Go big or head home . That’s always been Samsung’s motto with the Galaxy Note series, and therefore the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is its biggest effort yet. The screen is even larger than last year’s Galaxy Note 10 Plus, and there’s also more power, more features, and more technology — all aimed toward improving productivity and increasing its media capabilities.
Your wallet had better be bigger too, because the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra starts at $1,299. Samsung’s approach to outdoing the competition is simple: Beat them into submission by offering everything a phone buyer could possibly want, during a phone which will last for years.
Pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable in terms of device size and price, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra even outdoes the Galaxy Note 10 Plus — a phone we called the simplest Android phone of 2019.
Design
If the planning of the Galaxy Note 10 Plus was a touch ordinary, the Note 20 Ultra is anything but. That’s especially evident within the new Mystic Bronze color of the devices within the photos. The camera module is very large , protrudes by several millimeters, and dominates the rear of the phone. It’s very different from the dainty module on the Note 10 Plus, and even more in your face than the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s module. The glass covering features a strong, bright sheen in several lighting conditions.
The Mystic Bronze itself falls somewhere between gold and pink, and is classy instead of gaudy. The matte finish has many grip and resists fingerprints, but the glaze the camera module doesn’t, and it often needed an honest wipe before taking photos. deduct the monster camera module and therefore the Note 20 Ultra shares an equivalent basic shape because the Note 10 Plus, where the curved sides taper right down to some extent while remaining perfectly comfortable to grip.
Samsung has swapped the buttons over to the right-hand side of the phone and, for me, as a right-handed person, it’s much more natural than the Note 10 Plus, where the buttons were on the left. within the new layout, the S Pen stylus is stored on the left side of the phone, the highest and bottom of the phone are flat, and there’s one hole-punch selfie camera within the screen.
I have average-sized hands, and therefore the Note 20 Ultra is true on the sting of being too big and too heavy at 77.2mm (3.04 inches) wide, 8.1mm (0.32 inches) thick, and 208 grams (0.46 pounds). it's well-balanced but can feel top-heavy when you’re using it while laying down. It’s also frustrating to juggle it with one hand once you just want to see a notification or take a selfie.
It’s these quick tasks which will make using the huge Note 20 Ultra a touch of a chore, and sometimes I’d long for a smaller, more manageable device. I felt this less with the 196-gram, 7.9mm-thick Note 10 Plus.
Be prepared for a period of adjustment as you get wont to the dimensions .
The Note 20 Ultra may be a whopper of a phone and requires commitment to hold and use a day . The reward is well worth the effort, but if you’re graduating from a smaller phone (which is simply about every other phone available), be prepared for a period of adjustment as you get wont to it.
This applies albeit you’re coming from the Note 10 Plus, which feels surprisingly lithe and usable compared with the Note 20 Ultra. I always appreciate an extr- large screen, but the huge chassis required to accommodate it can desire a step too far.
Screen and audio
A 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with a 1,440 x 3,088 pixel resolution, a variable 120Hz refresh rate, and even HDR10+ support catches your attention. The Note 20 Ultra is that the first Samsung phone to use Samsung Display’s variable refresh rate technology, which adapts counting on what you’re doing on your phone. for instance , it’ll use 120Hz when playing games that support it, or switch to 60Hz for movies, or maybe 10Hz for still photos. The aim is to be more power efficient
This adaptive refresh rate is about as standard, but it’s possible to force it to permanently use a 60Hz refresh rate. Similarly, the resolution by default is 2,316 x 1,080, and it must be manually changed to three ,088 x 1,440 — to enjoy this, however, you've got to use a 60Hz refresh rate. It’s lovely to seem at, a bit like the bulk of Samsung phones. I used it within the default setting most of the time and had no complaints about the standard or sharpness.
Scrolling through some apps isn't as smooth as I’d expected. I experienced some jerkiness in Twitter and in parts of Chrome too, which can have more to try to to with Android than the screen. There are minimal bezels at the highest and therefore the bottom of the display, and it gently curves down the edges to offer an outsized viewing area. Even the hole-punch for the selfie camera is small .
Watching Woyshnis Media’s YouTube video featuring the Lamborghini Huracán Perfomante and Mercedes Benz AMG GTS may be a great demonstration of how fantastic the screen is, and also how a display tweak called the Video Enhancer works. The green Lamborghini pops off the screen with the mode active, while the darker AMG remains subdued until you get close, and therefore the colorful flake within the paint becomes noticeable. This neat balance isn’t common in display-enhancing modes, and meant I didn’t mind leaving the Video Enhancer on most of the time.
