Develop Bugs

Real Users, will you get an S9 or a P20?

I am in the process of either buying a P20, or an S9. This is a 35 vs 40 euro per month question (10 total as I need two phones) and since it is 2 years contract I am very interested in the reliability part of the phone, hardware, and software wise.
I am interested in using the phone mainly for communication calls/whatsapp, but also very important for taking pictures and recording videos. No gaming for me.
Reviews, in general, are very good about the P20, but reviews are short-lived usage experiences, and my only experience with Huawei (a Hero 6X), has not been very good: slow to update, the phone freezes from time to time (it is obviously not a flagship, I know), so I was wondering, now that you have (hopefully) used the phone for a while, will you get a P20 or an S9 if you had the chance?
As a former user of the S7 Edge, I tend to think the Samsung is a more reliable phone, but I wanted to hear from real users here.
Thank you.

Asking this in the S9 forums, you're going to be getting answers from people who have already bought the S9 mostly, would be better off asking in the S7 Edge forums where people are yet to decide
Why not buy an S9 and a P20 and have the best of both worlds if you're getting two phones anyway?
Also you can review each of them against each other for other people

kwanbis said:
I am in the process of either buying a P20, or an S9. This is a 35 vs 40 euro per month question (10 total as I need two phones) and since it is 2 years contract I am very interested in the reliability part of the phone, hardware, and software wise.
I am interested in using the phone mainly for communication calls/whatsapp, but also very important for taking pictures and recording videos. No gaming for me.
Reviews, in general, are very good about the P20, but reviews are short-lived usage experiences, and my only experience with Huawei (a Hero 6X), has not been very good: slow to update, the phone freezes from time to time (it is obviously not a flagship, I know), so I was wondering, now that you have (hopefully) used the phone for a while, will you get a P20 or an S9 if you had the chance?
As a former user of the S7 Edge, I tend to think the Samsung is a more reliable phone, but I wanted to hear from real users here.
Thank you.
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Click to collapse
I've never had the P20 and never heard of it's reviews, I just want to point out that Samsung also sucks when it comes to software update. Imagine that the May security patch is not yet available through OTA for my device and yet already available in the firmware downloads in sammobile. If you want to get the latest firmwares available you should do it manually through Odin though.
If you're not into gaming, this phone is really fast, and when I said fast, blazing fast. Even though 4gb ram makes other apps reload, it doesnt even bother because they load up really fast. I cant complain much of this phone when it comes to speed.
When it comes to camera, I really like the HDR of this phone and all the features implemented in the camera app itself. It takes really good photos with great exposures (thanks to the improved HDR capability). However, I am not really into Samsung's "smoothening" process, as it makes the photo look smooth, lacking of details. The only way to counterpart that is to enable RAW format in pro mode or use a third party camera app like the gcam port with working HDR+, I use it everytime I found the stock cam's HDR suffering from harsh sunlight and everytime I needed that extra crisp in photos.
Battery? Hhmm. I used to care a lot about phone's battery. I used to disable most apps and features just to get more juice out of it. The least battery I got was about 4h of SOT amd to be honest, Im pretty happy with that. Then, I realized why would I buy a premium phone and then disable most of its features. So I reset my phone and enjoyed it as it is. AOD yeah boy, fast charging will keep me back as soon as possible.
Overall, you cant go wrong with the S9. Speaker with dolby atmos is amazing. I feel like Im watching movies in cinema, for real! I only hate about this phone is that it doesnt have international warranty. Yes it may be a different case with others, this phone was bought in Dubai and then brought here in the Philippines. I wouldnt been so worried until last 3 days that I found out that my phone is affected with "dead zone spots" in screen, and now I've got to deliver it back to Dubai to get it fixed.

kyooohei08 said:
I've never had the P20 and never heard of it's reviews, ...
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Thank you.

