Samsung Galaxy S21

[TameRacingDriver]

I got an update this morning, only difference I noticed is the bd thing installed Facebook, which I had removed from my phone some time ago. I was aware it was preinstalled, but I don't appreciate having it reinstalled without my asking. Incidentally, a few weeks ago I was getting regular "Facebook services stopped" error messages, which I also had to disable.

If they start forcing this crapware on people, and what with the Pixels being buggy, I can see me switching to the dark side next time my upgrade is due.

[snuffy]

TameRacingDriver said:

I got an update this morning, only difference I noticed is the bd thing installed Facebook, which I had removed from my phone some time ago. I was aware it was preinstalled, but I don't appreciate having it reinstalled without my asking. Incidentally, a few weeks ago I was getting regular "Facebook services stopped" error messages, which I also had to disable.

If they start forcing this crapware on people, and what with the Pixels being buggy, I can see me switching to the dark side next time my upgrade is due.

When mine updates, 3 then comes up with a load of updates. It selects a load of crap and you have to untick the boxes for said crap apps and then keep clicking next, otherwise, if you just cancel it, it pops back up again.

Have to to wonder what goes through their heads really when they try and force people to install apps they have actively uninstalled.

[BlueJazz]

Sounds like the carrier had the software installed. My unlocked phone doesn't seem to get bloatware installed.

[TameRacingDriver]

BlueJazz said:

Sounds like the carrier had the software installed. My unlocked phone doesn't seem to get bloatware installed.

Mine is direct from Samsung but got the Facebook app installed with the last update. The carrier one sounds even worse though!

[gangzoom]

Mine is coming up to 1 year old now. Have to say its done the job of replacing my EM5 II for camera duties remarkably well, the EM5 hasn't been touched for the last 12 months. Haven't got the exact stats but roughly some 2,600 shots taken, and the introduction of portrait mode on the x3 lens middle of year really was a game changer.

The computational photography is getting so close to a 'nifty fifty' and overall image quality is good enough for my personal usage large sized prints to be displayed at home......than there is the ability for panned motion shots at 240mm equivalent hand held on a smart phone, WTF is that about!!





The S22U brings nothing new to the table for photography and even the iphone 13 pro seems to have reached the limit of current smart phone photography ability.

What Google is doing with the Pixel 6 pro is very interesting though, and things like 'face unblur' does seem like the next step in computational photography. However it is all getting very close the digital 'art/manipulation' versus 'photography'. MB shares his thoughts on this very well.

https://youtu.be/MZ8giCWDcyE

Shots like this in night mode already look so 'fake' even I have a hard time justifying why computational photography should advance any more. The reality of this scene was essentially pure darkness that you could barely make out the light source let alone the background.



However on the flip, better computational photography to allow more ability to reduce blur/persevere detail in extreme lighting situations would open up a whole new world of photography that currently really remains the preserve of expensive DSLRs.......so who knows, what 'photography' will look like in 2030.



The S21U wouldn't be going anywhere for a while though, not unless Samsung nails foldable that seem like a few more generations yet. The x3 lens on the S21U running the latest software really is a fantastic bit of photography kit, as always it could be faster but for what is essentially a plastic lens on a tiny smart phone sensory the results are punching way above the specs.

Edited by gangzoom on Monday 3rd January 06:47

[Mr-B]

TameRacingDriver said:

BlueJazz said:

Sounds like the carrier had the software installed. My unlocked phone doesn't seem to get bloatware installed.

Mine is direct from Samsung but got the Facebook app installed with the last update. The carrier one sounds even worse though!

Did an update yesterday but I didn't get the Facebook app installed, I also bought direct from Samsung at launch.

And to answer/update my post on the 28th Dec about duplicate Samsung Pass apps, I found a non playstore app (extensive xda-developers thread gave confidence to try it) which got rid of it.

[BlueJazz]

gangzoom said:

Mine is coming up to 1 year old now. Have to say its done the job of replacing my EM5 II for camera duties remarkably well, the EM5 hasn't been touched for the last 12 months. Haven't got the exact stats but roughly some 2,600 shots taken, and the introduction of portrait mode on the x3 lens middle of year really was a game changer.

The computational photography is getting so close to a 'nifty fifty' and overall image quality is good enough for my personal usage large sized prints to be displayed at home......than there is the ability for panned motion shots at 240mm equivalent hand held on a smart phone, WTF is that about!!

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51029513016_fe269568e2_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51226000975_988fd4398c_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

The S22U brings nothing new to the table for photography and even the iphone 13 pro seems to have reached the limit of current smart phone photography ability.

What Google is doing with the Pixel 6 pro is very interesting though, and things like 'face unblur' does seem like the next step in computational photography. However it is all getting very close the digital 'art/manipulation' versus 'photography'. MB shares his thoughts on this very well.

https://youtu.be/MZ8giCWDcyE

Shots like this in night mode already look so 'fake' even I have a hard time justifying why computational photography should advance any more. The reality of this scene was essentially pure darkness that you could barely make out the light source let alone the background.

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51709685719_35884a090b_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

However on the flip, better computational photography to allow more ability to reduce blur/persevere detail in extreme lighting situations would open up a whole new world of photography that currently really remains the preserve of expensive DSLRs.......so who knows, what 'photography' will look like in 2030.

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51795933326_7ce14e6cfc_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

The S21U wouldn't be going anywhere for a while though, not unless Samsung nails foldable that seem like a few more generations yet. The x3 lens on the S21U running the latest software really is a fantastic bit of photography kit, as always it could be faster but for what is essentially a plastic lens on a tiny smart phone sensory the results are punching way above the specs.

