ASUS ZenBook Flip S (UX371) Review: A lightweight 2-in-1 laptop that’s all about visuals

The ZenBook Flip S by ASUS launched late last year as one of the most premium consumer laptop offerings from the company. Featuring a 4K OLED panel, the 2-in-1 laptop seeks to compete with the likes of the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 as well as the HP Spectre x360. In fact, the ZenBook Flip S seems to look a lot like HP’s Spectre series what with its dark finish complemented by shiny accents around the edges. It’s also one of the first laptops to come with Intel’s new 11th-gen Tiger Lake processors with Iris Xe graphics, is Intel EVO certified, and has features like Instant Wake, fast charging, Wi-Fi 6, and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, all in a slim ultra-light form factor.

Here is a deep look at the ASUS ZenBook Flip S to see if ASUS has managed to earn our recommendation in the premium 2-in-1 laptop category.

ASUS ZenBook Flip S (UX371): Specifications

ASUS is offering the laptop in a single configuration (at least in India), which also means that you can’t really upgrade it on your own apart from the SSD. Here’s how the ZenBook Flip S looks like on paper:

Specification	ASUS ZenBook Flip S UX371
Dimensions & Weight	13.9 x 305 x 211 mm 1.2 kgs
Display	13.3-inch UHD (3840 x 2160) OLED touchscreen 100% DCI-P3 VESA Certified HDR500 Pantone Validated TÜV Rheinland-certified eye care Stylus support with 4096 pressure points
Processor	Intel Core i7-1165G7 2.80GHz quad-core with Turbo Boost up to 4.70 GHz
GPU	Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM & Storage	16GB DDR4 (4266MHz) 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Battery & Charger	67Wh 65W charger with support USB Type-C PD Up to 10 hours battery life
I/O	2 x Thunderbolt 4 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 HDMI 1.4
Connectivity	Intel WiFi 6 with Gig+ performance (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.0
OS	Windows 10 Home Paid Add-on: Windows 10 Pro
Other Features	IR Camera with Windows Hello Backlit keyboard Virtual Numpad on Touchpad Harman Kardon-certified speakers Fan speed profiles

About this review: Thanks to Intel India for sending us the ASUS ZenBook Flips S for review. This review has been written after about 20 days of regular use. Neither ASUS nor Intel had any inputs into the contents of this review.

Design and Build

The first thing you notice about the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is how compact this machine is. Weighing just 1.2kgs and coming in at a thickness of about 14mm, the laptop is easy to carry around especially if you are traveling. ASUS also offers a free carrying pouch in the box, which keeps the laptop safe when you throw it in a backpack.

The first thing you notice is how compact it is

Making use of aluminum alloy for the chassis, the ZenBook Flip S looks and feels better than the usual plastic-like metal alternatives that the company uses on its more affordable models. In fact, it also comes with MIL-STD 810G military-grade certification so it can take some bumps here and there. Also, while the use of an alloy keeps the overall weight in check, it is no match when compared to a pure aluminum casing. Also, it easily catches smudges and fingerprints, so you might need to keep a cleaning cloth handy.

I’ve already mentioned how the ZenBook Flip S looks similar to the HP Spectre x360 with its ‘Jade Black’ finish paired with shiny copper accents that extend to the ASUS logo on the lid. Speaking of which, the lid on the ZenBook Flip S features the company’s distinct spun-metal finish with concentric circles. It is a 2-in-1 laptop, and while I am not a huge fan, you do get the option of using it as a tablet or prop it up in tent mode while watching movies or videos. The dual-hinge system is perfectly solid, although I did feel the lid wobble a bit while using it in my lap. The laptop also comes with the Ergo-Lift design seen on a variety of ASUS machines, and this slightly raises the keyboard deck at an angle when you open the lid. This also helps the laptop have better access to fresh air from the bottom, and according to ASUS, brings up the keyboard at a better position.

The ASUS ZenBook Flip S feels handy, lightweight, and very sturdy.

Coming down to the I/O options, the laptop comes with two Thunderbolt 4 ports offering high-speed data transfer, a full-sized HDMI port to quickly plug an external display, and even a USB Type-A port so you can use external peripherals like a mouse or keyboard. There is also a tiny dedicated LED for the battery on the left side. The notebook skips out on an audio jack, which is a rare exclusion and a rather disappointing one because clearly, it doesn’t seem like there was any lack of space. You do get a USB-C dongle in the box, but that’s not really convenient to use all the time.

