The Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone packed with its latest and best features, but how good are they when you put them all together? Samsung figures three is better than two or one, having again come out with a trio of phones for its flagship Galaxy S line. The Galaxy S20 and S20+ are flagships on their own merits, only the S20 Ultra is the one meant to push the envelope. Where the other two are highly similar to each other, this one stands out a little more. Even so, choosing between the S20 Ultra and either one of the other two will depend on what you prioritize most.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra SpecsDisplay: 6.9-inch 3040 x 1440 Dynamic AMOLED display 21:9 aspect ratio with 522 pixels per inch |
Getting bigger
The S20 Ultra is the largest phone Samsung has made—purely on screen size—at 6.9-inches. If you remember the Galaxy Mega from back in 2013, you would know that phone was significantly taller and wider than this phone is, despite having a 6.3-inch display. It’s also only 0.1-inches bigger than the Galaxy Note10.
Even with its super thin bezels, it’s going to be an unwieldy device for some. The camera array has a noticeable bump in the back, and the added dimensions all around contribute to a heavier frame. If you like big phones, there aren’t too many that will be bigger than this.
As I noted in my review of the other two S20 devices, Samsung wisely abandoned the curved displays it championed for so long. This phone has a flat screen and is better for it. It was probably also a good idea to move the front-facing camera back to the middle, rather than to the right-hand corner.
Under the hood, the S20 Ultra isn’t all that different from the other two models. The processor, RAM and internal storage are the same. The microSD card slot to expand storage further returns, while the headphone jack doesn’t. Samsung removed it, marking the first time it has done so for a Galaxy S phone. The company also combined the dedicated Bixby button with the power button and moved it over to the right side above the volume buttons.
The feature set is extensive, but the S20 Ultra is largely defined by its camera, headlined by its 108-megapixel standard wide lens. It’s an impressive camera array on paper, and there’s more to it once you dig deeper.
Performance and software
There’s a lot to like about how this phone performs. It’s powerful enough to handle everything from streaming media to gaming. As a daily driver, it’s a workhorse, and if productivity is important to you, you’ve got a big screen and efficient battery life working for you.
In fact, I had little to complain about when it came to just using the phone like I normally would. I’m not crazy about Samsung’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, though. If there’s going to be a new version coming, it’s likely coming in the next Galaxy Note. In the S20 Ultra, it can sometimes be unresponsive or take a little too long to get past the lock screen.
On the other hand, the phone supports a 120Hz refresh rate for the screen. It’s not enabled out of the box, but you can set it by going to Settings>Display>Motion smoothness. You’ll be glad you did because it makes for a smooth experience navigating the interface and apps. Scroll through a social media feed or news article and it becomes obvious. It’s buttery smooth and makes a difference when playing more demanding games.
There is a catch, though. The phone offers a 3400 x 1080 resolution option (it’s 2400 x 1080 by default), but when you select that, 120Hz won’t work. It’s likely Samsung did this to preserve longer battery life, but in any case, you can’t use both at once. I always chose 120Hz over the higher resolution for the simple fact 2400 x 1080 still looks great on this gorgeous display.
Although it will show itself in time, the marriage of hardware and software here is pretty robust, making the S20 Ultra a more than capable handset.
Camera – Space Zoom
This is really the bread and butter of the device. More importantly, it’s what sets it apart from the other two S20 models. Samsung crammed a lot into the camera array, but as I’ll explain, it’s not all especially useful.
I’ll start with Space Zoom, the 100x zoom in the 108-megapixel standard lens. The moment Samsung announced it, I was immediately skeptical. I was right to be because the resulting image is totally unusable. It is a technical feat to make a phone zoom in that far, but there are virtually no optics involved, so what you end up with is a mostly-cropped digital zoom that makes the photo look like a blotchy, pixilated photo.
