So... this happened...

[gendo667]

And now I'm getting S21 Ultra eBay ads.

 

[gray2018]

Whoops. Lol.

They still sell the S21 Ultra at Samsung. It's from their "certified re-newed," program. But only the 128gb version. They used to sell the 256gb, obviously stopped.

 

[gray2018]

So.... The camera lenses seem to have dried out for the most part. There does seem to be some debris in there sadly, so they will still have to do something like clean out the lenses I assume.

And this is weird... But if you open up the actual default Samsung camera app, I still get the message that the camera failed. But... I can download a random camera app, and that works fine and actually takes pictures which also look fine mostly. What the hell? Lol.

 

[SpookDroid]

3rd party apps usually don't have access to all the lenses on Samsung cameras so that could prevent the stock one from opening (but you should be able to check this using the 'secret' test mode and see if the camera module fails). You can also try clearing the Camera app's data so that it forces a clean slate to try to re-open.

 

[gray2018]

Cool! Thanks. Will try.

 

[gray2018]

None of that worked. But, my camera must have dried out completely as it's started working again. And oddly enough, the pictures look just about the same as before. There doesn't seem to be any debris noticeable in the pictures.

That said, of course, when I loaded my SIM card back up into the phone... It's not working. seriously? I mean, I know I will have to take the device in, but I was really hoping to put it off for a bit more and still be able to actively use it as my daily driver. I am guessing the internal piece that accepts the SIM card is damaged somehow. UGH.

Other then that, it basically works as it did before this occurred. I wish I had 200 dollars right now. Thankfully, I still have my Note 20 Ultra. My son accidently dunked my broken, hand me down s10e recently and it no longer works... At all. Seriously kid? lol

Note20U is good... But still prefer my S21U. Much more comfortable to hold, better screen, and better camera. Basically better everything. Lol.

 

[gray2018]

Welp, I've had yet ANOTHER set back. My son decided it would be a good idea to take marbles to the screen. UGH. So, needless to say, the screen is now cracked in multiple places.

It might be time to just retire my S21 Ultra.

I still have my Note 20 Ultra, which I've been using on and off for awhile now. But, I still prefer the S21U.

If I had the money, I'd trade in the S21U with a cracked in screen trade in value to Samsung and get an S23 Ultra. But, I do not.

I can't imagine spending 300-400 on this phone now to fix it.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Welp, I've had yet ANOTHER set back. My son decided it would be a good idea to take marbles to the screen. UGH. So, needless to say, the screen is now cracked in multiple places.

It might be time to just retire my S21 Ultra.

I still have my Note 20 Ultra, which I've been using on and off for awhile now. But, I still prefer the S21U.

If I had the money, I'd trade in the S21U with a cracked in screen trade in value to Samsung and get an S23 Ultra. But, I do not.

I can't imagine spending 300-400 on this phone now to fix it.

Sounds like you'll need to keep your phone away from your kid.

 

[gray2018]

Sounds like you'll need to keep your phone away from your kid.

My son is special needs, so playing on our phone in a lot of cases is a bit of a stim for him unfortunately.

But I think we will be dramaticly cutting back on his time, and I think I will be putting a screen protector on my phone in the future.

 

[Laura Knotek]

My son is special needs, so playing on our phone in a lot of cases is a bit of a stim for him unfortunately.

But I think we will be dramaticly cutting back on his time, and I think I will be putting a screen protector on my phone in the future.

Could you get a cheap beater device for him?

 

[gray2018]

Could you get a cheap beater device for him?

Yes. I have some.

 

[gray2018]

Welp, my S21U is done for. Ubreakifix has quoted me 600+ dollars to fix it. Even their associate told me you can get another phone for that. It was nice while it lasted.

Hell, I can get another S21U from Samsung for 450 when they run their trade in specials of any device trade in credit for 350. Perhaps I'll shoot for an S23 Ultra.

It really annoys me that this is the first time I've ever wanted to keep a device beyond two years, and now I can't. Lol.
Also, this thing was built like a tank. I've used it ridiculously in the past two years. 99% of the time, highest brightness. No screen burn. My Note 20 Ultra that I got 8 months ago... Screen burn already.

 

[Roadijeff]

One of the last S21U holdouts. My S21U is still going strong and I regularly get 2 days out of a full charge. No scratches on the screen or case. Until Samsung comes out with a significantly improved model I'll keep using this one.

Please update this thread on what you get to replace it with and how you like it compared to your S21U. I don't visit any of the other forums besides the S21U.

