The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is a 6.8-inch workhorse that can handle just about anything thrown at it. We’ve been playing with it for the past month and here are our top five features:
- Speed
The S21 Ultra has Samsung’s fastest chipset yet, the Exynos 2100 built on a 5nm node. This chipset not only enables next-generation graphics for mobile gaming, but 5G connectivity and intelligent AI-acceleration. It’s smart enough to maximise performance while optimising battery life. It’s been a pleasure to browse and multi-task on the S21 Ultra, which didn’t stutter once. I opened a bunch of intensive apps and switched between trying out some games, watching videos and shooting images. I also enabled a widget on the home screen to let me give it a quick sweep so I could see where most memory was being used.
- Cameras
The S21 Ultra houses the best mobile camera that Samsung has ever made. It comprises four rear lenses: a 12MP ultra-wide, 108MP wide angle and 2x 10MP telephoto lenses. It also features the return of the 100x Space Zoom and has an impressive 40MP selfie camera – the best we’ve used on any smartphone to date. The premium cameras also appeal to videographers, journalists or content creators, thanks to its nifty new feature called Director’s View. It records video on both cameras simultaneously, allowing you to choose a customisable split-screen mode. And thanks to its superfast chipset, it allows for behind-the-scenes processing from all four cameras concurrently.
- S-Pen stylus support
The S21 Ultra is the first S Series smartphone from Samsung that has S-Pen stylus support; once a unique differentiator to its phablet Note range. However, on the S21 Ultra there’s no dedicated slot to house it and carry it around. Nevertheless, the stylus lets you annotate, photo or video edit with precision, doodle and take notes. It also supports business functions like signing documents on the go and uses Air Commands, which give quick access to frequently used apps.. The S-Pen is available as a separate accessory.
- Security and privacy
Both security and privacy concerns are all too real, and Samsung has taken some steps to put users at ease. The S21 Ultra comes standard with enterprise-grade security via Samsung Knox Vault, which uses its own proprietary system-on-chip (SoC) platform via a tamper-resistant secure memory. On the privacy front, Samsung has introduced a new Private Share feature that allows you to remove metadata from photos before sharing them, including choosing who gets access, and for what duration.
- Battery life
The battery on the S21 Ultra is 5000mAh – more than adequate for its extensive new features without running out of power before nightfall. The built-in AI learns your usage patterns and optimises the phone for your needs. It also has both Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and USB 3.0, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to charge overnight.
You can purchase the S21 Ultra directly on Vodacom under Samsung offers here.
