Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Unboxing (Phantom Silver) // Initial Impressions & Thoughts By Auto Technica

The galaxy s21 ultra is Samsung's newest, most expensive flagship and while it's not on the level of the galaxy fold, this in its own right is a very, very advanced phone with a lot of bells and whistles, and this is actually my first ultra phone uh, the ultra came out last year with the s20, but in essence, it's been around since the s10 when they had the s10 plus 5g, which was a very extravagant phone. So this is the ultra 5g. This is the snapdragon version. It's got it's in the phantom silver color, so I got this in particular, because I really, really like the way that mirror finished. Look. The black looks cool too, but I just really thought that this silver had a unique look to it, and I was kind of a little bored with matte black.

So I decided to try out the silver now. Let me explain something to you about Samsung. That has been very, very critical. I explained this in the s21 unboxing as well, but these boxes are very thin and the reason for that is because Samsung, like apple, has removed the charger that comes included with the phone now Samsung was, of course, critical of apple when they did it just four months ago, but uh Samsung being Samsung copied suit and has removed it a mere four months later now. Personally, this doesn't affect me a lot, but the hypocrisy very much does impact me and it.

I hate hypocrisy, and I hate that Samsung. Does this um, you know just man up and either be quiet when apple? Does it, or you know, man up and admit you were wrong, don't try to slide it under the rug trying to think you know fool people you they claimed. It was for environmental reasons and that their users would much rather save the environment than have a charger. You know you can sugarcoat it all. You want apple, did it and got away with it, so you wanted to do it as well so uh.

That being said, I just want to talk about not only the things you get in the box. The quality of the boxes has actually significantly gone down too. This I first noticed with the Galaxy S10. So this is the Galaxy S10. The boxes were a lot cheaper, so it's a very thin and light box.

Uh it's got. You know it's a weird layout where the documents and paperwork were stuffed into the top like this uh just doesn't feel right. The phone did lay flat here, but there was just not much you know just it was laid flat like this, and everything would kind of pop out once you got rid of when she took the phone out, but it did come with a charger. It did come with an USB, a to USB adapter in the box. It came with earphones, and it came with the tips and accessories and an USB cable.

So there were things that came in this box that um are no longer really that haven't actually been seen for a little now. Let me put this away and let me show you the real um thing about Sam, like the box. That really got me sold. So this is the s9 now um the s8 was my first Samsung phone, a flagship phone, and I was very impressed right off the box with the boxes because they just look so fantastic. So there was the sleeve it came out of the sleeve.

There was this amazing box that had like a book style opening, and it presented the phone to you like this and just the quality, the materials everything just looked so, so good like it was. It really felt like an experience, and you lifted this tab. There was this nice little packaging with the case with other things in it, then you had the phone that was neatly laid out here and this phone this actually is just not laid there on the top. It's laid there on a little tray, so things beneath it doesn't move around. So you know you had the phone there you had a tray and under the tray it was even more neatly laid out.

You know you've got the same USB, a to c adapter. You've got a power, adapter uh you've got the earphones and the USB cable and extra tips and everything so neatly laid out in this box and now comparatively it's just. It feels like everything is thrown in there, and it's like whatever no thought put into it whatsoever. Um, you know, Apple has definitely reduced their packaging, but they haven't got it down to the level I think Samsung has where it just is like. Ah, here 's's an outer box for you, we really don't care.

We didn't put any thought into it, because this had a lot of thought into the s9, the s8 and the phones from that era. Had a lot of thought put into these boxes felt special but uh no longer, and let me make that point to you guys right now. Now, whenever I talk about boxes, people get very upset. They're like oh just show me the phone, don't talk about the boxes, but I think it was important just to show you guys where how Samsung is changing their priorities with things. So this is the box.

It's not very thick, it's quite thin. It has galaxy written on this side. Furthermore, it's got an s in on the side. I will say they are color matched to the phone you buy. So this is silver because I have the silver phone uh.

This is not just white um. There's a 21 right there, Samsung written right here on the back. You've got uh s21, ultra 5g, just that basic stuff, a sticker up here and the IMEI info down here uh. So let me open up the box. Just two plastic little tabs here.