 

[gendo667]

Whoops. Lol.

They still sell the S21 Ultra at Samsung. It's from their "certified re-newed," program. But only the 128gb version. They used to sell the 256gb, obviously stopped.

I know it's less storage but I still think this might be your best option. Or like an S22+ refurbished if from factor is an issue.

 

[gray2018]

Yes. Samsung is constantly changing their deals. They randomly go through these spurts where they will give great trade in deals, then barely anything. When they get something that is a good deal again, I may jump on it.

Welp, it's gone and I'm sad. Over the weekend, I sold my S21U to an Ecoatm. I got 50 bucks for it. Pretty pathetic, but I could use the money at the time. I may or may not buy another one from Samsung. My budget for a new device is around 500. I could get another S21U for around 440 dollars.

Ironically enough, I noticed the device recently also had quite a bit of screen burn when I reset it.
Samsung would have given me 100-150 dollars for my cracked S21 Ultra. But, there aren't really any devices that I could get away with spending within my budget and make use of their trade in, so, it wasn't really worth bothering with.

I am not sure which way I will go now. My Note 20 Ultra is fine for now, but uh... Also has screen burn.

 

[gray2018]

Alright, so... I am not getting another S21 Ultra. I loved that device. Samsung changed up their promo quickly to 300 dollars off trade in for most devices, but now is including all devices I believe in this promotion. Would have been nice if they did this previously.

I opted to get a green, 256gb variant S23 Ultra. I'm not paying 500 dollars for a 4 year old device, as much as I loved it. Time to move on.

I got a pretty good deal I think, as I'm still able to keep my Note 20 Ultra as a backup device, and the S23 Ultra came out to 670 after taxes with trade in. A little bit under 30 bucks a month with Affirm financing, and zero down. That's actually quite good for me honestly. Not bad at all.

The only tricky part is going to be finding a device to trade in. I picked "Other Samsung smartphone." I would assume this means as long as the device is in good condition and no damage or cracked screens and isn't listed under devices, they will accept it. Hopefully. Lol.

It's pretty sweet that you can go and get a 40-60 dollar midrange device that's like a simple tracfone or whatever from Walmart, and turn around and get 300 bucks for it in trade in.

 

[gray2018]

Got this yesterday... So far, pretty good. Definitely upgrades in a lot of places. However, I still would have to say I think the S21 Ultra is my favorite device of all time. I will definitely miss it.

 

[gray2018]

Alright, so... Bit of a long post. The S23 Ultra is gone. Honestly, I was impressed with this device at first. But for me, the main gripe was with the camera quality. It seems like no matter what I did, I really couldn't get the desired look I wanted for shots. Honestly, for what I was paying for this, I want to be happy with the images coming out of it.
I looked at the S22 Ultra. My wife has one... But honestly, there are three downsides compared to the S21U for me personally; the camera quality IMO isn't as good, as there seems to be a weird grainy/skin tone appearance, the speakers, as many have commented, and from my own personal experience are not very good in comparison to the S21U and sound muffled, and in terms of specs, the 128gb version of the S21U comes with 12gb of RAM compared to 8gb of RAM on the 128gb version of the S22U. So, for me, these were all deciding factors.

I just decided to pick up another S21U. I don't care about updates. There are SO many people that gripe about updates that are on the notion that as soon as your phone stops receiving updates or gets anywhere near that, you're DONE and it's completely obsolete. Well, it still has one more year of security updates, and it's slated to get the latest One UI skin and Android 15. It will run fine for awhile. I'm not worried about it.

So for around 515 dollars, I was able to get a pair of wireless earbuds and the S21U with their promos. The price of the device itself got knocked down to 400. I wouldn't normally buy wireless earbuds, but in order to get certain promos, you had to hit 500 dollars, which then took 50 dollars off the order.

I think I'll be happy with this for now. I'm not happy about paying on the S21 Ultra again.... But it is what it is. I also have my trust Note 20U. Also, so many people have commented on differing things telling me I should have gotten an S24U or S25U. Nah, sorry. In order to do that, I would have to trade in my Note 20 Ultra, which I don't feel like doing. And even then, you are still talking about like at least 800 dollars for either device.

By purchasing a refurbished S21 Ultra, not only was I able to get a device that I know is really good and works within my budget of around 500 or less dollars, but I was able to get a good deal where I could just trade in some chincy Samsung device I found for 50 bucks, turn around and get 300 dollars for it towards trade in, and still keep my Note 20 Ultra. I highly appreciate keeping it around not only for an extra device, but for the SD card support as well.