The new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is meant to be the perfect of the perfect that Samsung has to supply in a smartphone – minus a bendable display. It’s the costliest standard cellphone in Samsung’s lineup, and contains the top-of-the-line 108-megapixel digicam of the Galaxy S20 Ultra from earlier this 12 months in addition to the S-Pen stylus and all its related performance. Of course, being a Note sequence system, it additionally has to have an unlimited display plus all the most recent {hardware}. This is a luxurious cellphone for many who need the very best, however the Note sequence’ typical deal with productiveness additionally hasn’t been forgotten.
Samsung has mixed its finest {hardware} and software program options, plus top-end design and supplies to supply the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Is this the best course for the Galaxy Note sequence, or is all of it an excessive amount of in a single package deal? Read on to seek out out.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra design
Galaxy Note sequence telephones sometimes push the boundaries of measurement, and have usually been derided for a way massive they’re. The Note 20 Ultra has a 6.9-inch display, however fortunately the curved sides and slim borders throughout imply that the cellphone itself is not ridiculously enormous. It’s nonetheless greater than a handful – however not fully outrageous by immediately’s requirements. You might need hassle becoming it in some pockets and also you positively do not need to use it one-handed on a regular basis.
The 208g weight can also be on the excessive aspect however not an excessive amount of to deal with. Samsung says it has finished its finest to make the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra slim, and a lot of the physique is simply 8.1mm thick. However, the digicam bump is completely large, and stands proud one other 2mm or so. This not solely makes the cellphone top-heavy, however means you may’t simply use it when it is mendacity flat on its again. It bought in the way in which when holding this cellphone horizontally, and it additionally simply felt awkward. A case will go a good distance in lowering the hole between the cellphone’s again and the module, and surprisingly Samsung hasn’t included even a fundamental plastic one within the field.
Samsung has used Corning’s new Gorilla Glass Victus for the display and the again of this cellphone, although the digicam lenses are protected by a panel of Gorilla Glass 6. A skinny display protector comes pre-applied. The body is all steel and the highest and backside are flat, which is uncommon for Samsung. The corners dug into my palms a bit when holding this cellphone, and the highest dug into my ear a bit when making calls. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is bought in Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black in India. A white model exists in some international locations and would possibly make it right here after a while.
The rear has a frosted matte end and isn’t slippery, which is a large reduction. This makes the shiny body stand out, and the look total does seize consideration. Samsung has additionally determined to spotlight the rings round every rear digicam, although fortunately these do not stick out even farther from the module like on another telephones. It’s additionally good to see an IP68 ranking for water and mud resistance.
The energy and quantity buttons are on the left, and there is no Bixby button anymore. The SIM tray is on the highest and I observed that it is not centred. The S-Pen silo has been moved to the left of the underside, which is able to annoy some long-time Galaxy Note customers. A lightweight press pops it out partially, after which it’s a must to pull it out all the way in which along with your fingertips. The S-Pen could be inserted dealing with up or down, and fortunately it will not go in and damage the phone should you by chance attempt to put it in backwards.
The outsized digicam bump is instantly noticeable
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 worth and specs
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in India at Rs. 1,04,999, and there are not any variants. The Galaxy Note 20 will value significantly much less, at Rs. 79,999. There are a number of gives in the course of the pre-booking interval, however these costs are nonetheless means above common.
Longtime Samsung followers know that they firm sometimes makes use of its personal Exynos processors for flagship telephones bought in some elements of the world, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips for different markets. India normally will get the Exynos fashions, and these are extensively seen as a step down in terms of performance, and a few third-party assessments have indicated that that is certainly true. The firm insists that it does what’s proper for every market but it surely’s laborious to not really feel a bit upset.
The Exynos 990 used here is identical chip that powers the Galaxy S20 series. It’s an octa-core chip with two high-performance customized 2.7GHz cores, two extra 2.5GHz Cortex-A76 cores, and 4 extra power-efficient 2GHz Cortex-A55 cores. It options an built-in Mali G77MP11 GPU.