You know not even like a full plastic wrapped cover or anything to really uh make the unboxing feel like a better experience. It's just those two little plastic things you tear them and that's it and the phone. You know just the box, it doesn't feel special. You know I'm paying twelve hundred dollars, and it doesn't feel like its anything special right off the box. Furthermore, you know there's just this little paper, it's sitting there.

It's not fitted, it's not perfect, it just kind of floats on here and it is has no reason either. It has nothing on. Furthermore, it's just it's a Samsung, that's it that's the entire. Furthermore, it's like a complete afterthought and that really is it stings. Furthermore, it really shows that the lack of attention to detail.

Here's the phone sitting right here, uh, it's got silver edges, so it really doesn't look that different, but it is definitely very heavy. So let me flip around to the back nice. Okay, that looks super cool, I'm getting a lot of green tones from the angle, I'm viewing it at so here. This is the angle I'm seeing it not the camera, so you guys can see, there's so much green hue. Um very interesting.

Let me put this off to the side. That looks really cool, so you guys can see this look at the box quality here you know like it just is very lackluster. I know that I'm complaining too much about the box, but the reason is, as I explained, it speaks to the overall experience of getting a phone right. This is a 1200 phone and the quality of the unboxing speaks for itself. You know, that's that's a part of the experience, and unfortunately it feels like it's lacking in that experience.

You just get this one box. It has these uh, these three pieces of paper in them, and you've got an USB c to c charger. That's it and, as I said, you know, I'm not very, very upset that the charger is missing. It doesn't personally impact me a lot, but the hypocrisy of it ref definitely hurts, so I'm just going to put all this to the side, so we can take a look at the phone, so here's the phone. It's definitely massive like very, very big.

Furthermore, it reminds me of the iPhone 12 Pro max in many ways it definitely does and as I showed you guys actually on the galaxy s21 uh, it has the same symbol right here, uh to not insert that sim card and where to insert it because foolishly they have ins, they have what they've done is right at the bottom. They have a microphone right next to the sim card tray and both of them are holes. So they don't want people to accidentally put a sim card uh tool into this and damage the microphone so uh. That's why this sticker right here the color is going to be very hard to pick up on. I apologize.

Let me see if I can change the angle now. The silver is just going, it's silver on white, so most people are probably going to miss it. That's definitely something else um. Let me try one more time. So, there's just trust me, there's a symbol right there that says no sim card and there's a sim card right there.

So uh. It's its definitely a weird omission I feel like it. They could have put a little more thought into it and be like oh okay. Let's not put a microphone right next to the sim card tool, sim card tray, where people are definitely going to go ahead and poke that microphone by accident when they're, not thinking or paying attention, and to warn them that we've done this now, let's put a tiny little sticker on the bottom, that most people will miss and not even pick up on. So it's Samsung being Samsung, so let's pull off this back cover.

So this is a matte finished glass, and it feels fantastic. I love this finish. It just looks so good, it's not as crazy as the aura glow of the Galaxy Note 10. , it's way more subtle, but I think it looks way nicer. I do like the subtle, just like almost a stainless steel finish.

It looks amazing. It does have slight use of green and red depending on the angle you're at, and that looks a lot cooler uh. This is, of course, all aluminum right here and towards the back and front as well uh this phone is definitely way thicker than the s21 and it is feels it. So. The glass on here is a little more curved than the s21.

That was a flat glass. This is not, and of course, you've got a protectant on the front. It's its really not meant to stay on there. You know it's a very, very light and thin. It's not even really a protector, it's more of a like.

We don't want a damaged and transit kind of thing. Uh and yeah the entire phone is covered in plastic as well all over the side. So let me go ahead and remove this plastic, so I can see the edge right there with that one piece. So let me just pull it off, so you guys can see it pulls off pretty decently. It's not too much of a hassle.

Um, there are two separate pieces here. Let me pull from the side and that should hopefully just pull off the rest of this phone's plastic. There we go all right. So let me go ahead boot this phone up and see what it's like booting up, Samsung Galaxy powered by Knox: android, that's weird! They usually have the galaxy s21 ultra. They usually have the name of the phone on the boot logo.

