Review: Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Ultra Phones

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Why would you wanna spend $1,200 on a smartphone?

Well, take a look.

This is Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

and it has a 10 times optical telephoto zoom camera.

And it lets me take really crisp photos

of subjects really far away with the relative ease.

So this is with the main sensor

and you can see we're looking at the Manhattan skyline.

It's pretty far away, but all you need to do is tap

that 10 times zoom icon, and there you go.

Empire State building very up close, very sharp.

Now the quality isn't gonna be as great as usual.

It's a very overcast day. The sun is almost gone.

This lens doesn't collect as much light as the main sensor

but you're still gonna get a pretty darn good shot.

Most phones with telephoto cameras

only go up to two or three times zoom,

so this is special.

You can go up to 30 times as you can see right there

and you can even go up to a hundred times,

but as you can sort of see

the quality starts to drop significantly.

Stick to 10 times zoom most of the time.

Uniquely, there is a second three-times zoom optical camera.

So there's two optical zoom cameras on this phone.

These two zoom cameras have allowed me

to take some great photos

especially during the recent snow storm that hit New York.

And I wouldn't have been able to get the same results

on other phones sold in the U.S.

By the way, there are smartphones with 10 times zooms,

they're just sold elsewhere.

[gasping] Well, that was cold.

And of course, there's also three other cameras,

a 40 megapixels selfie shooter

fares well against competitors like the iPhone 12 Pro

and the Google Pixel 5.

And of course the main 108-megapixel sensor

is actually really good in low light as well,

giving the iPhone 12 Pro Max a run for its money.

And finally, there's the ultra wide camera

to add a little more versatility

and overall this entire system isn't necessarily perfect.

There are situations where the iPhone

or the Pixel does exceed it, whether it's HDR

or in portrait mode, but this is definitely hands down

the most fun camera system you'll find in a phone today.

That's without even mentioning the video capabilities.

You can shoot an 8K, but you probably don't want to

as it'll eat into your storage space.

Stick with 4K and you'll get colorful

and smooth looking footage.

And if you're running around a lot

then super steady mode is pretty great

at providing something that's very stable looking in 1080p.

Video overall, isn't as great

as what you'll get on the iPhone 12 Pro Max

but this is the best you'll find on an Android phone.

If you're someone who just loves taking photos and videos

and you often play around with the many different modes

in camera apps, well,

this 21 Ultra just feels like it was made for you.

But if the price is too steep, well,

that's where the Galaxy S21 comes in.

It's $800, has a 6.2-inch screen,

as opposed to the 6.8-inch screen on the S21 Ultra.

That makes it much more manageable to hold

and use with one hand.

And it also has many of the same great features

like the Snapdragon 888 chip set

to power all your apps and games, 5G,

and 120-Hertz OLED screen.

Now, one of the many differences

is that it has a plastic back as opposed to glass.

That just makes it more durable in my opinion,

but don't worry, it doesn't really feel cheap.

The big area of difference is the camera system.

It doesn't have that 108-megapixel main sensor.

It doesn't have 10 times optical zoom.

It has 10 times zoom. It's just not optical.

So you're digitally cropping

and the quality just isn't that great.

Overall, the image quality on this phone

is a little bit better than last year's Galaxy S20,

but this one still leads the pack.

You do still get the three times optical zoom

as well as the ultra wide.

But overall the camera systems quality is similar,

if not a little lesser than the Pixel 5

or the iPhone 12 Pro.

The downsides of these phones,

and I swear they are phones

is that Samsung has stripped out a couple of features

that were staples on its predecessors.

For example, there's no micro SD card slot.

So now you're forced to rely on 128-gigabytes of storage.

And there's no way to expand on that

unless you pay up for a different model with more space.

There's also no power adapter

or earbuds included in the box.

A move following Apple's latest iPhones,

it's meant to reduce the spread of electronic waste

but if you don't have a USB-C power adapter at home,

you still have to pay more money to Samsung to get one.

Samsung also removed MST, magnetic secure transmission,

a method of contactless payment

that allowed you to use the phone to make payments anywhere

a credit card was accepted.

Now, you kinda have to just rely on NFC,

just like Google Pay and Apple Pay,

which limits the areas where you can use the phone to pay.

But, it was just one of those features

that differentiated Samsung Pay more than its competitors.

So it's just sad to see it go.

And then there's battery life. It's not bad.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra's 5,000 mAh powered cell

and the S21's 4,000 mAh powered cell

get me through a full day, but it's just that, a full day.

If I didn't charge it overnight,

chances are I wouldn't have any juice to run it

the next morning.

So do you need either of these two very expensive phones?

Keep in mind there's also the S21 Plus, which is 6.7 inches

and shares many of the same features between the two phones.

It just doesn't stand out in its own way.

Well, the answer to the question is no.

If you just want a decent powered phone

that lasts the whole day and has a pretty good camera.

Well, our $350 pick, the Pixel 4A, still stands.

But maybe you want wireless charging.

Maybe you want a much bigger screen, a brighter screen.

Maybe you want better performance.

Maybe you want multiple cameras.

Well, if any of those things are boxes you'll check off,

well, these are two very good phones

and they're cheaper than last year's models.

If there's anything to end this review with

it's that I review a lot of phones.

Usually the phone I fall back to

for the past several years has been a Pixel

because I usually use Android phones

and the Pixels have been my go-to for software experience

and the cameras mostly.

But for the first time, I haven't gone back to a Pixel.

I've stayed with using the S21 Ultra

because its camera is just too damn fun to use.

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