Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra long-term review

20 July 2020


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Conan, 21 Jul 2020120 Hz refresh rate on 1080P is no issue for me. I've ... moreTrue it's not a big deal.
I get around 7-7.5 hrs of SOT on my OP8 pro running at full resolution.
I switch to 120hz@1080p in day to day usage as its barely noticeable but easily gives me 1-1.5hr more SOT.
And during content consumption above 1080p, the screen automatically bumps up to highest possible resolution available

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    • sandro
    • Cpa
    • 21 Jul 2020

    Nothing Samsung does comes even close to the Huawei P40 Pro+

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      • Dr00x
      • g5h
      • 21 Jul 2020

      Would've been nice to read a similar review for the OnePlus 8 Pro.
      It will make a great comparison between the two current king of Android.

        Your comment shows your bias, especially when you say a phone with S865 and one of the best lenses in smartphones right now is mid-range.

        And hey, I have commented negatively about their previous phones at this very forum.
        But Sony has hit it out of the park with this year's Xperia flagship.

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          • Christian plumber
          • Yd6
          • 21 Jul 2020

          Smooth first couple months, now I'm debating is it the phone or websites, not as fluid and even in perfect locations I find that loading pages to be slow,

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            • Anonymous
            • Nyj
            • 21 Jul 2020

            Nick Tagataka, 21 Jul 2020Uhh, Sony? Xperia 1 II brought back a headphone jack and it... moreXperia 1 II spec doesn't look like a flagship phone. More of a midrange phone.

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              • Mozzy
              • myS
              • 21 Jul 2020

              Just the word 'Exynos' should be enough for non US countries to run a mile from Samsung. It is simply unfair and not right to charge non US countries a premium price for a clearly inferior version to the Snapdragon chip.
              I'm fed up with poor battery life, poor camera shots and severe throttling from the Exynos chip.

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                • Conan
                • t7B
                • 21 Jul 2020

                120 Hz refresh rate on 1080P is no issue for me. I've tried 1440P on 60 Hz refresh rate and there is no viewable benefit for me.

                  I heard both good and bad things about it. I almost got one myself, but decided to just get an A71. Works almost as good, the S20 Ultra has wireless charging and few other things. But I don't think the phone is worth over a thousand dollars. I saw a video that the camera isn't taking good pictures. Even though it's 100 MP. Hopefully they get an update that fixes that issue.

                    i have the regular exynos s20, in my opinion is jack of all trade smartphone. it's great flaghsip smartphone, performance is great, camera is great, battery is good, display is great, great software. but great doesn't make it the best. want best camera? there's P40 series for you. Best display? Oppo Find X2 Pro and OnePlus 8 Pro have QHD 120Hz Samsung panel (yeah). Best Performance? there is Nubia phone with active cooling. Best Battery? go for midrange if battery is your concern. Best software? we have Pixel for that.

                      Anonymous, 21 Jul 2020Seriously poor images for such a large sensor. Night shots ... moreI seriously have no idea how GSMArena could possibly like night mode shots on this phone. It's loaded with tons of issues that night mode on many other phones also suffer from - blurred edges, aggressively flattened highlights, oversharpening and lots of noise in shadow areas. The samples look comically bad compared to those taken in auto mode which aren't really great but at least a bit more natural. So far Google and Apple are the only companies that do it right, but even they are still not perfect either.

                      I wonder if the author really looked at the photos they have taken with their phones on a high resolution desktop (or even laptop) monitor before putting comments on them. "Expect practically no noise in this mode"? Yeah damn right.

                        Anonymous, 21 Jul 2020So high price, not very ultra wide camera, so so batterylif... moreS20 series easily has the widest UWA lens among all flagships and yet you call it "not very ultra wide"?