Owned the Huawei P20 Pro. If you want good photos, you'll forget about the Huawei.
Oversharpen, blur, bad edge detection, people looking like oil paintings.
The software is bad.
Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

I was testing both S9+ and P20Pro in the store and...S9+ is a killer I don't see any bad sides besides that fingerprint button on the back...but nowadays its on every phone.
P20Pro...I almost bought it but when I saw how it record videos, I put it out. It's horrible. 60fps is in real 50fps. Bad OIS, video stutters when recording...and little less stuttering when on playback...S9+ feels like a finished, polished product. P20Pro was like...meh, a toy with unfinished software. I don't like it. But huge PLUS for fingerprint sensor under screen and all these gestures with it.
I bought S9+ 2 weeks ago and I'm so happy about it. Perfect phone. I changed from S7 flat (smaller version).
Record videos like..wow. Genius stabilization even with EIS off, nice photos, really big and amazing screen and loud and quality stereo speakers.
I will probably change to S10 next year when they'll implement underscreen fingerprint sensor
If you have any more questions, feel free to tag me. Cheers!

neflictus said:
Owned the Huawei P20 Pro. If you want good photos, you'll forget about the Huawei.
Oversharpen, blur, bad edge detection, people looking like oil paintings.
The software is bad.
Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Thanks.

KamilKiri said:
I was testing both S9+ and P20Pro in the store and...S9+ is a killer I don't see any bad sides besides that fingerprint button on the back...but nowadays its on every phone.
P20Pro...I almost bought it but when I saw how it record videos, I put it out. It's horrible. 60fps is in real 50fps. Bad OIS, video stutters when recording...and little less stuttering when on playback...S9+ feels like a finished, polished product. P20Pro was like...meh, a toy with unfinished software. I don't like it. But huge PLUS for fingerprint sensor under screen and all these gestures with it.
I bought S9+ 2 weeks ago and I'm so happy about it. Perfect phone. I changed from S7 flat (smaller version).
Record videos like..wow. Genius stabilization even with EIS off, nice photos, really big and amazing screen and loud and quality stereo speakers.
I will probably change to S10 next year when they'll implement underscreen fingerprint sensor
If you have any more questions, feel free to tag me. Cheers!
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Click to collapse
Thanks, S9+ is another option, but I think I am going to go with S9 this time. Main differnce I see are more battery, more screen, adn more camera, but more expensive

I not really big fan of huawei, I'm a Samsung user from a long time, I'm pretty impressed with the camera, Software UI, and some other stuff... I don't really like huawei's Software and Camera quality is damn too low as compared to Samsung...
I would suggest you to go with samsung... but its upto you

Samsung A70 compared to S8+

I own s8+, but I really like bigger screen of a70 plus better battery.
The thing I am most interested is how does camera compare with s8+ camera?
If the camera are similar quality, then I would definitely give a70 a chance ?
I would compare them myself, but stores around me don't have a70 on stock?
Thank you in advance for your help ?

Think S8+ would definitely have better cameras.
EDIT: Read these around the forums.
Marcury said:
Hello,
As Stillriza I used a S8+ (for 2 years). I now have the A70 since 1.5 months. The fingerprint unlock is good since last software update (when it is difficult I honestly have an explication such as finger is just coming out of water, long pressure on the finger...).
The 32Mp camera is good outside by day but the quality decreases when the light is decreasing (much worse than the camera of the S8+).
I haven't notice any slowdons on apps compared to S8+.
The screen has a lower resolution than the S8+ one but bigger. It is really not visible and it is very good and effective in the sun.
I will keep this "pocket computer" for a long time. I think it really worth its price.
For that price
Click to expand...
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See this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-a70/help/a70-worth-t3952379

I confirm what I previously wrote about that camera. My wife is now using my "old" S8+, I bought for myself the A70 for the larger screen. About the camera, really forget the A70, the S8+ is infinitely better.
For the rest, the A70 is a good pocket computer (with a phone app)

An A70 loose in every aspect to an S8+ that Is an ex top and still kicking today,( even an S7 beat It in camera because it's only a 8mpx effective and mediocre sensor ) and even in updates, the only aspect where an A70 Is Better Is battery Life.

luka-san said:
I own s8+, but I really like bigger screen of a70 plus better battery.
The thing I am most interested is how does camera compare with s8+ camera?
If the camera are similar quality, then I would definitely give a70 a chance ?
I would compare them myself, but stores around me don't have a70 on stock
Thank you in advance for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the camera just install gcam with night side on your A70, it's definitely better than the A70 stock camera, I installed it on my A70 and it's incredible, probably even better than the S8+ stock camera

