The Galaxy S21 Ultra: A Review After Two Months

When I first reviewed the Galaxy S21 Ultra, I knew it was set up to be the phone to beat in 2021. And after using it every single day for two months, I can confidently say that this is going to be the phone to buy if you have the budget. As Andrew Martinick from Digital Trends, I want to hear from you: what are you looking forward to in your next phone purchase? Whether it's a Galaxy S21 Ultra or something else, let us know and don't forget to like and subscribe for more videos. And if you're interested in buying any of the products we talk about, we have links for you so you can jump straight to the store and get them for yourself.

The Camera: A Massive Upgrade

One of my favorite things about the Galaxy S21 Ultra is its camera. If you have a phone that's a few years old, you're going to be blown away by every aspect of what this camera can do. The front camera, rear cameras - it doesn't matter, even if you have a phone that's just a year old, Samsung has taken massive steps forward especially in zoom camera quality. The camera quality improvements come across in all kinds of situations whether you're trying to get quick shots of a pet or a kid running around, shots in a wide open bright park like this, or late at night in low light photography mode, you're going to be super impressed by everything that this camera can do.

The Main Camera Takes Amazing Photos

The main camera takes amazing photos, a huge upgrade over the Galaxy S20 series. With those extra supporting cameras, it's the most versatile camera that you're going to take photos with this year. More versatile than Apple, OnePlus, and Google, the best thing Samsung has done is pulled back on a lot of its over-processing and too-contrasty look from previous cameras. It's a little more natural, you get some HDR effect when you want it, but it looks a little more neutral when you don't.

Daily Usability: A Really Usable Daily Phone

One of the best parts about using the Galaxy S21 Ultra every day is just the daily usability of the phone. Sure, it has top-end specs - it's got a Snapdragon 888 and all the ram and storage you could ever want, but that all just translates into a really usable daily phone. I've been using it for two months straight and I haven't had a single hiccup. It doesn't matter how many apps I multitask with what games I play or how much network usage I have over 5G - it just gets everything done. It's very much like an iPhone in that respect, but it's not locked down or restricted like an iPhone.

Battery Life: The Best Battery Life I've Ever Had

Samsung's software has all the customization options, all the features, and theming that you could ever want in a phone. And none of that slick performance comes at any cost of battery life - this is the best battery life I've ever had on a Samsung phone. It blows everything else out of the water except for maybe the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and that's with doing nothing to save battery. I use this phone as much as possible, I don't use power-saving mode, I leave the screen on full brightness and I leave 5G turned on.

The Size: A Big Problem

Living with this phone every single day for the last two months has shown me that yes, it really is the best Android phone you're going to get in 2021. It's also the biggest Android phone you're going to get this year. If you can deal with the size and you have the budget, run don't walk to get a Galaxy S21 Ultra. But if you can't handle the size and don't want to spend $1,200 on a phone that's just too big, then maybe it's not the phone for you.

Conclusion

What do you think of the Galaxy S21 Ultra after my thoughts on it? Does it have you running out to buy one? Are you on the fence or are you saying no because this isn't the phone for me and I'm going to get the Oneplus 9 Pro later this month anyway. When you're done watching this video, you can watch these two videos that I picked out particularly for you - if you like this one, you're going to love them.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhen i reviewed the galaxy s21 ultra i knew it was set up to be the phone to beat in 2021 and now after i've been using it every single day for two months i know that this is going to be the phone to buy if you've got the budget i'm andrew martinick with digital trends and we want to hear from you let us know what you're looking forward to in your next phone purchase whether it's a galaxy s21 ultra or something else and while you're there be sure to like and subscribe click that bell icon so you get notified the next time we release a video for you and if you want to buy any of the products that we talk about here and we love we have links for you so you can jump straight to the store and get them for yourself so let's get to it the galaxy s21 ultra after two months my favorite thing far and away is the camera if you have a phone that's a few years old you're gonna be blown away by every aspect of what this camera can do front camera rear cameras it doesn't matter even if you have a phone that's just a year old samsung has taken massive steps forward especially in zoom camera quality the camera quality improvements come across in all kinds of situations whether you're trying to get quick shots of a pet or a kid running around shots in a wide open bright park like this or late at night in low light photography mode you're going to be super impressed by everything that this camera can do the main camera takes amazing photos a huge upgrade over the galaxy s20 series and with those extra supporting cameras it's the most versatile camera that you're going to take photos with this year more versatile than apple oneplus and google and the best thing that samsung's done is pulled back on a lot of its over processing and too contrasty look from previous cameras it's a little more natural you get some hdr effect when you want it but it looks a little more neutral when you don't one of the best parts about using the galaxy s21 ultra every day is just the daily usability of the phone sure it has the top-end specs it's got a snapdragon 888 and all the ram and storage you could ever want but that all just translates into a really usable daily phone i've been using it for two months straight and i haven't had a single hiccup it doesn't matter how many apps i multitask with what games i play or how much network usage i have over 5g it just gets everything done it's very much like an iphone in that respect now it's not locked down or restricted like an iphone but it's just just works and for twelve hundred dollars you fully expect that but the galaxy s21 ultra also goes above and beyond samsung's software has all the customization options all the features and the theming that you could ever want in a phone bottom line it's faster and smoother than the phone you're using right now and it will be for the next two or three years without an issue none of that slick performance comes at any cost of battery life this is the best battery life i've ever had on the samsung phone it blows everything else out of the water except for maybe the iphone 12 pro max and that's with doing nothing to save battery i use this phone as much as possible i don't use power saving mode i leave the screen on full brightness and i leave 5g turned on the s21 ultra doesn't have the fastest charging speeds they're just kind of average with 25 watt wired and 15 watt wireless but it doesn't matter because i end every single day with at least 40 percent battery if i really want to stretch it i can get two full days out of this phone now i'm obviously a power user i use the most that this phone has to offer and i still end up with 40 battery at the end of the day if you're an easier user you spend a lot of time inside on wi-fi you're gonna go two full days without even thinking about it the only problem with this phone is it is absolutely gigantic and it's in these exact situations when i'm just walking down the street it's freezing outside i'm trying to just hold the phone in one hand that its size really starts to be a burden i'm a big guy i've got large hands and i still struggle to wrap my hand around the galaxy s21 ultra if i try to reach the top of the screen with my thumb i simply can't do it i can't reach across the screen with my thumb and that turns this into a two-handed device even in portrait and that's a real struggle because sometimes you just have one hand available and that's it and that's where i ran into the biggest issue with this particular phone i dropped it right from my pocket three feet off the ground and while it did okay with that drop it's specifically because it's too big i couldn't wrap my hand around it it was cold outside and that's the situation that everybody's gonna find themselves in now and then and when you drop a phone that's twelve hundred dollars you don't feel good about how fun the camera is to shoot with or how great the battery life is you just think about the fact that it was too big you couldn't hold it and you dropped it onto concrete that's really the story of the galaxy s21 ultra living with this phone every single day for the last two months has shown me that yes it really is the best android phone you're gonna get in 2021 it's also the biggest android phone you're gonna get this year if you can deal with the size and you have the budget run don't walk to get a galaxy s21 ultra i really appreciate you sticking around to watch this video what do you think of the galaxy s21 ultra after my thoughts on it does it have you running out to buy one are you on the fence or are you saying no this isn't the phone for me because i'm gonna get the oneplus 9 pro later this month anyway when you're done you can watch these two videos i picked out particularly for you if you like this one you're going to love these\n"