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So many things wrong with my S21U - I'm trying a replacement

(Topic created on: 09-03-2021 04:13 PM)
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spitshaw
Pioneer
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So I've had my S21U for 3 and a half weeks and I've been totally unable to get it to act like a supposedly 'best ever Android' £1200 flagship phone.

These are the issues I've encountered:

- It's overheated on me four times, once while using the camera and the other three times during skype calls. I don't understand how regular useage can cause it to overheat so easily. I've never had a phone overheat on me in my life before

- I've not been able to get more than 5.5 to 6.5 hours max screen on time. And this is with dark mode enabled, wifi only, brightness under 20%, all apps in sleep or deep sleep mode. I even removed Facebook and Chrome as they were hogging a lot of battery and still no improvement. I have no idea how so many others are getting 9-10 hours SOT. I've only been using it for light useage such as browsing reddit, reading a couple of messageboards with the odd 30minute skype call or a couple of youtube videos thrown in.

- There was three times when I accidentally let the battery drain and each time I couldn't get the phone to charge or turn back on/show anything on screen. I'd wake up in the morning after putting it on charge to find it still dead with no signs of life. It then wouldn't register as charging. I had to faff around for like 15 minutes, changing outlets/chargers a few times and repeatedly trying to turn it on/force restart it to get it working. Just all round odd behaviour.

- Also the colour calibration on vivid mode seems to be really weird. Skin tones are pale, yellow and washed out. There's also a weird software thing happening when vivid mode is turned on. For example, an image in reddit looks totally different in colours/saturation than the exact same image opened in Chrome or Facebook. The colours would also visibly change when apps are fullscreened from being in splitscreen mode or from the recent apps tray.

My 4.5 year old Huawei P20 Pro has been through the wars, yet was still in a much better working condition (it was still getting 9 hours SOT!). I'm kinda annoyed I traded that in now. I'm hoping this s21u was just a defective unit and a new one will be better. I've definitely been incredibly disappointed so far.

Any one else had a similar experience?

33 REPLIES 33
tinglish
Hotshot
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man I feel bad for you, especially spending so much on the phone.
I will say it sounds like yours is a faulty device,as mine has been a dream.

again sorry to hear you had these issues,I'm sure the replacement will be much more to your liking 🤞
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SneezyDing
Explorer
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i tryed the replacement and still happened
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Mimo40
Helping Hand
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wow sorry to hear about all the problems you have had with the s21ultra. can I ask what gb it was? I have the 256gb and like tinglish never really had any major problems for instance i play call of duty few hours a day and the highest temp I've reached is 41c to 43c and that is with an armoured case on as well.
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Case1188
Voyager
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Well, I've had the s21ultra 256gb exynos chip since release date, and I can honestly say its the best Samsung device I've ever had, and I've had a few, no issues whatsoever, overheating or otherwise, you must have a faulty device for sure.
AshtabS9Ultra
Mastermind
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I have had mine just over 24 hrs and all seems OK, I was so nervous but I seem to have got away with all the issues people are talking about. I think there must have been a massive batch of dodgy units as there is many happy people and many unhappy
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WPM
Journeyman
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try switching of 5g it drains the battery more or look up who the boss on you tube he has best knowledge on the phone. Glad I seen the post trying to decide which version to get of s21 series.🤔
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spitshaw
Pioneer
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Yeah turning 5g off was one of the first things I did. I literally did every single possible battery saving measure I could find. I watched tons of videos and read lots of articles about saving battery and nothing made any difference. Could never get more than 6.5hours screen on time. It was just awful

The only thing I refused to do was lower the refresh rate and resolution as they were the reasons I bought this phone. I didn't pay almost £1200 to put it on FHD and 60hz
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spitshaw
Pioneer
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It really does seem to be pretty much 50/50 doesn't it. Many people getting fantastic battery and many people getting terrible battery
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spitshaw
Pioneer
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Yeah that's same model I have. Preordered the phantom navy. I've asked for the black though for my replacement
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