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BUY IT! Many great things. The display is very good straight on and 20% off axis.
SUMMARY: I LIKE IT! RECOMMENDED. I upgraded to the S26U from my 5 year old S21 Ultra. The S26U is the first "acceptable" S series replacement in all that time, IMHO. So.. the 800 lb. gorilla in the room... the privacy display. If you don't need privacy, like I don't, and just want a great display (better than the S21U), then straight-on, or slightly (20%?) off angle, this S26U display is great. Luckily that is how I use a cell phone 90% of the time. As for further off-angle with the privacy display "off", or with the the privacy display "on", the nicest thing I can say is "it will do and is usable until the S27 arrives with hopefully a privacy display 2.0". The dithered (FRC) 8bit-to-10bit also works well (sounds like the iPhone 17 might do the same from the reading). Keep in mind a real hardware 10-bit or 12-bit display uses more power. Samsung would have to get their tiny battery problem solved first. Fingers crossed for a hardware 12-bit display on the S27U (and 7000mAh silicon carbon battery!).Some points on the phone so far:* The 25W wireless charging rate (same rate as the wired charging on the S21U but oddly the S26U seems to charge faster at the 25W) works properly and is AWESOME! I'm using a Otterbox Defender Pro LT case with a magnet ring in back. No more plugging in a cable to charge, wearing out the USB-C port in the process (had to have the S21U port replaced once). Samsung oddly names the 25W wireless charger "Magnet Wireless Charger 45W Power Adapter". Read the details for it - a 45W wall wart is minimum, even thought it charges at 25W . Early photos of the product on the internet said 25W on the box, but I guess that would confuse people? Lol. The 15W wireless charging on the S21U was useless, IMHO. Slow and didn't work well without the magnet. The magnet ring locks right into position on the case. That wireless charging ALONE is a good reason to get the S26U.* I have the 60W wired charger, but not enough experience with it yet to comment. Other than, as fast as the 25W wireless charges ^^, I doubt I'll be using the wired charger much.* Early comment, but the battery seems to be lasting MUCH longer on the S26U than the S21U did. For a given time period at idle (screen off) when I would expect the S21U to be down like 5%, the S26U is barely down at all. Much more energy efficient, it seems.* The 6GHz wireless band works great, as does Wi-Fi 7 on all 3 bands (2.4/5/6 GHz). BUT a trick! On your router, in the settings for the 6GHz band, you have to change it to 320Mhz bandwidth (or mixed 160/320MHz) to get Wi-Fi 7 on the 6Ghz. Otherwise (a router default), with 160MHz channel, the phone will show a "6E" symbol on the 6GHz band. The change was easy with my TP Link BE 550 Pro (from Amazon!). For that matter the S26U does a great job of showing a "5" for 5GHz, "6" for 6GHz and a "7" for Wi-Fi 7. You know exactly and quickly how your Wi-Fi is linked up. FWIW, the 6GHz band on the old S21U died after about 2 years and is apparently common from what I read. Old tech. Hehe all the neighbors are on 2.4 & 5 GHz so a clear band, although 6GHz really doesn't go through walls very well. Best for line of sight or just 1 wall.* The cameras are great so far! Much better than the S21U, especially in low light, which is another HUGE reason to buy the S26U. The zoom is awesome. Remember you are not locked into 1x, 5x, 10x, etc. you can expand the zoom on the screen with your fingers to like 7x or whatever is needed. Comparing the lenses visually on the S21U to the S26U is funny. The later are like 3 times bigger in diameter for better quality and low light. THE LENSES ON THE S26U DO STICK OUT THOUGH, BE AWARE, THE BACK IS NOT FLAT. The Otterbox Defender Pro LT mitigates that to an extent, by having a hard plastic cut-out around the lens area that is slightly taller then the lenses, keeping them off surfaces when the phone is set down on the back, but still is not flat in back. Pffft an easy way for Samsung to have solved that problem would be USE A BIGGER BATTERY, like the 7000mAh silicon, which would make the phone thicker and the lenses stick out less in back. Two problems solved at once! As it sits the S26U looks anorexic with those lenses sticking out. The S21U lenses were all flush and recessed, but clearly inferior in quality. But the S26U lenses work, and work well.* The AI and/or Bixby? Can't tell you. I ignore it and/or have it shut off everywhere. Not something I would use, at least in the near term. Give me a bigger battery instead, please, Samsung, on the S27U and I don't care a bit it that makes it thicker and heavier. Same comment with the stylus, not something I use, so can't say. Why not just use an external BLUETOOTH ENABLED stylus with the S27U and use that internal space for a bigger battery, Samsung?* Speaking of Bluetooth, the S26U has the new BT 6.0 standard, which is working better with things, especially the car (Lexus RX350) link. The internal SOIC doesn't support the very latest BT 6.1. Hopefully will on the S27U.* The default theme colors are AWFUL, IMHO, some bright/grey color combo. But of course that can easily be changed to other themes and wallpapers. I'm working on trying to change it to the colors and theme from the S21U! I always liked that background.* Samsung Smart Switch (the default transfer method that comes up when setting up the S26U) works well and took about 45 minutes, using the cable in the box with the S26U between the phones, to move the 74GB of stuff and apps from the S21U to the S26U. Plan accordingly - and charge the phones first! The S26U had about 69% charge out of the box, which was more than enough. The transfer took it down to like 58%.* I'm still working on an experiment to get one carrier (Cricket/ATT in this case) on IMEI1 as the physical SIM and a different one (Verizon) on IMEI2 as an eSIM. From what I read it should be possible, from a phone standpoint, because the S26U has separate radios for the two IMEIs and is set up for switching between them. BUT the trick comes down to the carriers. I'm finding some have "IMEI1" only rules, or rules that they have to be the carrier on both IMEIs. Doesn't appear to be a technical limit, just a company rules thing, probably for loading on their own apps which have advertising they get $$ for. I'll update this post with any success. :P* I should say here my phone is the completely unlocked 512GB version, bought from Amazon on the S26U release day. GREATA WORK AMAZON on delivering it right on the promised March 11! Photo posted is taken with the S26U in 1x mode. Sorry about the shadow, that was me blocking the light. :)Ver másVer menos
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