Samsung solely gives the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage and 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. This is a hybrid dual-SIM cellphone, however you need to use an eSIM as a substitute of a second bodily SIM, which frees the second bodily slot for a microSD card. Note that you may’t use three mobile connections on the similar time.
The 6.9-inch QHD+ display has curved sides and a variable refresh price as much as 120Hz
The 6.9- inch Dynamic AMOLED display helps HDR10+ and has a QHD+ decision of 1440×3088, though it is set to run at 1080×2316 by default. Even extra fascinating is the variable refresh rate function – you may select between 60Hz and ‘Adaptive’, which dynamically scales as much as 120Hz however also can scale all the way down to 30Hz or 10Hz, if there’s solely static content material on display. This is claimed to enhance battery effectivity. You cannot lock the display to 120Hz although, and you’ll’t run it at this refresh price and the complete decision on the similar time.
You get a 4500mAh battery and USB-PD quick charging, which implies you may share the identical charger with a laptop computer and different gadgets. A 25W charger is included within the field. There’s additionally Qi wi-fi charging and reverse charging.
Samsung has barely improved the S-Pen with this technology. It has its personal tiny Lithium Titanate battery and makes use of Bluetooth for distant management capabilities. You get 4,096 ranges of strain sensitivity and decreased 9ms latency. The stylus itself can also be IP68 licensed.
Other noteworthy specs embody dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 with the Scalable codec, NFC and MST for funds, all the standard location companies and sensors, an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and stereo audio system. There’s additionally Ultra Wideband (UWB) performance for exact positioning, which is unique to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. You get a headset tuned by AKG with a braided cable, however the field is definitely fairly naked – there isn’t any case, and no additional S-Pen ideas or tweezer software to assist change them.
The S-Pen silo has been moved to the bottom-left
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra software program and utilization
Samsung has introduced that it’s going to ship software updates including security patches for three years, although that does not essentially assure the subsequent three main variations of Android. Still, that is nice by Android requirements. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra comes operating Android 10 with OneUI 2.5, and my unit acquired the August safety patch, which is spectacular.
Some of the preloaded apps, akin to Galaxy Store and My Galaxy despatched a couple of notifications on occasion, and so did the Google app. You have to make use of the Galaxy Store app to maintain some (however not all) of Samsung’s preloaded first-party apps up to date. These embody Samsung Pay India, Bixby, Samsung Shop, Samsung Cloud, Game Launcher, and a few background frameworks. On the constructive aspect, you may get new variations of smaller apps such because the digicam and calendar with out ready for a full OS replace.
There are two fundamental software program options that set the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and its smaller sibling aside – the Samsung Notes app which works with the S-Pen, and the DeX desktop expertise. The S-Pen has additionally been souped up with “air gestures” that you simply carry out whereas holding its button down. These might in principle allow you to work shortly with out having to modify between the pen and your finger to navigate by way of apps and the Android UI, however in my expertise gesture detection did not work constantly.
The Notes app is fairly feature-rich, with the flexibility to mark up PDFs and footage together with screenshots, and in addition timestamp notes to an audio recording. Handwriting recognition is fairly good, and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra managed to make sense of some fairly crude scribbles. Coming later this 12 months is the flexibility to sync notes to Microsoft OneNote throughout gadgets and the cloud, in addition to export to Word, PowerPoint, or PDF paperwork. Samsung has even simply introduced a reduction on Microsoft 365 subscriptions for Galaxy Note 20 sequence house owners.
Owners of earlier Galaxy Note gadgets will likely be used to the S-Pen’s normal options and capabilities. Ejecting it pops a menu up on display with shortcuts to varied instruments. You can open the notes app, select of textual content to translate, annotate a photograph or screenshot and ship them as messages, and create AR filters that comply with your face round. If the cellphone is locked, you may nonetheless scribble a word shortly and it will likely be saved. One factor I discovered annoying was the pretend, scratchy pen-on-paper sound that performs when utilizing the S-Pen, however this may be disabled.