SIRKRA said:
An A70 loose in every aspect to an S8+ that Is an ex top and still kicking today,( even an S7 beat It in camera because it's only a 8mpx effective and mediocre sensor ) and even in updates, the only aspect where an A70 Is Better Is battery Life.
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Click to collapse
Nope.
A70 pros:
More ram
More storage
Bigger screen
MUCH better battery life
25w charging
S8 pros:
Slightly faster chipset
Wireless charging
HDR display
Better camera
Most of the a70 camera issues can be solved by using gcam but it's not a perfectly solution and there are drawbacks that people dont like to talk about. Ie, half the features not working in gcam, the time it takes to process HDR shots with some configs, the fact that you can't set gcam as the default camera app without rooting etc. Really, we need an optimised app from Samsung and not some bastardized old gcam app.

James.Miller said:
Nope.
A70 pros:
More ram
More storage ( slower ufs speed than S8+ )
Bigger screen ( mid tier full hd and not top tier 3k with hdr support )
MUCH better battery life
25w charging
S8 pros:
Slightly faster chipset ( slighty in CPU ok, in GPU it destroy the Adreno 612
Wireless charging
HDR display
Better camera
More narrow and Lighter
Premium materials and not cheap plastic
Gorilla Glass 5 ( vs 3 )
cat16 modem
Premium Bundle with adapters and good quality buds ( A70 doesn't even have a standard type c cable bundled, it's double type c and you need an adapter to connect to pc if you doesn't have a type c port )
Faster reliable fingerprint scanner even if in an ankward position
IP68 rating
dual PDAFOIS
real type c 3.1
lower SAR
DEX support
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....

I will conceed the point on the fingerprint sensor and I should have included that in my list.
Having moved from an s8 to an a70 I can say with 100% sincerity that any difference in resolution can only be seen by pixel peeping both of them side by side and actually in use its easier to fit more on the a70 screen and keep it legible (for example a forum like this). So despite the lower res, it's more usable. Yes the s8 does support HDR as I mentioned myself. Wether people even notice or not? I mentioned it all the same.
In use the s8's storage and gpu specs don't translate in to much additional speed. Again, this is my experience comparing both side by side. Paper spec will suggest otherwise but I don't give a monkeys about that. I can ay all the same games just the same.
Glass back. On the s8, plastic on the a70. Don't care when they are in cases and if you don't use a case then good luck to you - my s8 got smashed to bits and the weight? Only 10g in it. Meh :/
Cat16 modem is stretching - show me something to take advantage of it its 1gbps download and I'll change my mind.
The bundled USB cable isn't much of a problem. You don't need an adaptor of your pc has USB C ports or just buy an adaptor / use a USB C to USB 3.x type A cable if it doesn't. Meh. It's a point, but a minor one and only a couple of pounds to fix at the most.
The rest.. I mena lower sar, really? If it makes no difference in use, I don't care about it. And the sar value most definitely makes no difference in use.

