The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is a beast of a device and might almost be worth the high price. Here’s our full Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review.
Amazon Prime Day deal: The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is discounted $350 off its normal price for Amazon Prime Day. More smartphone deals are available in our Prime Day hub. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the world “ultra” as: “beyond what is ordinary, proper, or moderate; excessive; extreme.” Similar to “mega” and “uber,” ultra is a word we use to overemphasize something: ultra-fast, ultra-powerful, ultra-big. It’s an apt name for a device such as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, a phone that tries perhaps too hard to win at everything. Read: Samsung Galaxy S20 Buyers Guide – Everything You Need to Know Samsung’s mega flagship takes every spec to the Nth degree, with the biggest this and the fastest that. It packs every possible feature into a chassis so large it practically qualifies as its own zip code. Cramming the best of the best into one monster package doesn’t necessarily have the result you’d expect. Find out what we mean in our uber-detailed Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review notes: I used the S20 Ultra over a period of five days. The phone was running Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI 2.1 and the March 2020 security patch. The phone did not receive any updates during the review period. The Samsung Galaxy S series is the Korean company’s bread-and-butter product line. These phones, which now come in three sizes, compete directly with the Apple iPhone, Google Pixel, and LG’s G/V series. Competition in this space is fierce. Every few months we get new models that seem to outgun the others with some new whizbang feature. This time around, Samsung focused on the camera. The company says it totally rebuilt the Galaxy S line around new imaging technology. Samsung did this in order to convince consumers it’s time to upgrade. The average time between phone purchases has stretched to a record 26.2 months, meaning people hold onto their phones for more than two years before buying a new one. Samsung wants S8 and S9 owners to pony up and adopt the S20, so it gave them a reason to: ultra-levels of camera zoom. Beyond zoom, the S20 adds number of attractive camera features, such as the ability to take hyperlapse videos at night. Combined with the fastest processor available, huge amounts of memory and storage, a dazzling display, and bountiful battery life, the S20 Ultra seemingly has it all. But does it really? After years of trotting out retread plastic designs — and losing out to Apple’s industrial aesthetic — Samsung got wise and upped the ante. Between 2015’s Galaxy S6 and 2018’s Galaxy S9 the company’s design chops grew in leaps and bounds. By the time the Galaxy S10 arrived in 2019, the company was delivering some of the best-looking, most finely-crafted handsets in the market. This year, Samsung appears to have scaled back some and the S20 is somewhat the lesser for it. Maybe it’s the color selection, maybe it’s the utilitarian (and, let’s face it, ugly) camera module on the rear, I dunno. I simply find the design to be ultra understated. The all-screen slab leaves almost no room for individuality. Looking at its face, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G could be any other phone on the market. Nothing about the shape, other than perhaps its sheer size, helps it stand out. For a price that starts at $1,399, I expect some personality. The color selection is particularly disappointing. I enjoyed the palate of last year’s Galaxy S10. The Ultra is available only in Cosmic Black and Cosmic Gray. The word “cosmic” implies “out of this world.” There’s nothing cosmic about these shades. They’re the most conservative and boring, earthly options available. Samsung didn’t sell me on the S20 Ultra 5G’s looks, but it nailed the execution. Like its predecessors, the S20 Ultra 5G is a fine piece of hardware that exudes quality and craftsmanship. The front glass is slightly (and I mean slightly) less curved along the side edges than last year’s S10, but the rear glass has a steeper curve to it. The Gorilla Glass 6 panels are separated by a metal frame that’s thick on the bottom and top, and thin down the sides. These pieces are assembled tightly. The phone is sealed up and carries an IP68 rating, so you can accidentally dunk it in some water and it’ll survive the experience. I let it sit in a bowl of water for a few minutes and it emerged none the worse for wear. Controls, ports, and buttons on the S20 Ultra are what you’d expect to see from Samsung’s flagship. The screen lock/power button and volume toggle are on the right edge of the phone. The buttons have tight, but satisfying, travel and feedback. There is no dedicated Bixby button this year, thank goodness. The combined SIM/microSD card tray is located on top, while the USB-C port and downward-firing speaker are on the bottom. There is no headphone jack. Samsung eliminated the headphone jack on the Note 10 series last year, and that absence is carried over here. A pair of USB-C headphones is included in the box, but you’ll likely be better off with Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds Plus true wireless headphones. The camera module bugs me. Not just because it’s huge, but because the framing for it is made of plastic. If you touch it with your fingers you’ll notice it has a cheap, hollow feel to it. Ick, Samsung. To be fair to Samsung, however, the camera modules of the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max and Google Pixel 4 XL are just as hideous. I know this because my 13-year-old daughter is repulsed by all three. As for size and usability, this phone is not for everyone. It’s basically the same dimensions as the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, which means it’s enormous and requires two hands most of the time. The S20 Ultra 5G doesn’t fit well in pockets, despite its slippery surfaces, and more or less requires a case for protection, which will only make it bigger. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is ultra all right. It’s ultra-big and ultra-fine. It’s also not for everyone, as clearly it will be too much phone for some. The display almost makes up for the S20 Ultra 5G’s lackluster design. Almost. It’s a stunning screen that is the best you can buy on any phone right now. Samsung gave its flagship a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O screen with multiple resolution and refresh rate options. Out of the box, it’s set to Full HD+, or 2,400 by 1,080 pixels. You can improve that to Quad HD+, or 3,200 by 1,440 pixels, or downgrade to HD+ at 1,600 by 720 pixels. Whichever you choose, you’re getting the same 20.5:9 aspect ratio. The sharpness of the display is simply outstanding, even at the medium setting. You will notice a slight degradation if you drop it down to HD+, but the Quad HD+ setting is eye-popping in its clarity. You can choose screen refresh rates of either 60Hz, which is what most screens use, or 120Hz, which is better for gaming and such. Lemme tell you, the 120Hz setting gives the screen a luscious smoothness that has to be seen to be believed. Even without the ability to combine the high pixel count and high refresh rate at the same time, you’ve got a screen that simply dominates every other panel on the market. Color is excellent. Of course the screen is HDR10+ certified, which means the right content will deliver incredible dynamic range. I checked out some HDR10 movies on Netflix and came away really impressed. Samsung ensures that you can manage almost every factor of the screen and its performance. Choosing the full resolution or the doubled refresh rate will impact battery life, but you can tweak brightness, the blue light filter, color profile, and all the other typical settings. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G has an ultra-amazing screen. Samsung gave the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G the fastest engine and the biggest fuel tank, fully expecting the combination to deliver the speed and stamina people demand. It doesn’t quite make it to the finish line — in some scenarios. First, the processor. The S20 Ultra 5G is one of the first phones to ship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor on board.
