A Month With The Ultra

[olbriar]

I'm hot and cold on the Ultra. I've had a couple of issues and have been trying to figure them out for a month.

The first issue is with the blue tooth low energy. To be quite frank, it sucks with the Ultra. My hearing aids connect to my phone though BLE which allows receiving notifications, calls, and to stream tunes. I can live without streaming tunes. If I'm listening to music I far prefer streaming to my Bose which uses regular BT which works fine. However, I need to receive my notifications and I HAVE to hear a phone conversations. At first I thought it was range which is limited being low energy. It's not proximity.. it's just hit and miss. I don't have a clue how it's supposed to talk to the SmartTag across the room when it can't communicate with my aids when I'm holding the phone to my face. My ex Note 10+ could easily talk to my aids when pocketed.. or across the room for that matter. Ultra... no sir. I'll hear a phone conversation in one ear and then it is in the other ear and then I don't hear at all then through both ears and on and on. It's a real bummer!

The second issue is the screen touch sensitivity... or at least I thought that was the problem. The sensitivity and time of tap is all massageable in the settings and I played with those settings for nearly a month. Trying this and then that but nothing worked for me. I could tap an icon a dozen times without a response. Sometimes it was one tap access. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time. It's my big thumb. I have used the same thumb on every smart phone since the Eris without this problem. I've decided that my thumb is covering too much screen space and the phone thinks it's not a tap. If I use the tip of my thumb or a finger everything opens and swipes as you expect. Not the pad of my thumb however. Crazy right? I'll adapt but it will sure take some time.

Now for the hot... The phone is super fast and smooth. The display is brilliant. The battery is simply amazing. Photos.. OMG... love the pics. I took a picture of the last full moon that was crazy good for a single pic. The fingerprint scanner rarely fails to get a positive read on the first try. The speakers have an amazing quality for a phone. It's a great phone!

I have no problem recommending the Ultra for someone wanting a phone that's on the leading edge. It's all of that and more. If you wear hearing aids... NOPE

 

[drois2]

Interesting review there. How is the battery life when streaming and running graphic-intensive games though?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I'm interested in the streaming as well. With my S20*** I use 20 to 25% percent power to watch a full movie on YouTube. My ex-S20...
Oops I did it again.

I'm not desperate. It's still usable. The little rosettes on web pages like this not only make the page look strange but I think there are sharp edges erasing my fingerprints.

 

[olbriar]

I do not play games on my phone so I can't attest to the quality or battery life. I've watched a few YouTube streams but I do not stream movies and such so I'm not a good source for information. I do like to stream audio. When the weather turns nice and I'm outside most of the day, I can more accurately review the battery drain. I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

How about the hand feel? The specs make it seem really big. How does it compare to a Note model from back in the day?

 

[olbriar]

How about the hand feel? The specs make it seem really big. How does it compare to a Note model from back in the day?

The Ultra is almost exactly the same size as my Note 10+. It might be just a bit heavier. The buttons are on the right side on the Ultra where they were on the left side of the Note. I far prefer their location on the Ultra. I hold my phones in my left hand and I often jacked with the volume toggle on the Note by accident. Not a problem now they are on the right where I think they belong.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

This is the one that can use the pen right?
I don't use a pen often but when I do.
I scribe.

 

[olbriar]

This is the one that can use the pen right?
I don't use a pen often but when I do.
I scribe.

The Ultra has some interface with a s-pen. It's not full featured like the Note line but you can use the pen to scribe and draw etc. There is no air pen responses at this time. The Ultra lacks the silo to store the pen that is found on the Note line. They make cases that store the pen but it can't be as handy as having the pen disappear into the phone for storing. The Ultra ships without a pen but they are available as an accessory for around $30. Rumor / speculation has it that the Ultra at some software update will be as pen feature rich as the Note line.

I found that I didn't utilize the pen but on rare occasion on my Note. I thought it was fun to mess with and explore it's features. I think it could be a real tool to compliment a phone. It just wasn't something that was handy for me in my on the go sort of work day. Now that I have more desk time, I can see purchasing a pen at some point. I'll wait to see if the Ultra receives an upgrade to access the full features of the s-pen and at that time invest in a full featured stylus.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I have never busted a Note Screen.