Even at 30x zoom, the photos are okay, but not exceptional. It is cool to be able to get something out of zooming in that far, but again, don’t expect anything impressive. At 10x zoom, however, results look far more interesting. The hybrid zoom combines the 4x optical zoom of the 48-megapixel telephoto lens and adds digital zoom to make up the rest. It’s just the right number because it doesn’t push the image sensor to overly crop or interpret a scene.
All this zooming also makes it challenging to shoot handheld. At 10x, it’s not too bad, but above that, you will find it hard to frame a shot. At 100x, it’s almost impossible, as the slightest shake can pull the camera off-centre.
Camera – 108-megapixel sensor
By now, we know that megapixels do not make or break a camera. Here’s the thing: the image sensor inside is actually 12-megapixels. Samsung uses what’s called pixel binning to split each pixel in the sensor at a 9:1 ratio to push the number up to 108.
While the sensor’s physical size is 70 per cent larger than the Galaxy S10+, pixel binning ultimately determines how well it shoots. However, you can turn 108-megapixels off and shoot at 12-megapixels, which is better in low-light settings.
With the right conditions, the S20 Ultra can capture amazing shots, with a great number of options available to shoot with. Pro mode has always been my personal favourite, though it bothers me Samsung won’t let it work with all three lenses. Single Take is surprisingly useful for capturing a key moment in multiple ways. If you’re watching live music and get close enough, pan around the band and you get multiple photos and video clips all at once. It’s not as great for most situations, but is handy at the right time.
Food mode is made for the Instagram and Facebook crowd. Live Focus is back, though I found the standard and telephoto lenses adept at creating bokeh effects of their own. I would recommend turning the scene optimizer off to reduce the level of software processing so that colours don’t oversaturate. Unfortunately, it may still oversharpen objects, or smooth out skin a little too much.
That processing can be problematic when interpreting night or low-light scenes, where subtlety is often the better route. Night mode is better than it was before, but I don’t see it overlapping Google or Huawei. If you’re comfortable enough, shoot in RAW and learn to edit those images. It’s the only way you can avoid any post-processing.
Video recording
The S20 Ultra supports 8K video recording, but unless you have an 8K TV lying around, it shouldn’t matter to you. There’s also a caveat to how this works that you may want to know.
To shoot in 8K, you need at least a 33-megapixel sensor or higher. Since the telephoto lens has the 48-megapixel sensor, that’s the one that actually shoots the footage. You don’t notice the switch from the standard lens, but that’s what’s happening to get 8K.
It is neat that you can pull out a 33-megapixel still photo from 8K footage, but I would only attempt to do it in daylight conditions for subjects that are further away. If you’re shooting a vista, or capturing wildlife from a distance, there’s a possibility such a feature could work.
Those instances may be few and far between. Plus, 8K TVs (and content) aren’t ubiquitous yet, so it may be a feature that’s more relevant later on. To me, shooting in 4K at 60fps is more impactful. Shoot any scene with plenty of movement and the footage will look nice and crisp.
Pro Video mode shouldn’t be overlooked, either. It’s the same idea as the Pro photo mode, with granular controls for composition. Adjust the shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus, along with temperature, saturation, highlights, shadows and contrast. If you fancy yourself an amateur filmmaker, you might like that level of control over a scene. Unfortunately, it’s missing 24fps, which would have given footage a more cinematic flair.
Samsung continues to restrict lenses for video capture. You can’t shoot any video with the ultra-wide lens, and with the telephoto one stepping in on 8K, it’s not available, either.
Battery life
With all the features and performance packed into this phone, you’d be right to wonder about battery life. In my testing, it held out impressively well, giving me juice to work with after a long day of regular usage.
I’d expect something good when there’s a 5000mAh battery inside, but its ability to sip gradually is superb engineering. It’s some of the best battery performance I’ve seen in a smartphone of its size. It is true that 120Hz does affect its longevity per charge, though I was fine with that trade-off.