I wasn’t pleased with the company’s decision of placing the power button on the right side either. Sure, it might be more convenient to reach when using the PC in tablet mode, but the mushy key offers almost zero feedback, which led me to press it multiple times before the notebook finally powered up. In fact, this should be a note to all laptop manufacturers: Unless you are making a detachable 2-in-1, just place the power button above the keyboard, right where it should be!

I wanted to get access to the internals, but the bottom cover does not come with a standard set of screws—instead, you get Torx or star screws.  I was able to remove some of them, but more than half of the screws were bolstered tightly.

Overall, I really appreciate the ergonomics on the ASUS ZenBook Flip S. It feels very handy, lightweight, and despite not having a proper aluminum finish, very sturdy. The laptop definitely gives off a premium vibe and is one of the most portable 13-inch 2-in-1 laptops competing with the likes of the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 9310. It does have a few quirks here and there, which may or may not hamper your experience.

Display

The highlight feature of the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is its vivid 13.3-inch OLED touchscreen display. We all know that OLED panels are generally superior compared to IPS or TN panels when it comes to color reproduction, contrast, and even power consumption, and that is exactly what we get here. The display looks punchy and bright with rich colors and a wide dynamic range. The panel comes with a 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution which makes it pretty sharp and yes, while that is a lot of pixels on a small screen, with a bit of tinkering with scaling settings on Windows, the experience was pretty flawless.

The panel is Vesa DisplayHDR 500-certified which means you can enjoy great HDR content, covers over 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, features Delta-E < 2 color accuracy, and to top it off, is Pantone validated. This makes the ZenBook Flip S perfect for someone who is looking for accurate colors while editing pictures and videos. ASUS also claims a peak brightness of 500-nits, and it sure felt bright enough, even under direct sunlight, although the glossy finish means you get more reflections compared to a matte finish. With the TÜV Rheinland-certified eye care, the built-in blue-light filter helps in reducing stress on your eyes.

The bezels around the display aren’t what one would call slim, but ASUS claims an 80% screen-to-body ratio which isn’t all that bad. Hopefully, the next iteration of this laptop will offer a wider 16:10 aspect ratio as seen on the variety of laptops that were announced at CES 2021. Right above the display is a 720p webcam with IR to offer Windows Hello authentication. While the quality of the camera itself is just about average, the face recognition system is pretty solid and surprisingly fast. The display also offers support for an active stylus with 4096-pressure points which means you can jot down notes or show your artistic side.

ASUS has crammed in a lot of display tech into the ZenBook Flip S, and it shows. Whether you are watching a movie or just working on your presentations, the color levels and the contrast are right up there.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The ZenBook Flip S’s keyboard is spread edge-to-edge across the deck, though during the first few days of use, I found it to be a little cramped as the keys are small and not very well spaced out. The keys themselves are comfortable, though, offering 1.35mm of travel, and once you get used to the layout, you should be able to type faster and more accurately. There is an extra row of keys at the end to fit in the Home, Page-Up, Page-Down, and End keys, and for those who need a number-pad, ASUS has added one to the touchpad. With NumberPad 2.0, you can just tap on the top right corner of the touchpad for a couple of seconds to enable a backlit number-pad. Additionally, swiping right from the top left corner fires up the Calculator app. I personally found these features to be useless, although this could be neat for someone who deals with inputting a lot of numbers.

Coming to the touchpad on the ZenBook Flip S, it is very responsive, and the glass finish brings a smooth experience. All Windows gestures work flawlessly, and I hardly had any complaints with them. Of course, you do need to be careful about those corners as you are bound to accidentally enable the virtual Numpad, especially while resting your fingers on the touchpad.

Performance

One of the first laptops to rock the latest Intel Tiger Lake chipset, the ASUS ZenBook Flip S features the quad-core Core i7-1165G7 processor with Iris Xe integrated graphics. The base clock on the CPU is rated at 2.8GHz, and it can go up to 4.7GHz on a single-core and up to 4.1GHz on all four cores simultaneously. There is 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM and a speedy 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD which makes for a solid package. The new 11th-gen CPU is based on the 10nm architecture, and while it should theoretically offer a bump in performance, the overall power rating is limited specifically on the ZenBook Flip S. Essentially what that means is, if you compare this laptop with another running on the same Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, you will not get similar results due to the lower TDP (thermal design power). The ZenBook Flips S performs great when it comes to single-core tasks but falls behind in multi-core and graphics-intensive tasks, which was evident during my testing.

