We’re back again with our latest review of the new Samsung S20 Ultra(Official Website). This is a flagship phone from one of the best manufacturers and we have decided to look into almost every single aspect of this device. This is a completely unbiased review with details of its camera system, design and also performance.
Technically, we would say that it is perhaps the best Android phone available on the market right now. This device has got everything from a versatile camera to a hyper-premium internal hardware package. It is also future-proofed with next-generation 5G connectivity and a massive immersive display.
How it wins supremacy, however, is pretty vital. The technology devices available from the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra are quite refined and in some cases feel strong, but somewhat rough around the edges and/or totally excessive. The price of this Smartphone is also incredibly high, which makes it reachable for a limited number of people with no issues regarding the budget they can spend.
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Price and Release date
You may ordering it right now as the pre-order date started from the 11th of February and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is going to be available for orders till the 8th of March 2020. So, the deal is still on, if you order it right now, you’d get a free pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds + true wireless earphones absolutely free. Also, you’d receive your phone a few days earlier.
The official release date of the Samsung Galaxy S20 ultra is 13th March 2020. However, as mentioned earlier, the pre-orders will get to their owners before the actual release date.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is expected to start selling at £1,199 and it can go further to £1,399 if you want the maximum features on your Galaxy.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review
General Specifications
Dimensions: 167 x 76 x 8.8 mm (6.57 x 2.99 x 0.35 in)
Weight: 221 g (7.80 oz)
Screen: 6.9-inch, HDR10+, 120Hz,1440 x 3200 pixels, 20:9 ratio
CPU: Exynos 990 / Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865
GPU: Adreno 650
RAM: 12GB/16GB
Storage: 128GB/512GB
Rear cameras: 108MP, 48MP, 12MP, ToF
Front cameras: 40MP, PDAF
Battery: 5,000mAh
OS: Android 10.0, One UI 2.0
5G: Yes
Camera Setup
We shall begin our review with the most compelling feature of this device. It is, of course, the camera system in this beautiful looking Samsung Galaxy that sets everything apart. What Google did to Pixel 4, and Apple did to its iPhone 11; Samsung is well on its way to repeating the same thing again.
The rear camera has come out as its ‘signature design element’ and it also helps in shaping the overall look of the device. And the only thing it does is stand out when you turn the screen over.
A strong quad-camera system with a 108MP wide-angle main snapper, combined with a 48MP, a 12MP ultra-wide and a ToF-Depthvision lens, is featured on the remarkably strong rectangle array that needs to be covered with a case to prevent scrapes and nics.
The largest-selling point is, of course, the 108MP camera sensor that provides the South Korean producer’s new 100 x Super Resolution Zoom and Hybrid Optic Zoom 10x, as well as super high-resolution shooting and video recording up to 8K. This feature is really amazing and equally important for the potential buyers to decide.
As we discuss the rear selection of lenses, the new Single Take shooting mode of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra uses all of them. In this mode, both lenses are used when a shot or a video is taken, and then, after shot, a variety of different choices are shown to the user, such as 10 shots and mini-videos, all of which are in the image gallery of the camera.
You’d get different versions of the same event once you get addicted to these kinds of features in this Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Also, you won’t find your gallery to be cluttered at all. This has been great testing because it effectively eliminates moments of indecision when you quickly choose a mode to shoot. It actually doesn’t let you miss the best moments created or an angle that shouldn’t be missed at all.
100X Super-Resolution Zoom
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a very impressive zooming feature. You have a lot of scope for the shooting from the most distant ultra-wide environment to 1x, 5x, 10x, 30x, and up to 100x. As you can see, at most zoom rates, fidelity is still good except 100x.
At 100x, the photos almost took on a soft-focus water-color finish with a picture that looked almost like a painting while very discernible in terms of its subject matter. It was like we had loaded a picture in Photoshop and used an artistic filter. We also believe that the 100x zoom feature is cool, and I am sure that you can get half a decent picture with a proper tripod, but we highly doubt its everyday use.
The camera system of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra actually flexes its muscles elsewhere. There are quite a number of shooting methods available and trust us, they’re extremely high-quality. In addition to the full shooting flexibility, you have a good panorama and dedicated food environments, nighttime and live focus options. You can also shoot in a variety of aspect ratio options, as you would assume.
You can shoot your videos in a variety of 8K resolutions and there’s a Pro video shooting mode as well along with the slow-motion feature and hyper-lapse option. But there’s a small loophole as far as the 8K video mode and camera system are concerned. Most of the people won’t be able to feel the real 8K resolution as it requires an 8K screen as well to play it back at full reliability. However, the built-in screen of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is QHD.