James.Miller said:
I will conceed the point on the fingerprint sensor and I should have included that in my list.
Having moved from an s8 to an a70 I can say with 100% sincerity that any difference in resolution can only be seen by pixel peeping both of them side by side and actually in use its easier to fit more on the a70 screen and keep it legible (for example a forum like this). So despite the lower res, it's more usable. Yes the s8 does support HDR as I mentioned myself. Wether people even notice or not? I mentioned it all the same.
In use the s8's storage and gpu specs don't translate in to much additional speed. Again, this is my experience comparing both side by side. Paper spec will suggest otherwise but I don't give a monkeys about that. I can ay all the same games just the same.
Glass back. On the s8, plastic on the a70. Don't care when they are in cases and if you don't use a case then good luck to you - my s8 got smashed to bits and the weight? Only 10g in it. Meh :/
Cat16 modem is stretching - show me something to take advantage of it its 1gbps download and I'll change my mind.
The bundled USB cable isn't much of a problem. You don't need an adaptor of your pc has USB C ports or just buy an adaptor / use a USB C to USB 3.x type A cable if it doesn't. Meh. It's a point, but a minor one and only a couple of pounds to fix at the most.
The rest.. I mena lower sar, really? If it makes no difference in use, I don't care about it. And the sar value most definitely makes no difference in use.
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I am going to have to agree with this. I have both phones, and use both daily. The S8+ is a work phone and the A70 is my personal phone. With regards to display .. I can't tell a difference. The S8 screen I feel can be a bit brighter at times in direct sunlight..but with regards to resolution and HDR .. I don't see the difference. The A70 display is really nice.
With regards to performance, I have the exact same apps and games on both phones. I run the same launcher setup on both. When I watch netflix, prime or other vids that i've downloaded.. it feels exactly the same with the exception of the much larger A70 display. The games I play run the exact same on both.. neither is slower than the other. Apps load the same...and act the same.
Really, spec wise on paper, there is a diff... but perceived day to day usage ..I don't see it, aside from the insane screen on time I get from the A70. In the end, what matters the most is your day to day usage. I've used higher end phones that stutter, lag and occasionally freeze up.

One thing to consider is that the A70 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, whilemost S8s have a Samsung Exynos. This means you can install and run Gcam ports on an A70 mostly flawlessly, instead of like on the S8 where you need to wait for a specific version from iDan or Zoran, and those don't always work very well.
The Camera on the A70 after the latest update is about as good as the S8's, but has a time of flight sensor so does better bokeh effect stuff. If you really want to take good photos though you'll want to install one of Arnova's Gcam ports.
Performance wise the A70 feels faster when doing multiple tasks than my S8 did. The screens are impossible to tell apart PPI wise but the A70s larger screen is much nicer to use. And the A70 doesn't have that stupid Bixby button, which is a big win. The S8 will also not be getting Android Q, the A70 will.
Having used both for extended periods I am much happier with the A70 than the S8. I prefer the A70 more than my S9+ to be honest too.

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Samsung Galaxy S11, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Samsung Galaxy S11 is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

I love my S20U no matter what they said.
The only things that still bother me to this day are the price, the focusing issue in low-light (with the telephoto sensor and with the main camera, shooting closely to the object), the lack of 90 hz option, the palm rejection feature, and the dull colour options.

I love my S20 Plus 5G. Coming from S8 Plus, s20 is a logical "evolution". Pretty similar but better in many small things.

Coming from a S9+ I feel that the S20 Ultra is not worth the asking price.
The camera might be better on paper but picture quality (panoramas in particular) and perception of performance (Chrome tends to hang for a few seconds every now and then) are a downgrade.
The big screen is nice and having an optical zoom is a decent add-on as well, but these aren't features unique to this phone.
When taking into account that this is the very high end offering of Samsung, I am left to wonder whether I should have skipped this year's phones.

Camera software needs sorting to sharpen pictures but otherwise a great phone

Had the phone for about a month and I absolutely love everything about my S20 ultra except for focus on the main lens.

The phone camera is horrible. My 7 year old phone takes better pictures. I have not seen an update that improves the quality. Unfortunately, it degrades the phone to the level of a 10 year old phone or possibly the level of the first phone that came out with a camera, however many years ago was that. I bought it for the memory and additional application processing capacity but little did I know it does not come with a camera, the one installed is worthless.

What about the S20 Plus? I read Ultra was the one to have focus issues.

It absolutely does and it is useless as a camera.

mwyarm said:
It absolutely does and it is useless as a camera.
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But the S20+ is good right?

Droid9684 said:
But the S20+ is good right?
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Focus issues were with the ultra; my s20+ has perfect focus and takes great pics.

Before the A12 OneUI 4 update, I actually hated this phone because of the barrage of issues I had with it on A11, especially battery life and camera performance. Now with A12, I like this phone more than I did when I initially bought it. I like watching movies on my phone, and A12 added a new feature where you can watch AV1 encoded videos, which is really nice! Overall, this phone is great besides battery life if you're a heavy user.