The ASUS ZenBook Flip S is a premium machine that you can show off and at the same time, carry around with ease.

The ZenBook Flip S comes with three performance modes that tune the CPU power and fan speeds accordingly. Hence, we have two sets of benchmarks below denoting the numbers in both Performance and Standard modes. There is also a ‘Whisper mode’ for when you don’t need a lot of power or just want the fans to run quietly (more on this later). The problem is that ASUS has compromised on the true capability of the CPU by cramming it into a very small machine. Hence, when you want peak performance, you only get that in short bursts.

In 3DMark, the CPU would go up to the rated clock speeds and try to maintain over 3GHz, but after a period of time, it just throttles down to between 1.5GHz to 2Ghz. Similarly, in PCMark 10, the CPU had a hard time sustaining higher clock speeds. Cramming a lot of power into a laptop requires a lot of cooling, but that is not easy to do in an ultra-portable form factor. The CPU went on to hit peak temperatures of 95°C when under stress, thereby leading to throttling.

Of course, you don’t need to worry about throttling and high-temperatures unless you are stressing the ZenBook Flip S all the time. ASUS lets you switch between three performance modes by going to the MyASUS app that is preloaded on the machine. Along with that, the app includes a bunch of useful tools such as ones to tune the display profiles, battery profiles, warranty and service information, hardware diagnostics, error checking, and more. It also features a unique AI-based noise cancellation system for the microphone in case you make a lot of video calls.

On the plus side, the M.2 SSD lives up to the claims. The ZenBook Flip S that was sent to me included a Western Digital NVMe drive that was able to hit peak read speeds of over 3,100MBps and peak write speeds of about 3,000MBps in my testing. While this isn’t as fast as a PCIe Gen4 SSD, this is probably the best that you can get at the moment since we have yet to see laptops with faster SSDs.

Unless you are a power-user, the ASUS ZenBook Flip S is a quite capable machine. I had no issues opening over 20 tabs in Google Chrome, editing photos in Adobe Photoshop, and listening to music all at the same time. Other notable performance parameters including wireless connectivity were pretty much as expected, and I hardly faced any issues with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The bottom-firing speakers are good, and while they aren’t very loud, they do offer a little bit of bass which was nice to hear.

Battery Life

The ASUS ZenBook Flip S packs a 67Whr battery unit, and ASUS claims up to 15-hours of battery life while playing 1080p videos. To test these claims, I ran a 1080p video in a loop only to get eight hours of battery at about 40% brightness. The number fell further as I got close to six hours worth of juice while using the notebook at a stretch which included a bit of writing, about 10 odd tabs open in Chrome, and a mix of music and video streaming.  You may be able to squeeze in a couple of more hours if you lower the screen resolution to 1080p, but make sure you carry the charging adapter if you want to use this laptop all day. Speaking of which, the laptop comes with a 65W adapter which is fairly small and has a USB Type-C connector. You can also use almost any third-party USB-PD charger with similar charging specifications.

Verdict

If you are looking for a 2-in-1 laptop with a thin chassis and premium looks, then the ASUS ZenBook Flip S will not disappoint. It is lighter than most 13-inch 2-in-1 laptops, despite being quite sturdy, and to top it all off, you get one of the best looking OLED displays in its class, suitable for most users. I would only recommend this laptop if you don’t really have the need for high-end performance. It isn’t the perfect machine as it does come with its own set of issues such as the lack of a headphone jack, which in my opinion is a big miss, apart from the above-average battery life. You do, however, get the latest 11th-gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 which should serve you well for a multitude of tasks, although you can’t really rely on this machine for hardcore workloads like video editing or gaming.

The ASUS ZenBook Flip S is more of a premium machine that you can show off and at the same time carry around with ease. It currently sells at ₹1,49,990 in India and $1,449 in the US. At that price, you should also consider other options in the market such as the Dell XPS 13 9310 2-in-1.