I guess they've stopped doing that now, so just looking at the phone amazing. So this is that 10x optical zoom, with the crazy kind of mirrored setup, uh, there's 108 megapixel main sensor in there. So the camera array is massive. So let me just put it next to the s21 and you guys can see just how big that camera array is comparatively. This looks like a little kid in front of it.

It's a massive change and if you guys want to see the thickness as well, the camera probably won't do the greatest job of picking up the thickness differences here, but this definitely feels way. Thicker and even looks the part so now that I've gotten to the screen, what I'm going to do is go ahead, set this phone up, use it for a couple of minutes and give you guys my initial impressions on the phone, so I spent the last I'd, say: 30 or 40 minutes messing around with this phone, getting it set up and so far with the s21 ultra. I want to start off with a build and design uh. I'm loving this color, but maybe the design on this phone not so much, so I do really like the way the design plays out, especially when I compare to the um. You know other older Samsung, s21 or s20 ultras, but I have to say, uh this thick camera bump is actually not that good.

I thought it would be a lot thinner looking at the photos, it hides it a lot better when you look at it from this angle, but when you tilt it to the side or from the top, you guys can see just how much it actually produced. The top is the actual angle where you'll see just how much it produces it protrudes. It just looks comical in a way when you compare these two edges side by side. It's just the uh. This really Judas out a lot, and actually, I think, in a way, makes the phone look a little worse when you, when you pay attention to those angles, the back is a glass finish as a glass with this matte finish, so you really can't tell the difference between the two, the plastic and the glass versions, because of this very similar uh finish on them.

But I have to say this: color looks fantastic. Every angle is a little different when you look at it head-on. It's like silver. When you look at it from this angle, it's almost reddish and bluish and then a little of gold there, like it, really has a lot of different uh glows to it. This is a hundred percent, like that's a spiritual successor of that aura glow from the note 10.

This is just way more pulled back in restraint because of this matte finish, and I think this is definitely one of the best colors for the s21 ultra, but I will say that the silver and black contrast is very, very apparent. So if you're somebody who doesn't like that, maybe the black version of the phone is the one you should go for. I will say, though, the sides and everything are just a plain kind of silver aluminum, nothing that special about them very reminiscent to you know like the same of the phones I've had in the past. The SS line phones uh, nothing that special here the phone is very, very heavy. It is definitely heavy, but I will say the weight is at least distributed really well, and it doesn't feel top heavy or anything like that and the curved edges and everything do make the phone way more comfortable to hold long term than the iPhone 12 Pro max, which is a similar size, but has these very flat edges uh the cur the display on this does have a slight curve, unlike the rest of the s21 lineup.

Now all the s phones used to have a slight curve on the edge, but the s20 on ultra is now the only phone that does out of the lineup and the display on this is 6.8 inches. This does have the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner to unlock the phone. That's the only form of biometric it has. It has a facial, recognize a facial scanner, I'm sorry, but that just works based on the camera. There's no actual um facial like tracking there's, no like there are no sensors beyond that- and I have to say this display is absolutely amazing.

It does finally give you the combination of a high resolution and high refresh rate together. You don't have to choose one or the other. You can choose both at the same time. So let me just go into settings and show you. So if you go to display you guys see the motion smoothness is set to adaptive, which goes up to 120 hertz, and I've also got my screen resolution set to who plus uh, that's 1440p uh.

The phone did come with 1080p out of the box. I have to say that I did have to come in and change it. So if you have a s21 ultra go ahead, make sure you change that over, but I think that most people won't, they won't even realize it and that's the funny thing. I think that's why, with the s21s Samsung didn't even bother putting in 1440p as an option, you can only use it at 1080p with or without the 120 hertz refresh rate. So the cameras, the cameras, are actually super cool on this you've got 108 megapixel main sensor.

You've got a 3x and a 10x zoom, and it's a very, very crazy setup here. So let me just show you a sample photo. I took so. I was sitting right here, and I took a photo of um this lanyard. Furthermore, I have hanging on my door and let me just show you, so this is a hundred x.

