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00:00Let's revisit Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra here in this mid-2024, and this is probably
00:07still one of my favorite older flagships.
00:09I think the price is excellent.
00:11The specs, hardware, everything is top tier on this phone.
00:16So really, really good buy here in the used refurbished marketplace.
00:20So this phone is coming in at $300 in the used refurbished marketplace.
00:25What's really cool about this phone is that you do get the S-Pen capability with this
00:30phone if you buy the case with it.
00:33So it does have S-Pen support.
00:35So it kind of functions like a note as well too.
00:38But it still has the S-Series body type here, which Samsung unfortunately got away from.
00:44So I always say this, but the best thing about the S21, which makes it just a really pleasant
00:49phone to use, is that it's not as wide and it's not as boxy as a S24 or S22, S23, whatever.
01:00It just feels way more comfortable in the hand.
01:03And this is definitely something that I always pay attention to if you don't have, like,
01:07if you have smaller hands, then a wider phone will just, it'll kind of put strain on your
01:12hand and it just makes it not as comfortable.
01:14And then you would have to pretty much, because of the design on here, you would have to use
01:18the case to sort of ease up on the edge being sharp there.
01:22But yeah, absolutely really comfortable to use, especially for such a big phone as well too.
01:29So the design still looks great.
01:30It's got the camera cutout that everyone really loved at the time.
01:35Gives it a really cool, you know, very sci-fi look to it.
01:40And it's got the matte finish IP68 dust and water resistant.
01:43Just an overall, you know, a really nice looking phone.
01:47This does translate to the front of the phone as well too.
01:51It's got a beautiful display on here, and again, very comfortable to hold.
01:56It's a 6.8 inch dynamic AMOLED display.
01:59It's a full 1440p panel on here.
02:01The colors look really good, very vibrant as well too.
02:04The max brightness is also really good, so outdoors in direct sunlight, this phone still
02:08performs extremely well.
02:10It's 1500 nits peak brightness, so it does a pretty good job in outdoors.
02:16And then also, of course, 120hz HDR10+.
02:20It's on board.
02:21You got very slim bezels.
02:22And what's really nice about the S21 here is that it does have a curve, but it's a very
02:27minimal curve.
02:28It's not an aggressive curve.
02:30So that's something that I've always really liked about this phone.
02:34So it's just one of my favorite screens as well too.
02:36I think it has aged really well.
02:38So gaming performance is still going to be pretty good on this Snapdragon AAA processor.
02:45You can still get really good settings like, you know, 90 frames on PUBG.
02:49You can really get really good settings on Call of Duty and, you know, pretty much any
02:54game you will be able to play just fine.
02:56My issue with the Snapdragon AAA processor is that these phones tend to get a little
03:00bit warmer than I would like.
03:02Now I've never had like an issue where the phone would crash on me or anything like that.
03:07I just noticed it just got a little bit warm.
03:09Now this is not exclusive to the S21 Ultra.
03:13It's pretty much across the board with a lot of the AAA phones that came out at this
03:17time.
03:19These phones just tend to get a little bit warm.
03:21But performance wise, in general, it's always been pretty good on the S21 Ultra.
03:26I've never really had, you know, an issue with performance on this phone.
03:30Now this is running Android 14, One UI 6.1, and then you do also have 128 gigs of internal
03:36storage on this model and 12 gigs of RAM.
03:40So overall performance is going to be really smooth for the most part.
03:44Now let's talk about software.
03:46So this phone got the One UI 6.1 update, but Samsung did not introduce any of the really
03:53AI features except for the circle to search thing.
03:58But it's probably because, you know, they want to sell you up on the newer phones because
04:03this can definitely pretty much run all of the AI features for the most part here.
04:09But this phone will be getting Android 15 as well too, so I will be, you know, making
04:14videos on that when that does come out.
04:16But that's also very exciting as well, so excited to see what Samsung introduces with,
04:22you know, Android 15.
04:23But as far as will the AI features come with the Android 15 update, probably not.
04:27They'll probably restrict it again.
04:30But yeah, everything else is going to be on here.
04:33You know, Samsung desktop support, good lock, all that stuff works, so no issues at all
04:37with software.
04:39Everything is up to date and is really nice for this price point.
04:43The speakers on the S21 Ultra still sound pretty good.
04:46So, these speakers are definitely loud enough where they got a good amount of bass sound,
05:10really, really punchy as well too.
05:12The fingerprint scanner works perfectly fine and the face unlock is also very accurate
05:18as well too, so no issues with that.
05:20Now, the cameras on the S21 Ultra I think are still fantastic.
05:24These are really, really good cameras on here.
05:27I took it to CES earlier this year and, you know, I was impressed, especially with zoom
05:33photography as well too.
05:34So it's got a 108 megapixel standard, 10 megapixel telephoto with 3x optical and a 10 megapixel
05:40periscope, also with 10x optical, 12 megapixel ultrawide, it shoots in 8K24 with a 40 megapixel
05:47selfie that also shoots in 4K60.
05:50The pictures on here are going to be fantastic, in my opinion, especially for a $300 smartphone.
05:55To get such clean zoom quality I think is really unique at this price point and just
06:01overall stills in the shots are really good as well too.
06:05The selfie cam also is pretty decent.
06:08There's nothing about these cameras that I honestly did not like.
06:11The video is solid on here as well too.
06:13So if you're thinking about buying this phone, taking pictures, I think it's a great phone
06:18to buy, especially if you're somebody that goes to events and stuff, sporting events,
06:22concerts, this is still an excellent phone.
06:24Now, as far as the battery life on the S21 Ultra, it's okay.
06:29It's definitely not anything special.
06:32This phone, you can get through a day battery life, around like close to 6 hours of screen
06:36on time with this phone.
06:37If you're a light user, if you're a gamer, then you'll notice definitely the battery
06:41draining.
06:42You might have to charge it up a little bit.
06:445,000 mAh battery, the charging speed on here is not super impressive, it's 25 watts.
06:50You also do have wireless and reverse wireless charging on board here.
06:54So overall, in terms of the entire package, this is a fantastic phone.
06:59You've got excellent cameras that are really unique for this price point simply because
07:03the zoom photography is excellent.
07:05And then you also do have on here, I think a top tier design as far as how it looks and
07:10then also how it feels in the hand and the screen.
07:13So just being extremely comfortable, I think is a big thing that gets overlooked.
07:17And then also you do have excellent chips on here, able to play games, pretty much anything
07:22you want.
07:24So yeah, just a really great buy in 2024.
07:28So do you guys think this is worth picking up?
07:30Be sure to let me know and I'll catch you guys in the next one.