Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ hands-on review

Display

Before we briefly list the internals on the S20 and S20+ again, since that is about the only thing we can currently do with them this early in the phone's lifecycle, we just have to say a few words about the S20's gorgeous display.

In a rather interesting move, Samsung decided to equip all three Galaxy S20 devices with flagship QHD+, HDR10+, Dynamic AMOLED displays. Taking the display diagonal difference into account, that technically means the regular S20 is the sharpest of the bunch at 563ppi, with the S20+ sitting at 525ppi. Of course, in reality, we are looking at numbers that go way beyond the point of "crystal sharp" in person.

Keeping up with industry trends and leveraging its excellent display RnD and manufacturing business, Samsung also jumped on the high refresh rate train. All three Galaxy S20 models have a native panel refresh rate of 120Hz and a 240Hz touch polling rate. And yes, in case you were wondering, the jump from 60Hz to 120Hz does make a huge and immediately noticeable difference in UI smoothness. You definitely need to see it in person. It is also great to see that even vanilla S20 buyers won't have to miss out on this feature. Samsung genuinely pulled out all the stops it could in regards to feature parity.

One thing worth noting, regarding high refresh rate, though, is that 120Hz is only accessible at FullHD resolution. Most likely this is less of a hardware limitation and more of a deliberate action on Samsung's part to combat excessive power draw. In the current setup, Samsung is fairly confident that running any of the S20 phones at FullHD, 120Hz will still allow for full-day battery life. Honestly, it doesn't seem like much of a drawback to us. Still, if you think it's a dealbreaker, then you might have to wait for the Note20, which rumors claim will offer better high refresh rate implementation or perhaps see what other manufacturers, like OnePlus put out. The latter already boasted about its QHD, 120Hz tech.

Specs and performance

As promised, here are a few words on internals. In typical Samsung fashion, we are looking at an Exynos global version and a Snapdragon US one. In this case - the Exynos 990 and the Snapdragon 865. These are both extremely powerful chips, naturally, paired with fast LPDDR5 RAM (8GB or 12GB in the S20 and S20+) and capable ISPs, capable of things like 8K, 30fps video recording. There'll be plenty of time to pick apart and admire their power and discuss subtle nuances, like the benefits of Samsung's 7nm EUV process with the full review and beyond.

For now, the more interesting bit to initially bring attention to seems to be the connectivity aspect of both chipsets. Samsung's goal for all three S20 models is to propagate 5G connectivity. The official specs sheet notes both SA and NSA support, sub-6GHz, which makes for a very versatile setup. 4G is equally impressive, with a 4x4 MIMO setup and Cat.20 speeds.

The interesting bit is that neither the Exynos 990, nor the Snapdragon 865 have an internal cellular modem. Instead, both use an external one - Exynos 5123 and X55, respectively. These cover 5G connectivity, as well as fall-backs to 4G, 3G and 2G. As per initial information, the S20 and S20+ (but not the S20 Ultra) will be offered in a 4G-only version on certain markets, which does raise some questions, like what modem those units will use. Will they still have the expensive and sophisticated 5G antenna setup? If initial info is to be believed, then the vanilla S20 won't even offer support for mmWave 5G, while its siblings will. Perhaps the internal antenna setup will be the main differentiating factor.

These subtle details aside, it's important to consider here that an external modem generally means a less efficient modem. We are yet to see how the Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990 behave in this regard. Hence, some battery endurance suspense is something to look forward to as we get our hands on S20 units.

Software and UI

Samsung is keeping things nice and familiar on the S20 line. One UI 2.0, working on top of Android 10. And this should definitely not be misconstrued as complaining on our part. The Korean giant has been working really hard to get the polished second version of its popular UI out and push it to as many devices as possible. It only makes sense to include it on the S20 as well.

We learned about a few new goodies in the OS, though. QuickShare is a new streamlined way of sharing with nearby devices via Wi-Fi. Google Duo is now baked into the Phone app - probably as an easy way to bring Apple FaceTime-like convenience for video calling. Bixby, which, despite the lack of a dedicated button, has been going strong and growing in features and popularity is also gaining Spotify integration for its actions.

Music share sounds particularly interesting. We didn't quite catch all of the specifics on this one, but from what we can gather it will enable you to pair an S20 series device to a Bluetooth audio speaker and then have a different smartphone connect to the S20 and use it as a relay, of sorts, to stream music to that same Bluetooth client as well. Sounds quite useful with car audio setups.

Samsung's Game Booster has also gotten a bit smarter. Or rather, less annoying in a certain specific use case. Apparently users were having issues with certain background tasks, like the Discord app getting force closed while a game is active with Game Booster Mode on. Samsung says you can now protect any background app you want from getting the boot.

Wrap-up

Even though the Galaxy S20 Ultra is definitely going to soak up most of the spotlight at this unveiling, with its fancy new 108MP and periscope cameras, we have very little to complain about the regular S20 and the S20+. Growth-spurt aside, the pair actually looks all round better in most aspects compared to its predecessors. An achievement, which, like we already mentioned, should not be taken lightly. We only Samsung has done something different to the design of these babies. Oh, and where's the white color this time around, Samsung? Sigh, we can't have it all.

Samsung deserves plenty of praise for actually managing to structure its S20 lineup in such a feature-parity manner that purchasing decisions, especially between the regular S20 and the S20+ mostly come down to size preference.

As per initial info, both the Galaxy S20 and S20+, as well as the S20 Ultra should go on pre-order right after the Unpacked event. Or, in other words, as this hands-on goes live. Pre-orders on the S20+ and S20 Ultra (sadly not the vanilla S20) will also be getting a free pair of Samsung's new Galaxy Buds Plus. General sale for all three devices in Europe is expected to commence on March 13. As a reminder, the S20 and S20+ (but not the S20 Ultra) will be available in 4G variants on certain markets. Of course, there are plenty more details to really sink our teeth into now that the S20 line is actually official. Be sure to check back for that.