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I figured it might be a good idea to share my thoughts on the Note 4, since I always put a lot of research into smartphone buying and someone might find it useful There are some of you that are still leaning toward different flagships all of the time (like I did!), so I hope this helps.
First of all I would like to mention that about a month ago I made up my mind to give up my LG G2 and switch to a new smartphone.
The Xiaomi mi4 came up first.
I liked the design, UI, price, specs. Everything about the mi4 is just above average, but thats about it. It didn't have that even slightest "wow factor" that I needed to push me to buying one. It's a very good phone, but the warranty would require me to send the phone far into the unknown in case something was wrong, I wasn't sure If I would pay tax as well. Nobody had the 64 gb model either (16gb and no card expansion, really?!). I decided that this would probably be a wise choice but it didn't offer anything more than what I already had on the G2, and in some cases, it was worse (camera). I passed.
My second choice was the LG G3.
So like always, I started researching, checking out different variants and prices, digging through the specs, looking for its strong sides and flaws. I liked the quad hd display at first, the SD 801 SoC, good camera with laser autofocus. The UI was a nice upgrade from the LG G2's cartoonish look. The 32 gb model seemed a good option with its 3gb of ram (although I didn't like the design as I wanted something different from the G2).
As I started to dig deaper though, I noticed that the display isn't all that awesome, as there is more to it than just resolution. I think they might have made the phone much better if they sticked to a 1080p panel and focused on other aspects like color reproduction, brightness, power consumption. I found out that the 801 chip is stretched to its limits (even over them..) with that display, which caused overheating, throttling and lagging in demanding tasks and games. I believe a smartphone should be able to handle anything you throw at it so I dumped the G3 from my plans.
Then the Z3 came up.
So again- researching, digging, looking at the cons and pros. I liked the design a lot better than the G3 (besides the plastic corners, although I can justify the reason they used them for). The display was beytter than the Z2, with very good brightness and color reproduction after making some adjustments to the stock settings. The audio quality is superb as well, the whole phone is waterproof and its battery life was very well above the current smartphones.
The camera in the Z3 is top of the line, but I didn't like how it overheats. Making the phone thinner wasn't necessary in my opinion and sony might have thought about the component allocation in the device, as putting everything in the top part of the phone wasn't too smart of a choice. The UI was something that I didn't like the most though. I know I could throw a custom ROM at it in a while, but I wasn't sure how that would work with the camera, battery life and other features sony offered in the stock ROM.
I almost made my mind up on the Z3, as it had everything I wanted and I could live with its cons but then the price came into my mind: 515 pounds including tax.
Thats the part the note 4 came into play.
I watched the Note 4 presentation: the phone impressed me in overall, I liked the design, UI, hardware etc. So I started digging again.
I've always wanted the best out of my phone, no matter if I was going to use all of the functions it had or not. I used my phone for calling, texting, making notes in google keep, gps, playing games, listening to music, browsing the web, taking pictures. Usually I endep up rooting it and putting a stock like ROM on it (although I used the stock LG G2 ROM all the way). The design of the phone was always important for me, thats why I had an iphone 4s and 5 for a month before ditching it cus of the awfully simple and boring OS.
The Note 4 seemed to be a very good phone that offered what I wanted and much more beyond that:
1. The display
It's resolution could have been not increased. Samsung could have stayed with a 1080p panel. But thats not whats important about this panel. This is what the DisplayMate test results are:
"The Galaxy Note 4 delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance: it is the first Smartphone display to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories (except one Yellow for a Brightness Variation with Average Picture Level) since we started the Display Technology Shoot-Out article Series in 2006, an impressive achievement for a display. The Galaxy Note 4 has again raised the bar for top display performance up by another notch. "
The display is a window through which you interact with your phone, and it is a component that must be top of the line. There should be no compromise here. Samsung exceeded my expectations in this matter.
2. Performance
There are 2 variants of the Note as most of you know. I'm still having a hard time with both of them. At first I thought the Snapdragon is an obvious choice considering it was superior to all of the other chips last year.
But then the 64-bit affair came into place. Anyone would like their phone to be futureproof, and a 64-bit SoC would be a wise choice. The exynos and snapdragon chips offer pretty much the same performance. I tried looking at the benchmarks, real world usage, gaming, but one outpaces the other in different things and it is very hard to tell the difference. I believe the fluidity of the UI and overall performance must be taken into consideration the most, as I believe both chips will handle anything you throw at them when apps and games are optimized. The choice is either taking the 20nm exynos and hope for better battery life and 64-bit support OR the snapdragon one and expect better dev support.
I wanted the Exynos for the wolfson chip, as I like good quality music from my phone. I'll be using good headphones and PowerAmp so I figure I wouldn't notice much difference anyway. At least not enough to pay extra and import the exynos variant.
I'm pretty much set on the Snapdragon 805 as I believe the battery life should be good on both (the andreno 420 is powerful with lowered power consumption). Like I mentioned earlier I might change the ROM after a while if something good comes out. It's a matter of personal taste- NOT performance of the chips. Thats my opinion on the matter.
3. User Interface
Touchwiz was out of the question for me up until I saw the Galaxy S5 UI. I actually liked the flat style and functions it offered. The note 4 UI is pretty similar. I really like the S-Pen experience, it should be a great change for people who haven't used it before. I love taking notes and I'll use it often. I like the functions it offers, the selection in different UI elements, the ease of copy/pasting, more precise touch input.
Touchwiz has a lot of useless apps that I might not like, but I'm sure it will be possible to get rid of the ones you don't like later on, the dev community in here will surely help. I could go on about the stamina mode, multi-window, the ability to resize apps etc, but you've all seen that on videos. The most important fact for is that touchwiz had been improved, it is eye pleasing, smoother and faster than ever. It is the best custom android OS you can get atm.
4. Camera
On paper both of the cameras looked really good to me, but I wanted to wait and see the real world results. I wasn't disappointed. there were some early comparisions done, but some of them were pictures or videos not taken with the note 4, so getting a correct view at the performance was quite hard. We have these results now and the note camera is a top notch performer. I find day pictures top of the line, the details are there, colors are popping, OIS helps as well. 4k shooting isn't all that important to me but its a nice addition. The camera seems to be very capable and will perform great in a day-to-day user's hands as well in an experienced person ones.
You may find the night shots worse than of the lumia or z3, but thats just terribly trying to find a flaw to me. Come on- who the hell is going to photograph a piece of paper in the dark of the night!? insane. There are pictures taken with the note at night, i like how the lights aren't blurred and everything seems very crisp and detailed. Do remember what you'll be using the phone camera for, and the Note 4 delivers more than I want in those terms.
5. Battery life
Many people find this very important. I thought the Note 4 might get bad results cause of that screen so I checked out some vids of the LTE-A Galaxy S5 with the higher res display. The results were the same as the standars S5.
I am not sure if its the chip that is more power efficient, some power saving changes in the OS, or the screen, or maybe all of these at once, but the results people are having on the Notes they recently picked up are very pleasing to me.
Final words
I probably shouldn't, cause its so ridiculous, but I'll mention the gap gate as well- I don't give a crap about it. I wont even notice it. Especially with the case I'm going to put on the phone. And its something that samsung probably addressed already in the new batch of phones. There are other things I should maybe mention, but these 5 are most important for me. I really like the performace of the Note 4, its UI, functions, metal frame design, micro SD storage expansion, camera, battery, IR blaster and everything else that seems to be a full package that many will find good enough to put their money on. I surely will. On the black one of course
You have really done some good work digging up info and comparing them.
Just to add couple points to OP's excellent write up:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already.
The gap between screen and frame around might be by design, due to combination of plastic, glass and metal having different expansion rate due to temperature changes. My thinking is that if the phone was brought from very warm room into very cold outside, metal frame would cool and shrink much faster than the rest and could even possibly crack the glass, doing so. The gap possibly allows for contraction/expansion without doing any damage. Either way, outside of aesthetics, it doesn't affect anything and it's a non issue. Probably blown out of proportions as an attempt to shift attention away from bendgate.
pete4k said:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already
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I think he was referring to the increased GPU load due to the higher resolution which is a valid concern.
But as it has already been said, even the S5 LTE-A with its Snapdragon 805 and QHD resolution has the same battery life as the regular S5 with Full HD and Snapdragon 800.