ASUS ZenBook Flip S (UX371)

The ZenBook Flip S from ASUS is an ultra slim laptop with a gorgeous 13.3 inch 4K OLED display powered by an Intel 11th-gen processor.

Pros:

Cons:

Buy at Amazon

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Here’s why you should be wary of installing anything that sets SELinux to permissive

In the world of Android modding, people tend to regard root access as the cornerstone of all things. It allows users to take complete control of their devices and add features that aren’t always available in the stock configuration. But as they say — “with great power comes great responsibility” — it’s not wise to bypass Android’s security model unless you know what you’re getting into. For veteran Android enthusiasts on our forums, you are probably aware of the potential for backdoors to exist on your device, and you are more likely to be running a trusted root-enabled mod on top of the latest Android version with the latest security patches. Having said that, you might know a few people who don’t really care about what root tweaks they install so long as they seemingly work for them. This is why you can still find a truckload of mods that only work when SELinux is set to permissive, which, in turn, leave their users extremely susceptible to security threats.

What is SELinux

SELinux, or Security-Enhanced Linux, is a Linux kernel security module specifically designed for access and management of security policies. Originally introduced in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and set to its Enforcing mode as default since Android 4.4 KitKat, SELinux helps enforce access control rights and attempts to prevent privilege escalation attacks. In a nutshell, SELinux acts as a hurdle for unauthorized control over your device, such as an app or vulnerability aiming to gain root access maliciously. Setting SELinux to “Enforcing” by default is one of the key ways that normal users are protected from such attacks.

Why Permissive SELinux is not recommended

To reiterate, the typical way to achieve root access on an Android device doesn’t necessarily need to change the SELinux status. Shifting SELinux mode from “Enforcing” to “Permissive” is intentionally disabling one of the key security features on the device, which is why the user has to explicitly allow it to happen by installing a specialized custom kernel or modifying the parameters of the existing boot image. A poorly coded mod lacking a proper SELinux policy usually forces end-users to shift to permissive SELinux and essentially expands the attack surface. That’s exactly what developer vvb2060 demonstrated when they published a proof of concept privilege escalation method where the only requirement to gain control is permissive SELinux.

Enter Magica

For a user to get full root access on their own device running Android 10 (or higher) with SELinux set to permissive is shockingly easy to do: All you have to do is press install, and “Magica” will automatically gain root access in a service and install Magisk to the boot image. This is something far wider in scope than just tweaking your device. According to XDA Senior Recognized Developer and Magisk maintainer topjohnwu, any arbitrary app, including malware, can permanently root your device without your consent and permission by utilizing the PoC.

Imagine this scenario: you are using a custom kernel that ships with SELinux permissive. You accidentally install a malware using this loophole. The malware installs a modified "malicious Magisk" to permanently gain full root access. BOOM, your device is now #pwned.

— John Wu (@topjohnwu) February 9, 2021

If you’re wondering on a technical level what Magica is exploiting, topjohnwu explained the following in a Reddit post:

“When SELinux is permissive during boot, zygote will know this and disable seccomp syscall filters. This basically unrestricts what system calls are allowed in 3rd party processes.

On Android 10+, there is a new “undocumented” feature called “App Zygote” where 3rd party apps are allowed to spawn its own Zygote for “Isolated Services” (also nearly undocumented). Both “App Zygote” and “Isolated Services” are special features designed for Chrome/Webview*. App Zygote processes run with special permissions, and with seccomp disabled, it can call setuid 0 and escalate its privilege and gain root access.

It is still somehow restrictive compared to what normal root solutions provide (e.g. Magisk), however tons of security measures in Android will be completely defeated when UID=0. For example, it is enough to be used to patch boot images, which means it can be used to inject malware such as modified Magisk to help it gain “real” root permissions.

Update: what can UID=0 itself do? Within Android’s framework, almost all services have a blind green light when the requesting process’s UID is 0. This means this root process is capable of manipulating tons of stuff using Android specific APIs (e.g. ActivityManager)”

*According to developer aviraxp, these two features are more generally designed “for sharing resources and memory between multiple isolated processes.”

The general lack of consciousness

Even though ignoring SELinux guidelines is very serious, some Android OEMs are deliberately giving it the go-by. ASUS, for example, recently rolled out a software update to address the Widevine DRM level downgrade issue on the ZenFone 7 and the ROG Phone 3. Developers have discovered that the recent firmwares purposefully set SELinux as permissive for a brief period of time on each boot. As a consequence, it is theoretically possible to gain root access on these devices without even unlocking the bootloader, though this has yet to be demonstrated.

