Just a quick rundown, summary, and thoughts regarding my experiences with the S26U after 3 weeks of usage.
I generally upgrade every year or two, and I was coming from the S24U. The main reasons holding me back initially was the lack of BLE S-Pen and a 2TB option. I realized that I'd only ever used the BLE feature when triggering group selfies, when doing awkward finger gymnastics would prevent my fingernail from activating the shutter on the screen. Other than that, I never really took advantage of the other BLE features.
Believe it or not, there are manufacturing copy variations between units (one of my S24Us had some noticeable softness in the corners of one of the camera lenses), so I had ordered a couple of S26Us to perform a quality comparison this time around. Ran through my own quick QA checks on both units - physical checks, S-Pen insertion, camera tests (lens sharpness, IS), screen tests (uniformity, color temp, dead pixels), RF reception, ran benchmark apps, speaker and mic tests, performed test calls, etc. One of the units had slightly faster RF performance, consistently higher benchmark scores, and overall better lens sharpness. The differences were minute enough this time around (unlike my previous S24U issues) that if I were to play with each S26U in isolation, I wouldn't have been the wiser. However, if you compared images taken from both phones closely, there are notable and consistent differences in sharpness. Which makes me wonder. When Youtubers review phones and they claim this year's phone (or a competitor's phone) generates slightly better or worse images, they could have easily been comparing phones from the opposite ends of the manufacturing tolerances, arriving at incorrect conclusions, especially since they only review and test one unit for each release.
Once I decided on a unit, I applied the Spigen screen protector and installed their Thin Fit MagFit case, did a factory reset, and proceeded to set up the phone. Before I started setting up the S26U, I backed up all of my S24U data files (photos, videos, music, docs, etc) by compressing them into zips and transferring them to my Synology RAID NAS. I then did a manual backup on my S24U to Google Drive and Samsung Cloud, found under settings. Followed by a manual backup of all of my Whatsapp chats (unlike cloud chats like Telegram and FB/IG, WA is stored locally on-device). I followed the Samsung Smart Switch prompts to transfer wirelessly from the S24U to the S26U. I like to automate the transfer of calls/contacts, sms messages, galaxy wearable, and general settings only. For apps, I like to install fresh from the Play Store (or restore manually from Samsung Cloud later, if an app is no longer available from the Play Store). For my own data files (photos, videos, music, docs, etc), I like to transfer back the zips manually myself from my NAS and uncompress them on the phone.
Before sending in the S24U, I had both phones up and running side by side for a couple of days, just to see if i missed anything and to see the notification behavior on both phones. I discovered that notifications arrived either pretty much on par or later on the S26U (even up to 2 hours late)... when the phones had been in idle or deep idle state. When both phones were fully awake with the displays on, notification arrivals were simultaneous. I suspect this is one of the ways Samsung was able to extend the battery stamina on the S26U via more aggressive idle management. I also assume that as the new phone learns your usage patterns, notifications on these newly-installed apps will be less likely to be put in deep sleep. Obviously, high-priority events like phone calls or even chat messages wake the phone promptly no matter the idle period. As usual, I did the video boxing of sent items at the courier, from the powering on/off, S-Pen, packaging, to the handoff and receipt, all in one video take.
Regarding screen quality, the decrease in viewing angles with the privacy display off compared to the S24U is a non-issue to me. Quite frankly, when using the S26U by itself and not thinking about this "issue", I don't even notice it. When the phone is resting on my desk off to the side, I can see the screen off-axis perfectly fine. Another use case for the privacy display feature that I haven't seen talked about is using it to prevent the blinding of others on the plane, if you need to check your phone at the movies, or when your partner/spouse is crashing next to you.
The lack of magnets in the housing is another non-issue to me, as I'll never use these phones without a case.
No complaints in the camera department. The cameras are competent and still captures good photos for a smartphone in this range. To me, the smartphone camera has always been a convenient stopgap. For serious photography, I always default to my Canon R5 II bodies. Though would be awesome if Profoto strobes could be triggered with Galaxy phones.
