Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 20 in its most recent Unpacked event that it hosted online. The Note 20 was one of the two devices of the Galaxy Note 20 lineup, which also includes the higher-end Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Both the smartphones were revealed on August 5, 2020, alongside other new Samsung devices.

At the price of Rs 77,999, the Note 20 is much cheaper than the Ultra version, which costs Rs 104,999.

The Galaxy Note, along with the Galaxy S, is one of the highest-end smartphone segments of the Korean firm. The lineup is signature with a stylus that sets it aside from the other Samsung phones and makes it special compared with other handsets on the phone market too.

Display

The screen of the Galaxy Note 20 is a Super AMOLED+ panel that’s protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The display measures 6.7 inches with a screen-to-body ratio of 89.2%, a resolution of 1080x2400 pixels and a pixel density of 393 ppi. It supports HDR10+, offers the always-on feature, and comes with a refresh rate of 60 Hz.

Samsung started using the Super AMOLED Plus on its Galaxy S2 high-end smartphone. In this technology, the company replaced the PenTile RGBG pixel matrix with the traditional RGB RGB arrangement. This allows the screen to be brighter and more energy-efficient compared with Super AMOLED screens. The Super AMOLED+ panels also generate sharper, images as the number of subpixels are increased (3 subpixels as opposed to 2 subpixels in Super AMOLED).

The screen features a punch hole at the top-center punch hole to house that front-facing camera. The same design is used on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and the Galaxy Note 10 lineup, which gives more space for viewing, especially when you play games or watch videos. Unlike thick notches the eats into the viewing area, the punch hole is neat and much smaller, meaning it shouldn’t interfere with your viewing experience.

Overall, the Note 20 display is bright and brilliant as other Samsung phone screens, this has long been one of the biggest strengths of this Korean brand. It offers a perfect experience for watching films, reading the news, as well as browsing through images. However, the 60Hz refresh rate means swiping on the screen is not as smooth as on the Note 20 Ultra.  

Due to more rounded corners, holding this phone when gaming feels much better than holding the Note 20 Ultra. But with the position of the loudspeaker and volume button, you will either cover the speaker or your pinky will press on the volume button, taking a bit time to get used to. Other than that, the screen seems perfect like other Samsung phone screens.

Overall, the graphics of the screen when playing PUBG is pretty good though you may experience some frame drops and lags during gameplay. Also, despite applying Anti Aliasing, the images are still not smooth enough. Except for that, the graphics are nice and there’s a lot of detail. It will definitely handle your games well.   

Chip

The global version of the Galaxy Note 20 is powered by the Exynos 990 like the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, the newest processor from Samsung and one of the most powerful chipsets currently available on the market. It’s an octa-core processor that consists of dual 2.73Hz cores, dual 2.5Hz cores, and quad 2.0Hz cores.

On Antutu, the Exynos 990 on the Note 20 gets 502516 points, higher than the Note 20 Ultra. The GPU score is also higher, 194541 as opposed to 181000 points of the Ultra version. While this set of chips is the most powerful offer from Samsung it doesn’t seem to match the performance of the Snapdragon 865 Plus, scoring about 20000 points lower than the 865 Plus.

In terms of gaming performance, this chip doesn’t do a job as good as it does on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. While the PUBG experience on the Ultra is overall smooth at 60 fps, the Note 20 has several lags and frame drops during the gameplay. The graphics images are quite good, not outstanding, and there’s a lot of detail.

All in all, despite being less powerful than the Snapdragon 865+, this chip is reliable for any task you throw at it.

Storage

When it comes to storage, you have only one option, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. To compare, the Note 20 Ultra comes with 12GB RAM and a maximum onboard memory capacity of 512 GB. While 8GB capacity is not the highest, it’s OK to handle intensive mobile titles like PUBG and Free Fire.

The combination between the chip and RAM could be the reason why your gaming experience on this phone won’t be as good as on the Ultra version: the same chip, different RAM capacities.

Testing with PUBG reveals that the phone does heat up when you play for a while. The heat is the most obvious around the camera module and around the frame. This is because the frame is made of metal while the back panel is made of plastic, so the frame will feel much hotter than the back of the phone. The phone’s temperature can go up to 42 degrees C after a 30-minute gaming session in a 30-degree room. This is similar to the Note 20 Ultra, not bad at all.

Battery

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra packs a 4300mAh battery with support for 25W fast charging, fast PMA/Qi wireless charging, and 9W reverse wireless charging.

This battery capacity can last you an entire day with moderate to intense use because while the capacity itself isn’t impressive, premium smartphones often have better energy management to use its power more efficiently.

Camera

In terms of cameras, there are three lenses on the back, including a 12MP wide-angle main lens, a 64MP telephoto lens, and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. The camera array is supported by an LED flash and Auto-HDR mode. You can record videos at either 8K, 4K, 1080p, or 720p resolution along with a 24/30/60/240/960fps frame rate.

On the front, the Galaxy Note 20 sports a single 10MP wide-angle lens. The front-facing camera allows for video recording at 4K or 1080p resolution and 30/60fps frame rate.