The phone comes with a 25W charger in the box, capable of fast charging from zero to full in roughly one hour. It does support 45W chargers in case you want to give that a boost. Of the three S20 phones, this is the only one that does.
Wireless PowerShare is there for those times you want to charge another device wirelessly on the phone’s back. It’s decent for a quick boost on another phone, but is better suited for smaller devices, like the Galaxy Buds or Buds+, for instance. Anything that supports Qi wireless charging is compatible.
5G connectivity
Canada’s major carriers have confirmed their 5G networks are coming. Rogers even rolled out its own on March 6, but it only works in pockets of downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. I didn’t have access while testing the S20 Ultra, so can’t offer any insight into how well it works.
Final thoughts
The S20 Ultra is undoubtedly a powerful and fully-loaded handset. The big screen, robust components and smooth performance should make it a shoo-in for anyone. And yet, I’m cautious to recommend it. The Galaxy S20 and S20+ are impressive and the features that set the Ultra apart are either not as compelling or not as relevant yet.
If you want the best of the best Samsung can offer, then sure, this may be the phone for you. But if you want competent performance with most of the same features (and a better price), either one of the other two S20 devices would suffice for most users. It’s also a big phone in size, and that could matter where ergonomics are concerned.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G is available now in cosmic grey.
Bigger screen and better battery life sounds interesting to me. I’ve taken some amazing photos with my current Samsung phone, so taking that up a notch would be awesome.
Power share and the camera such a huge feature with this phone,
I’m looking forward to the bigger screen and better performance.
You betcha I think Samsung is the best. I may be slightly biased as I ‘ve owned 2 Samsung phones, 2 Samsung tablets and a Samsung TV. I would love to have a new Samsung phone with the upgraded camera as I have 2 Grandchildren and love taking their pictures. Also my grandson loves watching videos on my phone so the 120Hz refresh rate would be fabulous. I would also love the larger screen size and additional memory to store all those pictures of the Grandchildren.
I love the screen size for my ageing eyes. Hopefully I wouldn’t find it too big. The battery life sounds great. And since I love to bake and post on IG the Food Mode sounds fun too. Too bad the zoom got such poor reviews. Thanks for the review.
I would enjoy the screen size and battery life.
I like the idea of 5G connectivity, the nice sized display screen, and a professionally quality camera in the form of a smartphone. Thank you!
I love my current Samsung but definitely interested in the upgrade to Space Zoom and an even longer battery life.
Looking forward to trying the cameras as an amateur photographer who is not impressed with iPhone photos
I will enjoy the performance of the Snapdragon 865 processor and the 12GB of RAM. Also will be ready for 5G as well.
As a dedicated samsumg user in a house full of Apple pushers. Definitely the screen size and the the extended battery life!!
I love the galaxy phones so much but I’m most excited for the camera and battery life. My phone is my life (I currently have the s9) and I depend on it for EVERYTHING. writing blogs on the go, photos ( 108-megapixels?! SO EXCITED) and since I’m always moving, I dont get much time to charge, the battery life sounds amazing!
Definitely the screen size and the battery life
120mhz refresh and the ridiculously powerful optical zoom camera are my two favourite features.
the screen size is awesome. i love the size plus being able to take better pictures is a big plus. i need a reliable clear camera to take wonderful pictures of my grandchildren
Long battery life and optical zoom!
5g Wireless connectivity
Camera Zoom.. its really Zoooooooom
5000mAh battery.. long lasting
I would have to say that the two features of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G that will make my life easier would be the fingerprint scanner for super fast logins and having 5G support so that I don’t have to wait for YouTube videos to load! 🙂
The long battery life and the big screen size are awesome features that I’d enjoy.
A microSD card slot expandable to 2TB and 5G…I’d be all set!
My favourite features are the battery life and The 6.9 inch screen!!
a large screen size, paired with a better battery (5000mAh) means more hours of fun on my phone !
