Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Phantom Black, 12GB, 256GB Storage)

I had pre-ordered this phone on 21st January 2021 and received the same on 5th February 2021 (I was a little late in pre-ordering. Believe me it takes a lot to consider for such amount of investment and the returns we get). And Yes, I have got all the pre order offers and accessories. Please keep in mind Amazon & Samsung Shop are different online portals, and although pre order offers are the same, but the applicability and the processes to claim them, are different. Samsung Shop itself have some bugs, they are late in activating all the IMEIs on time, but you have to deal with it and be assured you will get those finally. I have personally pre-ordered the Galaxy Buds Pro from Samsung Shop, and availed all the offers and off course as I said they were late to activate the offer claiming process. So, now I am using this phone for a month and half. I have tested it a lot to provide my opinions. Although its a phone which will cost you more than 1 lakh, its not a magic wand, you have to keep your expectations practical. 1. Display: The color calibration is perfect with this new Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, even while comparing to other Samsung mid-range phones with sAMOLED I can see the difference. WQHD at 120Hz is just another level of experience, once you get it in the hands you can feel that. Please enable eye comfort shield for nights, its good. Max brightness in daylight will not be an issue with this one. 2. Camera: This the where the phone takes the limelight. 108MP shots, night mode, 10x & 3x optical zoom coupled with macro mode, the detailed Pro mode, makes it competitive with Semi-DSLRs (Personally Tested with Cannon SX520HS model with 42x optical zoom). Yes it will get heated up with continuous camera usage and its normal. Heat dissipation is necessary. 3. Battery & Power Consumption: The phone has a typical (please search google what "typical" actually means) 5000mah battery which will last a day with moderate usage. This is with WQHD enabled, Always on Display enabled and the Screen On Time I was getting around 5 Hours. With FHD it can last more but certainly not 2 days. A 25 Watt Samsung charger will take exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes to charge it fully from zero to 100% while the super fast charging is enabled. 4. Processor & Performance: Exynos Octacore 2100 + 16GB RAM + UFS 3.1 storage performs really fast. Don't get confused with the numbers from SD888 comparisons, it won't matter in daily life. 5. Sound and Media: Dual stereo speakers are loud enough with Dolby Atmos capability. No 3.5mm jack, but again it's a flagship, it is expected. And sadly Samsung flagship will never offer FM radio. Its a con personally to me, but I have accepted it knowing the fact. Experience with Galaxy Buds Pro is amazing, but you have to properly choose the provided tips for a snug fit and then only you will get the true experience. (I did a mistake for a week to use the tip it was packed with by default, but then I saw some genuine reviews and corrected my fault). 6. Extras: S Pen support, reverse wireless charging support, inbuilt pro level photo editing, custom notification alerts with side glow; there are many features to explore. Some of them are not enabled by default, so look out for some YouTube videos to explore all. You will not get disappointed! 7. Updates: Samsung will provide 4 years of OS upgrade and rest be assured you will get the monthly security updates as soon as possible. They will provide feature upgrades too which will enhance the experience and fix the bugs you have. Be a member of the Samsung community, and report what you don't like or what you need. They will definitely take a note, even if you don't get the feature very quickly. The Phone will get heated up while applying the updates(because of re-indexing), while doing fast charging, and with extended CPU & GPU hungry gaming, it's natural, and do not worry. Sadly the charger or headphones or even a dongle is not part of the retail unit, but all flagships are doing the same. As a smartphone user I do not support this. At least they should give us an option to choose if you want them as part of the retail packaging or not. Not everyone has the proper charger or headphones already. Attaching the unboxed components photo along with a night mode shot (where a significant portion of the captured photo was pitch black to naked eye) from my S21 Ultra for reference. Thank You!