Question Switching from s21 ultra

Hi all I'm thinking of switching from my s21 ultra (exynos variant) but been hearing some bad reviews etc of bad battery life and not so good cameras etc on the pixel does any one who ownes a pixel 6 pro know if most of these have been fixed? And would people consider the pixel 6 pro over the s21 ultra or am I best waiting till the s22 thanks

brockyneo said:
Hi all I'm thinking of switching from my s21 ultra (exynos variant) but been hearing some bad reviews etc of bad battery life and not so good cameras etc on the pixel does any one who ownes a pixel 6 pro know if most of these have been fixed? And would people consider the pixel 6 pro over the s21 ultra or am I best waiting till the s22 thanks
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hi, i have switched from s21u(exy) and battery on p6 pro is amazing comparing to samsung(9h+ p6 pro / 6h s21u - same usage)(p6pro 42h/one charge / s21u/28h) . not only battery, i like the mini rounded corners of p6 pro, software is good enough(its new), will be better after fex fixes.

Thanks so would you say it's a good choice over the s21 ultra

brockyneo said:
Thanks so would you say it's a good choice over the s21 ultra
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yeah, right now best choice, i am selling my s21u

Thanks might get it ordered today and pass down the s21 ultra to the lad

After the Pixel 1 stopped getting updates two years ago, my wife and I finally upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 512 GB model, because for the first couple of years after the Pixel 1, I was waiting to buy another Pixel until they came out with a 256 GB model, and then by the time they did, I needed a 512 GB model so I still waited.
The Note 10+ hardware is great. I hate the software. I use my personal phone for my work too, my work uses Google for everything, and apparently, it's common with Samsung devices that they have sporadic syncing of GMail and Chat/Hangouts. When I told my brother about the problem I was having (and I did try deep-diving settings about not optimizing for battery usage, and not killing in the background, and even factory reset), my brother, who had only just bought his family their first smartphones maybe 4 years ago and go the Galaxy S9+, said that he assumed that's just the way Android is. It's not. I never encountered such bad GMail and chat syncing and notification behavior on any other phone.
For chat-type notifications, it was hit and miss whether I would receive timely ones. I could never narrow down what made the difference. For GMail, sometimes I wouldn't get a notification of an email until 45 minutes to even 2 hours later. Multi-tasking on the work computer, sometimes I wouldn't look at my GMail browser tab for long periods of time, and my boss likes to use chat quite often too. Half the time, I did happen to see the email in the browser tab, read it, and even deleted it (for non-critical things), and then later on my Samsung would let me know I have that "new" email. I already saw it and deleted it! Crazy.
There were other things Samsung gimped compared to other phones (Do Not Disturb...), and it also managed to duplicate all my contacts in a way that they're not recognized as duplicates so they can't be automatically de-duped.
Thankfully, back on the P6P 512 GB bandwagon, I no longer have those issues, and we quickly sold our Note 10+'s. So my answer is I'd trade any Samsung for a Pixel. Loved the Samsung hardware, but the software just doesn't cut it for me. The only thing I miss from the Note is the stylus from time to time, which would be handy for Pixel's magic eraser when you have to really fine-tune some erasing.
Oh yeah - I haven't had any issues with my battery life in the month I've had the phone. For the last five years, I never quick charge any phone, I only charge once the phone gets down to 25%, and I take the phone off the charger at 75%. I never charge overnight. The Pixel 6/Pro have Adaptive Charge to help battery life, but my 25-75% battery range lasts me 24 hours normally anyway. I don't own any quick chargers except my original Pixel 1 charger, and I don't use it.

brockyneo said:
Hi all I'm thinking of switching from my s21 ultra (exynos variant) but been hearing some bad reviews etc of bad battery life and not so good cameras etc on the pixel does any one who ownes a pixel 6 pro know if most of these have been fixed? And would people consider the pixel 6 pro over the s21 ultra or am I best waiting till the s22 thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If multiple days of battery life is a bad thing, or the camera is too good for you.... you might want to stick with the samdung.

brockyneo said:
Hi all I'm thinking of switching from my s21 ultra (exynos variant) but been hearing some bad reviews etc of bad battery life and not so good cameras etc on the pixel does any one who ownes a pixel 6 pro know if most of these have been fixed? And would people consider the pixel 6 pro over the s21 ultra or am I best waiting till the s22 thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing, and battery is good after about a week or two. You have to give the adaptive battery time to learn your habits. Not sure where you heard the camera is bad. That's the best part of the phone.

roirraW edor ehT said:
The only thing I miss from the Note is the stylus from time to time, which would be handy for Pixel's magic eraser when you have to really fine-tune some erasing.
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Click to collapse
There are 10 billion options for capacitive screen pokey things on Amazon. I can't tell you which ones I have, because I can't read the font they used to identify themselves, but works pretty good.

