Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra sports highly advanced cameras
OUR VERDICT
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra delivers a huge 120Hz display, 5G and highly advanced cameras, but Samsung needs to fix some issues to justify the exorbitant price tag.FOR
- Impressive photos
- Gorgeous 120Hz display
- 5G support
- Huge 5,000 mAh battery
AGAINST
- Cameras have autofocus issues
- Very expensive
- No headphone jack
- 120Hz is a battery killer
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra doesn’t flip and it doesn’t fold, so you might ask why it costs $1,400.
The astronomical price becomes easier to swallow once you consider that Samsung has packed its most advanced camera ever into this flagship phone: a quad-lens stack that includes a 108-megapixel main sensor and a 10x lossless zoom shooter that can go all the way up to an unprecedented 100x digital power.
One look at the photos this collection of bleeding-edge optics and sensors can capture, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra would seem destined to be named the best camera phone on the market. One problem with that: we've run into some issues with the cameras since posting our initial review. Fortunately, the S20 Ultra is so much more, with its gargantuan 6.9-inch, 120Hz display and future-proof support for every major carrier’s 5G network.
Yet, even for $1,400, the S20 Ultra still can’t be perfect. Samsung nixed the headphone jack, for starters, and the camera bump on the back is distractingly large. Some users may prefer the more compact 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus ($1,199) or the even smaller and cheaper 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 ($999), but those models lose the Ultra’s powerful zoom.
From the price and that screen to the megapixels, just about everything is supersized about the Galaxy S20 Ultra. That should make it one of the best phones money can buy should Samsung come up with a fix for the camera issues. But it also means the Galaxy S20 Ultra is not quite for everyone.
The astronomical price becomes easier to swallow once you consider that Samsung has packed its most advanced camera ever into this flagship phone: a quad-lens stack that includes a 108-megapixel main sensor and a 10x lossless zoom shooter that can go all the way up to an unprecedented 100x digital power.
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One look at the photos this collection of bleeding-edge optics and sensors can capture, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra would seem destined to be named the best camera phone on the market. One problem with that: we've run into some issues with the cameras since posting our initial review. Fortunately, the S20 Ultra is so much more, with its gargantuan 6.9-inch, 120Hz display and future-proof support for every major carrier’s 5G network.
Yet, even for $1,400, the S20 Ultra still can’t be perfect. Samsung nixed the headphone jack, for starters, and the camera bump on the back is distractingly large. Some users may prefer the more compact 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus ($1,199) or the even smaller and cheaper 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 ($999), but those models lose the Ultra’s powerful zoom.
From the price and that screen to the megapixels, just about everything is supersized about the Galaxy S20 Ultra. That should make it one of the best phones money can buy should Samsung come up with a fix for the camera issues. But it also means the Galaxy S20 Ultra is not quite for everyone.
Key Specifications
- Review Price: £1199
- 6.9-inch OLED 120Hz display
- 12/16GB RAM
- Exynos 990/Snapdragon 865
- 5000mAh battery
- 108-megapixel main camera
- 40-megapixel selfie camera
- Up to 512GB storage
Camera – Do all these megapixels make the Galaxy S20 Ultra the finest smartphone camera around?
The S20 Ultra’s set up includes four rear cameras plus a 40-megapixel selfie shooter on the front.
The main camera packs 108-megapixels and an f/1.8 OIS lens. Add to that a 12-megapixel ultra-wide and a 48-megapixel telephoto and you’ve got the most megapixels ever on a Samsung phone.
Related: Best Galaxy S20 Ultra Deals
This is merely a small part of a story, however. The idea here isn’t to shoot at 108-megapixels, or even 48 megapixels for that matter, but to use all the data collected to create superior 12-megapixel snaps. For instance, the 108-megapixel camera will combine nine pixels into one much larger pixel, while the telephoto will do the same but with four pixels. This should, in theory, let far more light into the sensor and produce a brighter, sharper photo.
I’ve also had some issues with the autofocus system, which regularly struggles when you’re moving quickly between subjects. On more occasions than I’d like I found myself waiting a few seconds for it to lock on. Samsung has said it is issuing a software update to fix this though, so I will update this review when that is live.
The star of Galaxy S20 Ultra’s camera skills is the zooming. Labelled Space Zoom (and plastered on the camera module), this works in a similar way to the Huawei P30 Pro – inside the there is a series of mirrors and lenses laid out flat with light reflected through the rectangular hole on the back of the phone. This trick allows for impressive ‘optical’ zoom without the need for a big lens attachment.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
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