Last Iphone was the 4. Got a 17 as a gift. S21 Ultra to Iphone 17 impressions
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Introduction:
I am an s21 ultra user. A relative of mine has randomly purchased for me an unlocked iphone 17 I can do what i want with it. I was going to just sell it but i thought about it. I have not used an apple device in years. The last one i set up was an ipad for my dad in 2016. Why not switch to it and do a tell all on my thoughts given its been such a long time since i used IOS then sell it or keep it.
My history with iphone:
My most recent apple device was an Iphone 4. To say I was entrenched in ios is an understatement I was an extreme power user. I jail broke. I made my own apps. When i set up the 17 i looked at my app store history. from 2011 to 2012 i installed over 1200 apps. I was annoying to everyone about how much I legitimately thought what the iphone 4 was represented the future of what phones would be. I was right about that. The current iphone and samsung phone still use a glass sandwiched uniform with a metal band sealing the phones edges.
The problem is I just was not impressed with what apple to offer in the years following. The 4s and the 5 models did not improve enough for me. At the start of 2014 my iphone 4 died. I just got an android. the LG g3. I cant complain about it. It was cheap the camera was newer and the screen while being worse was larger. I just never really found interest in what apple was showing from that point.
The s21 ultra:
Before I compare my experiance with both let me explain what the s21 ultra means to me. I went in in 2021 originally to purchase a used s10. I didnt much care for new phones the latter half of the 2010s.This smart phone era had left me unenthusiastic. Most design moves were feeling lateral. I saw an eventual phone who has specs I am just happy with and would not want more of. As they were getting the refurbished s10 box they asked me if I wanted to see the newer phones just for fun. I played with the new Samsung ones and was kinda struck by the s21 ultra. I asked if I could just try one. The man running the store let me try his. I sat there for an hour taking photos. running multiple apps. trying out the 120hz screen. While using it I had the nervous conclusion that wow. This is it. This is a phone whos specs I legitimately do not see myself ever needing more of. The camera the screen the speakers the storage. It's all I could ever want. I was nervous about buying it but 5 years later it is still one of my favorite pieces if tech. On vacation the 108mp images still impresses people. It still runs 120hz and multiple apps woth no issue. I can open an app I have not used in a week and it is still where I left off. I have kept it pristine because its my favorite phone ever.
So let's look at the switch and my experiance on ios 27 and iphone 17 and see what I think. Much of this will be in comparison to the s21 ultra and that sounds kinda unfair but let me cook.
Camera:
Comparing the camera on a 5 year old ultra vs a new base model seems kinda unfair but its not. The pixel binning technology in these cameras is very similar. The iphone bins at 4 to one turning 48mp into 24. The s21 ultra bins at 9 to one from 108mp down to 12.
Who wins? well the s21 ultra. But its important to remember it only because the sensor and mp count is larger but not in standard photos. The s21 crunches down to 12 mp and the iphone does 24. It is notable the iphone wins in this scenario. I only like to use pixel binning in low light though. I will generally always shoot at max size for editing purposes. In this scenario the 21 ultra wins it just has more detail. It has to be understood that these phones are very close to eachother the 21 is winning by inches.
One thing I can say is that both use computational photography and both are equally capable of pulling out details that could easily be missed but also at missing details that should have been pulled.
Screen:
I'll be out with it. The iphone wins. It has a better peak brightness and these days I really love my mini led monitor. Having peak HDR brightness over 1500 nits even in a sub 30 percent window is impressive as hell for a device this small. If the s21 ultra was a 10 when I got it. It's now a 9 because the 10 is the iphone 17.
I do have one complaint. I dont like true tone. I am EXTREMELY sensitive to white balance if its even a little off I notice it and it bothers me. The last 5 years I legitimately thought they just made worse displays for iphones and that iphone users dont notice. That is not the case.
I turned off true tone and used the slider in the settings to actually calibrate the screen and now the Iphone has the closest to perfect 6500 white balance on any screen I own. It is genuinly impressive. It made me have to recalibrate my TV and monitor. I didnt test the color accuracy but this feels like a screen you can professionally edit on. I dont trust the s21 with that It.
Finally screen size the s21 has a 6.9 vs 6.3 on the iphone. I give the iphone the yay. Compared to something like an iPhone 13 which my boyfriend uses. The 17 is meaningfully wider while being held in portrait. Its just going from like 2.5. to 2.8 or 3 inches but it makes all the difference. This phone is compact but it doesnt "feel" small.
Battery:
I read multiple reviews on this subreddit to get an idea of what I should say and I must say we are failing the battery discussion. So many people buy this base iphone and are disappointed by it because of course they will be. If you regularly use a lot of this devices function. Texting on multiple apps while recording videos on a phone call while tik toking and watching YouTube in a PIP window. Then you are a power user. its not a case of it surviving the day. Its a case of the phone surviving you. A base model won't survive this usage. Idk why people keep trying. I use my phone mostly take pictures text and watch TV and listen to movies. The Iphone 17 is easily lasting me the day and partly into the next one. It just has not been a problem. If the extra hundred dollers worries you just bite the bullet you won't regret it. Get a pro
Media:
This for me is where the iphone fails brutally. Not having base level access to the file system is frustrating. They make apple devices a terrible software on purpose. The thing that gets me is they don't have to do this. I would put money on 95 percent of you not doing what I just said ever. That's the thing though. Apple looses essentially no money by letting people easily put and organize TV shows and music on their device. It is fundamentally what their mobile devices started as.
What should have been sliding two folders onto this phone was days of sorting and moving files over Apple devices in a way I simply cant organize over 25 year old usb speeds on a computer that can easily move dozens of Gb to an external drive in a minute . If vlc didnt do all the organizing for me after I just threw 15000 songs shows and movies on I would be selling this phone. Full stop. All is well I suppose I use vlc on android too and now my media use is effectively the same on both devices.
Software:
This is going to be a bit of a disappointing section I hate to say. I expected this to be the biggest one but honestly. I didnt even do the process to move all my files accounts and contacts and this move has been really easy media aside. Took me a few days but I got used to gesture based navigation. I even changed my 21 ultra to it. Accounts are similar I just signed into my apple one instead of samsung. Got all my other accounts signed in. I've been using both phones at the same time all week and its just not an issue for me. I can utilize either just fine even not havung used ios in 12 years. I dont know why the move is such a large point of contention. The avenues you get things done through may be different but if you are proficient with your devices both android and ios are very user focused.
Conclusion / Am I selling it:
If you read this far I dont think it should be any suprise that yes. I am keeping the iphone 17 It is my new main phone. I would go as far to say that I absolutely adore my iphone 17. Ios has changed so much but it may suprise you to know using my iphone 17 has been a nostalgic experiance. It still feels like a iphone Just like the 4 did. Spec wise it its fighting right along side the 21 ultra (Its performance destroys the ultra by a ton but day to day feel is the same). it honestly feels like a smaller 21 ultra more than anything to me Its time for my 21 to rest and be a home phone. For the time being im one of you now.