Yes.

— Luca Stefani (@luca020400) February 9, 2021

Conclusion

Considering the irreparable harm that can be inflicted on users targeted by malware on a permissive SELinux environment, we strongly suggest everyone keep it on enforcing unless absolutely necessary. While we are just lucky to have a proof of concept exploit, we have no idea how many malware authors already know about this path of attack. After all, a victim will continue to remain oblivious to the compromised state of their device if they did not witness the exploit being actively used, which is not difficult to achieve for a rogue app that has persistent root access.

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Give your Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K a taste of Google with this Android TV port

If you own an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K released in 2018 and aren’t satisfied with the out-of-the-box software experience, you can now swap the UI for the Android TV experience. For background, Amazon develops its own fork of Android called Fire OS for its Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices. Fire OS for Fire TV lacks Google Apps out of the box and has a wildly different UI than Google’s Android TV OS.

Although you can sideload many Android apps that aren’t available on the Amazon App Store, some might not work without Google services. Fortunately, that’s where the XDA community comes in. XDA Member burcbuluklu has managed to install Android TV in a roundabout way on the 2018 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. To copy their setup, you’ll need a monitor or TV, a USB drive formatted to Fat32, a keyboard and mouse for navigation, an OTG adapter, and of course, a 2018 Fire TV 4K stick (code-named “mantis”).

To get the Android TV UI on your Fire TV Stick 4K 2018, you’ll first need to unlock the bootloader and flash the TWRP custom recovery. Then, download the backed-up ROM build and extract it to TWRP’s backup folder on your USB flash drive. Now, perform a factory reset from TWRP and then restore the backup you saved on the USB drive. Once done, you’ll have an experience that’s close to Android TV, though the device will still be running the same-old outdated Android 7.1.2 Nougat build underneath.

Most things seem to be working, according to the user, including Google Play Store and Play Services, Widevine DRM, Kodi, Android Screen Cast, Alexa, Fire TV Remote app, Magisk, and more. However, Google Assistant and Google Voice Search are broken.

This is an exciting development for hobbyists and Fire TV Stick 4K owners, allowing them to have the best of both worlds: a full-fledged Android TV experience with the Play Store along with Alexa and Amazon Appstore. If you’re interested, head over to the linked thread below and read through all the requirements and step-by-step installation instructions needed to install Android TV.

Get Android TV on your 2018 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

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The future of flashing custom ROMs will be through a web browser

For some people, the urge to dip their toes into the aftermarket development scene comes and goes. Sometimes we claim to be satisfied with a new phone, pretending it has everything we need. Right after the honeymoon period ends, we fall back to old habits and quickly want to dive into the world of rooting and custom ROMs. While there are various generic or device-specific flashing guides available to help you, it can still be a daunting task for a new user trying to understand what all those terms and programs are for. Even for power users, sometimes you just can’t get your PC (or Mac) to recognize your Android phone, no matter how many times you mess with system settings.

When Google first announced the Android Flash Tool as an effort to streamline the Generic System Image (GSI) installation job, there was some discussion among the community about how effective the browser-based approach would be at simplifying the flashing paradigm. After all, the method does allow users to sidestep the inconvenience of manually downloading images and flashing them with fastboot commands. Google’s offering, however, is a bit restrictive because the online tool is only compatible with a handful of devices, and you are limited to flashing nothing but official AOSP images and stock firmware packages. To that end, Danny Lin, who goes by kdrag0n on our forums, developed fastboot.js – a JavaScript implementation of the fastboot protocol using the WebUSB API, geared specifically towards end-users who have trouble flashing third-party operating systems on Android devices.

It’s always good to see other options pop up, and the arrival of a JavaScript-based flashing tool essentially means you will be able to flash custom ROMs directly from your browser! In fact, Lin, the developer who maintains the ProtonAOSP for the Google Pixel 5 and other devices, has already come up with a generic Android web installer, a full-fledged installer app template that runs entirely in the browser. In case you have a device that is officially supported by the ProtonAOSP project, you can even try flashing it using an official fork of this web installer.

