Review of Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra - an ultra-expensive smartphone for maximalists

Smartphone prices are skyrocketing. If earlier the flagship models of the A-brands were sold for 600-700 dollars, now they have approached the 1,000 mark. Samsung decided not to stop there and released the Galaxy S20 Ultra for $ 1,400, or 100,000 rubles. What can a smartphone offer for the price of a new MacBook? Let's figure it out.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Screen
• Software and performance
• Sound
• Camera
• Autonomy
• Outcome

Specifications

Design and ergonomics

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is clearly in the unification trend. Except for a huge block with cameras, there is nothing in it that would set the smartphone apart from devices for a third of its price. The same glass panels flowing smoothly into the metal frame, the traditional arrangement of buttons and connectors. Even the colors are unremarkable: the model is available in black and gray.

However, when you think about it, Samsung is doing it right. The company has already gotten its head around the Galaxy S5, when its flagship smartphone was compared in appearance to an adhesive plaster and the interior of old Zhiguli. Now we got a product without controversial design decisions. And if you want to stand out, there is a rich assortment of covers.

Moreover, a protective case is a must for the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The smartphone is heavy and slippery, and replacing the screen or rear glass is not cheap. In addition, the cover hides the protruding camera block.

The dimensions do not allow using the smartphone with one hand. However, thanks to the rounded corners and edges, the S20 Ultra fits well in the palm of your hand. Also, contrary to fears, the camera unit does not upset the balance, it is not difficult to hold the device for a long time.

The controls are located on the right side, on the bottom there is a multimedia speaker and a USB-C connector. Above - a hybrid slot for nano-SIM and memory cards. The assembly is flawless, but you can't expect anything else from the flagship smartphone. Also, the novelty is protected from water and dust according to the IP68 standard.

Screen

The "face" of the smartphone is a 6.9 ‑ inch screen with QHD + resolution (3,200 × 1,440). The matrix is ​​made using Dynamic AMOLED 2X technology, which means the use of organic diodes and twice the refresh rate (up to 120 Hz).

The pixels have a proprietary Pentile structure - there are twice as many green diodes as red and blue. In theory, this reduces the clarity of the picture, but with a pixel density of 511 ppi, no looseness is noticeable.

DisplayMate tests and awards Galaxy S20 Ultra screenGalaxy S20 Ultra OLED Display Technology Shoot ‑ Out its highest grade is A +. The display is 14% brighter than the Galaxy S10, which, together with the anti-reflective coating, makes it easy to read outdoors. Also, the image matches the DCI ‑ P3 and sRGB color spaces as closely as possible, so the screen is suitable for photo processing.

Nevertheless, the default settings are “Saturated colors”, which brings the picture to the “acidity” of the first AMOLED-screens. Therefore, it is better to immediately switch to natural color reproduction.

The "chip" of the display is the refresh rate equal to 120 Hz. Unfortunately, when activated, the system resolution is reduced to Full HD + (2,400 × 1,080). However, the difference with QHD + in clarity is insignificant, but the smoothness increases significantly.

Otherwise, this is a familiar AMOLED screen with maximum viewing angles and contrast levels, as well as HDR10 + support. The only drawback is the lack of DC Diming function, which eliminates high frequency flicker of the backlight. If you are sensitive to PWM, prolonged use of the Galaxy S20 Ultra can tire your eyes.

Software and performance

Galaxy S20 Ultra runs Android 10 with One UI 2.1. From a clean version of Android Samsung interface is distinguished by changed icons, settings panel, redesigned gesture controls and an abundance of other little things. Nevertheless, the basic logic of the system remained intact, so that Android users can easily navigate the proprietary firmware.

The hardware platform is a proprietary Exynos 990 chipset, made using a 7-nanometer process technology. It includes two powerful Mongoose M5 cores up to 2.73 GHz, two Cortex ‑ A76 cores at 2.5 GHz and four more energy efficient Cortex ‑ A55 cores operating at 2 GHz.

The system and application interface works perfectly, which is to be expected from a flagship device. There were no problems with connecting to the network either. Another cool feature is USB 3.2 with data transfer rates up to 20 Gbps.

The volume of RAM is 12 GB, built-in - 128 GB. The latter is expandable using microSD cards.

Responsible for graphics is the Mali-G77 MP11 video accelerator. Its performance is enough to easily pull World Of Tanks: Blitz at maximum settings with a stable 60 FPS. At the same time, the indicators do not fall for half an hour of the game, and the heating is quite moderate.

Nevertheless, the problem of optimizing games for Mali graphics remains relevant. Despite the display with a frequency of 120 Hz, this value cannot be included in World Of Tanks: Blitz. So the potential of a smartphone can only be unleashed by game developers over time.

What the S20 Ultra is slow to do is unlock. An ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is installed in the screen, which does not work as quickly as optical and capacitive counterparts. Face recognition is also not lightning fast, but at least the smartphone cannot be unlocked with a photo or video, as it was in the Galaxy S10.

Sound

When first meeting we have already praised the stereo speakers with the S20 Ultra, but they deserve another mention. In terms of sound quality, only the iPhone 11 Pro Max can compete with the smartphone. Moreover, when compared with the Asus ZenBook 13 laptop, the novelty practically did not yield to it in terms of volume, although it produced less voluminous sound.

We also put a plus for the bundled headphones with USB-C connection. Samsung ditched 3.5mm adapters - and rightly so. A lot of users have switched to wireless sound, while the rest will have a headset out of the box. Moreover, it sounds better than most of the bundled headphones from other manufacturers.

The earpiece produces a fairly loud and clear sound, there are no complaints about microphones either - there were no complaints about voice transmission from interlocutors. A high-quality vibration motor has become a pleasant trifle. The tactile feedback is similar to that found on iPhones with the Taptic Engine.

Camera

So we got to the main feature of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The system of four cameras includes the main one with 108 megapixels, a periscope module with an optical 5x zoom and 48MP sensor, 12MP wide-angle camera and ToF depth sensor (Time-of-Flight). Front camera resolution is 40 megapixels.

In standard mode, the smartphone takes 12-megapixel images by combining 9 adjacent pixels into one. This expands the dynamic range and reduces noise.

Another groundbreaking feature is 8K video recording. The frame rate is 24 FPS, electronic stabilization is not available, and there is also a noticeable rolling shutter.

This is how a smartphone records traditional 4K video.

Autonomy

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery inside. It would seem that such a capacity should be enough for a couple of days of work, but in reality the situation is sad. The smartphone gives out less than 4 hours with active use of the screen, and this is even without games. You have to put it on charge by the end of the working day.

Reducing the resolution and refresh rate helps, but does not completely solve the problem. The same goes for dark mode. Probably, the reason lies in the unfinished Exynos 990 platform. Hopefully Samsung will fix this with software updates.

At least a 25-watt adapter was included in the kit, so it won't take long to recharge. The smartphone gains 100% charge in less than an hour. We also tested wireless charging: it took 4 hours from the Xiaomi 10-watt docking station.

Outcome

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is an ultra-large, ultra-expensive smartphone packed with dizzying specs. You can add the prefix "ultra" before each word, and a completely accurate description of the novelty will come out. But along with this, there are drawbacks that you do not expect to see in a device for 100 thousand rubles. The main one, of course, is autonomy. Samsung urgently needs to optimize its power consumption. So you shouldn't rush to buy this smartphone.

Buy

The author thanks the company Samsung for the device provided for testing. The company had no way to influence the test result.