Still, it would be interesting to see the battery life on a Snapdragon 805 device with only a Full HD display.
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
han4mi said:
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
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Normally I would agree that FHD 1080p would be more than enough. However, since the GN4 is going to host the Gear VR, with magnifying lenses, I'm happy it went for the QHD
Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk
Audio Quality
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
ymmp said:
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
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I have the same question, ´cause I am afraid, that speeker-quality will be on low level and I am used to fantastic stereo sound of my current htv one m8.
I think, the price for Note 4 ist extremly high. Meanwhile Samsungs flagships are playing in the same €-league with the latest iphons. So I want to hold it in my own hands first before buying it. In center of Europe the Note 4 will be available in about 2 weeks.
Maybe the new Nexus 6 has a better balance between price and specs. We´ll check it out.
Just read Phone Arena's review. Here's a quote:
"Unfortunately, the audio portion of the media experience isn't so spectacular. The single speaker of the Galaxy Note 4 is rather quiet and lacking any depth, making it sound thin and weak. It's not too bad, but it's far from the best we've heard"
How disappointing! The new Moto X is supposed to have an amazing front speaker. I just wonder if it is more like the Note 2 or 3.
I believe the speaker will be good enough to play the ringtone I choose. I prefer earphones+ Poweramp for my music. Like I said, it depends what you're expecting to use the phone for. The Note 4 meets my demands in key aspects and thats why I'm going for it. I don't want THE BEST PHONE. Such a phone does not exist. All of the flagships have their strenghts and weaknesses and a smart person would take the one with the most personally suitable set of features.
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Samsung galaxy note 20 ultra
Yes this is great phone i already using it great company
So far I have to say this phone is on its way to becoming the New GOAT. Build quality is stellar, i don't mind the camera bump, small sacrifice for a better shooter. Plus I always rest my finger against it. But that being said, it's pretty much the perfect phone IMO.
The display, the smoothness, the cameras. If I can get 6h + SOT on top of that it'll definitely become my GOAT Samsung phone. Dethroning the Note 7 who dethroned the Galaxy S4 Google play edition but I digress.
I don't see myself moving to another phone any time soon.
Sent from my SM-N986W using XDA Labs
Initial thoughts after final setup:
Going from a A20 ultra to a Note 20 ultra, I think this phone just looks and might even perform better. The feel in the hand, the fingerprint reader, everything seems to run smoother. I'm loving it so far.
My main concern is the battery life with heavy use. I've tweaked the settings a bit, so I guess I will have a better idea after a few days of use. But so far so good! :good:
I just received and configured my Note 20 Ultra. It's so similiar to Note 10+ but faster. Software looks almost the same. I already have 1 software update with security patch from 1st of August
edit: what is annoying is that pen is from the other side it's inconviniet if you are using right hand to operate and hold your phon in your left hand
It's an incredible phone. So much smaller than my first mobile phone 35 years ago. How far we have come since Palm first put a PDA and mobile into the same unit. Luv, Luv, Luv.
PS. The Beans are wonderful. So nice to not have a bud sticking into my ear canal.
PPS. Now I have to wait all over again for my Tab S7+.
advocate2 said:
It's an incredible phone. So much smaller than my first mobile phone 35 years ago. How far we have come since Palm first put a PDA and mobile into the same unit. Luv, Luv, Luv.
PS. The Beans are wonderful. So nice to not have a bud sticking into my ear canal.
PPS. Now I have to wait all over again for my Tab S7+.
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Lol, I remember those. My first phone was a brick phone with a battery that lasted an hour if you were lucky, and a hand calculator sized screen. Times have changed indeed. It's amazing.
a Lefty's dream!
duchian said:
I just received and configured my Note 20 Ultra. It's so similiar to Note 10+ but faster. Software looks almost the same. I already have 1 software update with security patch from 1st of August
edit: what is annoying is that pen is from the other side it's inconviniet if you are using right hand to operate and hold your phon in your left hand
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I have waited on the Note series for a while. What finally took my commitment was finding out the s pen is on the left. As a lefty, this is the most convenient placement I can imagine.
Anticipate that the placement will change back to the right in the next iteration after feedback from rightys.
If the s-pen was on the right, it would be perfect. Fingerprint scanner is brilliant now, screen is unreal, battery life is phenomenal, speed is beyond belief... Perfection. Good luck topping this, Samsung
Love this phone! It's definitely my favorite phone ever. It just barely beats my love for the OnePlus 8 Pro. I like the form factor of this phone better with less display curves. Plus all the tons of software features. However the colors and brightness on the OnePlus 8 Pro are better.
AndroidPurity said:
Love this phone! It's definitely my favorite phone ever. It just barely beats my love for the OnePlus 8 Pro. I like the form factor of this phone better with less display curves. Plus all the tons of software features. However the colors and brightness on the OnePlus 8 Pro are better.
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Can you elaborate further on the brightness? Everything I've read says the Note 20 Ultra has a brighter screen than the OnePlus 8 Pro, and the rated nits value is quite a bit higher. It might only go up to highest brightness in adaptive mode and being outside? IDK, but you're the first person I've seen say this.
Roland Deschain said:
Can you elaborate further on the brightness? Everything I've read says the Note 20 Ultra has a brighter screen than the OnePlus 8 Pro, and the rated nits value is quite a bit higher. It might only go up to highest brightness in adaptive mode and being outside? IDK, but you're the first person I've seen say this.
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==========================
This is the best way I have of describing my N20U screen brightness.
On a no cloud sunny day, I can take my phone out and see the screen perfectly. No more having to turn to use my body for shade and my hand to see the screen.
I am 69 with mild Adult onset Macular Degeneration. This phone is fantastic for me with auto brightness enabled.
I hope that helps.
duchian said:
edit: what is annoying is that pen is from the other side it's inconviniet if you are using right hand to operate and hold your phon in your left hand
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Couldn't agree more. After owning note 2,3,4,7,8, and 9 with the pen on the right it will take some getting used to.
Battery life is also a bit meh coming from a Poco F2 Pro but it's good enough to get me to the end of the day so I can live with it.
Apart from those two factors I love this thing. Even at 60hz the screen is very bright and vibrant. It's very responsive, plenty quick enough for day to day tasks, and I've got the inferior Exynos model since that's all my country gets.
Camera is also beast. Low light isn't quite as good as my P30 Pro but it's still pretty impressive compared to a lot of smart phones out there. One thing it does have over the p30 is that it's much faster to grab focus so much better for quick snaps.
great phone, super screen, great that the diagonal has become larger, very convenient !!!
I bought note 20 ultra it is most bs phone i ever use it
No complaint in the overall experience
I've had Note 1, Note 3, S7, S10+ and now N20U from HK with Snapdragon. I've only had it two days, but I'm very happy with the phone. Big £ savings vs UK Exynos are icing and a cherry on top of the cake.
Having pre ordered the phone and having used Notes 3,4,7, 8 and now the 20 Utra 5G with 512gb internal storage; I wanted to wait to make a judgement call but I can say while there are things I like about the phone, I don't think it is what I expected and I am done with Samsung products.
I mean they have tried un-successfully to get rid of the micro sd card slot so then they go after the head phone jack. They skimp on the 120Hz display at full resolution. I mean there are a number of things for a flag ship $1549 phone that just say crap. I was interested in a watch and a tab s7 also. but that isn't going to happen.
I've owned a number of Samsung devices in the past, including Notes 8 and 9 as well as an S10e provided by my company. The Note 9 is, to me, an icon and the last no holds barred, everything but the kitchen sink, no compromises, Note. I do a lot of mobile photography and have always gravitated toward devices that had impressive camera/audio/video capabilities as well as feature-filled in other areas. I wanted to get my hands on the Note 20 Ultra but wasn't willing to relinquish my still pristine Note 9 for the pre-order trade in discount. So I waited for the software problems to get sorted out and the prices to come down. I regularly scanned the Offer Up and Swappa websites until I was able to a factory unlocked 512GB model from a good seller at a great price. This device is a juggernaut of power, form, function, features and fun. I found it not to be too much larger than my Note 9 which fits oh so nicely in hand in its Caseoloy Paraxell case. The camera and video set up is a mobile photographer's dream. I've utilized Google Pixel software apks (GCam) on all of my devices going back to my LG V20 and the stock cameras work so well that I have found no need to port one this time out. This is just overall a top notch piece of tech that does so many things and does them well. It is a quality, powerful, feature-filled piece of technology that will fulfill your needs, whether it's mobile photography, work productivity or content consumption/creation and everything in between. I'm glad I added it to my lineup.