Kdrag0n also wrote the web installer for the privacy-focused GrapheneOS project, which he credits for funding the initial development of this project.

An experimental version of our web-based installer for GrapheneOS is now available:https://t.co/29OBsANCta

This can be used from browsers with WebUSB support. Most Chromium-based browsers are supported including Chrome, Edge and Brave. No need to run any additional software.

— GrapheneOS (@GrapheneOS) January 24, 2021

Chromium has supported WebUSB since version 61, so any Chromium-based browser (e.g. Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge) installed on your PC can use the web flashing tool coded on top of fastboot.js. On Windows, you may also need to install a driver for the Fastboot interface, but it will be automatically downloaded and installed via Windows Update in most cases.

More information regarding the fastboot.js library can be found in the repository linked below. While not meant to be an all-purpose replacement of the native Fastboot binary just yet, the Javascript implementation, with its inherent OS-agnostic nature, offers a portable and convenient complement, or potentially even alternative, to the Android platform tools for your tweaking needs. No longer will users have to suffer from issues related to missed commands or scramble to download updated Android platform tools, since everything you need will be right there in your browser.

fastboot.js GitHub Repo

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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Note 20 Ultra: Which flagship should you buy?

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra represents the absolute best Samsung has to offer in smartphone display and cameras. But the not even half-year-old Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is still plenty powerful, and since it’s almost certainly going to see discounts, it may be the better value for consumers who don’t need the absolute latest but still want something powerful. What are the key differences, what’s new in the Galaxy S21 series, and which Samsung flagship should you buy if you’re on the market today? Read more to find out.

Galaxy S21 Ultra (left); Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (right).

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Note 20 Ultra: Specs Comparison

Specifications	Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra	Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Build	Aluminum mid-frame Gorilla Glass back Gorilla Glass Victus front	Aluminum mid-frame Glass front and back Gorilla Glass Victus front
Dimensions & Weight	165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9mm 228 grams	164.8 x 77.2 x 8.1mm 213 grams
Display	6.8″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display 120Hz variable refresh rate 20:9 aspect ratio 1600 nits peak brightness HDR10+ Always-On display	6.9″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display 120Hz variable refresh rate 1300 nits peak brightness HDR10+ Always-On display
SoC	International: Exynos 2100: 1x Core @ 2.9GHz + 3x Cores @ 2.8GHz + 4x Cores @ 2.4GHz USA and China: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888	International: Exynos 990 USA and China: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765+
Ram & Storage Options	12GB + 128GB 12GB + 256GB 12GB + 512GB	12GB + 128GB 12GB + 256GB 12GB + 512GB
Battery & Charging	5,000mAh 25W USB Power Delivery 3.0 fast charging 15W wireless charging 4.5 reverse wireless charging No charger in box in most regions	4,500mAh 25W USB Power Delivery 3.0 fast charging 15W wireless charging 4.5 reverse wireless charging
Security	Ultrasonic In-Display Fingerprint Scanner	Ultrasonic In-Display Fingerprint Scanner
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 108MP, wide-angle lens, f/1.8, 1/1.33″, 0.8µm, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF Secondary: 12MP, ultra-wide-angle lens, f/2.2, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm Tertiary: 10MP, telephoto lens, f/2.0, 1/1.76″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS Quarternary: 10MP Periscope telephoto lens, f/4.9, 240mm, 1/3.24″, 1.22µm, OIS, 10x optical zoom	Primary: 108MP, wide-angle lens, f/1.8, 1/1.33″, 0.8µm, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF Secondary: 12MP, ultra-wide-angle lens, f/2.2, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm Tertiary: 10MP Periscope telephoto lens, f/3.0, 240mm, 1/3.24″, 1.22µm, OIS, 5x optical zoom
Front Camera(s)	40MP, f/2.2, 0.7µm, Dual Pixel PDAF	10MP, f/2.2, 1.22µm
Port(s)	USB Type-C	USB Type-C
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.1 NFC0Wi-Fi 6 5G	Bluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4GHz + 5GHz, HE80, MIMO, 1024-QAM 5G
Software	Samsung One UI 3.1 based on Android 11	Samsung One UI 2.5 based on Android 10
Other Features	IP68 S-Pen support (separate purchase)	IP68 S-Pen support (and included)
Pricing	Starts at $1,299	Starts at $1,399

Where does the Galaxy S21 Ultra improve on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra?

