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Samsung S26 Ultra/S26/S26 Plus

drinkingtea said:
Preordered the black S26U and the new Buds 4 Pro! Selling my Pixel 10 Pro XL. I've had it for several months now, and I've had so many issues with it, especially with it constantly losing signal.

The built-in privacy display is huge deal. I'm excited! Both the S26U and the Buds should pair well with my S10U!

Also, I hope the privacy screen can turn on automatically based on location. Update: Yes, you can geofence the feature!
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I'm surprised people are still having issues with signal strength with the Pixel series. This should have been completely solved by now. I know most users might not experience this problem, or maybe it's carrier related, but it's not a good sign still hearing this type of issues.
 
Sensamic said:
I'm surprised people are still having issues with signal strength with the Pixel series. This should have been completely solved by now. I know most users might not experience this problem, or maybe it's carrier related, but it's not a good sign still hearing this type of issues.
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It's the poor quality modem - this is well documented on YouTube.
 
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drinkingtea said:
Preordered the black S26U and the new Buds 4 Pro! Selling my Pixel 10 Pro XL. I've had it for several months now, and I've had so many issues with it, especially with it constantly losing signal.

The built-in privacy display is huge deal. I'm excited! Both the S26U and the Buds should pair well with my S10U!

Also, I hope the privacy screen can turn on automatically based on location. Update: Yes, you can geofence the feature!
Click to expand...

Congrats!

I came to the same conclusion with prior Pixel models twice in regards to cellular and wifi signal strength, throughput and performance. The only downside with newer Samsung Galaxy mobile phones is learning the nuances (and a few limitations too in some cases) with the lenses and camera app compared to Pixel.
 
I do have to say that the customisation on a Samsung Galaxy is second to none. Even tho Pixel is customisable and Apple are getting there with the iPhone, Samsung just takes it to a new level. Good Lock is great!!

For me personally the camera is what I love most on a smartphone. There are only so many memories in life and I like capturing them with the best that I can. Which is why I'm waiting to see how the S26 Ultra compares to my S24 Ultra. Everything else still works great on my S24 Ultra, but for me the camera is where I would love to see more improvements.

Got to say I like the look of the camera housing this time around, the S26 Ultra also looks less boxed and more friendly to hold.
 
Dave245 said:
I do have to say that the customisation on a Samsung Galaxy is second to none. Even tho Pixel is customisable and Apple are getting there with the iPhone, Samsung just takes it to a new level. Good Lock is great!!

For me personally the camera is what I love most on a smartphone. There are only so many memories in life and I like capturing them with the best that I can. Which is why I'm waiting to see how the S26 Ultra compares to my S24 Ultra. Everything else still works great on my S24 Ultra, but for me the camera is where I would love to see more improvements.

Got to say I like the look of the camera housing this time around, the S26 Ultra also looks less boxed and more friendly to hold.
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I don't upgrade for camera improvements, although it's always good to have improvements. I'm just a tech addict who likes the latest and greatest and am fortunate enough to be able to do so.

In the last 5 years there has been little difference year on year that is worthwhile upgrading for if camera is your main reason for doing so. I'm not saying there won't be a little difference between the S26U and your S24U but not this massive jump some expect! The S24 Ultra imo is still a solid choice even in 2026.
 
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Dave245 said:
I do have to say that the customisation on a Samsung Galaxy is second to none. Even tho Pixel is customisable and Apple are getting there with the iPhone, Samsung just takes it to a new level. Good Lock is great!!

For me personally the camera is what I love most on a smartphone. There are only so many memories in life and I like capturing them with the best that I can. Which is why I'm waiting to see how the S26 Ultra compares to my S24 Ultra. Everything else still works great on my S24 Ultra, but for me the camera is where I would love to see more improvements.

Got to say I like the look of the camera housing this time around, the S26 Ultra also looks less boxed and more friendly to hold.
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Did the s24 mark the start of longer term Samsung update support?
 
jamezr said:
This video explains a lot. Not a huge upgrade but it does add a lot of new features

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I checked it out today at Best Buy alongside my S25 ultra (camera only), other than f/1.4 vs f/1.7 (approximately 1/3 stop faster), no image quality difference. Same sensors, the image degrades the same on both phones when zoomed in farther than 100%. Of course if you want clean image quality, expert raw must be used at the cameras lowest ISO with longer or shorter shutter speeds.
 