However, the good part is that you’d still get those still images from your taken 8K footage. It provides a practical benefit of eating into your storage memory. Also, the fans of AR Emojis and crazy filters will enjoy using this device a lot as they’re found in abundance on this phone. You’d also get a 3D object scanner.
Capturing through scan is perhaps one of the finest and neatest modes available in this device. It will start doing it its stuff when you point the lenses of a camera to a document with a text written on it, and then tap the ‘scan’ button on the screen to scan the object to your computer. It is useful for things like capturing menus, digital scanning of documents quickly and even capturing the artwork.
It doesn’t really matter what you’re going to shoot with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra’s camera, it will still give you amazing image quality and camera results. In particular, the color balance seems to be the strongest point, while Samsung seems not to lean towards very intense post-processing. In our views, it is rather uncomfortable and can make sharp edges seem a bit weak.
Most certainly, this is more relevant to Samsung’s software algorithms than to any hardware deficiency, and clearly the most supreme requirements are always decided by a degree of subjectivity. However, we would still prefer a bit crisper, noisier camera results such as the image quality of Sony Xperia phones.
If anything, Samsung’s incorporation of Single Takes with a device so laden with the camera technology makes it all smarter, because all those choices, at least for us, are one thing that generates complacency. The reality is that almost every standard photograph taken in regular photo mode comes through a 108-megapixel sensor to be called upon. Our advice for the customers would be to go for the premium hardware of this phone unless you’re aware of your actions.
Interesting Video
If we conclude the overall camera system then this Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is coming with a 40MP front camera. This device has the ability to capture all of your glory moments and that too without the beauty filters. However, if you want to pick things up for softer and flattering shots, then the power is ours. You’re not limited to 40MP fidelity.
Screen and Design
The first thing you’re going to notice about this beautiful Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is its bigger screen that is almost 6.9-inches long. It reminds you of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ that has a screen of 6.8-inches.
If you keep both of these phones facing each other, you’d find a lot of similarities in design but the weight of the Galaxy S20 Ultra is a bit more than the Note 10+. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is 221g whilst the king-sized Note 10+ is 196g. It makes a difference of 25g which is quite reasonable when it comes to the weight of smart phone and related devices. If we talk about the overall look of these phones then the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is giving a softer feeling because of its S-series wider frame curves. But overall, they look quite similar in their designs.
Like the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which in our view is closer to that Smartphone than in the previous year, the front-facing camera remains in place which features the top center. If you’re not a fan of motorized pop-ups, then this same pin-hole design should work for you unless we get the under-screen camera technology.
You can only be struck by the size and clarity of the Dynamic AMOLED display by sticking around the front of the screen. This screen is upgraded with 120Hz, that even outstrips the magnificence of 90Hz OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro screens, ensuring that anything on this monitor is absolutely amazing together with HDR10 + and a bright 1.440 x 3.200 resolution.
The 120Hz refresher rate makes it possible to swipe, app change, navigate user interface and all animated elements to soften the device, and it really provides a superior overall usability experience in combination with the slickness of Android 10.0 and the best-in-class One UI 2 skin of Samsung.
If we talk about the placements of buttons then the entire left-hand edge of the Ultra’s frame is untouched. However, there is a volume and power button situated at the right-hand edge. The USB 3.1 Type C power port of the phone is situated at the bottom, while its SIM and microSD card slots are on the top.
If you flip your Galaxy Ultra S20 then you’d see the beautiful element in its design as the pronounced rectangular camera variety will give you a pleasant feeling. Ultimately, it looks pretty decent and nice from the front, although there is practically no stunning waterfall curve and lovely ropey from the back and that is mainly due to this voluminous rear camera lens. Otherwise, it’s very nice.
You can literally say that Samsung has designed this phone so that it can only be used for one case as when it is placed down, that array takes away your attention and it is not a pleasant feeling at all.
Battery and Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is completely packed as far as internal hardware is concerned, as you would expect from the latest device in a fresh Samsung phone line-up. The device includes the powerful Exynos 990 CPU of Samsung (an 865 US-based Snapdragon), a 650 GPU of Adreno, an incredible 16GB of RAM and a good 512GB internal storage that can be extended with microSD card.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 ULTRA – GEEKBENCH 5 SCORES
CPU:
Single-Core Score: 939
Multi-Core Score: 2,815Compute:
OpenCL: N/A (App crash)
Vulkan: 3,925SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 ULTRA – 3DMARK SCORES
Sling Shot Extreme (OpenGL ES 3.1): 6,765
Sling Shot Extreme (Vulkan): 6,212
You can see from the above info-box, the stupidly high hardware specification translates into some very cool, wonderful benchmarks, both in Geekbench 5 and in 3DMark.