Hardware is great ! With a few greed related exceptions, ( Like Non-Removable Battery, No Audio Port,etc... ) Scamsung's Locked Bluetooth codec really burns my ars !
It could Do/Be so much more/better if they would just fix the Hardware/Firmware lockdown BS.
Coming from a Rooted Note3, this is a really bad experience trying to do anything with this thing, Nothing works without agreeing to some sort of sketchy user agreement. No one is making any usable apps any more, Most of the Best Developers have quit bothering with Android. Even simple widgets don't even work anymore
I DO NOT OWN this over priced phone, They Do ! And they do/steal what ever they want to/from it !
They forced Assdroid 11 in the middle of the night with a corrupt image, I was forced to send it back to them to get it re-flashed. Now None of the apps I was using on version 10 will work on ver. 11.
I will NEVER buy another assdroid, scamsung again. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.
Sad that almost all the hardware/software makers are using these creepy/greedy tactics to spy,steal & dictate what you should do. No other choices out there any more ...
Soon you will have to log in just to wipe your ass ! & they Will be counting your turds.
here's the minireview (after i bought it so late, knowing there's no Note21 coming, and written some summary about rooting):
Looks: who cares, it's hidden in the case, every phone nowadays looks the same. Thou naked, Note10 is the hottest phone, and this one looks similar to it. How does it help? You can enjoy it on the internet, like a window shopper. Your ugly case will decide its fate! For truly unique look,. get a foldable.
Body: heavy as hell, what can I say. Ultraultrathin case on the way to compensate. You have three choices: X-Level case, pitaka case, or give up. I miss the Bixby button to program it in Xposed Edge and there's no Lockdown option anywhere. On 1+ I could use unique wakelock geatures or unique fingerprint menu to trigger some stuff. Here there's no immediate shortcuts unfortunately.
Battery: hesitated for a month reading horror stories about battery. With A11, root, usual wakelocks (AOD, dt2wake, raise2wake), bluetooth & location tracking & VPN running nonstop and 1:1 data and 200 apps as on all past phones, and even without 1+ aggressive RAM cleanup, i must claim the battery is fantastic on Exynos. 3 days easy with my relaxed usage, which is just like OnePlus 6-7-8 I used to have.
Charging: pretty fast for a single battery. You saw the results on gsmarena. Not bad for an emergency topup. Highly compatible with many chargers (unlike 1+). Of course it can't match 8T or 1+9 speed, but very close to 8Pro. But you have tons of chargers around the world at your disposal. Shame on 1+ for this "Apple" type of strategy. In my huge collection of cables and USB testers I have just one of each which supports "Warp". I charged each 1+ at 8W thanks to this as I refuse proprietary methods. Still I did have their Qi charger to celebrate the addition of Qi, and interestingly Note20 won't charge from it.
Fingerprint: better than S10, potentially faster than Oneplus, however it's killed by a massive sluggish response to unlocking. Simply put, finger is recognized very fast but then there's a huge delay til screen is unlocked or app accepts it!
Camera: took an hour to carefully analyze few pics made in the same place, under 2x zoom I couldn't fault it and only found issues on 1+ side. The 1+ 8Pro, which is my reference flagship of 2020, featured issues: yellow tint, massive hair artifacts which look like compression, massive transition artifacts (like a botched Bokeh on a picture which is not even portrait mode!), less detail in each pic, lot of extra noise, highlight clipping. On the other side, this Note didn't have any issue. I'm bit shocked, i expected more balanced battle. Not like 10:0 for Samsung. It's just one mode tested: AUTO on main camera. Nothing else matters because thats how pics are made by people (that's what Xperia owners don't get: "but but you need to use the Pro mode" ). I don't make pics, but i can see the phone will be inheritable within family very easily as they love cameras.
Software: bloated into oblivion, had a lot of work with the guide so expect some serious time burnt on debloating this monster as 1+ owners laugh into your face. Rooting and updating will be only with cable and via Odin, as you can't even enter recovery and DL mode without PC anymore. So the sd card will not save your arse when abroad. However unlocking bootloader is without "agreement", so the warranty is still valid in EU. As bragged earlier, lot of functionality forces you to login and the account demands even your phone number aaaaand I couldn't even fake email and phone! They're so dedicated to capture your real identity so it's best to stay logged out. Even the frikking wallpapers which are ugly this season cannot be changed. But on the other side, the OneUI OS gives you way more than bland 1+ or Xperias, there's always some extra for you. Like the hints in Settings, one hand use, the SmartStay, the cool magnifier, the Spen actions, voice control of camera, camera minivideos, the kid mode, the notif reminder, e-z split screen, the conversation bubbles, richer AOD, rotating wallpaper, Bixby routines, Edge panel etc. Notifbar is full of shortcuts which usually indicates how rich OS is. There are even apps, like video or song browser, something that no longer exists in many OS. Notably the firewall is missing. So overall, after debloating it's stronger perhaps more productive than those vanilla OSes. I love the split screen can be done with dragging from Edge panel.
Speed: massive improvement vs s10 generation i'd say. For the first time, i see Samsung device can be snappy. But don't expect 1+ speed, it's not THAT fast. It's still just Exynos. I even noticed lagging animations here and there, but it's not nonstop like on gen10.
Display: 8Pro and Note20 were rated as the best displays by several ranking agencies and im not paranoid enough to claim their rankings are bogus. Just like i don't hate Dxomark or even positives boasting DisplayMate. Having quite many flagships in past I can see Samsung is always more readable than any other brand. I appreciate the brightness during the day and night. It doesn't force you to increase brightness manually every single night. Now the dark environment use: the backbleeding isn't obtrusive like on Tab S* or OLED TVs, it doesn't have status bar burnt like 8Pro, and it's pretty uniform. With gray color and low brightness I could see the screen blink once which was scary but couldn't replicate it anymore. Well in any case, we do NEED new display technology to replace this pulsating OLED nonsense. No problem with swiping like on Xperia5ii or ZFlip, not many mistouches, the curve is gentle. The resolution is limited at 120Hz but I will say it again: i cannot see more pixels or any detail better under physical magnifier. FullHD is better than Xperia1ii [email protected] any time that's why I couldn't buy that Sony. I do lower resolution on every phone, incl 8Pro which can run 2K @120Hz.
Network: another improvement since S10 is improved network, just like notebookcheck reports, it's in back to top league with 8Pro. WAN speed averages for me: 482/290 on Note20U, 440/234 on 1+8Pro, 481/147 on S10. Pure WiFi AC speed averages were 600/709, 648/706, 610/696 respectively. Making S10 quite good for LAN despite initial horrible S10,S10+,Note10,Note10+ results on notebookcheck, well i'm testing them in same exact position at the same time, so my results are more real at this point.
SD card: nothing exciting here happened over a decide except when they remove this feature. No advancements were made to utilize UHS2 or UHS1+ speed of Extreme cards. Benchmark is 61MBs, so it's not capped like Xperia to 30MBs. Again, can't use sd card to recover your ROM, but rather to store encrypted backups (from OAndbackup currently as 3C can't encrypt and TitaniumBackup is dead).
Overall gen.10 Samsung owners (S10,S10+,Note10,Note10+) have every reason to update their midrangers. Others will buy S21 as it's finally got a decent Exynos. I personally won't buy 227 frikking gram brick without sd card. For 1+ owners it's a preference of freedom to root, (insert "irrational" in EU) fear of losing warranty, "i'm tired with Samsung", properietary charging (1+), sd card, too much bloat, lot of extras vs vanilla etc. Both are strong flagships, didn't expect such good battery and camera result here. After disappointing Z Flip and Xperia5ii, and a decent pause in Samsung ownership (I didn't keep Note9 and S10 for myself so my last longterm device was S8) i'm keeping this as a main driver. I can clean it up very well, there's no snitching, there's zero Samsung connections active and battery clearly proves it. So for rooted users this device is a gem. Nema problema.
Thanks for sharing.
Keep in mind that it's just your personal opinion, and other users might have different opinions.