DeX requires a Microsoft account and leverages the Your Phone app that comes with Windows 10. Some options, akin to having the ability to run Android apps on your Windows desktop, will likely be launched later this 12 months. Another new function is wi-fi mirroring to a suitable sensible TV (Samsung says its personal 2019 and later fashions are supported). You can mirror your cellphone’s display or use the TV as a secondary show to run content material on.
You can shortly scribble a word with out even unlocking the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra efficiency and battery life
Although some individuals won’t really feel that they are getting their cash’s price, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra continues to be extraordinarily quick. You will not discover the slightest delay in abnormal use. Samsung’s OneUI is slick and runs simply high quality, feeling snappy even with the show set to 60Hz. The S-Pen is extraordinarily responsive and utilizing it felt pure. The display is crisp and shiny, with remarkably vibrant colors. Curved sides at all times end in some reflections and a shift in color tone, however this is not too distracting. The stereo audio system will not be balanced however sound total may be very loud and satisfying sufficient for music in addition to movies and video games.
I generally wanted to faucet the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor a couple of occasions earlier than it was pleased with how I positioned my thumb or forefinger. Face recognition was fairly fast, however generally did not work in low gentle. Apps loaded in a short time and there was no drawback in any respect with multitasking.
As for benchmarks, AnTuTu reported a rating of 536,385 which is considerably decrease than what the extra inexpensive OnePlus 8 series managed, and fairly far behind the Asus ROG Phone 3 (Review) which relies on the identical Snapdragon 865+ SoC as worldwide variations of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Androbench confirmed sequential learn and write scores of 1720.7MBps and 789.48MBps for the inner storage, that are each superb. Geekbench 5 put up 623 and a couple of,778 factors respectively in its single-core and multi-core assessments.
Graphics assessments have been run on the full-HD+ decision with the adaptive refresh price enabled. GFXBench managed 46fps within the Car Chase scene and 34fps in Aztec Ruins (High Tier). 3DMark returned 8,586 factors within the Sling Shot Unlimited check.
PUBG Mobile ran very nicely, and gameplay was completely easy. Asphalt 9: Legends additionally did not give me any hassle. The enormous display makes controls simple and enjoying extra enjoyable. However, the massive digicam module does get in the way in which when holding this cellphone horizontally. Also, the again and the body of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra did get fairly heat, however not sufficient to be uncomfortable.
Battery life is spectacular in real-world use, and I used to be in a position to get at the very least a day and a half with frequent use of the S-Pen and cameras, plus a bit gentle gaming. However, our HD video loop check did surprisingly poorly, with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra operating for less than 12 hours, 45 minutes. The display refresh price made no distinction throughout a number of runs. Charging is fairly fast, and I used to be in a position to get from zero to 75 % in a single hour.
There’s a hybrid dual-SIM tray however you too can use an eSIM on your second line
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra cameras
Now we come to the cameras, and there is numerous floor to cowl. The 108-megapixel main rear digicam is in fact the star of the present. This has PDAF and optical stabilisation with an f/1.Eight aperture. It’s joined by a 12-megapixel f/2.2 wide-angle digicam, a 12-megapixel f/3.zero 5x optical zoom digicam, and a laser autofocus sensor.
You can take photographs on the full decision, however for some cause that choice is grouped with the facet ratio selector, not the decision menu itself. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra takes terribly crisp and detailed photographs within the daytime, even of objects at a distance. Focusing is fast and exposures are metred nicely. Even on a cloudy day, colors popped properly and element was usually glorious. In a couple of uncommon circumstances, the main focus was a bit off.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra close-up digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)
Close-ups have good pure depth and there isn’t any want for a macro digicam as you are prompted to modify to 2x magnification which delivers a lot the identical impact. The wide-angle digicam can also be fairly efficient however there’s a appreciable fish-eye impact on the sides.
