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This is the S26 Ultra. And about 6 months ago, I said probably going to be in my pocket for a lot of the year just because of its video quality. I'm Paul and as good as the S26 Ultra is this year, it feels like it's kind of missing something and the Ultras are just not what they used to be. In the last 12 months or so, it seems that all the major phone brands in the US for their flagship phones have been giving us S upgrades. And Samsung, they kind of kicked this off at Unpacked in February. I remember leaving thinking, what is actually new here? I also remember Samsung calling this an AI phone, which I hate, by the way, but that seems to be where most of the upgrades live. And for an AI phone, you
would think that AI is something I would use all the time on this phone, but 6 months later, I can't remember the last time I used a Galaxy AI feature. Going through this list, I have not touched these, and if they weren't on my phone, I probably wouldn't have noticed. And considering Samsung went so hard on Galaxy AI, you'd think that all these would just be a little more useful. I'm not saying I don't use AI because I do. Circle to search is one that I'm always using and asking Gemini to set reminders for me is like something I do every single day, but that's not specific to Samsung phones. You can do that on any Android. I was just a little bit sick of
trying to make Galaxy AI work in my life when realistically it just doesn't. Away from AI, there's a lot of this phone that still has been solid. The quicker charging, it's the one thing that I have loved about this. The battery is okay when you're just living like your daily life. You can get a full day on this easily. I noticed though that when I travel or I'm on 5G or using maps and just watching a lot of stuff, the battery could do with a little bit of work because then it's kind of just okay. Especially when you see other phones putting in 6 7 8,000 mAh batteries, it makes the one on the S26 Ultra just look a little weak. But something they did make up with it for the 66 watt charging because a little battery boost has probably been one of
the better upgrades this year. You know what's coming next though? I'm banging the CH2 magnet drum and I'm still going to do it until Samsung listen. Like please put it in your phones. If not all your phones, just put it in the Ultras because I miss having CH2 accessories like the MagSafe wallets, the Mags safe battery packs. I need this built into the phone because I don't want to use a case on my phone. I like the feel of this phone. So, come on. Let's just put these in the S27 Ultra, please. I did say that this phone has actually held up pretty well over the last 6 months, and this has held up very well, especially in the hands of someone that drops phones all the time. The one part
that's actually surprised me is the display because I have dropped this face down like three or four times. And there isn't a single scratch on that. No micro scratches. Like, this is holding up really well. The back of the phone is a little bit more beat up. It's very fingerprinty in this gray color, which is slightly annoying. And there are about five heavy scuffs on this from where I've either dropped it or knocked it. But some of these I didn't even realize I did. But I would say that this is holding up all right for someone who doesn't use a case. It's probably a little bit more scuffed up because Samsung changed this to aluminium again this year. And I actually don't mind
that. Some people like, "Oh my god, aluminium, not titanium." And yeah, it does probably scuff and scratch a little bit easier, but it does make it considerably lighter than any of the other ultra phones. Like the 18 Pro Max is like a heavy beast compared to this. And on the design, I kind of like it still. I know people think it's a little stale, and I kind of agree because basically it's the same design as the S22 Ultra with like very small changes. And I have seen what the S27 Ultra might look like. And yeah, it's very iPhone. And I kind of wish that Samsung would come up with their own design and kind of like get their own uniqueness on this. But I actually do not care how the
back of the phone looks if they're going to add G2 magnets into the back of it. So if you need to copy the iPhone's design to get that in, then sure, go for it. Then if you're not going to add those magnets in, I would just try and think of something a little bit more I don't know. You where things look are a little bit more important though in the cameras. I said I loved how the pictures looked 6 months ago and I'm still on board with it. You get your classic Samsung punchy, rich, vibrant shots. They're very consistent, I think, between all the lenses. And let me tell you again how
much I love the five times telephoto, especially now with that brighter f2.9 lens. And right out of camera, these some of my favorite photos that you can take, and I actually love them even more when you use some of those filters that Samsung has baked in. My only problem with the filters is that they're not that easy to find because they're a little hidden in the camera UI. First off, you need to open the camera app and then there's three dots. So, you need to tap your three dots and then you need to scroll over and then you'll see the camera filter button that is just there. Then you select them and then you can go through like a load of your filters. but they're just not that easy to find and I