I generally upgrade every year or two, and I was coming from the S24U. The main reasons holding me back initially was the lack of BLE S-Pen and a 2TB option. I realized that I'd only ever used the BLE feature when triggering group selfies, when doing awkward finger gymnastics would prevent my fingernail from activating the shutter on the screen. Other than that, I never really took advantage of the other BLE features.
Believe it or not, there are manufacturing copy variations between units (one of my S24Us had some noticeable softness in the corners of one of the camera lenses), so I had ordered a couple of S26Us to perform a quality comparison this time around. Ran through my own quick QA checks on both units - physical checks, S-Pen insertion, camera tests (lens sharpness, IS), screen tests (uniformity, color temp, dead pixels), RF reception, ran benchmark apps, speaker and mic tests, performed test calls, etc. One of the units had slightly faster RF performance, consistently higher benchmark scores, and overall better lens sharpness. The differences were minute enough this time around (unlike my previous S24U issues) that if I were to play with each S26U in isolation, I wouldn't have been the wiser. However, if you compared images taken from both phones closely, there are notable and consistent differences in sharpness. Which makes me wonder. When Youtubers review phones and they claim this year's phone (or a competitor's phone) generates slightly better or worse images, they could have easily been comparing phones from the opposite ends of the manufacturing tolerances, arriving at incorrect conclusions, especially since they only review and test one unit for each release.
Once I decided on a unit, I applied the Spigen screen protector and installed their Thin Fit MagFit case, did a factory reset, and proceeded to set up the phone. Before I started setting up the S26U, I backed up all of my S24U data files (photos, videos, music, docs, etc) by compressing them into zips and transferring them to my Synology RAID NAS. I then did a manual backup on my S24U to Google Drive and Samsung Cloud, found under settings. Followed by a manual backup of all of my Whatsapp chats (unlike cloud chats like Telegram and FB/IG, WA is stored locally on-device). I followed the Samsung Smart Switch prompts to transfer wirelessly from the S24U to the S26U. I like to automate the transfer of calls/contacts, sms messages, galaxy wearable, and general settings only. For apps, I like to install fresh from the Play Store (or restore manually from Samsung Cloud later, if an app is no longer available from the Play Store). For my own data files (photos, videos, music, docs, etc), I like to transfer back the zips manually myself from my NAS and uncompress them on the phone.
Before sending in the S24U, I had both phones up and running side by side for a couple of days, just to see if i missed anything and to see the notification behavior on both phones. I discovered that notifications arrived either pretty much on par or later on the S26U (even up to 2 hours late)... when the phones had been in idle or deep idle state. When both phones were fully awake with the displays on, notification arrivals were simultaneous. I suspect this is one of the ways Samsung was able to extend the battery stamina on the S26U via more aggressive idle management. I also assume that as the new phone learns your usage patterns, notifications on these newly-installed apps will be less likely to be put in deep sleep. Obviously, high-priority events like phone calls or even chat messages wake the phone promptly no matter the idle period. As usual, I did the video boxing of sent items at the courier, from the powering on/off, S-Pen, packaging, to the handoff and receipt, all in one video take.
Regarding screen quality, the decrease in viewing angles with the privacy display off compared to the S24U is a non-issue to me. Quite frankly, when using the S26U by itself and not thinking about this "issue", I don't even notice it. When the phone is resting on my desk off to the side, I can see the screen off-axis perfectly fine. Another use case for the privacy display feature that I haven't seen talked about is using it to prevent the blinding of others on the plane, if you need to check your phone at the movies, or when your partner/spouse is crashing next to you.
The lack of magnets in the housing is another non-issue to me, as I'll never use these phones without a case.
No complaints in the camera department. The cameras are competent and still captures good photos for a smartphone in this range. To me, the smartphone camera has always been a convenient stopgap. For serious photography, I always default to my Canon R5 II bodies. Though would be awesome if Profoto strobes could be triggered with Galaxy phones.
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