S21 S21+ S21 Ultra hands-on reviews

[Ragnarianrok]

Luckily, they knocked it out of the ballpark with the matte black color, so it's a good year to go default black.

But agree with you all. Wish for more options at all configurations.

Silver or the rumored Phantom Green would be so nice.

 

[burwil]

Most use cases. And if it's not a clear case, color doesn't matter. Didn't mind at all ordering the black Ultra. I'll buy both clear and opaque cases but phone color shouldn't be a priority unless your go naked/clear case. BTW count me as one of the few who don't like the silver. It looks REALLY silver without anything to distinguish it from solder wire color.

 

[Rose4uKY]

Most use cases. And if it's not a clear case, color doesn't matter. Didn't mind at all ordering the black Ultra. I'll buy both clear and opaque cases but phone color shouldn't be a priority unless your go naked/clear case. BTW count me as one of the few who don't like the silver. It looks REALLY silver without anything to distinguish it from solder wire color.

I showed my husband the silver tonight that someone posted on here from Best Buy And I actually said I kind of like the black better now with the camera I don't know I just think it looks nice.

 

[J Dubbs]

Re: S21/+/Ultra hands-on reviews

Okay, a few reviews have mentioned ads.

Is this something we can disable or not? What's the full story here? Starting to feel a little concerned about them...

I mean, if they're only in Samsung apps, I don't plan to use Samsung apps where I can replace them with Google apps, but if they're going to just pop up in my notification panel once in a while, that could get annoying fast. If it's once in a super rare while, fine, but if it's even remotely frequent enough, that'll give me serious pause.

Can't believe Samsung thinks this is okay to do...

They're big enough to think anything's okay to do. And they're right...folks will bend over and purchase their phones no matter what they do. They have a huge pack of whales to rely on

 

[Notefan161]

Only negatives seem to be portrait and video not that improved everything else seems like this is amazing

 

[buzzy3970]

Definitely true as year after year we always complain about having to go with a certain color because of storage space. They know most of us at least in these forums care about specs more than color

like you, i'm bewildered why they did it.

the only answer i can come up with is this: with the base models, they may need fun colors to make them more marketable.

with the top-of-the-line model, they figured that essentially enthusiasts would buy these, and even without interesting colors, we'd just swallow hard, gripe a little, and place our orders

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Re: S21/+/Ultra hands-on reviews

Had the P5 and sent it back due to the size, simply too small. Really disappointed in Google that there was no P5XL this year. While there have been rumors and grumbling of a Pixel 5 Pro, I'm taking that with a grain of salt. While the camera is Google's main selling point for the line, I felt this was the time to try something new.

I felt like that with pixel 4xl. Husband got that and I moved to S10+ and prefer it hands down.

 

[Gary02468]

like you, i'm bewildered why they did it.

It's to control the cost of manufacturing. For each product, they have to guess how much demand there will be so they know how many to manufacture. If they make too few, they delay or lose sales revenue. If they make too many, they not only tie up resources that aren't yet useful but could have been immediately useful elsewhere, but also incur extra costs for storage.

When they manufacture the same product in several colors, they need to guess the demand separately for each color. That's much harder to predict, and they can err in both directions at once--they can make too many of one color and too few of another, so they pay both kinds of extra costs. That extra cost gets subsidized partly by Samsung and partly by the customers.

So Samsung has to analyze, for each product, whether the potential extra sales from offering multiple colors outweighs the extra cost of providing that choice.

 

[bill-e]

It's a proven fact that Silver is not compatible with more than 128b of Samsung ram. Black on the other hand, since it matches the color of the chips can hold more ram.

 

[Dualmonitors]

Re: S21/+/Ultra hands-on reviews

They're big enough to think anything's okay to do. And they're right...folks will bend over and purchase their phones no matter what they do. They have a huge pack of whales to rely on

true, @J Dubbs: witness their exploding batteries several years ago.

the rest of us still merrily enjoyed our non-exploding Samsung phones, all while not really knowing if ours might explode too!

talking about loyalty! Sheesh

 

[Dualmonitors]

It's to control the cost of manufacturing. For each product, they have to guess how much demand there will be so they know how many to manufacture. If they make too few, they delay or lose sales revenue. If they make too many, they not only tie up resources that aren't yet useful but could have been immediately useful elsewhere, but also incur extra costs for storage.

When they manufacture the same product in several colors, they need to guess the demand separately for each color. That's much harder to predict, and they can err in both directions at once--they can make too many of one color and too few of another, so they pay both kinds of extra costs. That extra cost gets subsidized partly by Samsung and partly by the customers.

So Samsung has to analyze, for each product, whether the potential extra sales from offering multiple colors outweighs the extra cost of providing that choice.

while what you said is true, for those of us who purchased the black S21 Ultra 512, we had zero options! none. zilch!

not even basic colors like maybe one black and one white? or maybe black and silver? 2 options that are both gender non-specific isn't too much to ask for the most costly top-of-the-line phone!