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G (768), OnePlus 7T Pro (762) and Samsung’s Note 10 + 5G (752) were even outscored by 939 single-core. It runs out all of these great giants and that is an achievement itself.
The multi-core results are obviously different, as the 2.815 of the S20 Ultra is less than the 30 Pro 5G (3074) of the Huawei Elite, but beat the 7T Pro (2701) and the 10 + 5G Galaxy Note of the S20 Ultra.
It will defeat any mobile application it comes across and all of these numbers really don’t matter when you look at the S20 Ultra and it is a pretty fast mobile phone to use in modern-day.
Although this device is not specifically made to play games on, still it was tested on quite a few high-resolution android games and it was working without any pressure or stoppage. We can see that in the 3DMark scores.
We have been proven right once again when we said that any flagship Android phone is going to work easily and handsomely with anything that is provided by the Google app store of the Google play itself. The performance of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra proves that smartphone specialists were spot on with the prediction.
With such a list of humongous features around, you’d expect the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra to also provide you with a large battery. They have nailed this part of the game as well because you’re going to get a large 5000mAh battery.
This is one of the biggest battery power on the market today on mainstream and conventional Smartphone and after a week-long test by reviewers, it is said that it is almost as good as a perfect Smartphone will provide. Utilize the S20 Ultra on its fresh box settings that lock the monitor at a refresh rate of 60Hz to get good use of the phone for a day and a half to two days at a single load without seeing an alert from the Red Battery to end.
If you’re looking to open the 120Hz mode, then you might as well lose a charging life of a day or two. Because the 120Hz consumes more but provides you with a much faster experience of using your phone.
This device is coming with an under-screen fingerprint reader that works similar to other Samsung devices for the past few phone launches. It brings 5G connectivity, not only 4G version of the Ultra but one telephone that supports all network connections up to and including 5G and AKG stereo-tuned speaker.
The fact that the Ultra will meet all 5G standards always seems like Samsung is right through the tech enthusiasts who pick up this product, as though you’re well overtaking a grand on the unit. If you’re spending a lot of cash on a phone then you might as well like to get the rapid 5G network coverage in the model.
If you’re getting a 5G compatible sim along with a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra then you must consider yourself extremely lucky because it’s a dream come true for all the Smartphone lovers. Also, before we reach any conclusion, we should also mention the OS it uses. The S20 Ultra is being run at Android 10 along with Samsung’s own One UI 2.0 skin. According to us, One UI is the finest-in-class Android skin on the market and offers a fantastic mobile experience, as you would expect, in collaboration with the super slick and smart Android 10.
Almost everything is built so intently, with this 120Hz screen combination, Android 10 smooth butter activity and One-user interface flowing ensures you are never feeling slowed down or worse.
Verdict
This is obviously not made for everyone because it is pretty expensive and the customers might think twice before buying it because of its price tag. However, whoever buys it will enjoy a perfect mobile experience, to say the least.
We cannot justify the outlay if we were going to get ourselves a new Android Smartphone that is also SIM-free outright at launch. Also, you’d need to spend almost £1,199 for a quality experience, and the maximum features loaded in S20 Ultra will cost you around £1,399. There is no doubt about the fact that this device is a little expensive and can be categorized in the premium level phones. However, it truly provides value for money and gives you a lot of overwhelming features. People are not going for this device because of its high price, they are missing on a lifetime experience.
The good thing is that if you compare the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with other Smartphones at the same price then you’d get to know the real verdict of this phone. It is much better than all of those being sold at a high-price than Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and also with much lesser features.
If you start comparing it with the devices like the iPhone 11 Pro Max and even with Samsung’s own Galaxy Note 10+ then we realize that this Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra crashes into the real-world somewhat. You can also compare it with the devices like the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition and also with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
Also, all of these phones mentioned above deliver 95% of the experience that the S20 offers as well. Also, they do it in much less money in some cases.
We’re not saying that the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is not recommendable but it only depends on how much money you’re prepared to spend on the last few extra features that are not available in all of the above-mentioned phones and is only offered by the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is setting up new standards for Smartphones in 2020 with its extremely fast 5G compatible technology. So obviously, anyone not recommending the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra would be a fool. Also, it is going to be extremely interesting to see how the prices of Samsung’s new S20 retail goes for a year.
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