Owning currently both devices here I can maybe share a few thoughts, subjective of course as many of those base on what I like/dislike:
Pro S21 Ultra:
+ build quality
+ display quality
+ overall maturity of the software
+ better standby drain
Pro Pixel 6 Pro:
+ genuine, clean Android with less bloat
+ snappier UI
+ active battery life
+ Camera: much lower noise and much better dynamic range in low light
+ Camera: less heavy-handed noise-reduction/resharpening
+ (slightly) less weight
+ much more development friendly (no hassle bootloader unlock without lost warranty, no Knox.....)
All in all I like both phones, what makes me moving back to the S21 Ultra (or maybe again Mi 11U) is memory - sadly Google only sells the P6P with max 256GB in Germany which I find a bit too small for my purpose.....
And a few more words on the camera: Samsung has its own way in image processing and in many cases this leads to loss of details in grass/leaves/.... which I dislike. The Pixel 6 Pro gives much better results here, as with many indoor shots specifically of pets/kids.... So overall I much prefer the Pixel camera, this doesn't mean the Samsung camera is bad, though - it isn't !

The only thing I like about my s21 ultra is the display screen. Other than that, 6 pro tops it off. (The 6 pro is on par with the iPhone 13 max's camera btw) With the exception of the video quality of course. The iPhone is still the king for shooting high quality videos.

I have both. These are the most notable differences that I have noticed in using both extensively over a few weeks.
Everything else not-mentioned seems the same/equivalent between the two devices.
Battery; The Samsung has better battery life out of the box, hands down. I regularly saw 7hour screen time and easily made it 24 hours or more on a single charge. The P6P gets about 4-5hours screen time and only about 20-22hours on a charge.
Can only hope the P6P gets better with updates. I returned my first P6P because I thought something was wrong with it. Unfortunately, the second one is the same. It's bad (for some people, but apparently not everyone).
Temperature; You have to try really hard to make the Samsung work up a sweat. The P6P seems to get warm at random times without much going on (browsing forums, for example). Then other times when you would expect it to get warm (watching videos), it runs perfectly cool. Very strange.
Camera; There's nothing better or easier than the P6P when trying to produce consistent great quality pictures. Despite superior hardware in the Samsung S21 Ultra, overall picture results are handicapped due to inferior software/processing, especially in portrait mode. It has gotten better with updates, but still gets beat handily by P6P.
Size and Weight; The P6P is more hand/pocket friendly. It is noticeably thinner and lighter than the S21 Ultra, making it more comfortable in the pockets that I carry it in (back pocket or front shirt pocket). The S21 Ultra feels like a small cinder block in the pocket compare to the P6P.
Charging; Despite better technical sheet specs for the P6P, it charges inconsistently and slower than the S21 Ultra. It's not by a small margin either, P6P takes about 2x longer.
It also tends to get warm to the point of thorttling during charging. The S21 Ultra is consistent, and charges very fast and doesnt get very warm (certainly never throttles).
Software; I suppose this could be preference. If you like the Samsung software look and feel, then it's perfectly fine. It really runs almost flawlessly compared to older TouchWiz crap from Samsung. I prefer the look and feel of pure android from Google.