There is a note 21 coming. Not sure where you got that from but they said it some timr ago when rumors started circulating that a new note IS comimg
And how the hell are you getting 3 days of use?! When i use my phone super light for two days i barley make it to thr second night and even somethimes i need to give it few mins of juice in thr car or somwhere just so i can make it. And that id with very light use.
What bloat are you reffering too, do tou have a contract pgone or sim free? I have sim free and the only bloat i have is the odd sammy software that i occasionally rven use.
Ps. OneUI is not an OS but skin.
Re speed i am an owner od s10, note21 and s21 and i see verry little differrnce between thr s10 and note21, although i do not play games but i use photoshop, lightroom, drawing software and some other similar there is not much difference to say it is massive. There is, it is normal but not massive for sure and all 3 phones feel snappy as hell. Started using sammy with the s7 again and from that point on one from each generation and all felth at their time spanny and very goos.
The only bad thing i have expirianced with my s10 is wifi connectivity, it was poor compared even to my older phones, and with the note 20 ultra 4G is very VERY poor. Or the regular pgone signal. I constantly loose wifi or 4G in places where my other friends do not on all 3 of my phones since the s10 including my note 20 ultra.
As a previous one plus owner i can tell you that the only difference in quality for comparing Oneplus and samsung is thr camera. Nothing else. Onepkus makes solid phones, and they are getting expensive to a point where you comoare them with the top hitters of samsung but the camera is light years behind, there are not even in the same ballpark to compare there.
It_ler said:
Thanks for sharing.
Keep in mind that it's just your personal opinion, and other users might have different opinions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No harm in having different opinions we are all different people after all.
tixooo said:
There is a note 21 coming. Not sure where you got that from but they said it some timr ago when rumors started circulating that a new note IS comimg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well..that's a rumor agains rumor
tixooo said:
And how the hell are you getting 3 days of use?! When i use my phone super light for two days i barley make it to thr second night and even somethimes i need to give it few mins of juice in thr car or somwhere just so i can make it. And that id with very light use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah im also lightly using the phone.. but it's nonstop connected to PC and watches, VPN, location tracking, all typical wakelocks on. After time, I'd say it's the same as you describe, 3rd day so so. But it's way better than as people described on the forums "horrible Exynos battery". It scared me away from buying for a good month.
tixooo said:
What bloat are you reffering too, do tou have a contract pgone or sim free? I have sim free and the only bloat i have is the odd sammy software that i occasionally rven use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well there was a link to debloat. Of course, Samsung is still the leader in bloatware. Heavily bloated like always.
tixooo said:
Ps. OneUI is not an OS but skin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
let's not nitpick. We could say the same about Linux distros etc. The whole user facing solution is the OS.
tixooo said:
Re speed i am an owner od s10, note21 and s21 and i see verry little differrnce between thr s10 and note21, although i do not play games but i use photoshop, lightroom, drawing software and some other similar there is not much difference to say it is massive. There is, it is normal but not massive for sure and all 3 phones feel snappy as hell. Started using sammy with the s7 again and from that point on one from each generation and all felth at their time spanny and very goos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had S7 to S10, but it wasn't snappy at all. This is first time it feels that way, thou vanilla OSes like Oxygen are snappier and stutterless. Sure enough i will like newer CPU on newer models, but I just did a sanity check - it is quite snappy.
tixooo said:
The only bad thing i have expirianced with my s10 is wifi connectivity, it was poor compared even to my older phones, and with the note 20 ultra 4G is very VERY poor. Or the regular pgone signal. I constantly loose wifi or 4G in places where my other friends do not on all 3 of my phones since the s10 including my note 20 ultra.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, that was one problem fixed with Note20. No more moaning from my family about Wifi once upgraded S10->Note20. Connectivity good overall.
tixooo said:
As a previous one plus owner i can tell you that the only difference in quality for comparing Oneplus and samsung is thr camera. Nothing else. Onepkus makes solid phones, and they are getting expensive to a point where you comoare them with the top hitters of samsung but the camera is light years behind, there are not even in the same ballpark to compare there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's only one difference. The main difference for me is the software. This is where OnePlus saves money, by not inveting a penny to enrich the experience and add some productivity gains. This is where OneUI OS shines.
You made a good choice.
The only other one I would consider is the N10+.
I use the SD card as a data drive. You need a V30 rated card for top transfer speeds.
Sorry Sammy, no SD card, no sale
blackhawk said:
You made a good choice.
The only other one I would consider is the N10+.
I use the SD card as a data drive. You need a V30 rated card for top transfer speeds.
Sorry Sammy, no SD card, no sale
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have an SD card, in one of Note20 and Ultra, and it's slow just like in every other mobile (apparently there's no device/appliance with higher speed than 90MBs UHS1 cap other than PC/DSLR - e.g. Sandisk Extreme a.k.a. UHS1+ or UHS2). I mean V30 is very slow to me, both sequential and random access. Given the terrible latency a.k.a. 4K speed, i wouldn't use the SD card for anything but backups and static dead files like music/videos. SD cards are a complete joke versus UFS. Also 60Hz screen, not for me, but OK for the person who received Note20 after S10 and never experienced the 120Hz heaven))
doggydog2 said:
i have an SD card, in one of Note20 and Ultra, and it's slow just like in every other mobile (apparently there's no device/appliance with higher speed than 90MBs UHS1 cap other than PC/DSLR - e.g. Sandisk Extreme a.k.a. UHS1+ or UHS2). I mean V30 is very slow to me, both sequential and random access. Given the terrible latency a.k.a. 4K speed, i wouldn't use the SD card for anything but backups and static dead files like music/videos. SD cards are a complete joke versus UFS. Also 60Hz screen, not for me, but OK for the person who received Note20 after S10 and never experienced the 120Hz heaven))
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the N10+ the V30 is around it's top transfer speeds, the N20 is probably good for more.
The N10+ comes with Pie so no scope storage or the other Q nasties.
Lol, 60hz is 30hz faster than I was raised on being a 60's TV child... I'm not greedy
doggydog2 said:
well..that's a rumor agains rumor
yeah im also lightly using the phone.. but it's nonstop connected to PC and watches, VPN, location tracking, all typical wakelocks on. After time, I'd say it's the same as you describe, 3rd day so so. But it's way better than as people described on the forums "horrible Exynos battery". It scared me away from buying for a good month.
well there was a link to debloat. Of course, Samsung is still the leader in bloatware. Heavily bloated like always.
let's not nitpick. We could say the same about Linux distros etc. The whole user facing solution is the OS.
Had S7 to S10, but it wasn't snappy at all. This is first time it feels that way, thou vanilla OSes like Oxygen are snappier and stutterless. Sure enough i will like newer CPU on newer models, but I just did a sanity check - it is quite snappy.
Hmm, that was one problem fixed with Note20. No more moaning from my family about Wifi once upgraded S10->Note20. Connectivity good overall.
Well, that's only one difference. The main difference for me is the software. This is where OnePlus saves money, by not inveting a penny to enrich the experience and add some productivity gains. This is where OneUI OS shines.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are you from, and is your phonr sim free or not?because my pgone is sim free and i have close to zero bloat (except the odd sammy rmail, web browser etc. That i do not consider bloat). For me personally everything google is bloat that you cant remove (i do not like google as you can see )
Unless you are not sim free the phone it self was pretty clean when i purchased it no adds, no usless software (except 1-2 samsung things that i do not use and cant remove) but that is their pgone... It is to be expected to see their software on it.
Re the battery... To be fair i stopped listening to reviewers and people on the net lomg time ago, turns out many are biased towards this or that and tou cant really get the true story. I am extreamly happy with my battery and my camera, two points that are heavily criticized on the forums anywhere and by reviewers.
I still own s7, s8 and s10... And even now if they are not packed with software they hry are not that bad, but during their prime time they were as snappy as ever dor me. Might be a sim free vs not i do not know. All my phomes are sim free.
tixooo said:
Where are you from, and is your phonr sim free or not?because my pgone is sim free and i have close to zero bloat (except the odd sammy rmail, web browser etc. That i do not consider bloat). For me personally everything google is bloat that you cant remove (i do not like google as you can see )
Unless you are not sim free the phone it self was pretty clean when i purchased it no adds, no usless software (except 1-2 samsung things that i do not use and cant remove) but that is their pgone... It is to be expected to see their software on it.
