. That is the place the brand new Zoom Lock function is available in. Once you transcend 20X magnification, you get a bit of preview window within the viewfinder that will help you discover your topic higher. In the event you maintain the body regular sufficient for one and a half seconds or faucet the preview field, the digital camera will lock focus in your topic and stick with it (the preview field turns yellow to verify this), making it a lot simpler to get a correctly framed shot.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G telephoto digital camera samples (Faucet to see bigger picture)

The brand new telephoto lenses together with this zoom lock function implies that zoomed-in photographs look higher and are barely simpler to seize. The digital camera app gives the identical onerous stops at 3X, 4X, 10X, 30X, and 100X, or you should use the slider to select the precise zoom degree you want. The Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G will use digital zoom between 1X and 3X, earlier than it switches to the primary telephoto digital camera, after which once more between 3X and 10X when it switches to the second telephoto digital camera. Picture high quality is noticeably sharper on the native optical zoom ranges, in comparison with any degree in between. At 100X, picture high quality is relatively a lot weaker however AI processing does assist in getting usable photographs.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G 3X telephoto digital camera pattern with Night time mode (faucet to see bigger picture)

In low mild, most smartphones ditch their telephoto cameras and simply use the first digital camera with digital zoom due to their extra beneficial apertures, however the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G will nonetheless use its telephoto cameras as a lot as doable regardless of their slim apertures. The outcomes are predictably poorer, however in case you use them with Night time mode, the outcomes are surprisingly good. In such circumstances, the zoom vary is proscribed to 10X and the telephone sticks to the 3X telephoto digital camera even at that degree, because the 10X digital camera has a really slim f/4.9 aperture. I managed to get superb photographs from the telephoto digital camera at night time.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G digital camera samples

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G also can seize native 108-megapixel photographs utilizing its foremost digital camera, permitting you to amplify and crop round your topic later, which in concept has the identical impact as zooming in. Nonetheless, I seen that the picture high quality isn’t one of the best, and also you’re higher off utilizing the telephoto cameras. This goes for photographs taken in daylight in addition to low mild.

Pixel-binned 12-megapixel pictures taken with the principle digital camera in good mild appeared glorious. Dynamic vary was good, there was loads of element, and colors appeared pure. Autofocus was fast and exact because of the laser AF sensor, like we noticed on the Galaxy Notice 20 Extremely. In the event you go too near your topic, the digital camera’s ‘focus enhancer’ kicks in, switching to the ultra-wide angle digital camera for a super-macro shot. I discovered this annoying because it tends to activate even in case you aren’t too near your topic and the picture high quality is a bit weaker in comparison with what the principle digital camera can seize. Fortunately, a bit of toggle icon within the viewfinder allows you to change it off instantly.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G daylight digital camera pattern (faucet to see bigger picture)

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G ultra-wide digital camera pattern (faucet to see bigger picture)

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G close-up digital camera pattern (faucet to see bigger picture)

Shut-ups look nice, with wealthy particulars and colors. Samsung’s Stay Focus mode is now merely known as Portrait and gives the identical bokeh patterns to select from as earlier than. The ultra-wide digital camera can be competent in the case of capturing landscapes, with an identical color tone as the principle digital camera. In low mild, the first and ultra-wide cameras proceed to impress even with out Night time mode, nonetheless you'll be able to count on higher uncovered photographs when utilizing Night time mode.

There’s a brand new video capturing mode known as Director’s View, which gives stay previews of what the ultra-wide, foremost, and 3X telephoto digital camera can seize whilst you’re recording, so you recognize what to anticipate earlier than switching. You may also allow a stay feed from the selfie digital camera, with a split-screen or picture-in-picture window, which Samsung calls ‘Vloggers view.’ I personally didn’t discover a lot use for this capturing mode, but it surely might be helpful for some individuals. The remainder of the capturing modes are just like what we noticed final yr, together with Single Take, Portrait Video, Tremendous Gradual-mo, and many others.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G Night time mode close-up digital camera pattern (faucet to see bigger picture)

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G ultra-wide Night time mode digital camera pattern (faucet to see bigger picture)

Samsung has made some modifications to the video recording capabilities of the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G, however they’re nonetheless not as intensive as I'd have favored. Now you can shoot 4K 60fps video with any of the cameras, one thing that Apple launched with the iPhone 11 Professional. Nonetheless, you can't change between cameras on the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G as soon as recording has begun, which is a bit of limiting. For this, you’ll have to shoot at 4K 30fps.