So look at the quality like I'm zooming in even more, and I can, actually. I can clearly read the text on this now I'll. Let you know this isn't too far away, but still 100x zoom. It is impressive, so here's I believe, 50x and then here's 10x, so you guys can see just how far this actually was and then here's. I believe this is 3x.

You guys can see just how far this actually is and that's 1x- and this is ultra-wide, so from an ultra-wide photo. You guys just can see how much I'd have to zoom in there. So this is a very, very cool feature that 10x zoom is definitely doing something very, very impressive. So I'm impressed with this- and I will do a lot more testing in my full review outdoors and find subjects that are actually further than just a couple of feet away. Maybe you know a couple of hundred feet away.

I have a pretty good idea, a pretty good place to test this out, so I'll definitely be doing that beyond that. I did also I forgot to mention the display gets very bright. A content looks awesome on it. I tried it out and also while watching content, I tried out audio sounds fantastic. It gets very loud, very clear, no distortion whatsoever.

I do wish there was just a little more bass, but overall, fantastic audio fantastic. So this is an awesome phone. If you're going to be consuming a lot of content on your on your device, you know it just looks, and it does give you a very good entertainment, uh experience all around the only thing I would say I would really want to change about this phone is how thick this camera module is in comparison to everything else. It just feels out of place, especially this kind of corner element design. It looks really, really bad like.

If I hide it, you don't even know, but when I pull it back, you guys can see just like it feels like a tumor growing onto it right there uh and while it doesn't look that bad on the s21 and s21 plus, because the these cameras don't protrude as much. It looks just really out of place almost on this phone uh. One more thing you know just looking at the phone from the outside the power and volume buttons are on the right side, both which is annoying because the volume button is actually pretty far up uh pretty far up on this phone, so the power button, you can very comfortably access uh if you're holding the phone like this, but the volume button you definitely have to stretch and even with stretching I'm only getting to the bottom button to like to get to the top I'd have to completely move my hand up to do so. They could have just moved the volume button over here and that would have been a much better option. The side is completely empty by the way.

There's nothing here, no sim card tool, nothing just two antenna bands, so that volume button could have been moved over there and things would have been a lot better software wise. It's one, UI, there's a lot of similar Samsung elements to it. The one very good thing is now. You can finally have a Google feed here instead of Samsung's feed. That's an addition.

I'm very, very happy about Bixby still does exist. So if you hold the power button, it will show up. You can disable this, but um it survives, but at least it doesn't have a dedicated button. If you guys remember those days, those were very frustrating days and there is a lot of bloatware on this phone. You know there's a lot of Samsung stuff, there's something called Samsung free, which is, I think, their version of google.

Now then, there's Samsung global goal, something there's an entire app filled with Samsung bloatware, there's an entire app a folder filled with Microsoft. Stuff then there's an entire folder stuff with Google stuff like all this stuff, which I need or no don't need, that's not their problem. They just include everything and I have to deal with the rest, so that's a little annoying, but that's so is the case with Samsung phones. You've got Facebook Spotify installed out of the box. You can't do anything about it.

Furthermore, you can disable them. Furthermore, you can't completely uninstall them which sucks. I don't want anything to do with Facebook on my phone, but so be it. So that's it for the galaxy s21 ultra guys. That's my initial impression on it.

So far, I'm really liking the amounts of technology in it, but I'm just not sure about the size and the comfort of it. Yet that's something, I think, will come with some longer term usage. So let me know what you guys think of the galaxy s21 ultra and if you haven't already be sure to follow me on social media. I'll, have all the links right here on the screen and, of course down in the description as well, so go check me out over there, and I do guys. I do want to give you guys a heads-up that I'm going to be making a ton of videos on this, including videos with a couple of the new case options that are there and a couple of you know.

Comparisons so be sure to subscribe the channel for uh that, if you guys are interested in more galaxy, s21 and s21 ultra content. Thank you so much for watching guys I'll catch you in the next one. You.

Source : Auto Technica