Re the battery... To be fair i stopped listening to reviewers and people on the net lomg time ago, turns out many are biased towards this or that and tou cant really get the true story. I am extreamly happy with my battery and my camera, two points that are heavily criticized on the forums anywhere and by reviewers.
I still own s7, s8 and s10... And even now if they are not packed with software they hry are not that bad, but during their prime time they were as snappy as ever dor me. Might be a sim free vs not i do not know. All my phomes are sim free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From EU, we don't have any locks by law. Still even such Samsungs are full of processes that waste memory, batter, keep connection, and kill privacy. It's not just what you see as icons. It's Bixby, Samsung Cloud, Find, Galaxy Friends, Pay, push service, logging, debugging, location tracking, knoxx, wifi snitching, Phone assistance, and finally sponsored vendor crap with boosted battery priorities. Can't believe you didn't notice until now There must be tons of threads about this.
doggydog2 said:
From EU, we don't have any locks by law. Still even such Samsungs are full of processes that waste memory, batter, keep connection, and kill privacy. It's not just what you see as icons. It's Bixby, Samsung Cloud, Find, Galaxy Friends, Pay, push service, logging, debugging, location tracking, knoxx, wifi snitching, Phone assistance, and finally sponsored vendor crap with boosted battery priorities. Can't believe you didn't notice until now There must be tons of threads about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Half of those i use, if not more. So do my friends. As i said define bloat. To me bloat is google everything and thr inability to get rid if it easily. To me bloat is not something you buy and you get the brand services, but other services you do not want likr carier services or others like microsoft/google etc.
It_ler said:
Thanks for sharing.
Keep in mind that it's just your personal opinion, and other users might have different opinions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That response,
doggydog2 said:
From EU, we don't have any locks by law. Still even such Samsungs are full of processes that waste memory, batter, keep connection, and kill privacy. It's not just what you see as icons. It's Bixby, Samsung Cloud, Find, Galaxy Friends, Pay, push service, logging, debugging, location tracking, knoxx, wifi snitching, Phone assistance, and finally sponsored vendor crap with boosted battery priorities. Can't believe you didn't notice until now There must be tons of threads about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, that's why a Samsung 4500mAh battery will never be as comparable as lets say a OnePlus' 4500mAh.
First thing one must do, ADB uninstall the hell out of all the Samsung garbage apps and such. For every Google spyware on ONE UI there is also an equivalent Samsung process running.
I was considering getting this phone but Samsung screwed up with the CPU heatsink big time on some of the same variant and it's random, unpredictable. Only observation of abnormal poor heat dissipation or a tear down can reveal which heat sink is used.
Russian heat sink roulette, perfect
I don't have the patience for this kind of poor quality control. It's getting to be a hallmark of Samsung. Why the hell didn't Samsung use only the copper vapor cooling solution on all of it's models? A sick, expensive joke that can't be easily retrofitted or cure by firmware.
Really?
If yours is running hot this may be why.
Here’s Why Some Galaxy Note 20 Phones Have Overheating Problems & There’s Nothing One Can Do
This is unacceptable.
www.mensxp.com
I'm seriously thinking about getting the Fold 3. Maybe I'm just caught up in the hype but I can't stop thinking about trading the Ultra in for a Fold 3. What do you all think, why or why not?
When the s21U vs Fold 3 comparisons come out, then take a few weeks and make up your decision.
Will trade it in for the Pixel 6 Pro.
Man i love the s21, but the software is sooooo bad. Can't get over oneui. The amount of bloat is just insane. Pixel 6 pro will be my next phone most likely.
seen reviews the fold 3 is a pile of crap specs not as good as s21 ultra
Nah...I was all about the fold 2 when I was moving from the mate 20x as I wanted the biggest phone I could find.
I was very disappointed with it though. First is really not that big and the fold part is horrible looking. Plus it does not help much for media in the end and that front screen is like a KitKat.
Worse is the camera cannot match the s21 ultra either and looks like the fold 3 is more of the same in terms of camera and even smaller?
I need a bigger phone with at least same cameras as the s21 ultra to be happy. Better yet a 16:10 format instead of the current KitKat trend but that ain't happening
Screen protectors are not available for internal screen, at the moment - so if you drop Fold3 unfolded, it will cost you like 1000 EUR Not worth. Spec is s h i t t y. Cameras are bad. Maybe Fold4 or 5 will be better. If so - I will consider it.
Bro why you making a POLL? Just trade it and come back in a few weeks to tell us how you feel about it.
Happy or not.
Smartphone and iPhone innovation has reached a plateau, the manufacturer's are leaning on camera additions and 5G to boost market share. Devices now have 5 or 6 cameras, more camera functions aren't a major driver when it comes to buying decisions, enough is enough! At this point 5G has few practical applications besides faster download speeds. Hardware is pretty much the same as it was 3 to 4 years ago. The focus should be on superior software and UI where the bulk of users express their dissatisfaction.
varcor said:
Smartphone and iPhone innovation has reached a plateau, the manufacturer's are leaning on camera additions and 5G to boost market share. Devices now have 5 or 6 cameras, more camera functions aren't a major driver when it comes to buying decisions, enough is enough! At this point 5G has few practical applications besides faster download speeds. Hardware is pretty much the same as it was 3 to 4 years ago. The focus should be on superior software and UI where the bulk of users express their dissatisfaction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Meh, don't get me started, for starters...
I think Android dropped the ball with their Apple like fixation on security when there wasn't major issues. Result both 11 and 12 are a pain the use.
Samsung is bent on cutting edge hardware but forgot the basics, like an SD card slot.
They fouled on every flagship model this year.
Problems with variable frequency displays and 5G, the cam hump, back to lame rounded display corners then were saddle bagged with Android 11, killing the ugly horse.
The Fold is a stuck together mess that seems more like a prototype than a polished flagship phone. Two batteries and a less than functional huge display prone to delamination.
I didn't want any of those headaches, just a phone that's fun, fast, stable, reliable, can capture good images and fulfills its mission. My N10+ Snapdragon is 2 years old, runs great and is drop dead gorgeous. Current OS load is 1.5 yo, still fast and stable with minimal maintenance. Good battery life.
Looks/runs like new, only repair was a replacement battery.
So... why fight it? I bought a second one new N10+ for $800. A premium price for a factory sealed perfect 10+. Good to go.
That's what I think about the new phones and so far 2022 is looking just as bad. The 10+ is more fun today then it was 2 years ago. I'm still exploring it's features and rarely burdened with troubleshooting. The longevity of the OS load is testimony to that. Security; running on Pie it has never had a malware forced reload. The newer one is running on Q, so far it's running good. However Q is as high as it will be upgraded.
Eventually I may upgrade from P to Q on the original 10+... maybe.
blackhawk said:
Meh, don't get me started, for starters...
I think Android dropped the ball with their Apple like fixation on security when there wasn't major issues. Result both 11 and 12 are a pain the use.
Samsung is bent on cutting edge hardware but forgot the basics, like an SD card slot.
They fouled on every flagship model this year.
Problems with variable frequency displays and 5G, the cam hump, back to lame rounded display corners then were saddle bagged with Android 11, killing the ugly horse.
The Fold is a stuck together mess that seems more like a prototype than a polished flagship phone. Two batteries and a less than functional huge display prone to delamination.
I didn't want any of those headaches, just a phone that's fun, fast, stable, reliable, can capture good images and fulfills its mission. My N10+ Snapdragon is 2 years old, runs great and is drop dead gorgeous. Current OS load is 1.5 yo, still fast and stable with minimal maintenance. Good battery life.
Looks/runs like new, only repair was a replacement battery.
So... why fight it? I bought a second one new N10+ for $800. A premium price for a factory sealed perfect 10+. Good to go.
That's what I think about the new phones and so far 2022 is looking just as bad. The 10+ is more fun today then it was 2 years ago. I'm still exploring it's features and rarely burdened with troubleshooting. The longevity of the OS load is testimony to that. Security; running on Pie it has never had a malware forced reload. The newer one is running on Q, so far it's running good. However Q is as high as it will be upgraded.
