• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Galaxy S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Interesting read regarding the Snapdragon 888 vs Exynos 2100 in the S21 Ultra

AnandTech Forums: Technology, Hardware, Software, and Deals

Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
www.anandtech.com www.anandtech.com

So very short version of what I read is that Snapdragon 888 CPU is a pretty good incremental upgrade from the 865.
The Exynos 2100 now uses the same cores as the Snapdragon, but with higher clocks and smaller cache. Big upgrade from the Exynos 990, but this design throttles heavily in phones.
And GPUs on both SoCs throttle very quickly while gaming.

But a laptop will be much more capable of cooling these processor and I'd love to see how much better they perform in a Chromebook or Windows laptop.
 
Since One UI 3.0 I've been having problems with my third party launcher getting reset to the Samsung launcher when using swipe navigation. When I swipe up to go back to home, the "Home app" in Default Applications gets set to blank causing the Samsung launcher to appear instead of my third party launcher. I tested with different launchers and they all did this. I found forums of others experiencing this same problem. Sometimes I can go days without the issue occurring and somedays my Home app will get blanked out several times in a day.

This isn't just limited to the S21+ I have. I had this happen on the Note 20 Ultra and S20+ too after they upgraded to One UI 3.0. Never had this problem with those phones on One UI 2.5. I was hoping One UI 3.1 would fix this, but it's still happening.

There doesn't seem to be any fix other than going back to button navigation.

Curious if anyone with a One UI 3.x phone and swipe gestures turned on with a third party browser experience or not experience this?

Screenshot_20210212-111613_Permission controller.jpg
 
I am also using a sam sung galaxy s21 + ultra. I must say it is really top notch. served me well in my entertainment work. I transformed it into my own personalization in a variety of ways, not as boring as the iPhone
 
I was thinking, "christ, I've been out of the loop for a while to miss the release of TEN Samsung S-range phones", but no, they went from S10 to S20. Presumably to avoid those testy teenage years.
 
mikeymikec said:
I was thinking, "christ, I've been out of the loop for a while to miss the release of TEN Samsung S-range phones", but no, they went from S10 to S20. Presumably to avoid those testy teenage years.
Click to expand...
you dont think it was since iphone 12 was coming out and they would have been on galaxy s11.. its a mind game.
 
Still like my S4 but the storage is just 80gb including the 64gb card. At just over 5" it fits ok in my front pocket. I know it's time to upgrade so my Tile app and bank check deposit apps can work again, and numerous other apps. Just wondering if the 6"+ length of the 20 series needs a belt pouch or if it fits well enough in a pants pocket. I guess cargo pants pockets can handle it if you wear them everywhere.
 
PlanetJosh said:
Still like my S4 but the storage is just 80gb including the 64gb card. At just over 5" it fits ok in my front pocket. I know it's time to upgrade so my Tile app and bank check deposit apps can work again, and numerous other apps. Just wondering if the 6"+ length of the 20 series needs a belt pouch or if it fits well enough in a pants pocket. I guess cargo pants pockets can handle it if you wear them everywhere.
Click to expand...

I sidegraded to a Moto G5 simply because it was one of the last 5" screen phones. I'm hoping that by the time I need a new phone, the industry will have figured out that bigger isn't necessarily better. Who wants a surfboard in their trouser pocket?
 
I'm fine with the loss o
undertaker101 said:
And MST for samsung pay even more so...I remember seeing the look on cashiers' faces back on a trip to NZ few years ago in old school shops...no way Apple Pay is gonna work here...till they get paid 🙂
Click to expand...
MST is dead technology in most of the world. I have not used it in over a decade I'd guess. In fact I don't think shops here accept it at all.

Lack of SD card is a shame, I know that storage sizes are increasing to make up for it but I use a 230GB card in my phone.
I'm ok with the lack of charger as I changed over to Samsung 45w ones and it's nice to see the "super fast charging" notification pop up!
The plastic back is actually really nice (if it's the same as the one on the S20FE). My only criticism of the back is that you have to put a case on because the camera hump is so deep! It feels awkward in your hand and wobbles on the desk. It's the first phone I've felt the need to use a case on. That said the camera hump on the S21 range æsthetically looks really nice.
I'm sure the performance is fine, hell the performance of even mid range phones is more than enough these days.
 
Why does Samsung feel the need to replicate every bad idea that Apple does? First it was the headphone jack, now they're making you buy a high speed charger if you want one. If you're paying over $800 for a friggin phone, it should come with one in the box!
 
ultimatebob said:
Why does Samsung feel the need to replicate every bad idea that Apple does? First it was the headphone jack, now they're making you buy a high speed charger if you want one. If you're paying over $800 for a friggin phone, it should come with one in the box!
Click to expand...
Every ah heck has a charger now. I'd rather they drop the price and not include one.

Which is what they did.

I'm totally with you on the headphone jack though. That was a stupid decision.
 
ultimatebob said:
Why does Samsung feel the need to replicate every bad idea that Apple does? First it was the headphone jack, now they're making you buy a high speed charger if you want one. If you're paying over $800 for a friggin phone, it should come with one in the box!
Click to expand...
The loss of the MicroSD card slot is unforgivable.

I hated the loss of the headphone jack, but removing the option of expandable storage is a complete deal breaker for me. I've primarily used Samsung phones for 15+ years, but that will change when the time comes to get a new phone if there is not MicroSD slot.
 
WelshBloke said:
Every ah heck has a charger now. I'd rather they drop the price and not include one.