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51224932826_3b9d0e72f9_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51349174696_650b96f761_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

[Img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51786239255_1da95e8346_c_d.jpg[/thumb]

Edited by gangzoom on Monday 3rd January 06:47

They are lovely photos. Have you tried the expert raw setting yet? https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/24/22800655/samsu...

[gangzoom]

BlueJazz said:

They are lovely photos. Have you tried the expert raw setting yet? https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/24/22800655/samsu...

Not seen that, looks interesting, hopefully it'll make it out of Beta soon.

[Cobnapint]

So, the display on my S7 became too much of a flickering annoyance in temps below about 20degC, so later the following day ao.com delivered me a shiny new S21 Ultra.

Some annoyances, firstly there's no noti-light, and although I've added one in the brief pop-up settings it's not quite the same.
No headphone jack either so I'm going to have to go all modern and get some buds.

I wasn't all that pleased with the colour saturation at first but have found a hidden menu (well it was until I found it) called Colour Adjustment which let me play a bit more.

Settings/Accessibility/Visibility Enhancements/Colour adjustment.

The third annoyance is that the Google clock digits on the home screen are a light Coventry City blue colour. Does anybody know how to revert them back to white?

[Mr-B]

Cobnapint said:

So, the display on my S7 became too much of a flickering annoyance in temps below about 20degC, so later the following day ao.com delivered me a shiny new S21 Ultra.

Some annoyances, firstly there's no noti-light, and although I've added one in the brief pop-up settings it's not quite the same.
No headphone jack either so I'm going to have to go all modern and get some buds.

I wasn't all that pleased with the colour saturation at first but have found a hidden menu (well it was until I found it) called Colour Adjustment which let me play a bit more.

Settings/Accessibility/Visibility Enhancements/Colour adjustment.

The third annoyance is that the Google clock digits on the home screen are a light Coventry City blue colour. Does anybody know how to revert them back to white?

Type c to headphone jack adapters are very cheap.

gangzoom said:

Not seen that, looks interesting, hopefully it'll make it out of Beta soon.

Available today in the Galaxy store.

[Cobnapint]

Can't really use the 3.5mm jack adapter as I use Vattud magnetic charging connectors (which are excellent, they allow data transfer too). Never mind, the wireless buds I've just got off Amazon are excellent.

I haven't found a call recorder that works with Android 12 yet, or a keep screen on app.

[gangzoom]

Mr-B said:

Available today in the Galaxy store.

Thanks was looking for it on the Play store .

Had a quick play, been able to use the x10 lens manually over digital zoom on auto is great. Much more detail and less artefact with the optical lens.

Overall impressive to see Samsung updating the camera software on these phones even though they are now over 12 months old. Really hard to complain about the images these phones can deliver for a hand held device, even indoors, at night with no flash!

[swampdonkeygj]

I can't get Waze to work on my S21. I've tried uninstalling, and installing again. When I try to log in, I get a 'no connection' error message. I've shared logs with Waze this week, but GPS is on, and the app has location permissions.

[Semmelweiss]

swampdonkeygj said:

I can't get Waze to work on my S21. I've tried uninstalling, and installing again. When I try to log in, I get a 'no connection' error message. I've shared logs with Waze this week, but GPS is on, and the app has location permissions.

I have the same issue on my S20. I have to restart it and then it's fine again...

[snuffy]

I've been reading the S21 will soon be getting Android 13 & UI 5, although 12 to 13 is not that much of an update it seems.

[BlueJazz]

I've tried it on the S22 and I can't notice much difference.

[Nimby]

snuffy said:

I've been reading the S21 will soon be getting Android 13 & UI 5, although 12 to 13 is not that much of an update it seems.

It's now available for download (via Frija then flash using Odin).
No idea when the UK will get it OTA.

[snuffy]

Nimby said:

snuffy said:

I've been reading the S21 will soon be getting Android 13 & UI 5, although 12 to 13 is not that much of an update it seems.

It's now available for download (via Frija then flash using Odin).
No idea when the UK will get it OTA.

Thanks. I keep checking using the normal Software Update option on the phone, and I will just wait for that to appear. They seem to do it about once a month, and my phone says the last time mine updated was the 23rd of October, so maybe it will update around that date this month - but who knows !?

[TameRacingDriver]

Seeing as this thread has popped up again, I'm still happy using my s21 ultra, a long time for me to have a phone really, coming up to 2 years.

Unlike many a phone I've had, this one is extremely reliable and dependable. Very rarely ever crashes or has any kind of issue.

Despite the superb pictures taken in the posts above this one, I have to say I think the camera still lags behind the Google Pixel at least in terms of point and shoot ability, the pixels ability to take a good photo with the bare minimum of effort is like witchcraft, and it's just not quite so easy here.

I could upgrade next year but seriously, is there any point? It's still very fast and the screen is still top drawer. Why get rid of something that's so reliable? The new pixel 7 pro is the only phone that's calling me and I'd be wary after Google past efforts with phones with bugs and issues, many of which I experienced myself.

[QuartzDad]

snuffy said:

Thanks. I keep checking using the normal Software Update option on the phone, and I will just wait for that to appear. They seem to do it about once a month, and my phone says the last time mine updated was the 23rd of October, so maybe it will update around that date this month - but who knows !?

My S21 Ultra from Three upgraded itself this morning. Apart from a new Messages icon and slightly smaller text for icon labels I can't see any difference so far.