So I've had the chance to be one of the first real owners of the S21 Ultra worldwide (reviewers excluded) and this is how I summarize my 1 month of use:
I received my unit roughly 10 days before the first pre-orders were shipped to customers. When I first received the ultra it was totally unusable. Camera would lag and stutter heavily, phone would heat and shut off after 5 minutes of video calls. I will cut Samsung some slack here because it is very much possible that the firmware was not yet fully ready.
I had my 1st unit replaced for another one which came just as the (very quick) updates were starting to roll.
The improvement was incremental but very noticable with the heating issues resolved after updating to firmware AUB6.
The phone I have now (AUB9) is a totally different phone than the one I had initially received.
I know that there are still quite a few customers who are still experiencing severe over-heating issues. Mine, however is honestly amazing now aside of a still few issues left with the camera.
I'll summarize here:
Pros:
*AMAZING screen. Seriously. Nothing I've seen comes close to this. It is very evident when watching videos and especially when playing games
*Gaming performance - top notch. No current AAA graphically-demanding game lags or stutters eve one bit during prolonged use
*Camera - excellent dynamic range, quick reliable focus, excellent colors. Very very versatile - from useful macro mode to very good zoom capability with good lighting. 108mp mode - TONS of details.
*MUCH improved finger-print reader. Almost can't fault it.
*S-pen support - love it. Get one as soon as you can.
Cons:
*Battery - only average. Not nearly as advertised. Roughly 20-21 hours with mixed use (regular browsing, phone calls, 30 min gaming, a couple of youtube videos etc). I would emphasize I am on 5G with limited reception and that may impact battery life.
*Camera - portrait mode still very slow. It does create beautiful shots but there is heavy processing going on and it can stutter when it detects faces. Not good for when your kids move around, excellent for when your kids stay still.
*Camera - 108mp mode a bit slow. Probably to be expected
*Camera - software issues - no zoom lens choice when shooting UHD60 (SAMSUNG!! fix that bug already!)
I upgraded from S10+ which I loved. But this phone is a whole different thing. The screen itself, and the improvement in the versatility of the camera and the wonderful dynamic range alone justify imho the upgrade.
*Caveat: one last thing. It is still unclear and Samsung has kept quite about it whether there are in fact batches of damaged phones that have overheating issues that are not software related.