Pre-ordered this phone on 20th January and received on the date of release on 29th January. I am using this phone for last one week. It is a fantastic phone with a major upgrade in camera system. I would like to add my initial review after using it for 1 week. 1. Display: I would say this is one of the best smartphone display I have ever seen. QHD at 120Hz looks amazing and gives a nice feel to it. 2. Performance: Exynos Octacore 2100 with 12GB RAM with UFS 3.1 storage performs solid and ultra fast. I have never faced any issues yet while using apps or games. 3. Media: Along with display, I would like to add improvement of sound quality. Dolby Atmos even without headphone is simply amazing. Even it has no 3.5mm jack, recently purchased Galaxy Buds Pro will take you to a different level of entertainment. 4. Battery: With a massive 5000mah battery, it allows me a full day of moderate usage. 5. Design: Pro grade design with rock solid Gorilla Glass Victus will give you peace of mind. As Samsung advertised, Phantom Black (which I had) feels good in hand. Though it feels bulky but I will be getting used to it. Side aluminum frame could have been replaced to stainless steel (I really wished for it). Camera bump looks professional to me. 6. Camera: This is the area where S21 Ultra is different from rest of S21 line up. With 108MP main sensor, picture looks ultra sharp. Macro shot is also greatly improved. 3x and 10x telephoto in mobile device is simply amazing. Along with my review, I would like to add few things: 1. Wifi 5GHz with 80MHz channel not supported I believe. When I am setting this in router it is not picking up. Only working with 20MHz/40MHz channel. 2. Portrait mode is working with main 108MP camera. Samsung could have used 3x telephoto for Portrait. 3. Night Mode could have been improved. 4. S-Pen from my Note 8 is working fine but observing minor lags while opening air command. 5. Looks like recording with HDR10 in 4k60p not supported. I will explore more on the device and update soon. Overall, Samsung has done great work in S21 Ultra.

Purchased in pre-booking..delivered on 30th Jan.My honest review.. 1. excellent display..no doubt about that. 2.cameras r good but not flagship grade (as 1 lakh price)main reason I am calling this phone as heating machine is when I use camera even for 10 min.mobile heats like hell...camera module heats like we can't touch to the camera module...temp goes to 48 degree Celsius...shame on samsung ..as we r spending more than 1 lakh rupees ..not justifiable ...Exynos 2100 again fail in heat management...I don't know whether it is manufacturing defect or what... But shame on samsung. Due to this I have sold my mobile on 15 th day... Shame shame samsung. 3.battery back up 1 day only. 4.mobile is thick ,heavy.

Pros - Massive massive battery life! I was using the s20FE prior to this whose battery life was just atrocious. This one though, gives me peace of mind. SOT easily 6 hours plus (I’m a hardcore user). If you use it just for mails,WhatsApp,occasional YouTube videos in HD, streaming music over Bluetooth in your car and regular phone calls, this thing is a beast, battery wise. Throttling does not seem to be happening much, but I do not play games on this phone, so my opinion might be biased. Regardless it never feels like it gets warm despite heavy usage. LOVE the screen!! I think they finally got the glass curves right. And the screen is just such a pleasure to look at. I mean you do after all spent like 99% of your time interacting with your phone through your screen. A+. Sunlight legibility harkens back to the LCD days, super easy easy to read under harsh sunlight. Audio is ok for me. I mean it is plenty loud. It could have been better. Although I’m usually on Bluetooth anyways so personally it doesn’t matter much for me. Camera - they have “almost” fixed that beauty mode selfie thingy, overall I’m quite happy with the selfies, could have had a wider selfie option IMHO. The wide angle option right now just feels a tad narrow. The rear camera, OMG!! Nothing else to say, I just LOVE it!!! All the lenses lol, even the ridiculous space zoom one. Don’t take much videos so cannot comment on it. Cons :- Night mode camera does lag a bit. Perhaps could be fixed thru a software update. Not sure. But the quality is top notch. Design wise, yes it is huge, but I like big phones. Regardless it’s quite uncomfortable to put in your pant pockets or even your shirt pocket for that matter. It does feel top heavy due to the camera bump. Aesthetically speaking I really don’t care as I always put a case on. Lack of charger in the box (c’est la vie). Also, I’m not sure but it seems like it doesn’t support fast charging above 25 watts. Full charge usually takes about 70 to 90 mins. O to a 100%. Lack of the snapdragon version. This Exynos chip even though much improved compared to previous versions still does lag behind the snapdragon versions. Again, such is life. Overall, if u r looking for an android flagship phone, this is it!! I put on money on it, which I have.

It is a good phone with a major upgrade in camera system. 1. Display: one of the best smartphone display I have used. QHD at 120Hz looks amazing 2. Performance: Exynos Octacore 2100 with 12GB RAM with UFS 3.1 storage performs good and no lags seen as of now 3. Audio:Dolby Atmos even is awesome. 4. Battery: With a 5000mah battery, it allows a full day of moderate usage. 5. Design: Design with rock solid Gorilla Glass Victus has good results in online drop tests 6. Camera: With 108MP main sensor, picture looks ultra sharp. Macro shot is also greatly improved. Moon shot with 72x zoom is amazing (max 100x) with good stability and ease of capture Warmth:Only concern I see the heating up part which heats up real bad especially using camera.I am assuming it is an exynos issue.