Napa7m said:
I have both. These are the most notable differences that I have noticed in using both extensively over a few weeks.
Everything else not-mentioned seems the same/equivalent between the two devices.
Battery; The Samsung has better battery life out of the box, hands down. I regularly saw 7hour screen time and easily made it 24 hours or more on a single charge. The P6P gets about 4-5hours screen time and only about 20-22hours on a charge.
Can only hope the P6P gets better with updates. I returned my first P6P because I thought something was wrong with it. Unfortunately, the second one is the same. It's bad (for some people, but apparently not everyone).
Temperature; You have to try really hard to make the Samsung work up a sweat. The P6P seems to get warm at random times without much going on (browsing forums, for example). Then other times when you would expect it to get warm (watching videos), it runs perfectly cool. Very strange.
Camera; There's nothing better or easier than the P6P when trying to produce consistent great quality pictures. Despite superior hardware in the Samsung S21 Ultra, overall picture results are handicapped due to inferior software/processing, especially in portrait mode. It has gotten better with updates, but still gets beat handily by P6P.
Size and Weight; The P6P is more hand/pocket friendly. It is noticeably thinner and lighter than the S21 Ultra, making it more comfortable in the pockets that I carry it in (back pocket or front shirt pocket). The S21 Ultra feels like a small cinder block in the pocket compare to the P6P.
Charging; Despite better technical sheet specs for the P6P, it charges inconsistently and slower than the S21 Ultra. It's not by a small margin either, P6P takes about 2x longer.
It also tends to get warm to the point of thorttling during charging. The S21 Ultra is consistent, and charges very fast and doesnt get very warm (certainly never throttles).
Software; I suppose this could be preference. If you like the Samsung software look and feel, then it's perfectly fine. It really runs almost flawlessly compared to older TouchWiz crap from Samsung. I prefer the look and feel of pure android from Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think a lot of what you're putting down as negatives against P6P comes down to gservices and broken "pixel features". I'm running pure (google free) AOSP on mine. I pulled it off the charger this morning at 5:30 (7.5 hours ago). Currently have 1.5 hr screen on time and the battery is at 92%, and so far the battery gauge appears to be pretty linear. I've also NOT noticed ANY substantial heating up. It runs pretty cool consistently -- note that heat comes from the battery, so it makes sense.
Also, there is no magic battery BS in AOSP.

I upgraded from a Note 20 Ultra 512Gb and the battery on my P6P is phenomenal compared to the Note 20. There have been issues for some on the P6P but I've been using my 512Gb unlocked variant with no issue at all. Just make sure you set your P6P from scratch and don't transfer data from your S21 Ultra. Also the standby drain is the best I've ever had, took it off the charger at 9PM at 100% and at 8:30 the next morning was at 99%. Not everyone is having the same results that I have.

I had both for a while. S21 ultra for the last 9 months. Tested them side by side . I don't think the pixel is better than the s21 in any single way, they are actually so similar. I prefer the maturer Samsung email and calendar software but that's subjective. The biggest difference, which matters for me was that the pixel has more global 5g and LTE bands than the s21. I used Nova and mimicked the s21 completely. Really couldn't tell the difference except screen better on s21 IMHO.
if I didn't already own the s21 I would have bought the pixel but because they are so similar and it isn't an upgrade but more a move to the side, the change didn't make sense.

Display, build quality, signal quality and probably smoothness are all better on the s21U. However I prefer the camera on the P6P and also Pixel Android to OneUI. The S21U is a solid, well built device and I don't think the P6P is an upgrade, if anything it's a slight downgrade.

Thanks for all the replys I'm still on the fence at the minute lol,can I root the pixel 6 pro and have no problems like knox,drm keys etc like other devices have? And if ibdecude to want to unroot can it be returned back to totally factory as if it was never rooted? I haven't rooted for years and miss been able to uninstall apps etc and is viper4android still going strong or is there another app in its place thanks

Stick with the S21 Ultra. I went from a Note 20 Ultra to the Pixel 6 Pro. I love the camera, the better speakers, cleaner software experience, but overall it doesn't feel like an upgrade. The 5G reception is slightly worse, Android 12 has lots of quirks, charging speeds are much slower, and customization is currently very limited. It's possible that it will improve with updates and custom ROMs but its current state is underwhelming. To be honest, I'm already looking forward to the S22 Ultra.