Eventually I may upgrade from P to Q on the original 10+... maybe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not going to defend Android 11 or 12 but the UI on Samsung has made substantial improvements since TouchWiz. Google was correct in efforts to make a more secure platform, it lagged far behind Apple. It has improved however it's still not as secure as iOS. The real advantages in Android 11 and 12 are more apparent on a Pixel Device, it's designed for that device, not a Galaxy, just as iOS is for iPhone's. I still use my S10+ often since I like it's smaller profile, MicroSD and 3.5 Jack. Call me outdated but I'm accustomed to these features and appreciate them. It's not on the same tier as my S21 Ultra but still a solid performer. Most new cellphones still use rounded corners which you don't like but it's much more convenient to slide in or out of my pocket. For me form follows function. Samsung is expecting a huge sales increase in the Fold 3. That may be the case and Samsung better pray it happens since the Galaxy S Series has been in a serious sales decline since the S20. Plus the Fold is no longer innovative, it's been around a few years and competitors are offering similar platforms. To me it's a novelty which is way overpriced when features are compared to other flagship devices. To spend close to 2K on anything that gives you maybe 4 hours SOT isn't something I'd place in a value added category.
varcor said:
Well, I'm not going to defend Android 11 or 12 but the UI on Samsung has made substantial improvements since TouchWiz. Google was correct in efforts to make a more secure platform, it lagged far behind Apple. It has improved however it's still not as secure as iOS. The real advantages in Android 11 and 12 are more apparent on a Pixel Device, it's designed for that device, not a Galaxy, just as iOS is for iPhone's. I still use my S10+ often since I like it's smaller profile, MicroSD and 3.5 Jack. Call me outdated but I'm accustomed to these features and appreciate them. It's not on the same tier as my S21 Ultra but still a solid performer. Most new cellphones still use rounded corners which you don't like but it's much more convenient to slide in or out of my pocket. For me form follows function. Samsung is expecting a huge sales increase in the Fold 3. That may be the case and Samsung better pray it happens since the Galaxy S Series has been in a serious sales decline since the S20. Plus the Fold is no longer innovative, it's been around a few years and competitors are offering similar platforms. To me it's a novelty which is way overpriced when features are compared to other flagship devices. To spend close to 2K on anything that gives you maybe 4 hours SOT isn't something I'd place in a value added category.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, I was using a S4+ running on Kitkat before I got the N10+. Huge difference in the IU. A bit of future shock but it was fun. The customizable is stunning; it looks and functions like I want it too.
TouchWiz was quit crude in comparison. I don't like slow PCs and the 10+ is snappy. I just don't ever run out of ram The other thing I really just go to pieces over is having a 1.5 dual drive PC in my hand. I require that SD card slot.
I'm running a .5tb now but thinking of going to 1tb.
The 10+ now seems small to me, the Bolt case isn't that bulky but provides excellent protection.
I like the 10+ 7mm profile with no cam hump.
This keeps it's bulk down.
I wear BDU pant so I just put it in the cargo pocket, it never falls out and easy to grab.
Or I'll stash it in the inner vest pocket.
Having watched CRTs for decades, screw rounded display corners! Who frames pictures and paintings with round corners? Very few.
Does Cinemascope have round corners?
Security is mostly hype. The user is almost always responsible for installing or downloading viruses, etc. No saving dumb bunnies...
Trying to make it safe for everyone ruins it for all.
The dumb bunnies still get wacked.
I'm running Pie with no issues, a rootkit could wiggle in but a full reload cost would me a few hours at worst.
Much better than constantly having scoped storage suck cpu cycles/battery and the headaches of nonfunctional/dysfunctional trusted apps because of it.
Scare tactics don't work well on a pragmatist...
Variable rate displays in addition to screwing with color rendering (which is very noticeable to me) also uses more battery. The 10+ handles color profiles so well I don't even think about it.
5G and scoped storage also use more power. My download speeds are good enough to stream vids. Scooped storage has nothing I want, zip.
Battery life is important to me.
SOT time using browser 7-8%@hr
Watching vids in the browser 9-12%@hr.
At night with cell and internet active, tap on AOD less than .5%@hr.
I can use the 10+ for at least 2-3 more years and be happy rather than run the tech gauntlet. This isn't what Google, Samsung or the carriers want, tough. Got tired of the bs and products that don't deliver what I want... so I cancelled them
I am still not convinced by foldables. My big butt and my butter fingers will find a way to break foldables screens easily. Plus invested a bit in the S21 Ultra - Spigen cases and Screen protectors + 2 years of Samsung care.
I think I am going to keep my S21 Ultra for a while (i've upgraded to the latest S phone ever since the S8). I've turned off 5g and enabled FHD+. And stopped charging at 85%+.
Not related to the Fold3; felt like ranting -
The Pixel 6 and 6 pro did catch my attention however they have slow finger print readers (not the next gen ultrasonic ones that we have on the S21 Ultra. Most reviews are focusing features like Magic eraser and faster translation which are gimmicky and I feel I wont miss them in my everyday life.
imankareem said:
I am still not convinced by foldables. My big butt and my butter fingers will find a way to break foldables screens easily. Plus invested a bit in the S21 Ultra - Spigen cases and Screen protectors + 2 years of Samsung care.
I think I am going to keep my S21 Ultra for a while (i've upgraded to the latest S phone ever since the S8). I've turned off 5g and enabled FHD+. And stopped charging at 85%+.
Not related to the Fold3; felt like ranting -
The Pixel 6 and 6 pro did catch my attention however they have slow finger print readers (not the next gen ultrasonic ones that we have on the S21 Ultra. Most reviews are focusing features like Magic eraser and faster translation which are gimmicky and I feel I wont miss them in my everyday life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree with everything you've shared. I've upgraded every time since the S6 until the S10. Skipped the S20 and glad I did, the S21 is more refined. Won't be upgrading to the S22 based on what's broadly reported. Pretty sure the difference between a 4 nm and a 5 nm Chipset is negligible and the Exynos 2200 is plagued with production issues. So what's the point, a 108 MP Camera Upgrade, maybe 45W Charging, New Color? Sorry Samsung, these minor additions aren't worth the trouble or $$$. If you've been using a S10 or earlier model MAYBE, otherwise think twice.
blackhawk said:
Lol, I was using a S4+ running on Kitkat before I got the N10+. Huge difference in the IU. A bit of future shock but it was fun. The customizable is stunning; it looks and functions like I want it too.
TouchWiz was quit crude in comparison. I don't like slow PCs and the 10+ is snappy. I just don't ever run out of ram The other thing I really just go to pieces over is having a 1.5 dual drive PC in my hand. I require that SD card slot.
I'm running a .5tb now but thinking of going to 1tb.
The 10+ now seems small to me, the Bolt case isn't that bulky but provides excellent protection.
I like the 10+ 7mm profile with no cam hump.
This keeps it's bulk down.
I wear BDU pant so I just put it in the cargo pocket, it never falls out and easy to grab.
Or I'll stash it in the inner vest pocket.
Having watched CRTs for decades, screw rounded display corners! Who frames pictures and paintings with round corners? Very few.
Does Cinemascope have round corners?
Security is mostly hype. The user is almost always responsible for installing or downloading viruses, etc. No saving dumb bunnies...
Trying to make it safe for everyone ruins it for all.
The dumb bunnies still get wacked.
I'm running Pie with no issues, a rootkit could wiggle in but a full reload cost would me a few hours at worst.
Much better than constantly having scoped storage suck cpu cycles/battery and the headaches of nonfunctional/dysfunctional trusted apps because of it.
Scare tactics don't work well on a pragmatist...
Variable rate displays in addition to screwing with color rendering (which is very noticeable to me) also uses more battery. The 10+ handles color profiles so well I don't even think about it.
5G and scoped storage also use more power. My download speeds are good enough to stream vids. Scooped storage has nothing I want, zip.
Battery life is important to me.
SOT time using browser 7-8%@hr
Watching vids in the browser 9-12%@hr.
At night with cell and internet active, tap on AOD less than .5%@hr.
I can use the 10+ for at least 2-3 more years and be happy rather than run the tech gauntlet. This isn't what Google, Samsung or the carriers want, tough. Got tired of the bs and products that don't deliver what I want... so I cancelled them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After I become a pilot and have cargo pockets to spare I'll consider a box phone, don't hold your breath...
imankareem said:
I am still not convinced by foldables. My big butt and my butter fingers will find a way to break foldables screens easily. Plus invested a bit in the S21 Ultra - Spigen cases and Screen protectors + 2 years of Samsung care.
