S21 ultra Camera - dissapointment due to camera overheating & overall issues

[orrange113]

After 4 years on iPhone I watched all those US-based reviewers with their Snapdragon CPU and decided, that it is right time to switch on Android and ordered an Exynos version. I was so happy in the first day.
Such a dissapointment. 

I. Camera: total failure.
1) Camera overheats even while being in app. While doing photos or changing setting, heating intensifies. Recording video makes the phone temperature grow gradually, and after 1 min it is literally unusable.
2) Slow shutter speed. "Hey, S21! 2012 called, asked his camera back!"
3) Overall photo quality on my 2021 Exynos ultra-mega S21 4-lens camera is not even a bit better, that my 2018 iPhone XR. That's a shame. Not worse though, lol.
4) Portrait mode and HDR in direct lighting on even a "budget" single-camera iPhone XR are better. Who needs macro, when you can't deal with a regular sunset? 

II. Gaming: total failure.
I was very surpized and I didn't belive my eyes, when some simple and by any mean not the most intesinve games like Blizzard's Hearthstone, which is basically a card game, were unplayable due to constant lags. Laging was the same, as on my old budget HTC 10 or so years ago in the end of its cycle.

I googled and read,  that it happens due to Samsung Game Booster and some gaming optimizing services meant to enhance gaming experience, but in reality ruining it. I had to buy $4 app in order to disble that noncence, afer that game lags dissapeared. 

III. Advertising. Samsung, I just bougth a brand new S21 Ultra, to see an advertising of S21 Ultra in my health app? Like really? 

Verdict:
I will return my S21 ultra later this week, ask for a refund and will return to apple with no delay. Apple may give you less functions, but they are working perfectly. Samsung is giving you twice as more, promices twice more from that and then nothing works. Shame.

[GoanGeek]

Would you Please let us know if you used smartswitch or set up the phone as new with no transfers from the old phone?
Trying to establish if smartswitch is creating all this issues.

[orrange113]

Hi, no smartwatch. The only thing I did was to transfer Contacts from my iCloud during the initial setup.

[smiley]

I just wondered... has the phone stopped optimising yet ? it will say in the 'device care' battery settings. this might be a cause for the overheating issues... the battery is not yet optimised and in the background is doing more than normal usage.

I think I must have been one of the lucky ones... as I don't seem to have suffered any of these issues you mention.

You also realise that any camera processing issues and gaming lags can likely be fixed with a software update.

I played an hour of tombraider the other night without any lagging and fairly intensive GPU and CPU requirements.

sorry to hear your issues, and you are not alone on this forum. I am lucky to not have experienced these problems on mine, and I would hope a lot of these issues you explain could be patched.

of course there is a possibility with the heat issues that there are some hardware failures out there... and many others report similar shutdown of cameras and performance issues.

Good luck whatever you decide.

smiley 😀

[ffusti]

hi there
I have the s21ultra and couldn't be happier,,I have the exynos version,,I was a bit concerned because previously the exynos was inferior to the Snapdragon, but this time seems on par,,
I don't have ANY of your issues, no overheating (but I don't game on my phone), camera shutter lag is there but much better than previous Samsung phones, picture quality much better than my previous S10+ which I traded in,,I constantly get 7h screen on time even with the max resolution and adaptive refresh rate,,I don't know maybe I'm just lucky, but I've never had any problems with any of my previous Samsung phones including this one,,I used to have an iPhone Xs, but it was just too limiting for me,,okay Apple products "just work", I get it, but still, I was always way happier with android,,

sorry to hear your problems, but my new ultra doesn't have any of these issues

[Ksn]

Even after setting up as a new phone it still heats up. It even heats up in safe mode.

[MarkS_OceanDem]

Restored backup stored on external Usb C thumb drive. No issues with my 512gb S21 Ultra

[VinnyVegas777]

Seems like in recent years Samsung has been caught up in having the top specs while sacrificing the quality of their phones. I recently returned my Note 20 Ultra for all of these same issues. Previously I owned the Note 9, S8+ and S7 Edge and loved all three of those phones. After the Note 9, I went to the LG V60 which I was very happy with, traded that for the Note 20 Ultra, returned that after a couple weeks and got a new V60 again. 

I don't plan on buying another to Samsung until they can release a phone that doesn't only do well in YouTube reviews, but excels in real world performance. I question some of these reviewers, almost like they are shilling for Samsung and not talking about the real problems. 

Hopefully Samsung will actually pay attention and address these problems instead of just focusing on specs and hype. 

[GoanGeek]

I have the S21ULTRA and quiet happy with the purchase, it does warm up a bit while gaming, but it's expected.
I am now currently @20% with SOT 6hrs and 12 mins after 1Day and 10 hours since last charged. So it is an almost 2day phone.

[Helix_One]

I am starting to think that there is something to do with Smart Switch and Android 11. My S21 Ultra always runs hot ( 36 ‐ 45°C ) for normal tasks. If 5G is on it that adds a few degrees. When I turn off features one by one the temperature gradually decreases. The camera app adds the most. I've noticed that some apps constantly crash as well.