All the reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra should be your next big-ticket purchase

The ripples created by Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra’s premature landing were enough to send many of its competitors into hiding, or at the very least, begrudging acknowledgment, because this is an excellent improvement over the previous release. Let's delve into what the hype is really all about.

From the moment I had the pleasure of unboxing this hyper-futuristic piece of tech, I realised that the Ultra in the namesake existed for a reason. Ultra performance? Check. Ultra battery life? Check. Ultra photo and video capabilities? Check, check and double-check.

The design: Aesthetically speaking, Samsung with the S21 Ultra, has gone for an unconventional, asymmetrical design language that I absolutely love. For me, this is a plus as it gives the phone subtle futuristic overtones. Samsung has also managed to strike a balance between the straight, flat screen-edge and the completely curved-edges, which is another great touch. But what really does the trick for me is that matte-black, fingerprint-resistant variant—it's a whole 'look at that' moment!

The performance: The phone sits comfortably in the palm of my hand, with a heft that subtly hints at all the power Samsung has managed to pack in. While the Snapdragon 888 is a known performer, most of the world gets Samsung's Exynos 2100 chip which currently has a slight edge according to tests. Now all you need to know is that the processor is going to be lightning-fast, allowing you to juggle multiple toll-taking apps while taking zero hits to performance—all this amped by a massive desktop-grade 12 gigabytes of RAM.

The battery: What is even better is the unholy (have I said Ultra enough?) battery life, which can last two entire days of moderate-to-heavy usage! Yes, you read that right. The trick is the LTPO display, a zippy acronym which can drop screen refresh rates to as low as 10Hz. This means that the phone saves up on a lot of power resulting in a responsive screen, allowing you to enjoy that house party without having the spend a good part of the evening away from the party, plugged to the nearest socket.

The camera: The sheer assortment of powerful camera capabilities the Ultra possesses is what sets it a class apart. In fact, my first impression was that it's the perfect companion for on-the-move multimedia content creators. From social media influencers and journalists to anybody undertaking any swift photo/video-based tasks, this phone makes short work of it all. In fact, it'll shoot 4k video at 60Hz across all five of its cameras. For those whose eyes widened slightly more, you’d want to note that even the selfie cam is adequately equipped. You even have the capability to simultaneously shoot video on the front and back cameras with the Director's View feature, which is perfect for vlogging, commentary-based video, and other types of content.

Amidst the four cameras on the back, we have a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, in addition to two 10-megapixel telephoto cameras: one with a 3X zoom and one with 10X zoom that allows for even more shooting options.

But the 108-megapixel sensor in the main camera takes the cake and as we’ve obviously noticed, additional orifices in there that are not lenses—that's the laser autofocus sensor that fine-tunes the focus and image quality. The key ‘100x space zoom’ feature can be fun to try; it is legitimate up to 30x, which is more than sufficient. In case you're wondering, the telephoto images are a notch above the iPhone Pro Max—quite a big feat. The phone captures the excellent dynamic range and accurate colours for your photos, making them look even better than real-time, even at night.

The conclusion: For those who like the notion of everything Ultra—this phone does make a case that is almost watertight while also improving upon its predecessors in every possible way. With every possible benchmark for a premium flagship phone being exceeded, Samsung has launched a gadget that will definitely set the bar for those to come. But what's more—it'll be your ideal, futuristic companion for all things multimedia and performance. 

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