I think I am going to keep my S21 Ultra for a while (i've upgraded to the latest S phone ever since the S8). I've turned off 5g and enabled FHD+. And stopped charging at 85%+.
Not related to the Fold3; felt like ranting -
The Pixel 6 and 6 pro did catch my attention however they have slow finger print readers (not the next gen ultrasonic ones that we have on the S21 Ultra. Most reviews are focusing features like Magic eraser and faster translation which are gimmicky and I feel I wont miss them in my everyday life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's the magic eraser in google photos that's attracting you, don't sweat it. In about 6 months the update will be rolled out to all devices given Google's track record. But as someone said here, Android is best used as stock and google does a good job at it. All others add a huge load of bells and whistles on the OS making their versions just clunky and bug ridden...Oxygen OS included...
varcor said:
After I become a pilot and have cargo pockets to spare I'll consider a box phone, don't hold your breath...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, stop wearing Levi's long time ago.
Always carry a Gerber Strongarm too
I like the fold and it is my second choice but I pick my phone for its photography and camera abilities and fold 3 is lacking in the area.
Honestly unless you are returning to apple, what's the point. It's pretty much a given the s21 ultra is an all round beast of a phone. Is it perfect no but it's getting to that point now the phones are so similar beyond some minor hardware changes
Peanuttree said:
I'm seriously thinking about getting the Fold 3. Maybe I'm just caught up in the hype but I can't stop thinking about trading the Ultra in for a Fold 3. What do you all think, why or why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gonna miss the camera though, but sadly that's pretty much it for a $1300 device. Most of my frustration lately regarding this phone is about an excessive amount of advertising on part of Samsung.
I was getting constantly interrupted with adds prompting me to do this or that or, to consider some of their(Samsung) ideas with apps that would “enhance my Samsung experience” etc...etc... I mean, what is this? They don't own my phone, I paid for it so why do they think they're entitled to push all that crap on me over and over again? They're using all kind of tricks like a mandatory permission requests and if they don't get it then they would cripple your device like a smartwatch for example, depriving you of the watch ability to function normally.
That's OK, the lesson learned – I'm going to use my active watch 2 at the minimal capacity now, w/o the Health app - what's left on the watch is good enough for me, I'm still able to monitor my heartbeat rate to know if I can push myself harder while biking or 'power' walking.
Anyway, right now I'm flagships free! Yay! I'm left with my Pixel 4a5G which I'm liking a lot but I'll be looking for some other high end, quality phone. Galaxy S21 U is a superior device right now no doubts about it, though it has some issues: battery life and a lack of sufficient heat dissipation – those are the two top negative ones imo. Will see, but right now my hope goes to 2022 with better than 888SOC.
Experia 1 III/5 III at first looked promising then the pic samples came in and killed it for me, same SOC and it runs hot as well, supposedly.
Too bad that Sony, a camera powerhouse makes so disappointing phone cameras, it's a shame. I'll tell everyone who feels offended by my above opinion: go take a good look at the low-light pictures.
ps.Got a really good money for my 16/512GB S21 U that puts me way ahead of the usual Samsung trade-in quotas, apparently it's a hot item right now, considered to be a “rare find”.
mzsquared said:
Gonna miss the camera though, but sadly that's pretty much it for a $1300 device. Most of my frustration lately regarding this phone is about an excessive amount of advertising on part of Samsung.
I was getting constantly interrupted with adds prompting me to do this or that or, to consider some of their(Samsung) ideas with apps that would “enhance my Samsung experience” etc...etc... I mean, what is this? They don't own my phone, I paid for it so why do they think they're entitled to push all that crap on me over and over again? They're using all kind of tricks like a mandatory permission requests and if they don't get it then they would cripple your device like a smartwatch for example, depriving you of the watch ability to function normally.
That's OK, the lesson learned – I'm going to use my active watch 2 at the minimal capacity now, w/o the Health app - what's left on the watch is good enough for me, I'm still able to monitor my heartbeat rate to know if I can push myself harder while biking or 'power' walking.
Anyway, right now I'm flagships free! Yay! I'm left with my Pixel 4a5G which I'm liking a lot but I'll be looking for some other high end, quality phone. Galaxy S21 U is a superior device right now no doubts about it, though it has some issues: battery life and a lack of sufficient heat dissipation – those are the two top negative ones imo. Will see, but right now my hope goes to 2022 with better than 888SOC.
Experia 1 III/5 III at first looked promising then the pic samples came in and killed it for me, same SOC and it runs hot as well, supposedly.
Too bad that Sony, a camera powerhouse makes so disappointing phone cameras, it's a shame. I'll tell everyone who feels offended by my above opinion: go take a good look at the low-light pictures.
ps.Got a really good money for my 16/512GB S21 U that puts me way ahead of the usual Samsung trade-in quotas, apparently it's a hot item right now, considered to be a “rare find”.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish you all the best buddy. Hope you find a device you like. The Pixels are just around the corner so they may be worth waiting for. Every other flagship is running on the same nuclear reactor.
You just have to know what options to select in order to avoid any advertising.
I have a US unlocked-from-samsung S21U and I don't see any ads because I when setting up the device and when going to samsung.com (my account page), I made sure to turn off all ads and marketing. Plus, I went to their CCPA page to turn everything off as well.
mzsquared said:
Gonna miss the camera though, but sadly that's pretty much it for a $1300 device. Most of my frustration lately regarding this phone is about an excessive amount of advertising on part of Samsung.
I was getting constantly interrupted with adds prompting me to do this or that or, to consider some of their(Samsung) ideas with apps that would “enhance my Samsung experience” etc...etc... I mean, what is this? They don't own my phone, I paid for it so why do they think they're entitled to push all that crap on me over and over again? They're using all kind of tricks like a mandatory permission requests and if they don't get it then they would cripple your device like a smartwatch for example, depriving you of the watch ability to function normally.
That's OK, the lesson learned – I'm going to use my active watch 2 at the minimal capacity now, w/o the Health app - what's left on the watch is good enough for me, I'm still able to monitor my heartbeat rate to know if I can push myself harder while biking or 'power' walking.
Anyway, right now I'm flagships free! Yay! I'm left with my Pixel 4a5G which I'm liking a lot but I'll be looking for some other high end, quality phone. Galaxy S21 U is a superior device right now no doubts about it, though it has some issues: battery life and a lack of sufficient heat dissipation – those are the two top negative ones imo. Will see, but right now my hope goes to 2022 with better than 888SOC.
Experia 1 III/5 III at first looked promising then the pic samples came in and killed it for me, same SOC and it runs hot as well, supposedly.
Too bad that Sony, a camera powerhouse makes so disappointing phone cameras, it's a shame. I'll tell everyone who feels offended by my above opinion: go take a good look at the low-light pictures.
ps.Got a really good money for my 16/512GB S21 U that puts me way ahead of the usual Samsung trade-in quotas, apparently it's a hot item right now, considered to be a “rare find”.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could disagree with you on more points, but for the most part you nailed it.
Not getting any kind of ads here, cleaned most of the garbage with adb, fiddled with power saving and the likes until I'm at a point where I can live with this phone long term.
It all depends on your use case...so far it fits mine,but that doesn't mean it doesn't drive me insane for not being able to get my trusty email client check my work mail every 30 min during day. It does it at 31, 45, 56.....anyone's guess between 30-59 min. That's with an app excempt from battery management, no power saving, etc.
So yea...far from perfect for 1200$....fortunately I paid a lot less so that lessens the pain.
enigmaamit said:
Wish you all the best buddy. Hope you find a device you like. The Pixels are just around the corner so they may be worth waiting for. Every other flagship is running on the same nuclear reactor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I am fine w/ 4a5G, was using it more then S21U as a phone, but for pics & vids there is no comparison between these two with the range of things cameras could do. Will see what kind of a promise they'll paint for us in a bright colors before new models release and how it's going to look like in the real life.
nixnixnixnix4 said:
You just have to know what options to select in order to avoid any advertising.
I have a US unlocked-from-samsung S21U and I don't see any ads because I when setting up the device and when going to samsung.com (my account page), I made sure to turn off all ads and marketing. Plus, I went to their CCPA page to turn everything off as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ipse_Tase said:
I wish I could disagree with you on more points, but for the most part you nailed it.