In the daytime, you may choose as much as 4x zoom which makes use of the first sensor, since there’s sufficient element to crop and amplify. At 5x, the cellphone switches to its optical zoom digicam and you’ll discover an enchancment in high quality. You can go as much as 50x in increments utilizing a sequence of buttons that can seem to the aspect of the shutter button, or slide your finger up and down on the digicam selector to zoom easily. Samsung calls this ‘Space Zoom’ combines the telephoto digicam with digital zoom. If you are in a darkish surroundings the principle sensor continues for use and you’ll zoom as much as 20x digitally.
Top to backside: Samsung Galaxy Note Ultra wide-angle, normal, 5X optical zoom, 50X hybrid zoom digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)
Detail clearly is not nice on the most magnification and it is troublesome to border pictures since each little motion is amplified. The viewfinder exhibits you a preview of a bigger body to assist when you cross 20x. Having such a digicam can in fact nonetheless come in useful, and in some circumstances you’ll learn indicators or decide up different tiny objects within the far distance.
Performance dips at night time as anticipated, however I used to be completely staggered by the standard of outcomes which might be doable utilizing the Night Mode on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Even indoors, in the course of the night time, this cellphone was in a position to decide up actually stunning quantities of element, usually bringing out colors and highlighting objects that the bare eye merely couldn’t understand. Some pictures regarded as shiny and detailed as if that they had been taken on a price range cellphone within the daytime. It is not precisely night-vision but it surely’s very almost the identical factor.
You have to attend about seven seconds for a Night Mode shot, but it surely’s nicely price it. The telephoto digicam would not achieve this nicely at night time, however the wide-angle one surprisingly does, and Night Mode is on the market for all three.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 low-light digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)
You can file video at as much as 8K, although that could be impractical. Footage is stabilised nicely at 1080p however there was a bit jitter at 4K. There’s additionally a Super Steady toggle that makes use of the wide-angle digicam and crops the body to regulate for shakes. You can change between the three cameras when taking pictures at 1080p and in addition manually zoom as much as 20x. Slow Motion and Super Slow-Mo modes are enjoyable to play with and you’ll select which part of a recorded clip to decelerate within the editor after recording.
At night time, video taken with the principle digicam is fairly clear however the wide-angle one is not pretty much as good, and zooming digitally is not very efficient. Footage is okay should you’re standing nonetheless and panning round, however there may be some judder and shimmer should you file whereas shifting.
Unsurprisingly, the entrance digicam takes glorious pictures within the daytime and at night time. You can apply a wide-angle impact which primarily simply prevents cropping, and in addition apply a number of results.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 portrait selfie digicam pattern (faucet to see full measurement)
There are a couple of UI quirks and particulars to notice in regards to the digicam app. Most of the modes are buried in a spillover menu by default however you may add whichever ones you need to the record of default modes which might be immediately accessible. The Scene Optimiser is off by default. Beautification is off for portraits, however on for selfies. Live Focus mode provides you a selection of background types together with radial blur and selective color, and the depth is adjustable. With Live Focus Video, there’s additionally a colour-shifting Glitch impact.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is an exceptional companion system, in lots of senses greater than a smartphone. Its digicam capabilities are actually unimaginable and the S-Pen might make numerous on a regular basis duties go easily when you get used to it. If you’ve the cash and do not thoughts the massive measurement of this cellphone, you’ll almost definitely be very pleased with it. However, only a few individuals really want all of this performance and the worth restricts it to only a few potential consumers. This is a luxurious proposition, not vital funding. The normal Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy S20 sequence may very well be higher bets for many individuals.
If you need a top-end Galaxy Note for its S-Pen performance and do not notably care in regards to the cameras, the a lot inexpensive (however nonetheless very premium) Galaxy Note 20 could be a sensible choice. In India, Samsung has launched solely the 5G model of the bigger Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and the non-5G model of the Note 20. There are a couple of different stunning variations between the 2, akin to using polycarbonate as a substitute of glass, a flat 60Hz full-HD+ panel as a substitute of a rounded 120Hz QHD+ one, slower S-Pen response time, and no microSD slot or UWB, for the smaller sibling.
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