Samsung S21 Ultra or Oppo Find X3 Pro?

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maoriboy

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#288374 24-Jun-2021 14:04

Looking at getting one of these 2 phones through Spark. Would like some comments or feedback on either phone before I make the purchase. Looking specifically at them as they seem to have the best cameras available and this is what I tend to use most. The main difference I can see is the zoom lens in the Samsung vs macro lens in the Oppo. Speed, storage etc seem very similar. The Oppo is a fair bit cheaper too and this could influence my decision. Thoughts from the hive mind?

Kopkiwi

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#2733829 24-Jun-2021 14:37

S21 Ultra, no contest.

maoriboy

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#2733962 24-Jun-2021 17:51

Kopkiwi:
S21 Ultra, no contest.

What's your reason(s) for choosing the S21 ultra and what stands out for you? Do you think its worth the extra $300 over the Oppo?

Linux

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#2733968 24-Jun-2021 18:27

Samsung S21 Ultra

Worth $500 over the Oppo

Kopkiwi

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#2734024 24-Jun-2021 22:01

maoriboy:
Kopkiwi:

S21 Ultra, no contest.

What's your reason(s) for choosing the S21 ultra and what stands out for you? Do you think its worth the extra $300 over the Oppo?

S21 Ultra has the best, most complete camera setup on a smartphone right now. Plus the OPPO OS is going to the dogs.

dafman

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#2734087 25-Jun-2021 09:04

Samsung is Korean, Oppo is Chinese.

If you are a betting person, which is more likely to spy on you?

MurrayM

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#2734100 25-Jun-2021 09:37

I got my first Oppo phone last year and I really hate how aggressive it is at power saving. I only found out after I'd bought the phone that Oppo and their ColorOS has a reputation at aggressively killing apps that try to run in the background. Yes this means they have great battery life but apps that I use that ran fine on my old phones just seemed to not work properly on my Oppo phone. After some digging I found out how to tell ColorOS that particular apps should be allowed to run in the background all the time, and to some extent this has enabled them to work as expected, but a couple of times a day ColorOS feels that it has to notify me that apps are running in the background and that I can save battery by removing this permission from them. There doesn't seem to be any way for me to stop ColorOS from sending me these notifications.

The sort of apps that I'm talking about typically need to run in the background all the time. Apps like IFTTT that I use to do things based on where I am or the time of day, Google Messenger that receives SMS messages (I prefer it to the built-in Oppo SMS app) had delayed notification of new messages, even Gmail seemed to delay notifying me of new emails.

Based on this one thing I'd be very wary of buying an Oppo phone with ColorOS on it again.

NikT

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#2740792 7-Jul-2021 19:29

Been meaning to jump into this thread for a while as I've fairly extensive hands-on experience with both devices and have driven each of them for several weeks.

Some key info for anyone tossing up between these two:

Find X3 Pro and S21 Ultra are totally different devices, both ergonomically and in the intent behind their designs
The Find X3 Pro physically has much more in common with the S21+ than the Ultra
- Find X3 Pro = super thin, lightweight, (relatively) easy to handle
- Galaxy S21 Ultra = massive and heavy, albeit much better ergonomics than the even chunkier and wider S20 Ultra
S21 Ultra is, like the name says, "Ultra," with everything-and-the-kitchen-sink thrown in
Find X3 Pro is design-focused, elegant, distinctive, and comparatively pocketable
Battery capacity (and camera array) is the reason for the weight and depth deltas here
- Find X3 Pro = good but not great battery life, ridiculously fast wired and wireless charging to compensate
- S21 Ultra = fantastic battery life, much slower charging
- Consider your priorities here, super-fast charging is very cool but reduces battery capacity over the device's lifetime
Both are super-fast, both have brilliant 120Hz LTPO OLED displays
- S21 Ultra will hit 120Hz in significantly more apps than Find X3 Pro
- If you use "non-standard"/uncommon apps (e.g. if you browse with anything other than Chrome stable) you may be locked to 60Hz
- Samsung can force 120Hz in any app you like via Bixby Routines, while there is no current workaround for OPPO's 120Hz whitelist
Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 are much closer in performance than previous generations, particularly last year
- Unless you're a hardcore mobile gamer you're unlikely to spot much of a delta
- If you are a hardcore mobile gamer you probably want a gaming phone instead
Both have excellent cameras
- S21 Ultra has tremendous periscope zoom while Find X3 Pro ditched this from Find X2 Pro
- Find X3 Pro has a superior ultrawide camera
- Find X3 Pro's microscope camera is extremely cool, YMMV whether you find this a gimmick or not
- Personal preference applies to each brand's photo processing
- You should not be disappointed in camera performance from either device
Personal preference applies to software, ColorOS is night and day from years past and has some great unique features now
Samsung has committed to a much longer update support period than OPPO and has the better track record in NZ, up to you whether this matters
There are various additional features in each such as S-Pen support in the S21 Ultra which may or may not be relevant to your needs
If you were buying outright, the S21 series goes on good sale from time to time - OPPO notably does not play the high-low game with flagships
As you're buying on account, it'll be down to who has the most savings or the better bundle at the time via Spark
- I liked the Find X3 Pro + Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 offer - great minds and all that ;)
- Perhaps see if Harvey Norman has a good sale on the S21 Ultra in future as you should be able to add this to an existing Spark postpaid account in-store

You can't go far wrong with either device, they are both very good. It is just a matter of personal priorities as to which better meets your needs.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

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maoriboy

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#2740961 8-Jul-2021 10:31

Wow, thanks @nikT that's a great breakdown and comparison! I really like the size and look of the Oppo but battery life is more important to me than super fast charging and I think in general the S21 ultra ticks more boxes for me. If only it wasn't so damn big hahahaha. I'd look into the S21+ but the camera options on the Ultra are much better, and that's the main priority for me other than battery life.

maoriboy

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#2754079 2-Aug-2021 21:08

Just an update to let you know I went with the S21 Ultra and man what a step up from the Huawei P20 Pro it is! So many good things about it, from the camera to the screen to the battery life. Happy with this purchase for sure. Thanks to all who contributed and who helped make the decision easier.