Smartphones
−10%
Returned & Tested
CHF1173.60 currently CHF1299.– new
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
256 GB, Phantom silver, 6.80", Dual SIM, 108 Mpx, 5G
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G: my first impression of the monster flagship
1.2.2021
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
Samsung's new flagship has arrived. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is supposed to outshine everything that came before. Really? Initial tests reveal a lot of raw power, yet little subtlety.
There's not much in the package. Little even. One cable, one SIM tool, one Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, and two instruction manuals that remain unread. This makes the case thin with little room left over, making more space for further phones in bulk orders. However, you will have to buy a charger if you want a new one.
According to Samsung, you'd do well by buying the «New» cable here for CHF 21.90. It was added to our range in January 2021, i.e. at the same time as the new S21.
USB chargers
Quantity discount
CHF12.10 per piece for 2 units
Samsung Quick charger TA800N (without cable)
25 W
Combined with the CHF 1299.– phone, you'll have to fork out CHF 1320.90 all in all. According to the price history, that's around 20 francs cheaper than last year's Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. So much for extra surcharges.
Personally, however, I'd advise you to buy a somewhat stronger charger that'll last a few years. After all, Samsung might eventually come around to adding Fast Charging, Quick Charging, Dash Charging or Super Voocing. Then you'll be thankful for the extra bit of juice.
Not that this would make your Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G charge any faster, since the device only draws 25 watts. The 45 watts in my recommended charger are simply there to charge phones or other devices that can handle more. I currently charge mine with an Oppo Super Vooc 65 watt charger, which is fortunately now available for purchase separately.
One small thing that frustrates me: I always tell people that chargers and charging speeds are important. Instead I always get asked about either Google Services or Selfie Cams. All right, camera it is, let's get going.
All about that camera
As exciting as loading speeds are, cameras pack just as much of a punch. The South Korean manufacturer isn't letting us down with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. The device can do basically everything Samsung says. It's their biggest release of the year, which is also reflected in the camera. Here's the specs:
- 108 megapixel f/1.8 wide-angle lens with optical image stabiliser and laser autofocus.
- 10-megapixel f/4.9 periscope zoom lens with optical image stabiliser and 10x optical zoom.
- 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto lens with optical image stabiliser and 3x optical zoom.
- 12 Megapixel f/2.2 Ultra Wide Angle Lens with Super Steady Video Features.
You can take photos with up to 108 megapixels and use up to 100x zoom – a mix of digital and optical zoom.
Then there's the selfie cam, which has a 40-megapixel resolution and is supposed to do a good job in the dark with a light incidence of f/2.2.
In other words, it sounds great.
However, initial tests paint a rather sobering picture. The video above, which was largely filmed with the selfie cam, is typical for Samsung and shows an unsaturated image that's also quite noisy in 4K.
However, it looks top notch on the smartphone screen itself, or on any smartphone. No question, this is absolutely social media ready. On the big screen for video editing events, however, I'm slightly dreading it. My Sony a7s ii is superior to this thing.
A small side note: the iPhone 12 Pro Max is far superior to the Samsung Galaxy S21 in terms of the selfie cam. When it comes to sound it's the other way around, with Samsung taking the round.
However, the camera hump is a big disappointment. On Samsung's renders, it appears to run seamlessly into the frame of the phone. There should be visual unity, despite the fact that the frame and camera bump are two components.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth! Why did Samsung have to include two textures? Wouldn't it have been possible to chrome the hump?
A cat in 8K and 100x
Since my usual model was asleep, the other cat had to do. I first shot in 108 pixels (and the original size image).
That pic was also absolutely social media-ready, albeit unsaturated. But the question is, what do you need 108 megapixels for on social media, or anywhere else? After all, gigantic pictures aren't suitable for photo editing. They're too unclean and have too much noise. If you zoom in on the pupils of my colleague's cat in the original image, you'll see what I mean. All of this a year after the Huawei P40 Pro delivered data from a camera that can be edited without RAW for the first time. But knowing Samsung, an update should be coming in a few weeks that will massively improve the camera's performance.
Hopefully, this will also happen this year, it would be a shame if Samsung simply let such a great camera go to waste.
In terms of zoom, it'll be just as weird as last year. Whereas the 10x zoom is still pretty good, the 30x zoom is weak and at 100x you won't recognise anything even in the best lighting conditions.
Then I also filmed the furball in 8K.
As moderately enthusiastic as I was about the rest of the camera's performance, Samsung hit the bull's-eye here. Sure, there's some noise, but with the little bit of movement Samsung delivers a properly clear picture. Of course, this is less impressive on a Samsung-owned 8K TV. There you'd see every little imperfection in the image, but on all the screens I've watched the video on, my friendly furball here still looks fine.
And then there's the battery
All that camera performance and the solid 120 Hz screen do impact battery power, just like the new Exynos 2100 with its 5G performance.
As a result, the battery drains quite quickly despite its size. A quarter of an hour of YouTube can easily knock a few per cent of the battery. The whole video above is about 10 minutes of raw footage, that took 12% battery. Not bad, but if you extrapolate, you don't really get through the day as a heavy user – keeping in mind the target demographic of the S21 Ultra. Still, an update should make a big difference here as well. Otherwise, your only option is to reach for a power bank. I like Goal Zero a lot, even if it's a bit more expensive.
Okay, Goal Zeros are sinfully expensive, probably because there's also a sustainable and charitable thought involved. If you don't care for that stuff, then use Otterbox.
So far, one thing can be said with absolute certainty: the phone is extremely exciting, does a lot in theory, and I suspect that the software is still lagging behind the hardware. Except for the 100x zoom. It's really not ready for release yet. That would just be too good to be true.
There you have it. My catty colleague has earned a tuna cracker for his troubles.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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