brockyneo said:
Thanks for all the replys I'm still on the fence at the minute lol,can I root the pixel 6 pro and have no problems like knox,drm keys etc like other devices have? And if ibdecude to want to unroot can it be returned back to totally factory as if it was never rooted? I haven't rooted for years and miss been able to uninstall apps etc and is viper4android still going strong or is there another app in its place thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, no bad sides to rooting or later unrooting at all, just jump through some well established hoops as far as banking apps are concerned. It didn't bother me and it was the first time I ever did what I needed for safety net and banking apps to not know I'm rooted. No one can tell you ever had it rooted if you re-lock the bootloader after restoring to 100% stock and then factory reset, which will re-disable the OEM unlock option on Developer Options.
You just never can automatically update to each months OTA, have to follow the proper manual procedure to update and stay rooted. I did it every month for over three years that I had the Pixel 1.

If you value the camera, root and stock Android then get the Pixel. If you don't value those then stick with the S21U. I came from the S21U so I can honestly tell you that the S21U is definitely a better all around device but the fact that I can root really made my decision easier to go with the Pixel. No, the Pixel isn't any smoother than the S21U as I've had both; they are pretty much the same in the smoothness department. Anyone who disagrees is lying to themselves.

Question Currently own a Pixel 4a I'm leaning towards an S21 Fe over a Pixel 6 but concerned about smoothness.

Hi all,
Both the Pixel 6 and the S21 FE seem like great devices with pros and cons. I can get both for about the same price.
I'm leaning towards the S21 FE mostly because the Pixel has many bugs, and Android 13 seems to have made things worse. People are complaining of battery drain and the fingerprint reader not working. The S21 has a better screen and less bugs.
Having said that, a couple people have told me that the S21 FE UI can lag a bit sometimes and the camera is slow. Can anyone support these claims? I've seen some people say that the Exynos version is worse than the Snapdragon version. I can get the snapdragon version in Europe apparently.
In summary, I'm reluctant to go from Pixel to Samsung if the UI experience is choppy or it randomly drops frames. I'd like to get more advice.
Thanks all!

Consider the Note 10+ Snapdragon.
Can be had at a good price, run well, looks great, supports up to 1tb of expandable storage.
No variable refresh rate display or 5G but better SOT. Runs cool and fast; a good balance missing on the newer Sammy's.
Cams not as good but more than adequate.
A solid, reliable beast of a phone.

blackhawk said:
Consider the Note 10+ Snapdragon.
Can be had at a good price, run well, looks great, supports up to 1tb of expandable storage.
No variable refresh rate display or 5G but better SOT. Runs cool and fast; a good balance missing on the newer Sammy's.
Cams not as good but more than adequate.
A solid, reliable beast of a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the Note 10+ is about 140 euro more expensive than the two phones I'm looking at which is out of my price range!

MrBled said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the Note 10+ is about 140 euro more expensive than the two phones I'm looking at which is out of my price range!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Used ones are getting quit low now. A lot more bang for the buck. It's a pain... I don't envy you.

Get the Pixel

Had a Pixel 6 and i would totally say it's much better than S21 FE (if you don't have connection issues although i didn't experience them). Android 13 made the phone much better. S21 FE is just a no go tbh compared to Pixel 6; battery life is worse, cameras are worse, performance is similar, Pixel 6 community is more active, and Google software support is better (imo).

I was worried a bit as well but my S21fe Snapdragon is super fast and the camera opens and takes pictures consistently quickly. The side key is set to open the camera when holding down using a 3rd party app. There were a few minor lags on the very first boot right after restoring a large backup over Smart Switch but that went away. I did do a basic debloat as well. I get ~6hrs sot with 120hz and adaptive brightness on.

I always loved the Pixel Series. So when I got the chance, I returned back my S21 FE to get a Pixel 6. Big mistake
Let me explain my experience
1-I tried several screen protectors. It's true that some work better than others. But definitely the fingerprint scanner on the Pixel 6 is under the rest of the competitors, by far
2-The biggest problem for me, the touch delay and buffering. I play a lot of rhythm games and this problem was killing me. I'm ended selling it to get again the S21 FE
Don't know if this problem is solved today (this happened to me on May)
more info:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/qz22lm
Since I returned to the S21, I'm extremely happy
Hope this helps