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Decided to pre-order the S26U 512gb in black through Amazon. Had $190 in gift cards to use plus the $200 gift card bonus offer, so $1220 all in isn't too bad. Who knows when it'll be delivered, there's no ETA.

I think I'm finally getting to the point where I'm not excited about new phones nearly as much as I was before. I will actually benefit from the privacy display while browsing in bed / listening to podcasts and the like as to not bother my wife, so that's a cool new feature I'll use pretty often. Other than that, I feel pretty "meh" about the phone, and all other phones at the moment. I like my OP15 but lack of live activities and lack of customization of lock screen / AOD really annoys me on a daily basis. Who knows when Google will finally force devs to implement live activities into their apps. Then there's still the lack of real-time speedometer in Google maps when using Android Auto. Can't blame my phone ( 😂 ) but I got a red-light speeding ticket at a place that would normally pop out as bright red on the iOS Google maps in CarPlay to show me I'm speeding.

The Chinese phones are all non-starters for me after owning the Xiaomi 14, 15 Ultra, and Oppo X9P. Software nowhere near Samsung or Apple or even Google, and always some compromise in network or other usability feature in the U.S. OP15 is the best of that bunch, imo.

Hopefully the upcoming foldables from Samsung and Apple will re-invigorate me. Sorry for the long post, thank you for reading if you made it to the end!
 
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Just played a little bit at the store with all new S26 models.

The Ultra feels light for its size, at least at the beginning. After a while you can't ignore the size and weight, but it does feel A LOT more comfortable to hold than the S25 Ultra with it's sharp square edges. I don't like the feeling in hand of that phone at all. Also the S26 Ultra being thinner helps.

Privacy display is cool, but there's a noticeable decrease in brightness. It's not small at all. I feel I couldn't have it turned on at all times due to the lower brightness.

Screen quality overall is the same compared to the S25 series. OneUI 8.5 is nice, but I didn't found the parallax effect in lockscreen pictures. That was supposed to be there in the betas. Overall not a huge update.

I think I will stay with my regular S25. Didn't see any difference in screen quality (I know it's the same per specs), build quality, software (in 1/2 months OneUI 8.5 will arrive to the S25 series, hopefully with most of the new AI features)...

Hopefully next year the Ultra becomes thinner and even lighter. Still huge for me. I hope also for some improvements to the cameras, and hopefully Privacy Display comes to all models also.
 
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Rumours are already alleging that the upgrade expected on the main camera for this model is actually appearing on the S27U.

 
Samsung emailed me that my s26U shipped and will be here on Monday. But UPS still just says the label was created and they don't have the package yet.
 
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jamezr said:
Samsung emailed me that my s26U shipped and will be here on Monday. But UPS still just says the label was created and they don't have the package yet.
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I see a label in UPS since yesterday and my buds 4 pro shipped today under a different label.

I ordered my Ultra through Google Fi
 
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jamezr said:
Samsung emailed me that my s26U shipped and will be here on Monday. But UPS still just says the label was created and they don't have the package yet.
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Please post your impressions of the phone if it arrives early! I'm going to check it out at a Best Buy at some point and have a look myself.
 
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Harthag said:
Please post your impressions of the phone if it arrives early! I'm going to check it out at a Best Buy at some point and have a look myself.
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I got it in today. I am moving on from the S25 Ultra. Right now I'm still moving into it, so I don't have much in the way of observations yet, but if there's something you'd like to know, let me know and I'll be happy to take a look for you.
 
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Watching reviews and the heavy emphasis on new AI integrated features, are these exclusive to the s26 line or included in one UI 8.5?
 
animalx said:
I got it in today. I am moving on from the S25 Ultra. Right now I'm still moving into it, so I don't have much in the way of observations yet, but if there's something you'd like to know, let me know and I'll be happy to take a look for you.
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How is off-axis viewing when the privacy feature is disabled? Is there a lot of off-axis shift or is it similar to the S25U?
 
Mine was supposed to be delivered on the 9th. But I called UPS and was able to get it held at the sort facility before it gets loaded on a truck!
Backing up my S25U to a USB-C drive and will restore from there!

1772917177043.png
 
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yui4 said:
How does it compare in build / feel with the s25 ultra?
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The in-hand feel doesn't feel discernably different. If you hold them both (one in each hand), you can tell the slight difference in weight. On a table the build difference is very apparent. Without a case, the wobble on the 26 Ultra is substantial because of how pronounced the camera island is.
 
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