Not getting any kind of ads here, cleaned most of the garbage with adb, fiddled with power saving and the likes until I'm at a point where I can live with this phone long term.
It all depends on your use case...so far it fits mine,but that doesn't mean it doesn't drive me insane for not being able to get my trusty email client check my work mail every 30 min during day. It does it at 31, 45, 56.....anyone's guess between 30-59 min. That's with an app excempt from battery management, no power saving, etc.
So yea...far from perfect for 1200$....fortunately I paid a lot less so that lessens the pain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was blocking some of that but they(Samsung,Google) have their sleeves full of tricks anyway. If I didn't have the watch I would probably never go to Samsung store. With the watch and their sh**load of widgets and apps they get you to visit that store anyways like 'a must go to the XIX Century company store'.
Samsung has really taken a dumpster dive this year, obviously following Android Android 11's lead in a full afterburner high G flat spin, crush depth crash dive down the perverbial toilet.
mzsquared said:
Gonna miss the camera though, but sadly that's pretty much it for a $1300 device. Most of my frustration lately regarding this phone is about an excessive amount of advertising on part of Samsung.
I was getting constantly interrupted with adds prompting me to do this or that or, to consider some of their(Samsung) ideas with apps that would “enhance my Samsung experience” etc...etc... I mean, what is this? They don't own my phone, I paid for it so why do they think they're entitled to push all that crap on me over and over again? They're using all kind of tricks like a mandatory permission requests and if they don't get it then they would cripple your device like a smartwatch for example, depriving you of the watch ability to function normally.
That's OK, the lesson learned – I'm going to use my active watch 2 at the minimal capacity now, w/o the Health app - what's left on the watch is good enough for me, I'm still able to monitor my heartbeat rate to know if I can push myself harder while biking or 'power' walking.
Anyway, right now I'm flagships free! Yay! I'm left with my Pixel 4a5G which I'm liking a lot but I'll be looking for some other high end, quality phone. Galaxy S21 U is a superior device right now no doubts about it, though it has some issues: battery life and a lack of sufficient heat dissipation – those are the two top negative ones imo. Will see, but right now my hope goes to 2022 with better than 888SOC.
Experia 1 III/5 III at first looked promising then the pic samples came in and killed it for me, same SOC and it runs hot as well, supposedly.
Too bad that Sony, a camera powerhouse makes so disappointing phone cameras, it's a shame. I'll tell everyone who feels offended by my above opinion: go take a good look at the low-light pictures.
ps.Got a really good money for my 16/512GB S21 U that puts me way ahead of the usual Samsung trade-in quotas, apparently it's a hot item right now, considered to be a “rare find”.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you first the get phone you can opt out of all advertising from Samsung / Google. You can also go to the settings and stop the advertising as well if you didn't opt out.
I also have 0 ads on my S21 ultra 512gb
blackhawk said:
Samsung has really taken a dumpster dive this year, obviously following Android Android 11's lead in a full afterburner high G flat spin, crush depth crash dive down the perverbial toilet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, each generation of 'flagships' brings new wave of marketing hype stirred up by manufacturers being quick to avertise upcoming developments in technology. No doubt a progress is happening, but the end products based on those new advances don't always deliver the goods as promised: “oh yes, this year we'll put a fantastic SoC into your phone, 5nm node – lightning fast and able to run at 20% less power then the previous one” --- wait a minute, that's great but you said exactly same words about 7nm and 10nm before that. So, comparing the power usage demands, S21 should be using only about 40% of the required CPU power needed to run Galaxy 8? Why are the batteries bigger now but lasting less and why can't you get a better control of devices heat?
chungdae said:
When you first the get phone you can opt out of all advertising from Samsung / Google. You can also go to the settings and stop the advertising as well if you didn't opt out.
I also have 0 ads on my S21 ultra 512gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How often do you go to the Galaxy Store?
mzsquared said:
How often do you go to the Galaxy Store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every morning to update apps. I don't have any ads beyond that. Same as the Google play store
mzsquared said:
Yup, each generation of 'flagships' brings new wave of marketing hype stirred up by manufacturers being quick to avertise upcoming developments in technology. No doubt a progress is happening, but the end products based on those new advances don't always deliver the goods as promised: “oh yes, this year we'll put a fantastic SoC into your phone, 5nm node – lightning fast and able to run at 20% less power then the previous one” --- wait a minute, that's great but you said exactly same words about 7nm and 10nm before that. So, comparing the power usage demands, S21 should be using only about 40% of the required CPU power needed to run Galaxy 8? Why are the batteries bigger now but lasting less and why can't you get a better control of devices heat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's faster memory and CPU but it's weighted down by the useless scoped storage and a more bloated OS. The MS/Intel paradox
My Note 10+ running on Pie get about 8%@hr battery usage on it's 4300mAh battery when browsing, 10% streaming vids.
No scoped storage so even with it's slower hardware... how much slower is it? It probably uses less battery as well. In actual use the 10+ doesn't lag and runs fast without getting hot unless it's a really CPU intensive task.
It's 96F out and I'm in the shade with a fan; my battery temperature is 95F. It's at least 92F where I'm sitting.
I can't afford the liability of a hot running device throttling back because it's system is a hog running needless CPU cycles to emulate Apple's lame scope storage ideas.
Gookill Android, the new green Apple
mzsquared said:
How often do you go to the Galaxy Store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do it once every month or two. I'd never do it if the Galaxy apks didn't "time out". Sometimes Samsung screws them up with their lame graphics. Idiots.
mzsquared said:
How often do you go to the Galaxy Store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the shortcut to update your apps. Don't go to the main store.
never had a heating issue with mine and battery alot better than rivals as i have oneplus 9 pro and that what you call heating issues the phone disables itself till it cools down, for me best phone out there is s21u although i have 512gb 16gb version
mzsquared said:
Gonna miss the camera though, but sadly that's pretty much it for a $1300 device. Most of my frustration lately regarding this phone is about an excessive amount of advertising on part of Samsung.
I was getting constantly interrupted with adds prompting me to do this or that or, to consider some of their(Samsung) ideas with apps that would “enhance my Samsung experience” etc...etc... I mean, what is this? They don't own my phone, I paid for it so why do they think they're entitled to push all that crap on me over and over again? They're using all kind of tricks like a mandatory permission requests and if they don't get it then they would cripple your device like a smartwatch for example, depriving you of the watch ability to function normally.
That's OK, the lesson learned – I'm going to use my active watch 2 at the minimal capacity now, w/o the Health app - what's left on the watch is good enough for me, I'm still able to monitor my heartbeat rate to know if I can push myself harder while biking or 'power' walking.
Anyway, right now I'm flagships free! Yay! I'm left with my Pixel 4a5G which I'm liking a lot but I'll be looking for some other high end, quality phone. Galaxy S21 U is a superior device right now no doubts about it, though it has some issues: battery life and a lack of sufficient heat dissipation – those are the two top negative ones imo. Will see, but right now my hope goes to 2022 with better than 888SOC.
Experia 1 III/5 III at first looked promising then the pic samples came in and killed it for me, same SOC and it runs hot as well, supposedly.
Too bad that Sony, a camera powerhouse makes so disappointing phone cameras, it's a shame. I'll tell everyone who feels offended by my above opinion: go take a good look at the low-light pictures.
ps.Got a really good money for my 16/512GB S21 U that puts me way ahead of the usual Samsung trade-in quotas, apparently it's a hot item right now, considered to be a “rare find”.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your Pixel 4a can also easily install CalyxOS, which you might like if you value privacy and never want to see an ad again
Thank you all for kind words, I owe you an update on this subject: I've re-loaded!!! I'm back with a new s21U, I really need the camera on me, I spend a lot of time outdoors observing Nature(the only and truly positive result of covid) and there is no substitute for this phone camera ois zoom, I have decent 'regular' camera but can't use it for calling/texting/music etc... this phone pretty much does it all.
I'm trying to get rid of the bloat annoyance , didn't even sign-up to my Samsung account on this phone, though I've been using Buds pro and watch active 2 - everything works(w/ limitations - that's ok) I'll check for updates once a month maybe and that's all. I de-bloated most of Samsung related apps, no need to be spreading all the permissions more then once after Google already has it.
So, my current Samsung status reads: Underground
Google phones don't even support native dual / parallel apps. Rubbish.