Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G Hands-On Review

Karamchand Rameshwar - Feb 12, 2020


Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G Hands-On Review

Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, and Galaxy S20 Ultra are three latest offerings in the Galaxy S20 series. Let's take a look at all the upgrades that Samsung brings on the trio.

Samsung finally releases its next Galaxy S series. However, instead of calling it Galaxy S11, the brand decides to jumps right up to Samsung Galaxy S20. Apart from the vanilla model, the series also includes Samsung Galaxy S20+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 7

The most noticeable feature of the Samsung Galaxy S20 lineup is that the rear camera cluster has been moved to the left rather than in the middle like last year's S series. This design is actually seen on the Galaxy A51 / A71. According to Samsung’s announcement in the recent launch of the A-series, they apply a new strategy to bring the latest tech and features on the Galaxy A smartphones then improve them on the high-end models.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 5 Compressed

Samsung Galaxy A51
Samsung Galaxy A51

And now we see the camera cluster inherited the design from the A-Series, but of course, the quality of the camera setup is much higher.

The most noticeable difference between the three Galaxy S20 smartphones is the number of cameras. While the Galaxy S20 has 3 cameras, the Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra have four sensors at the back. Moreover, only the S20 Ultra has a 48MP periscope lens that is designed to offer up to 100x digital zoom.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 2
48MP periscope lens with an f / 3.5 aperture called Space Zoom 100x of Galaxy S20 Ultra. It offers 10x optical zoom and 100x hybrid zoom. This is also the first smartphone that is capable of up to 100x digital zoom.

In theory, if you want to be able to zoom at a far distance, manufacturers have to use a camera with a long focal length, which means that the lens will be a lot bigger. So the periscope solution is currently the only way to get a high level of zoom on smartphones and doesn’t take too much space.

The other three cameras of the Galaxy S20 Ultra include the 108 MP f / 1.8 main camera, 12 MP f / 2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera and 0.3MP ToF 3D camera.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 1
S20 Ultra camera cluster is thicker than the other two siblings. This rectangular cluster even accounts for nearly half of the width of the device.

The Galaxy S20 and S20 + have the same ultra-wide camera as the S20 Ultra while they only have a 12 MP f / 1.8 main camera and 64 MP f / 2.0 telephoto with 3x optical zoom and 30x hybrid zoom. In addition to that, the S20+ also has an additional DepthVision sensor, which helps the phone take better portrait shots.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 4 Compressed
From left to right: Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, S20 Ultra.

Regarding the camera solution, this year's Galaxy S20 Ultra brings more "interesting" features, including the ability to capture super-resolution photos of 108 MP, Single Take, Space Zoom 100x and even 8K video recording.

With Single Take, users can shoot multiple photos and videos in many different modes like AI Best Moment, Ultra-wide shot, Live focus, AI filter, Smart crop, "forward and backward" videos, and quick videos. 

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 8297 Compres
All three models only have a single selfie camera with the S20 Ultra having a 40MP sensor while the other two bearing a 12MP unit.

On the front, the Galaxy S20 trio uses a Dynamic AMOLED panel with a punch-hole to house the selfie camera. Unlike the S10 with a selfie camera placed at the upper right corner, the punch hole on the three S20 smartphones is put in the center, similar to last year's Note10, Galaxy A51, and Galaxy A71.

All S20 series this year all use a single selfie camera. The one on the S20 and S20 Plus has 10 MP f / 2.2 resolution while the S20 Ultra is equipped with a 40 MP f / 2.2 unit.

All three smartphones use a Dynamic AMOLED 2x Quad HD + panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sensitivity. The display on the Galaxy S20 measures 6.2 inches while the display size on the S20 Plus and S20 Ultra are 6.7 inches and 6.9 inches, respectively. 

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 8297 Compres
From left to right: Galaxy S20 Plus, Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy S20. The screen bezels are much thinner than their predecessors.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra S20 Plus S20 3

The Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Plus are packed with a 4,000mAh and 4,500mAh batteries, respectively. Meanwhile, the S20 Ultra carries a beefier 5,000 mAh unit. 

In terms of configuration, the trio comes with a Snapdragon 865 SoC or an Exynos 990 SoC, depending on the market. We are not sure whether they will carry Qualcom’s or Samsung’s chipsets since Samsung was previously said to release the models with Qualcomm’s chipset on more markets. The memory configurations for the three models are as follows:

Samsung Galaxy S20 5G:

  • 8GB RAM + 128GB storage 

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus 5G (the 4G version is only available in the first variant)

  • 12GB RAM + 128GB storage
  • 12GB RAM + 256GB storage
  • 12GB RAM + 512GB storage 

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G

  • 12GB RAM + 128GB storage
  • 12GB RAM + 256GB storage
  • 16GB RAM + 512GB storage

The three smartphones will be up for pre-order from 21 February in the US while. You can start pre-ordering the phone in the UK today, and it will be shipped by 8 March while users in Germany and other EU countries will have to wait for the shipping on 13 March even though the pre-order starts in the same day as in the UK.

Here are the prices of the three smartphones in the Galaxy S20 lineup. For now, we haven't got any details about the Samsung Galaxy S20 price in India and its release date However, we expect it to arrive very soon.

Samsung Galaxy S20 US UK Europe
4G model with 12GB RAM + 128GB storage Not Available £799 (around Rs. 73,700) €899 (around Rs. 69,900)
5G model with 12GB RAM + 128GB storage $999 (around Rs.71,000) £899 (around Rs. 83,000) €999 (around Rs. 77,600)
Samsung Galaxy S20+
4G model with 12GB RAM + 128GB storage Not Available Not Available €999 (around Rs. 77,600)
5G model with 12GB RAM + 128GB storage $1,199 (around Rs. 85,400) £999 (around Rs. 92,200) €1,099 (around Rs. 85,400)
5G model with 12GB RAM + 512GB storage $1,299 (around Rs. 92,500) Not Available €1,249 (around Rs. 97,100)
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G
16GB RAM + 128GB storage $1,399 (around Rs. 99,600) £1,199 (around Rs. 1,10,700) €1,349 (around Rs. 1,04,900)
16GB RAM + 512GB storage $1,599 (around Rs. 1,13,900) £1,399 (around Rs. 1,29,200) €1,549 (around Rs. 1,20,400)

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