 

[olbriar]

I've never broken any phone screen. They take a lot of abuse obviously.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I'm a city-boy @olbriar So many, many, many opportunities to do stupid things and win stupid prizes.
My latest catastrophic happened in a bathroom.
Have you bought any accessories yet, Bearded one?

 

[olbriar]

I'm a city-boy @olbriar So many, many, many opportunities to do stupid things and win stupid prizes.
My latest catastrophic happened in a bathroom.
Have you bought any accessories yet, Bearded one?

I've not been accident free through the years. I once had the bank of a pond slide off into the water. In an instant I was waist deep in the pond with my mower and my phone. The phone did not survive being submerged.
The only accessory I've purchased was a cheap case for the Ultra. It adds a bit of protection but mostly lends a bit texture for grip purposes.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Why Samsung puts glass on the back I don't know. Anywho...

Anybody making a wallet case that covers the screen? That would be a good thing.

 

[olbriar]

Why Samsung puts glass on the back I don't know. Anywho...

Anybody making a wallet case that covers the screen? That would be a good thing.

I did see some wallet type cases. I don't know how you would pocket the phone with such a case however.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I wear outerwear all the time. Big pockets in Spring jackets.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

A hoodie and a jacket in the Summer.

I'm going to wait until I get my jab before I trade-in.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I'm a week away.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

3 days. If I've I'm going to upgrade. Don't need a pen.

 

[NightAngel79]

Hmm, don't know how I missed this.

Interesting points Olbriar... Haven't run into these issues, but haven't really used Bluetooth, well, for anything. In the car periodically, but haven't driven much either, lol.

Still totally in love with this phone.

My only complaint is the Voicemail app. It is the most horrible and unresponsive thing in the world. An entire VM plays (once it finally opens) before it registers I have hit the speaker button. Then takes 5 tries to register the delete button. Total garbage, VM service is Verizon, but this is a samsung app on phone. My pixel had voicemail baked into the phone app and worked perfectly, this does not, lol

 

[olbriar]

Hmm, don't know how I missed this.

Interesting points Olbriar... Haven't run into these issues, but haven't really used Bluetooth, well, for anything. In the car periodically, but haven't driven much either, lol.

Still totally in love with this phone.

My only complaint is the Voicemail app. It is the most horrible and unresponsive thing in the world. An entire VM plays (once it finally opens) before it registers I have hit the speaker button. Then takes 5 tries to register the delete button. Total garbage, VM service is Verizon, but this is a samsung app on phone. My pixel had voicemail baked into the phone app and worked perfectly, this does not, lol

I haven't noticed any difference in the VM feature. It works flawlessly as it did on my Note 10. I use Verizon's service as well.

I'm still having issues with the BLE connection. I'm questioning if the problem is the Ultra's or my aids. No updates for my aids to be had so who knows. I've given up streaming to them. I do manage to get my notifications... that's the most important thing. And phone conversations jump back and forth between ears but I can live with that.

I've been mowing now for a couple of weeks so I have a feel for battery drain for streaming tunes. I stream to wireless Bose while mowing an average of four hours a day. I can't really tell there is much battery drain to report.

I've grown to like this phone a lot! I was very happy with the Note as well and had no reason to upgrade except the timing was ideal for me. I enjoy the camera upgrade but I'm not a photo hound. All of the other improvements seem minimal. Phone advancements have somewhat leveled off between yearly flagships in my opinion. Two or three year jumps are going to wow a consumer. A year is not that big of a deal.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

The case my carrier had came with the stylus. Took it out but haven't used it yet.

 

[olbriar]

I sure hope that you like the phone Bobby. I like mine more and more as time passes.

 

[Casisrad]

Why Samsung puts glass on the back I don't know. Anywho...

Anybody making a wallet case that covers the screen? That would be a good thing.

Amazon has a lot of good cases for the ultra.

 

[Casisrad]

Amazon has a lot of good full cases for ultra.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I'm waiting for a gray leather case from bouletta.