A good phone just became a great one. 1- Design: MATTE Black is just Love. I am a great fan of it and owning a factory-made matte black device is just awesome. It does grab eyeballs. This does not say on the spec sheet but the flat smooth, black finish on glass and then a slightly different texture on metal housing around the cameras. The overall look of this device is so attractive that I will probably never use a case on it. Yes, this doesn't attract any fingerprints :) Everything about this design is as good as it gets. 2- Display: -Strength of Samsung for years. -1440p @120HZ -Can get very bright i.e. up to 1500 nits, so it's viewable at any condition. -The new LTPO display adjusts the variable refresh rate between 10HZ and 12HZ to save battery. -Very responsive in my everyday use, never felt any lags so far in my 10 days of usage. -Samsung has flattened the edges and you will not notice any accidental touches due to the curved edges on this phone. 3- Fingerprint: -New generation Qualcomm under-display fingerprint reader -It's bigger than the last generation due to which user experience becomes less frustrating and fewer failed attempts. -Faster than the previous generation fingerprint reader as well. 4- Processor: -The new Exynos 2100. -For those who are crying for not having a Snapdragon 888 in India, you have some good news. -Battery and CPU compariosions have proved that the Exynos one is better -GPU is better in snapdragon but it should not matter if you are not a prograde gamer or use the phone for gaming all the time. 5- RAM: 12GB on 256GB and 16GB on 512GB 6- Storage: -Fast UFS 3.1 storage -Non-Expandable (who cares in the age of cloud and 5G network speed) -256GB or 512GB 7- Samsung One UI 3: -Tons of features packed -Customize as you like. (if you have time to explore) -Smooth as ever. -A lot of minor tweaks that make the phone really user friendly. -Much Cleaner aesthetics -Dark Mode looks beautiful on this 120HZ OLED display. I have been using the dark mode from day 1. -The left side of the Home screen now gives you the Google Discover page which is a cherry on top. I always wanted to have them in all my previous Samsung devices. 8- Battery: -5000mah -Pretty good battery experience so far for me. I get around 5 hours of On-screen time and never ran out of battery at the end of a day. -LTPO display is doing its job well here. -Does heat up a bit when you use AR zone or cameras in general for 30 minutes or so. 9- Cameras: -108MP , 100X space zoom, 8K video that you expect from a high-end samsung phone. -100X space zoom is much for usable in this phone, thanks to subject locking and view finder. I have taken some crazy pics of the moon utilizing this capability. -Laser focus to fix autofocus issues the previous generation handsets had. -The camera app automatically detects the close-up objects and switches to macro mode. Solid quality pics i must say. -All cameras support 4K 460fps video -Directors view helps you take video from all cameras (including font camera) at once. Really useful for vlogging. Everything on this phone is Ultra, Worth It.

People complaining about the battery life please let it at least learn your usage patterns for the first two weeks (I hope you at least know this before going out and buying a 1 lakh rs phone). Well, I got the active watch 2 today as a part of the offer and having used the phone for a month now, it's simply a sweetheart. For people complaining about overheating maybe you should do enough research how much these new chips are heating, even the camera on snapdragon models shuts down due to heating, don't dump the fault on exynos will ya. I haven't faced these issues yet and the camera is simply wow. And anyone with right set of mind won't be buying a exynos phone just to play pubg come on, even snapdragon won't cut it as much as a iPhone would, go get yourselves some iphone please. The screen, the dex, the dolby, the smart watch, the camera and what not, never had I hoped I would be enjoying the phone this much. Every phone needs tweaking and for gamers let me tell you if you don't already know, you need to disable the Samsung game optimizing service to get the optimum gaming performance. This phone is a beast and is a king even with that inferior exynos under the hood. I have held phones hotter than this while gaming so maybe I don't feel it, but all I know is that it provides what it needs to, that wonderful user experience under a sexy design.

Worst phone ever when you take the value for money aspect, with respect to overall features, I am greatly disappointed with the real deal once I had it in my hand after the hype and the ads for this ; I feel no real upgrade from the phone which I exchanged the “One Plus 7 pro” this one plus was from 2019 but still felt so good from a performance perspective. Unnecessary exchange experience I would say, please stick with the Snap Dragon 850 -865 if you have one, you will not enjoy this exynos at all. The camera is also shabby and can’t be compared with its peers in this price range; the only saving grace is the display which is in par with its competitors at this price point. Overall please do not waste your hard earned money on this; not worth it, you have better options at half the price .