Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review: a worthy Android contender

Consider this a preliminary review. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has only been in my hands a matter of days and, so far, it is impressive. But the real issues with smartphones often take longer to reveal themselves. Such as the battery drain issues that persist once everything is up and running, and you start to load all those essential apps on the phone. Or that slightly annoying design choice that means you automatically press the wrong button even after you’ve owned the phone for a month. You know how it goes. A few days just are not enough.

So this is the early opinion of the S21 Ultra, and as I’ve said, the early signs are good.

Samsung has given its flagship phone a few new features and a bit of a design change, and the overall effect is a slick, sleek phone that you want to show off. The camera bump has been slimmed down and, although it may not be invisible, it is certainly a big improvement on previous years.

The display is 6.8 inches, which sounds massive but in reality doesn’t feel unwieldy. The bezels are almost non-existent, so while it will be a stretch for smaller hands, it is not automatically a two-hander.

The camera, as usual, is the standout feature of the S21 Ultra. Like last year’s model, it has incredible zoom powers – up to 100x – but unlike last year’s, that highly powered zoom is more usable. The chance that the 100x Space Zoom will be used anything more than a handful of times is small; the photographs are still a bit too grainy and soft to be much more than a novelty.

But the images are more stable now, so you aren’t jumping around the place at the slightest vibration. The 30x, on the other hand, is a viable option, if still a little soft.

When you get to the 10x and 3x zoom, that is where the S21 Ultra really shines. The photos are rich and crisp without looking too processed. The addition of lasers to the autofocus means everything works that bit faster and better, and focus enhancer kicks in automatically to sharpen your photos.

Shooting high quality video – the S21 Ultra supports up to 8K video – is also a little easier. You can take shots out of that 8K footage too, which makes it more useful to the average smartphone owner.

In full HD, you can switch on super steady mode to turn your phone into an action cam of sorts. Plus there are extra modes such as portrait video, which uses the bokeh effect in creative ways, and director view, which uses both cameras to show your reaction to what you are filming. Hyperlapse is handy for creative time-lapse videos too.

The night mode is also useful, although it remains a choice and a suggestion by the camera, rather than the default. That is sometimes preferable, rather than giving over full control to the phone and having night mode kick in when you don’t actually want it.

Side by side with the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the night mode is good in low light, but not quite as good as Apple’s photography.

The selfie camera clocks in at 40 megapixels, which in an era where we are now dependent on video conferencing for work and leisure, is welcome.

One of the changes made by Samsung this time out is the S Pen. While you won’t get the pen in the box, if you happen to have one lying around from an old Note or Tab, you can use it with the phone. An old S9 pen instantly connected to the Ultra, giving me the ability to take notes, annotate photos and other functions.

Does this mean the end of the Note? The main things Samsung’s other flagship phone had going for it were the large screen – now a regular sight on many smartphones – and the S Pen, with which Samsung is testing the waters on the S21 Ultra. If it is the end of the Note, the S21 Ultra won’t be a bad substitute.

The good
The design of the S21 Ultra is appealing. That camera bump is less prominent while still shoving four lenses in there, and the matt black is a change from the super shiny options usually seen in Samsung devices. It's a shame most of us will immediately shove it into a case, but until they invent indestructible smart phones, we are where we are on that one.

The camera has plenty of options, from still images with super zoom to high quality video. The portrait mode deserves an honourable mention for its use of the bokeh effect too.

The not so good
Samsung has ditched the MicroSD card support, leaving you with just the storage you get with the phone on board, and cloud storage for everything else. For some people, this won't be an issue as they will barely touch the sides of the entry-level 128GB storage. But if you want to take a lot of photos and high quality videos, you might find you run out of space sooner rather than later. Opt for the higher capacity phones in that case.

The rest
Samsung has ditched a couple of other things, too, most notably the charger from the box. There's a good chance you have a few spare plugs hanging around though, and the cable, luckily, remains. Plus the S21 Ultra includes wireless charging, which you can reverse to turn the phone into a portable battery pack for other wireless devices.

One thing it does add though? 5G. So you can future proof your phone even if you aren’t planning on signing up for 5G services just yet.

The verdict
Ultra by name, ultra by nature. The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is a worthy Android contender.