Samsung - Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G 256GB (Unlocked) - Phantom Black

Great Phone for the money and buttery smooth and great screen resolution and awesome camera, you get what you pay for at this price point, only cons with the phone, i wish it came with the 25 watt super fast charging brick, which you have to purchase separately if you dont have one already.

This is my first time buying a high end smartphones. I usually go for cheap $100+ phone from Cricket but decided to get S20+5G in December for my wife and S21 Ultra 128gb 2 weeks ago for myself. I am not a fan of iPhone. I am impressed with the appearance and display in S21 Ultra but very disappointed that the phone did not come with a charger and did not realize that until I got home with the phone only to find a cable but no adapter/charger. Lack of expandable memory slot and headjack or wired earpiece was another disappointment. Flagship phone like ultra I guess should come with some basic things like charger, expandable memory slot and earpiece. Giving S21 Ultra four star rating because of no charger, expandable memory slot and earpiece.

The photos are absolutely phenomenal. I like most of the changes Samsung has made, but do not like the fact you have to purchase a wall charger separately. This is a must as both ends of the charging cord have the micro size USB end, and most multiple chargers are made for the standard USB end. Love this phone!

The camera quality is superior. I went on an outdoor trip to Portland and captured immaculate pictures, the resolution and clarity is next level. My only pushback is regarding the weight of the phone. Initially, it felt rather heavy given that my previous phone was much lighter. I've been using the S21 Ultra for two weeks now and I've adapted to the size and weight. I encourage you to got to the store and get a feel for it yourself before purchasing.

This phone is full of bloatware. The Samsung suite contains over 12 properitery apps that download from the Samsung suite leaving you with the play and Samsung store dual loaded if you use other Google products. The phone is quick and works pretty well. Due to boost were about 4gigs of memory are always in use out of the box. In addition this phone does not support dual sim in the US or with US carriers. Fully disabled at the root during release. I do not recommend this phone if you are looking for anything other than the cameras.

Love it, what else is there to say! Glad I went with ultra for telephoto lens. I was surprised the American version doesn't have esim. Does not work on the carrier Visible which also surprised me, you would think this phone had every radio setting there could be. Very responsive and great graphics. Acts as hotspot very efficiently. No major battery drain... easily lasts all day with moderate use , two days with light use. 5g is speeeeeeeeedy ;)

Upgraded from a galaxy s9. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a bad phone. But it does miss the mark in a few areas where I feel it counts. I'll start with the pros first. - The camera: coming from the s9 I do see some improvements notably in the software. Features which appear to be exclusive solely to the s21 ultra do to it having 4 cameras. Also has laser focus. - The display: As always, Samsungs displays never cease to impress me. Though if you want the WQHD, you'll need to shell out the extra cash for the s21 ultra. The s21 and the s21+ feature only 1080p displays. - Overall build - the physical built overall is quite nice. The back is plastic but not cheap plastic. Not a finger print magnet like it's predecessors. Metal frame and a nearly bezzless display combined to make a quite nice, even sophisticated package, though not a wide range of colors at launch. But for me, as long as I have my black, I don't care. So I subtract no points. - Processor: Each new phone typically boasts the usual "more powerful processor" claim. I haven't put it through benchmark tests but from real world use, the OS is quite snappy and moving from app to app and menu to menu has no lag at all. Overall a pleasant experience. - Battery life: The s21 features a much larger battery the the s21 and s21+. Two days in so far and it seems to hold up to daily activities rather well (texting, some light gaming, facebook, etc...) - S Pen: if you just so happen to have an S Pen from an old Note or Galaxy Tab, it will absoluty and finally work on the Galaxy S line of phones. Though there is no storage on the phone itself for the pen, but you can purchase a case that has an integrated S Pen holder. Okay. Now for the CONS.... - Camera: Now I know what you must be thinking. "But you said the camera was a PRO". Yes I did. However, even with the various software and hardware improvements, the image quality does not seem to be so strikingly amazing compared to my s9. Even when shooting in 108mp mode, the results seem only marginally better. Adding to this, I don't believe the sensor is truly 108mp, rather each mp is divided into 9 parts allowing the sensor to capture more detail and thusly produce an (in my experience) somewhat sharper image. Furthermore, I do not understand what the point is to put so many cameras into a phone. Sure you have your telephoto, for example, which should enable you to maybe get a nice shot of the moon. However, if lunarphotography or any other kind of long range shooting interests you, even an entry level DSLR will yield far superior results. My opinion: leave smart phone to the selfies and MAYBE wide angle. Leave everything else to actual cameras. It will make room for other things like my next point. - 3.5mm Headphone/Mic input: The modern smartphones have become an especially handy and even accessible solution for vlogging. With the ability to shoot 4k and the s21 ultras 8k, you can yield some very acceptable results and very easily. But good video does not make up for garbage audio. And unless you are using a mic, garbage is what you will get. I don't care what smartphone you are using. The other reason the removal of the 3.5mm jack is problematic will become painfully clear if you're somebody who flies a lot. Once you put you're phone in airplane or flight mode, those Galaxy Buds Pros you just bought will be of no use to you. Now I'm sure there is a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter available, but my point stands and for this the entire s21 lineup loses 1 star. - Expandable storage: Samsung have we not been down this road before? I know you guys know how much people value the option for expandable storage. Say goodbye to another star. - No headphones or charge brick in the box: In an age where every single thing comes with a charge brick, I think this was probably a good move. We all have 500 of those kicking around at this point. But the lack of headphones is unacceptable. A decent pair of USB-C headphones absolutely should have been in the box. At the very least, a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter given that they removed the jack. - Fingerprint sensor: Theres not much I can say other than that it has so far been nothing short of a frustrating experience. It was MUCH better on the s9 and when it was on the back of the phone as compared to under the display on the front. Maybe the next iteration will return to this design in lieu of featuring 75 different cameras. I hope some of you find this review to be insightfull given that you will potentially be spending upwards of $1,000.00 or more on this phone. Again, I don't totally hate the phone but it feels as though there has been a bit of a departure from past years in terms of Samsung listening to the desires of the consumer. I think this will be something that will hurt them in the bigger picture.

The new Galaxy is definitely an upgrade from S10 that i previously owned. The camera is definitely much better than previously and everything just runs smoothly on it because of the 120 hz refresh rate. Highly recommend it.