Which is what they did.

I'm totally with you on the headphone jack though. That was a stupid decision.
Click to expand...

I just find it lame that all of these phones now have fast charge capability, but many people will never experience it because they're using the 10W charger from their old phone.

You want to differentiate your products from Apple, Samsung? Include a fast charger in the box, bonus points if it's a wireless one.
 
UsandThem said:
The loss of the MicroSD card slot is unforgivable.

I hated the loss of the headphone jack, but removing the option of expandable storage is a complete deal breaker for me. I've primarily used Samsung phones for 15+ years, but that will change when the time comes to get a new phone if there is not MicroSD slot.
Click to expand...
Its weird because there's no need for it either. Samsung was using that hybrid sim card/SDcard thing anyway plus they make loads of SDcards.
I don't get their thinking in this at all.
 
WelshBloke said:
I don't get their thinking in this at all.
Click to expand...
$$$$

(What it (unfortunately) comes down to).

Forcing users who need more storage to spend more going up their product stack instead. Just like Apple has always done, and usually charging another $100 for each small jump in storage space).
 
Last edited:
WelshBloke said:
Thats what I don't understand. If they make SDcards obsolete by then they are probably losing more money.
Click to expand...
They probably did test/focus groups to figure out how many people would not buy Samsung phones without expandable storage vs. the the number of people who would still buy the phones and pay extra for more storage.

I'm in the first group for sure. Maybe if sales end up declining enough with the S21 series, they will rethink their future models and MicroSD cards. If they don't, I will go with something else.
 
UsandThem said:
They probably did test/focus groups to figure out how many people would not buy Samsung phones without expandable storage vs. the the number of people who would still buy the phones and pay extra for more storage.

I'm in the first group for sure. Maybe if sales end up declining enough with the S21 series, they will rethink their future models and MicroSD cards. If they don't, I will go with something else.
Click to expand...
They did the same crap on the S6 and note 6, the only year I didn't upgrade mainly because they took out the SD card that year. And when the s7 and note 7 came out they put the SD option back. I hope they put it back on the note 21, if there is even a note 21, because I will definately not buy one if it doesn't.
 
UsandThem said:
They probably did test/focus groups to figure out how many people would not buy Samsung phones without expandable storage vs. the the number of people who would still buy the phones and pay extra for more storage.

I'm in the first group for sure. Maybe if sales end up declining enough with the S21 series, they will rethink their future models and MicroSD cards. If they don't, I will go with something else.
Click to expand...
I'd imagine that sales for the ultra high end are going to erode slowly anyway.
I normally buy Samsung's top phone but I've slowed down my rate of replacements and gone down the range of phones a bit.
I replaced my S9+ with an S20FE and at the same time got my wife an A51. Tbh if the A51 had wireless charging I'd have probably got that myself.
Midrange phones do pretty much everything that I need out of a phone now. Sure there's edge cases where extra performance matters (I'm guessing that Samsung Dex could probably push a phone but I've never used it), but for the most part mid range performance is fine.
 
WelshBloke said:
I'd imagine that sales for the ultra high end are going to erode slowly anyway.
I normally buy Samsung's top phone but I've slowed down my rate of replacements and gone down the range of phones a bit.
I replaced my S9+ with an S20FE and at the same time got my wife an A51. Tbh if the A51 had wireless charging I'd have probably got that myself.
Midrange phones do pretty much everything that I need out of a phone now. Sure there's edge cases where extra performance matters (I'm guessing that Samsung Dex could probably push a phone but I've never used it), but for the most part mid range performance is fine.
Click to expand...

There are definitely diminishing returns at the very high end. It's no secret that the sweet spot for many is that $800-850 range occupied by the standard S21 and the iPhone 12 — everything after that is more of a nice-to-have.

Having said that, I do think Samsung played its cards very smartly by making the S21 Ultra as capable as it is. It'd be my choice of phone if I weren't primarily an iPhone user, as that camera system is wonderfully flexible.
 
Commodus said:
There are definitely diminishing returns at the very high end. It's no secret that the sweet spot for many is that $800-850 range occupied by the standard S21 and the iPhone 12 — everything after that is more of a nice-to-have.
Click to expand...

Tbh I'd guess that the sweet spot for most people is way below that.
I guess that it's different in the Apple ecosystem because there isn't the competition, Apple doesn't need to worry about someone coming out with a cheaper better iPhone like Samsung has to worry about.
I used to worry about the push for cheaper phones but I've realised that technology is advancing so quickly that there really isn't any need to buy the bleeding edge any more.
I mean what do most people use their phones for? Music? Podcasts? Shopping? Web? A few simple games. Taking a few pictures. I can't think of anything we do that would tax even a mid range phone.
 
I was really pissed when headphone jacks started disappearing, then slowly adjusted to the dongle life, though it was annoying, but this past year the quality of True Wireless buds has really gone up. The convenience of not having wires is fantastic when you are on the go. I mean ultimately a jack would be better than no jack, but at least the wireless buds are becoming really good options.
 
MrSquished said:
I was really pissed when headphone jacks started disappearing, then slowly adjusted to the dongle life, though it was annoying, but this past year the quality of True Wireless buds has really gone up. The convenience of not having wires is fantastic when you are on the go. I mean ultimately a jack would be better than no jack, but at least the wireless buds are becoming really good options.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but I still listen to music with full-sized headphones with an external dac/amp tied to my phone. There are no BT headphones or buds that can even come close to that sound volume/quality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top