 

[Gary02468]

we had zero options

Even providing two colors introduces the possibility of manufacturing too many of one and too few of the other. You still need to perform a detailed analysis of the cost and benefit of that choice (as Samsung's marketing department undoubtedly did) to tell whether or not it's worth the cost.

 

[ironass]

In the U.K. Samsung are offering the Galaxy S21 Ultra 512GB in a range of colours...

• Phantom Black
• Phantom Silver
• Phantom Titanium
• Phantom Navy
• Phantom Brown

The other models, S21 & S21+, all come in a range of different colour choices also.



See...

Samsung Galaxy S21 colors: every shade available including S21 Plus and S21 Ultra

See, also... https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...oCfMoQAvD_BwE%26gclsrc%3Daw.ds&token=t6GFAPCi

 

[Ragnarianrok]

Appreciate this simple "day out with the S21 camera" video. It's a nice change of pace from the constant comparisons. It's just the S21 out capturing stuff, and honestly, based on this, I'm pretty happy with the results.

 

[rcab]

Appreciate this simple "day out with the S21 camera" video. It's a nice change of pace from the constant comparisons. It's just the S21 out capturing stuff, and honestly, based on this, I'm pretty happy with the results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPiJMnRCWCA&ab_channel=JoshuaVergara

Yes, I agree. Very nice photos and I am also looking forward to getting my S21

 

[Dualmonitors]

In the U.K. Samsung are offering the Galaxy S21 Ultra 512GB in a range of colours...

• Phantom Black
• Phantom Silver
• Phantom Titanium
• Phantom Navy
• Phantom Brown

The other models, S21 & S21+, all come in a range of different colour choices also.

View attachment 331033

See...

Samsung Galaxy S21 colors: every shade available including S21 Plus and S21 Ultra

See, also... https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...oCfMoQAvD_BwE%26gclsrc%3Daw.ds&token=2GW7bVlm

@ironass: while they showed various colors for the S21 Ultra, they didn't specify whether the 512gb model would come in all those colors! might the 512gb be limited to just black in the UK as well?

 

[ironass]

@ironass: while they showed various colors for the S21 Ultra, they didn't specify whether the 512gb model would come in all those colors! might the 512gb be limited to just black in the UK as well?

No, they are actually available in all those colours for the S21 Ultra range.

Having said that, the Phantom Titanium is now, "Out of Stock", on the 512GB on the Samsung U.K. site. Still available on the 128GB & 256GB though.

 

[Ragnarianrok]

This seems to be The Verge's video review of the base S21 model. There's a nice Pixel 5 camera comparison moment shortly after the 7-minute mark:

For those of us that were discussing S21 vs Pixel's camera experience, it seems it's truly a toss-up of what you value more. To me, the S21 is the better overall package. Some photos may need a bit more contrast, but besides that, Samsung seems to beat out the Pixel 5 in nearly every other department, including sharpness, zoom (obviously), features, and of course, video.

I hope this makes Google feel the pressure; they'll need to up their game with the Pixel 6.

 

[Piggy winks]

Re: S21/+/Ultra hands-on reviews

https://youtu.be/-1fFf4Xy92E

At 4:22 the reviewer mentions the skin smoothing.

It's frustrating that these reviews spend did much you focusing on the zoom capabilities. Does everyone go around zooming in on buildings and trees? I'd be surprised if I had more than 10 photos in my whole Google photos library where I used zoom. I get it that Samsung makes a big deal out of their zoomimg telephoto lenses, but I have to believe most people take more pictures of their family, friends, pets, kids etc. Video looks promising though, and will probably stomp the pixel.

The more reviews i watch, I'm actually considering getting the plus instead of the ultra model. I don't care about zoom capabilities, and i actually prefer the flat screen. The resolution really doesn't make a difference to me since I'm not watching much content that's over 1080p anyways.

I don't zoom in on buildings nor trees, but with my S20FE I do use the zoom. Example being at a soccer tournament for my son. I finally used my FE to record the game on a tripod. The standard camera was too far for the action, so I used the 3x Zoom to get in a bit closer. Also, for pictures in the past of people standing, I can either stand realllllllyyyyy close, or just zoom in about 2x.

Doubt I will zoom enought to kick in the hybrid/digital zooming, but I do like optical zoom, and love I have that flexibility on a phone.

 

[bill-e]

I zoom all the time too and I really don't care all that much about in-camera processing because I shoot all my serious photo's raw and post process. I'm hoping the Ultra will allow me to leave my DSLR home on occasion cuz my fast glass is heavy
Bill
-----
Galaxy S21 (Pre-order), Galaxy Book (original), Tab S4, Gear S2