The big question for consumers deciding between the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra is likely “what are the improvements made by the Galaxy S21 Ultra improve over the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra?” There are two major areas of noticeable improvements: the processor and the camera zoom system.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888, a 5nm SoC that represents the best Qualcomm has to offer right now. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s Snapdragon 865+ is no slouch, however. Still, whether it’s benchmarks or real-world performance, the Snapdragon 888 is the superior chip — although you won’t really see the difference until you’re really pushing the phone, like shooting a video using both front and back cameras, or shooting 4K/60fps with every lens, which the Galaxy S21 Ultra can do but the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra cannot.

The camera system is where most of the tangible improvements are found. The Galaxy S21 Ultra camera introduces a new Periscope zoom lens that can achieve 10x optical zoom compared to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s 5x optical zoom. Truth be told, the difference in zoom shots quality is subtle if kept at a reasonable range (10x) — though if you pixel peep you can see the difference in quality — but at longer zooms, the difference becomes much more apparent.

10x zoom with the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy Note 21 Ultra.

For example, in the above 10x zoom image of the soccer ball, both images looked similar if viewed on a phone. It’s only if I really crop in and pixel peep on a larger screen did I see that the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 10x shot captured more texture and details.

10x zoom, Galaxy S21 Ultra (left) and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

At longer zoom, it’s easier to see. The set below contains 20x and 30x zoom by both phones. Notice that the Galaxy S21 Ultra shot is much sharper.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra also has an additional 3x optical telephoto zoom lens with a focal length of around 70mm, which is ideal for portraits. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, because it lacks that shorter zoom lens, uses digital zoom up to 4.9x. However, the difference between the 3x shots is very hard to figure out. You can see the keyboard in the Galaxy S21 Ultra shot below has more details, and has more texture on the collar around the neck.

The main 108MP camera and 12MP ultra-wide hardware remain mostly the same as before – although the Galaxy S21 Ultra uses a newer sensor in the main camera – but the Galaxy S21 Ultra should produce superior photos due to the combination of the superior Snapdragon 888 ISP and Samsung’s own fine-tuning.

Moving around to the front, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s selfie camera is also more pixel-dense at 40MP — which Samsung then pixel bins into a 10MP selfie, while the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a straightforward 10MP selfie camera. Other than differing color science, I couldn’t quite tell any substantial difference in selfie image quality.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra’s screen is also technically superior, with the ability to run at 120Hz while maintaining 1440p resolution; the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra must downgrade to 1080p – although to be honest, I’m of the belief that the human eye can’t quite tell the difference between 1440p and 1080p on a relatively small mobile screen anyway. Both screens look equally gorgeous to my eyes.

Where users will likely feel the difference is endurance – the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 5,000 mAh battery is significantly larger than the 4,500 mAh in the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, so the S21 Ultra will surely go longer before needing a charge.

There are more subtle improvements across the board, such as the Galaxy S21 Ultra having a larger in-display fingerprint scanner and support for WiFi 6, but these are relatively minor improvements that most people won’t even notice. For most consumers, it will be the SoC and camera zoom prowess that set the two phones apart.

What areas are similar between the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra?

The Galaxy S21 Ultra has more in common with the Galaxy Note series than any previous S phones before because it supports the S-Pen stylus that’s long been a staple of the Note series. This means more than ever, the lines between the two phones have blurred.

While it’s worth noting that the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s S-Pen support does not include the Bluetooth remote controls, using it as a pen to jot notes or sketch will feel identical, as the latency and software features mostly remain the same. And while the S21 Ultra has a newly designed camera module, the overall construction between the two phones are similar — they both have a matte glass finish and slightly curved screens. The software experience should also be similar, as are all the other bonus Samsung features such as DeX.

Which one should you buy?

If money is no object, then it’s a no brainer to go with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra since it has a much better zooming lens, a brighter screen, and a newer processor – unless you really want an S-Pen that’s included free of charge and is stored inside the phone.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the ultimate overkill in the new 2021 flagship series, packing in a flagship SoC, a premium build, a great display, and an amazing camera setup, as well as all the extras expected on a premium flagship.