Samsung continues to be hyping 8K video recording, which is now stabilised, but it surely additionally closely crops the body. Video high quality is nice in daylight, however may be very grainy in low mild. There’s no restrict on the recording size. The massive disappointment for me although is that 8K video continues to be restricted to 24fps, like on the Galaxy S20 collection. Video high quality total is excellent, with sharp element, good stabilisation, and pure colors in footage shot within the daylight. Movies shot in poor lighting, even with the 3X telephoto digital camera, had been additionally spectacular.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G selfie digital camera pattern (faucet to see bigger picture)

Total, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G has a mighty spectacular set of rear cameras, and all of them have essential roles to play, in contrast to telephones with devoted depth or macro cameras. The selfie digital camera can be equally competent right here. It has a 40-megapixel sensor and captures binned 10-megapixel pictures by default. It has autofocus, and may shoot 4K 60fps stabilised movies. Picture high quality in daylight and low mild, particularly with Night time mode, is excellent.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G efficiency and battery life

Apart from glorious digital camera efficiency, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely can be a true-blue flagship with cutting-edge parts. The Indian model is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 2100 5G SoC, which is analogous to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 SoC by way of fabrication course of and the categories and variety of ARM CPU cores used. The 12GB RAM variant that I had for assessment posted sturdy benchmark numbers. It scored 5,70,453 factors in AnTuTu, and 960 and a couple of,995 factors respectively in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core assessments. These numbers are nonetheless behind what Apple’s A14 Bionic within the iPhone 12 collection can produce, however actually, you’d be onerous pressed to inform any distinction between these telephones with common use.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G has a stunning show which curves barely across the edges

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G simply ran graphically intensive video games similar to Name of Responsibility: Cell and Asphalt 9: Legends on the QHD+ decision. Gameplay was easy with strong framerates. The higher half of the metallic body did warmth up in a short time when gaming, which you'll really feel in case you use this telephone with out a case. Actually, this heating was noticeable even when utilizing the digital camera app. The telephone by no means received uncomfortably scorching for me, and neither did this appear to throttle efficiency, however your mileage may differ.

The Galaxy S21 Extremely additionally totally helps Samsung’s S Pen, which is bought as an adjunct. I couldn’t check this since Samsung didn’t ship it together with the telephone, however I think about that the expertise must be just like utilizing the most recent Galaxy Notice collection telephones. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely additionally helps Wi-Fi 6E and has an Extremely Huge Band (UWB) chip, which ought to permit the telephone for use as a digital key to unlock your automobile (when appropriate fashions are launched).

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G doubles up as a superb gadget for media consumption. The 6.8-inch AMOLED show will get extremely brilliant, and colors look wealthy and punchy. The QHD+ decision gives superb sharpness, which is helpful when studying textual content. The most important new function, as I discussed in my first impressions piece, is that you should use the 120Hz refresh charge on the native decision. It’s additionally adaptive, which implies when no contact enter is detected, or in case you’re watching a video, the refresh charge mechanically scales right down to 60Hz. Samsung says it will possibly go down all the way in which to 10Hz to avoid wasting energy, however I wasn’t capable of check this declare.

You may select from a wide range of always-on show types on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G

Movies normally look nice on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G’s show. Watching darkish scenes in motion pictures isn’t an issue because the AMOLED panel can obtain spectacular black ranges. Audio from the stereo audio system can be superb because of the Dolby Atmos enhancement. You get high-fidelity audio playback with help for the DSD 64/128 and 32-bit PCM codecs over a wired headset.

Different flagship options embody an IP68 score for mud and water resistance, Samsung Pay by way of NFC and MST, and a complete lot of sensors together with a new-generation ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Samsung claims that is about 1.7X bigger than the earlier mannequin, and in my expertise, it labored very effectively. All that’s wanted is a fast faucet for profitable authentication. Face recognition is supported too, and can be dependable.

I discovered battery life to be fairly strong. The 5,000mAh battery capability is similar as what the Galaxy S20 Extremely had, and simply lasts for greater than a full day of heavy to medium utilization. With lighter use, I used to be capable of delay the battery life to a bit of greater than a day and a half. This was with the show set to QHD+ and the 120Hz adaptive refresh charge enabled. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G lasted for 15 hours and 37 minutes in our HD video loop check, with the display on the default decision (full-HD+).

The Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G helps quick charging however solely at as much as 25W, with a appropriate USB PowerDelivery (PD) Sort-C adapter. That is one thing you’ll have to purchase individually, both from Samsung or a 3rd occasion vendor, because you don’t get an influence adapter within the field anymore. Actually, you get solely a USB Sort-C cable and the SIM eject instrument.

The big battery within the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G allows you to power-through a full day of heavy utilization

I attempted charging the Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G with a 27W Motorola adapter and OnePlus’ 65W adapter which ships with the 8T, and in each circumstances, I used to be capable of get a few 70 p.c cost in a single hour. You may inform that the telephone is charging quickly as a “super fast charging” message seems on the lockscreen. This telephone also can wirelessly quick cost with a appropriate charger, and reverse wi-fi charging can be doable.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G software program

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G runs OneUI 3.1, and it labored easily with no actual trace of lag or slow-downs within the week that I needed to assessment this telephone. That is the most recent model of Samsung’s customized pores and skin, and relies on Android 11. It appears to be like and feels slick. Acquainted Samsung gestures and shortcuts such because the Edge Panel are all current, which ought to make current Samsung customers really feel proper at dwelling. Not like the iPhone 12 Professional Max, you can also make higher use of the big show by opening two apps in split-screen. Samsung DeX is current, which I discovered tremendous helpful for transferring information from my laptop computer to the telephone and vice versa, wirelessly.

Adverts aren't one thing we count on from Samsung, particularly in a telephone this costly

I did get some spam notifications from the Samsung Store app once I first started utilizing the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G, regardless of unchecking all of the bins to not obtain advertising and marketing info, however this stopped after a day or two. Nonetheless, what I didn’t count on to see had been third-party adverts in a few of Samsung’s personal apps similar to Climate and Sport Launcher. These are static adverts and aren’t actually intrusive, however you actually shouldn’t should see them on such an costly smartphone. In the event you open the climate app or Sport Launcher, they’re proper there on the prime.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G ergonomics

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G packs in quite a lot of options, however all of this comes on the slight value of ergonomics. It’s an enormous telephone by any definition, and in reality, it’s even a bit thicker and heavier than the Galaxy S20 Extremely. It’s additionally fairly top-heavy, and you may really feel this imbalance, even with two-handed utilization. I’m not complaining an excessive amount of, although, since coming from the iPhone 12 Professional Max, I discover it a bit extra snug for one handed use because of the rounded sides.

The brand new design makes the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G look manner higher than earlier fashions. Samsung’s new contour-cut design for the digital camera module is exclusive, and manages to masks the digital camera bulge fairly effectively. You additionally get premium supplies throughout, with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for the back and front, and a metallic body.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G a chunky telephone, however the brand new design helps disguise this effectively whereas wanting very fancy

Verdict

For a very long time, Samsung’s Galaxy S flagships in any given era had been primarily differentiated by show and battery measurement, with the ‘plus’ fashions benefiting extra. This modified final yr when Samsung launched a 3rd ‘Ultra’ mannequin with a concentrate on cameras. This yr, Samsung is making an attempt to create a good bigger hole between its fashions. The Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G continues to be the hero product, however the Galaxy S21+ 5G and Galaxy S21 5G now have lower-resolution (full-HD+) shows, and the latter even ditches the glass again for plastic. Samsung did one thing related with the Galaxy Notice 20 collection final yr, with the Extremely mannequin getting a premium remedy, whereas the usual mannequin needed to stay with massive compromises.

We’re but to assessment the Galaxy S21 5G and Galaxy S21+ 5G, so I’ll reserve my judgement for them until we do, but it surely’s clear that Samsung desires to push customers who need probably the most premium expertise in direction of the Extremely mannequin, even when they don’t care that a lot about cameras.

Samsung has bumped up the costs of all its Galaxy S telephones this yr, however the Galaxy S21 Extremely 5G, particularly, continues to be well worth the premium for my part. It gives higher worth than the iPhone 12 Professional Max (Assessment), is equally highly effective, and has the most effective telephoto digital camera implementations out there. Add to that the wonderful construct high quality, nice show, sturdy battery life, and productiveness options similar to S Pen help, and that is simply one of the best Samsung flagship up to now.

Is Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely probably the most full Android telephone but? We mentioned this on Orbital, our weekly expertise podcast, which you'll be able to subscribe to by way of Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, obtain the episode, or simply hit the play button under.