think a lot of people haven't used them because they're so hidden. So, it'd be nice if Samsung just put them a little bit front and center in the camera UI. And I want to talk about video because I love the video that this thing can do. I did an 18 Pro Max versus S26 Ultra video a couple of weeks ago and on that phone I shot almost all of the video with the S26 Ultra in log and that five times lens was such a dream. Like it kind of blew me away. So, if you haven't seen that video, go and check it out because it shows you exactly what this phone can do for video. It was very good. The problem with the S26 Ultra's camera is not what it can do because I think it can take great photos. It's the fact
that others are pushing a little bit more and this just becomes less fun. Like the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, you have Xpan and Master Mode. Like, I love this thing. Then you have the Vivo phones. They have stupidly massive lenses that you can attach to these. And then Xiaomi, for example, the 17 Ultra, you have like really good film simulations and film grain that you can take on these. Like the filters, there's so many of them. And the S26 Ultra, it doesn't have that fun factor. And I don't need massive 200 megapixel three time sensors like OPPO has, but I do want to have fun taking photos. And while I know the S26 Ultra I can take it out of my pocket and
get consistently good shots, it's just not as fun as the Chinese brands. It's lacking a little bit of something. And Samsung, they just need to catch up a little here. The cameras aren't bad. It's just that they're not fun. And sadly for the S26 Ultra, that's its biggest problem. There isn't anything exciting about it. I think it's basically because every Ultra since the S23 Ultra, I think, has just been very good. And Samsung, they kind of overachieved and now they're like, we don't really know what to do with our Ultra phones now. They probably won't be throwing in these massive camera sensors into the back of their phones because realistically, they don't need to. The
main competition is Google and Apple and they're not going to do that. You can't do much with the display because it's still arguably one of the best displays you can get on any phone. I know Samsung did try something with their display this year and they had privacy display and it is very different and we hadn't seen that on any other phone before, but basically after the first week I just turned this off because a I'm not hiding anything on my phone. Not really. And also it makes the quality of the screen drop massively. So, it's just something that I don't think is that useful after just playing around with it as like a party trick. And then performance, that is not an issue either. As you expect,
this is still ridiculously fast 6 months later. I haven't once thought about the processor or the speed of this phone because it pretty much gives you everything you could ever need. And I do think that the S26 Ultra is a victim of Samsung's success with the other Ultras. What I mean by this is take a look at the Pixel 11 Pro. What Google could do is give it a much better processor next year. They could massively improve the video and they could fix a couple of things that Pixel have always been bad at and suddenly that is a huge upgrade and the phone is completely different. Samsung, they don't have the luxury of having to change too much because it's already very good. Like what are they
going to fix? Performance is already great. Video is some of the best you can get on Android. And the display, like I already said, it's incredible. And those cameras, they're very consistent. So, Samsung, they can't just fix one big problem with this phone for the next generation and say, "Hey, there we go." Because there is very little to fix. Like, if you believe the rumors, what they might do is actually introduce an S27 Pro, which will be a smaller Ultra. And that's about all I can think of that they could do to make this phone a little bit more exciting. There are still things that I love about the Ultra. One UI. This is probably the biggest reason that I always come back to Samsung. I've used a lot of phones
since this came out and some of them they have bigger cameras and better batteries and faster charging and arguably nicer hardware, but then I put my SIM back into the S26 Ultra and everything just works. Like I love this. You have good lock. There's proper multitasking. I like the edge panels, the S Pen, even if I never remember that it's there. It's all the little customization things that I've set up over the years. And none of that is particularly exciting, but it's just very good. And that's what I think about the S26 Ultra. It's probably one of the most complete ultra phones that you can get, but at the same time being one of the least exciting phones. I don't know, maybe Samsung, they don't need to make
this exciting. It's not like they're losing out on market share and people are still buying these phones even though they're very small updates every single year. Let me know what you think though of the S26 Ultra in the comments. Like, it's obviously not a bad phone. I'm not saying that. But it doesn't excite me. It doesn't tickle me in the same places that the old ultra phones used to tickle me, if you get what I'm saying. I think it's an analogy that works. If you can subscribe to the channel before you head off, then thank you very much. I massively appreciate it. And if you do that, then I'll see you in the next one. See you later.