Buy from Samsung.com

But since the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is an “old” phone now, there is bound to be regular discounts that will knock several hundred dollars off its original $1,399 price tag. So if you want to save some cash and still get a very premium Samsung experience, the Note 20 Ultra keeps up well in many areas to not feel outdated. It’s still a beast of a phone even in 2021.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has one of the best screens and best cameras on the market. It's 108MP camera can produce sharp and brightly lit photos, while that Periscope zoom lens can get up to 50x.

View at Amazon

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Google will soon add Kid Profile support to the Chromecast with Google TV

Google said it plans to add support for Kid Profiles to the Chromecast with Google TV following outcry from users.

When the Chromecast with Google TV launched, the experience introduced a more polished UI that emphasized personalized recommendations. Essentially, it shows you content based on what you’ve watched and the genres you like. Overall, it’s a good replacement for Android TV. But users felt it fell short in multi-user support, specifically for parents who want to restrict access to certain apps and content.

In a support thread, via Android Authority, a Google spokesperson said it’s working to address this with a new feature that should be available for Chromecast with Google TV in the “next month (or so).”

Just wanted to post an update that Kids Profiles should be rolling out in the next month (or so). Restricted profiles are indeed deprecated in [Google TV] and replaced by the new feature “Kids Profiles”, which allows you to setup a safe space for kids in google TV. During onboarding you can chose what apps to make available to kids. Youtube kids is available by default and other installed apps required parent opt-in before they are made available to the kid. Leaving the kids profile can be restricted by a PIN to prevent kids from accidentally going back to the parent account.

However, Kid Profiles doesn’t really address the problem users have with the lack of real multi-user support. But for households who want to restrict the activity of their child, the Kid Profile feature sounds like a good solution. In a separate comment about multiple user report, the official Google Nest account hinted the feature is coming, but refrained from sharing further details.

At just $49, the Chromecast with Google TV is a solid streaming device that does a good job of aggregating all of your favorite services. But it clearly has its limitations. The good news is Google is working to address customer complaints. Let’s hope these features are released sooner rather than later.

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Facebook is reportedly making a smartwatch with cellular connectivity

Facebook is reportedly making a smartwatch that will focus on features like messaging and fitness. The wearable is said to support cellular connectivity and could go on sale sometime next year.

According to The Information, Facebook is targeting the smartwatch market because the social network sees wearables as one of the biggest markets after smartphones. Facebook has already jumped into the smart home and virtual reality, so the company has experience selling consumer hardware.

One of the Facebook watch’s (not the actual name) main features will be messaging. The social network owns three of the largest messaging platforms on the market (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram), and the wearable will seemingly have deep integration with those services. And with cellular connectivity, users will be able to stay in contact with friends and family without the need of a smartphone.

The Facebook watch will go up against the Apple Watch, which is one the most popular wearable in the world.

The Facebook watch will also focus on health and fitness. The Information claims the wearable will integrate with some of today’s most popular services, including Peloton Interactive. Based on what we’ve seen across the industry, Facebook’s device will likely offer a heart rate monitor and may possibly measure a user’s blood oxygen levels.

The watch will reportedly run on an open-source version of Google’s Android. But it might not be that way forever. The Information reports Facebook is working on its own operating system, which could power future hardware. Facebook’s OS could appear as early as 2023 on a second-generation version of the watch.

With wearables like the Apple Watch already well established around the globe, it may be tough for Facebook to find an audience. But one way Facebook could attract consumers is by selling the device “near the cost to produce it.” It’s unclear how much it will cost, but there’s a good chance it will be more affordable than the Apple Watch, which has a starting price of $399 for the Apple Watch Series 6.

Facebook’s wearable is reportedly part of the company’s larger strategy to diversify its hardware portfolio. In addition to a smartwatch, The Information reports the social network is also working on AR glasses that could debut in 2023. That could put the company in direct competition with Apple, which is also reportedly developing AR glasses.

The Information rightly points out that a smartwatch developed by Facebook could face challenges from consumers over privacy concerns. Facebook makes the vast majority of its $86 billion a year in revenue from selling advertising, and the smartwatch could potentially be another way to reach and track its users.

With a release not expected until 2022, we may not get official details for the Facebook watch for a long time. With the Apple Watch so dominant in the wearable market, we never expected Facebook to be the one to pose a major challenge. But we could see the two go head to head when the social network’s wearable is released, if it even happens at all.

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