Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra hands on - Heavy Hitter

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy S21 are here, and Samsung had to make some tough decisions to keep its flagship smartphones relevant in 2021. If last year demonstrated anything, it's that things can change rapidly and so, too, can buyers' priorities. If you want them to dig deep and splash out on a four-figure smartphone, you need to offer them something special – and different.

The result is a whole new aesthetic, addressing complaints that you just couldn't tell quickly enough – or from far enough across the room – that you had the very latest Galaxy. Samsung is calling its new design language "Contour Cut Camera" and it basically envelops the camera bulge into the metal frame of the phone.

It definitely feels solid – and heavy. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is 229 grams, higher still than last year's Galaxy S20 Ultra, which was itself hardly a waif. That camera array is still a hefty bulge, too, though the new styling does leave it looking a little less obtrusive, and more integrated, than last year's prominent cluster.

It all feels sturdy and premium, and the screen is the same: 6.8-inches of beautiful, color-rich, contrasty OLED. This year Samsung has fixed the big annoyance from 2020, allowing you to run the display at both maximum 3200 x 1440 resolution and at 120Hz refresh rate, rather than forcing you to pick between the two. The screen refresh will automatically reduce to save power when you don't need such a high rate, too, down to as low as 10Hz.

As for the cameras, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra donates its laser autofocus to address 2020's focus-lock headaches, and there's more use of AI. I'll be putting all that through its paces as I review the phone, but I'll be particularly keen to see if the new AI processing makes the 100X Super Zoom any more useful. Samsung says you'll get more detail and a less shaky framing experience, which will be useful since last year the Galaxy S20 Ultra tended to produce shots that resembled watercolor paintings more than photos.

Pricing kicks off at $1,199.99. A more expensive version not only gives you 512GB of storage, but a faintly-ridiculous 16GB of memory; the "regular" Galaxy S21 Ultra has 12GB of memory and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. Gone, though, is the microSD slot, another absence from what used to be Samsung's list of advantages over rivals like Apple's iPhone.

That list now includes the headphone jack, the memory card slot, and a charger in the box. For those who have been on the flagship train for a while that's probably not going to be an issue; anybody looking to make the switch from iOS to Android, or upgrading from a pre-USB Type-C device, is going to have to budget for a new charger or at least a new cable. Annoying? Yes, but Samsung echoes other industry comments that it should mean a cut in waste power bricks.

I can stomach that, though the absence of the S Pen – which the Galaxy S21 Ultra now supports – rankles more. Indeed, the whole way Samsung has added stylus functionality to the phone feels half-hearted. You buy it separately, and there's no place to actually store it in the phone: you'll need to either carry it separately, or buy Samsung's case with a built-in holder.

Unlike the S Pen that works with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, there's no Bluetooth LE support yet. You can use that Note S Pen, but only for handwriting. Later on, Samsung says, there'll be Bluetooth LE support for Air gestures on the Galaxy S21 Ultra... but not with the BLE S Pen from a Note. You'll need to buy a new version, just for the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

That's confusing, and arguably exactly what Samsung doesn't need in a year when its "buy me, please" message needs to be strong and clear. At the very least, the new design should draw fresh attention to the Galaxy S21 Ultra. After that, it needs its tech talents to convince wallets and purses to open wide.