There aren’t many phones out there, from Samsung or other OEMs, that use “Ultra” in their names. It seems Samsung realized that it would have to do justice to this word if it decided to call the top-of-the-line 2020 flagship the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It became clear on the day Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S20 series that it meant business with the Ultra.
Samsung can pump out respectable flagship smartphones that hold their own against competitors every year without breaking a sweat. Being good enough wasn’t the objective of the Ultra. Samsung wanted to make something that would truly wow both its fans and its detractors. So it threw everything and the kitchen sink at the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It has the largest display, the biggest battery and the best specs of any Galaxy S flagship, not to mention the completely bonkers camera setup with up to 100x zoom.
It’s one thing to have an absolute spec monster on paper, to have bragging rights for features that don’t exist on other smartphones, but just how useful all of that is for customers who spend $1,400 on the phone is another matter altogether. Make no mistake, $1,400 is a lot of money, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra must be a pretty darn special device to justify that price tag. So, is it? Does Samsung’s most outrageous smartphone yet live up to expectations? That’s what we’ll find out in this Galaxy S20 Ultra review.
Note: This review is based on the Exynos-powered Galaxy S20 Ultra LTE with 12GB of RAM.
Galaxy S20 Ultra design
One of the reasons why we are so excited about the Galaxy Z Flip is because it brings a refreshing change to the monotony of smartphone design. Despite all of its ultra-ness, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is decidedly understated. There’s an obvious limitation here. The evolution of the candy bar form factor has resulted in smartphones that are essentially tall slabs of glass with a frame to provide support and hold everything together. There really isn’t much room to play around with the design as customers evidently prefer larger displays with slim bezels above any wacky design elements.
Some companies have tried to swim against the tide by opting for solutions like sliding and pop-up cameras, which at least forces people to think of the design beyond being a slab of metal and glass. Samsung is not going to perform those experiments on the Galaxy S lineup, so while it did bring us a sliding, rotating camera on the Galaxy A80, we can’t expect those shenanigans on a Galaxy S flagship.
Therefore, the Galaxy S20 Ultra design is as traditionally Samsung as it could possibly be. The metal and glass build feels exceptionally solid and is a joy to hold. The subtle curves in the back glass allow for a more comfortable grip but there’s no avoiding the fact that this is a slippery phone. If you’re someone who’s prone to dropping things, we will suggest strapping a case on this bad boy the moment you take it out of the box. We have praised Samsung’s decision to put the volume and power keys on the right side of the frame in our Galaxy S20+ review as well. It’s a welcome change.
Make no mistake, though, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is massive. It measures 166.9 x 76.0 x 8.8mm and weighs 222g. To put that in perspective, it’s taller, thicker and heavier than the Galaxy Note 10+, a phone nobody would ever describe as compact. Despite the incredibly slim bezels, it would have been impossible for Samsung to fit a 6.9-inch display on this phone without significantly increasing its dimensions. It will take some time getting used to the sheer size and heft of this phone while one-handed use is certainly challenging.
I noticed a slight discomfort in my pinkie finger when the phone was resting on it after just 30-40 minutes of casual, mindless scrolling on social media because it’s heavier than any of the flagships in recent memory, and I have been using the Galaxy Note 10+ as my daily driver since it came out. I’ve become used to it by now so just remember that it may take you a while to get comfortable with the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
The defining design element of this phone is its chunky camera housing, which unapologetically juts out and dominates the back. This significant protrusion means that the device wobbles if it’s lying flat on a surface and you’re tapping the display. Your index finger will constantly hit it as it breaks the seamless feeling of the glass back, particularly when you slide the phone down in your palm so that you can reach the top of the display. A case will help bridge this difference between the back and the housing but this is something that you’re going to have to get used to.
The key takeaway here is that while the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s design is every bit as solid and premium as you’d expect, living with it will require some getting used to. Some people may find it to be too uncomfortable, and that’s why for them Samsung offers the relatively tamer options in the form of the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20.
Galaxy S20 Ultra display
To justify this phone’s “Ultra” branding, Samsung fitted it with the largest display yet on a Galaxy S flagship. The 6.9-inch Quad HD+ HDR10+ certified Infinity-O display is truly massive, but if you’re someone who isn’t intimidated by its size, you’re going to love consuming content on it. Who wouldn’t? With so much of what we do on our phones revolving around multimedia, a larger display can only improve the experience.
Add to that the underlying superb quality of Samsung’s AMOLED panel that offers vibrant colors and deep blacks with excellent viewing angles, and you’ve got a recipe for success. It supports HDR, gets searingly bright and contrary to what you might have expected, the Galaxy S20 Ultra doesn’t have a truly curved display. The panel isn’t completely flat but it’s not as aggressively curved either. I feel that it strikes the right balance and hope that Samsung will stick with this implementation on future flagships as well.
The real improvement in this department has been Samsung’s decision to use a 120Hz refresh rate panel. This means that the screen refreshes twice as fast as it did on earlier flagships and, as we have mentioned multiple times, we absolutely love this upgrade. It really is difficult going back to a 60Hz display after using the Galaxy S20 Ultra because scrolling and animations just don’t seem as smooth. This is one improvement from which you benefit all the time.
Think about it. We spend hours every single day scrolling through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, etc. All of that feels much easier on the eyes thanks to the high refresh rate panel. Past-faced games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Fortnite look particularly great and when coupled with the 240Hz touch screen sampling rate (which means that the display is more responsive to your touch), it also provides a slight competitive edge when playing these games.
As many of you are aware, there is a limitation with the 120Hz option: it can’t be used at WQHD+ (3200×1440) resolution. The resolution is locked to FHD+ (2400×1080) when 120Hz is enabled, likely a conscious decision on Samsung’s part to conserve battery life. This may also be the reason why the phone isn’t set to 120Hz by default; you have to manually enable it from settings. This is really not something to be concerned about, to be honest, unless you’d much rather prefer streaming YouTube and Netflix at the max resolution possible on the phone.
As we have also pointed out before, the phone will automatically drop the refresh rate to 60Hz if its temperature goes above 40C. I didn’t experience that happening quite a lot even when playing games like Call of Duty: Mobile at max graphics for hours on end in an indoor setting, though it would be a different story if the phone is being used under direct sunlight in the summer.
So it’s clear that the display is a big reason why you should consider the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but with the exception of its size, it doesn’t offer anything that you can’t get on the other Galaxy S20 variants. The entire Galaxy S20 lineup has a 120Hz refresh rate panel so you don’t necessarily need to get the Galaxy S20 Ultra. If the high refresh rate interests you but the size puts you off, you can just as easily get the same user experience on either the Galaxy S20 or the Galaxy S20+.
0 Comments