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                          • Anonymous
                          • s0S
                          • 21 Jul 2020

                          It is funny how different we are... many of the mentioned software drawbacks are actually plus for me. I am using both iphone and galaxy s, so I had to get used to both worlds. I my opinion:
                          -I never use app drawer in alphabetical order. Never understood why someone would like to do that? I organised apps based on type and usage so I can access the most used apps quickly. If I need to find something there is the search bar...
                          -I am not fan of gesture navigation, only for a few actions. But I never had issue with the swipe up and down. Also I barely have accidental touches.
                          -The one UI may seem busier, but I cannot tell you how much I hated iphone for those ios only icons without labels... it was so much easier for me to getting used the samsung one ui.
                          -The one handed usage with one UI is I think the best from any other phone maker. I find I need less moving all around the screen than other phones.
                          -I never saw a great settings menu :) Each of them is a mess... I think iphone settings is an absurd nostalgic joke for '90s, but since nowdays each ui has search for the settings, it doesn't matter any more. And samsung has great touch with the suggestions at the bottom of the submenus. I think after the search, that is the best innovation in the settings terms.
                          -For longer run I prefer the camera app for samsung. It has so many useful tools. And I never use the night mode or portrait. And on galaxy s20 ultra, I think nobody really needs them as the main sensor is big, so it creates good photos in nigh even without night mode and because of the shallow focus you don't need the portrait mode for bokeh.
                          -I cannot get used to what I call 'virtual snappiness': when you do something and the animation suggest it is done, but actually it still does some processing, snycing or something. I see it many times on iphone and it is a known trick to get better perceived performance. But I prefer more loadtime/splash screen and then when I see it is done, it is really done...

                            Anonymous, 21 Jul 2020If only for the headphone jack, you will never ever have a ... moreUhh, Sony? Xperia 1 II brought back a headphone jack and it's a flagship phone.

                              Anonymous, 21 Jul 2020that's also why qhd at 120hz won't work the gpu ... moreAn absence of QHD+ 120Hz option on S20 series is more to do with its single MIPI lane not being able to have enough bandwidth to run the display at 120Hz in full resolution than the GPU performance of Exynos 990.

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                                • Anonymous
                                • mpd
                                • 21 Jul 2020

                                AnonD-923722, 21 Jul 2020Next Samsung flagships should have : 1. QHD+ and 120hz opt... more-Exynos will get MUCH better
                                -Improve quality on 8k24fps? What do you mean? Quality is 8k and pretty much decent, problem is, there are no screens to play it yet.
                                -IR blaster is pretty much useless these days and won't be there for sure, as we are stepping in a smart-home time, where all the manipulations will be made thru wifi
                                -3.5mm jack most likely won't be there too, samsung were one of the last to hold onto, but every brand will ditch it
                                What else was it, couldn't remember all your points.

                                  cooldex, 21 Jul 2020"ULTRA LONG TERM REVIEW" wtf the phone barely bee... moreI'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or serious with this comment.. don't tell me it's the latter.

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                                    • ThePong
                                    • xZI
                                    • 21 Jul 2020

                                    Anonymous, 21 Jul 2020that's also why qhd at 120hz won't work the gpu ... moreOverall gaming performance in Huawei Mate 30/P40 already matches the iPhone 11 Pro (both lose out to SD865). And remember that the Huawei uses Mali GPU (G76 MP16).

                                    GPU is not to blame. Bad drivers and poor CPU architecture is to blame.

                                    Like a PC, the task of the CPU is to deliver the framerates while the GPU renders graphics. If the GPU is stressed, the CPU usually has to work extra hard, and also vice versa. Weak CPU does not benefit increased horsepower from GPU.

                                    You cannot expect strong gaming performance in a computer with i7-10510U and UHD Graphics 630 (it won't render demanding games smoothly). Same as if you're using an ancient i5 CPU from 10 years ago or Pentium Gold, but equipped with a GTX 1680/RTX 2070 GPU (you may be able to play demanding games but with low/choppy framerates).

                                    And don't forget Exynos retains the rxpx architecture, which is traditional by today's standards. Even with 5nm node Exynos will surely throttle.

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                                      • Adi
                                      • mAV
                                      • 21 Jul 2020

                                      I was expecting the usual pictures from Sofia but I was surprised to see Timisoara.👍🙂

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                                        • ChrisUltra
                                        • kuG
                                        • 21 Jul 2020

                                        I think its a great phone. A great upgrade from my Galaxy s9 plus. Stunning picture and sound. Superfast charge. Lightning fast.

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