Love the 5000mAh battery and the 5G connectivity
the top 2 features that I would find super useful are the 108-megapixel standard wide lens and the big 6.9 inch display
The fingerprint scanner will make my life easier and the 100X Space Zoom will make my life more fun.
I’d have to say the camera and the battery life are very appealing to me, but the 5G connectivity will definitely have to be on the list as well. I’ve been watching reviews to see if it’s worth the price tag and by the looks of it, it is.
Thanks for the review and the chance!
Would love this for its 5000mAh battery for long life and the 6.9 inches screen. My Apple iPhone is getting tired and hardly keeps a charge.
The good camera and fast charging battery are 2 great features that would make my life easier with this phone. Thanks for the review and the opportunity to win.
Wow this sounds amazing! I think the larger display and more storage would be phenomenal! Would certainly love to win it!
Two features that would benefit me the most: 1) battery life: I’m a PhD student and I use my phone for work when I am commuting and between classes. I need my phone to work all day. 2) camera: if I can use my phone effectively for video conferencing for school and home, that would be amazing.
The camera and screen size are my fave features as they will allow me to take and view wonderful photos!
Boy Samsung sure has come a long way from the days of my ground breaking S3 ,S4,S6,S7 edge to my Note 1 and Note 3 they have always moved forward to put the most tech in the best package. The 120hz screen and the battery are the most impressive features to me. Thanks for your honest opinion. Ted.
1) Always a fan of the phablet. My own phone is 6-inch but the 6.9 inches and thin bezels will make my user experience more fun for daily use (i.e. browsing the internet, e-mail and mobile gaming).
2) The 108-megapixel standard wide lens means while I can take amazing shots during everyday use, there is still the opportunity to use the camera for special occasions that require the higher quality imaging. This also means I can also use the device for high quality video recording when I need it.
Two features of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G that will make my life easier would be the 5000mAh battery , and the 6.9-inch display screen .
I like the 6.9 inch display and the long battery life, but I’m off to read your other S20 reviews too, new phone coming after July 24 when my contract ends.
nice camera and better battery
I would love a camera with better zoom – so that when I zoom the image is less grainy. The review was mixed on the zoom, but it is better than what I have and I do like to zoom in on wildlife (but do not want a proper camera). Longer battery life means less panic to plug in and I like that.
big screen because of my eyesight and the bigger battery is good
I have Ocular Convergence Disorder and the bigger screen would make my life easier, smaller displays cause more eye strain.
The 6.9″ screen and 108 megapixels camera!!!
Really like the quick charging, long life battery and the great camera on the phone.
I like the 6.9 inch display and the 120Hz refresh rate! Would be such a fun phone to have!
I would really love the 108-megapixel standard wide lens and the 6.9-inch 3040 x 1440 Dynamic AMOLED display . With that combination i could really display some truly great pictures.
The improved camera with 100x zoom and much better battery make me want to replace my iPhone with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G!
As a mom I find I use my phone for many things such as making schedules for school , dance, work and so much more. taking pictures and videos at dance competitions in 4k and the amazing pictures it can take without me having to carry around my DSLR would be fantastic. Also the battery life is a huge factor for me as needing to be away for hours and not having to worry about the battery dying on me.
I love the reviews on this phone and could definitely use an upgrade.
The nice size display and the camera features would be the best for me
The massive 6.9 inch screen is something I really like – it will be handy for viewing videos or reading documents.
I also really like that it supports a 120 Hz display – makes for a really smooth experience!
The 120Hz refresh rate for smother transition between apps and scrolling and the cameras on it as its regarded one of the best on the market. Great Review!
The 8k video/40mp camera… ooo baby
THAT and along with the crazy storage and im living on cloud 9.
The 6.9 inch display and the 5G wireless connectivity will be really fun to use!
I’m starting to spend more time taking photos and editing them with my phone than with my old DSLR. A smart phone camera and lens with a screen like that would be great fun.
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