I put the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra alongside the equally stunning Sony Xperia 1 II to check video, and therefore the results are surprising. The Note 20 Ultra doesn’t play 4K YouTube video just like the Sony phone, but watching Carfection’s Porsche Taycan review, it hardly shows. The Note 20 Ultra’s screen is vibrant with color, yet still delivers crisp whites, and therefore the large size really does return a gorgeous viewing experience.
There are stereo speakers on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, one set at the highest of the screen for calls, and another on rock bottom of the phone. The sound is full, with many midrange and clear highs. As you’d expect, there’s little low-end bass. It’s loud though, and while the sound gets pretty bright, there’s no distortion at maximum volume. The Note 20 Ultra also has Dolby Atmos support.
The screen and media experience on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is great , but it’s marred by problematic palm and finger rejection at the sides of the screen. I’m employing a prerelease phone, so this might be cured during a software update before it happening sale. But because it stands now, it’s a pain. due to it, miscellaneous apps open accidentally while others get closed, I’ve sent voice messages accidentally in WhatsApp, and lots of buttons on the edges of the screen won’t work until you adjust your grip. It’s very frustrating, but I’m hoping an update will arrive to cure it.
Camera
The camera is one among the main upgrades the Note 20 Ultra boasts over the Note 10 Plus. Samsung’s 108-megapixel 1/1.33-inch sensor is on board, taken from the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It’s joined by a 12-megapixel periscope zoom with 5x optical and 10x hybrid zoom, but with its maximum Space Zoom level reduced to 50x rather than 100x.
Finally, there’s a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a replacement laser autofocus system, and optical image stabilization on the most and periscope lenses. It also can record video at up to 8K resolution at 24 frames per second and 4K at 60fps, with both optical and electronic stabilization, plus HDR10+ support.
Although the specs are clearly an improvement over the Note 10 Plus, the 2 main cameras take very similar photos, with only a touch more detail coming from the Note 20 Ultra. This changes once you attend 5x and 10x zoom though, where the Note 20 Ultra surpasses the Note 10 Plus’ ability to require clear, detailed photos.
The Note 10 Plus features a better 2x optical zoom mode though, which in some cases may make it more usable, as 5x gets you in very on the brink of a topic indeed.
It’s easy to like the Note 20 Ultra’s camera. The photos it takes are filled with color, popping off the screen during a pleasing way without appearing too artificial or oversaturated. at night , the low-light performance is great too, with the camera injecting real atmosphere after dusk. concentrate to 5x and 10x and shots still have tons of detail, but 50x is that the same pointless endeavor as 100x on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
The phone includes the superb Single Take mode with some subtle changes. With this mode, you shoot a brief video rather than one still, and therefore the camera creates multiple different edits including stills, filtered shots, GIFs, and more for you. You’ll never regret taking a photograph instead of a video.
In the new mode, you'll select the quantity of your time you shoot a video for — between five and 15 second –, and it returns more options from even the foremost basic captures than it did before. Not all are gold, but I’d rather have an excessive amount of choice than not enough.
The 108-megapixel mode and therefore the 8K video mode are gimmicks. The 8K video looks great if you own an 8K TV, but if you don’t, the footage just takes up masses of space for storing on your phone.
Take a 108-megapixel still and you’ll struggle to select it call at the gallery. Once you discover it, you'll crop it down without losing much detail, but this is often a distinct segment feature, especially since you'll also use one among the Note 20 Ultra’s very capable zoom settings. These modes work as intended, and 8K video could also be more helpful within the future, but immediately they’re not a reason to shop for this phone.
How about selfies? Some may consider them washed out — and compared to the iPhone 11 Pro, they’re definitely on the sunshine side — but I liked the results.
The editing suite inside the Gallery app is additionally worth mentioning, as it’s full-featured and really easy to use, and therefore the auto-enhance setting is typically suitably effective in emphasizing the colours in selfies. Samsung has added a professional mode to the video, and while i prefer the way you'll concentrate and out manually for a cinematic look, pro modes are complicated and need a degree of expert knowledge. most of the people will just use the auto mode, I suspect, but if you’re a competent photographer, it'll be very welcome.
The core features of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s camera — the most sensor, periscope zoom, wide-angle, Night mode, and selfies — are all excellent, and you’ll take photos that are instantly able to share in only about any environment or situation. Explore more, and therefore the Note 20 Ultra’s camera really stands out.
S Pen
Now housed on the lower left of the phone, the S Pen is identical in size and shape to the last one, but it’s easier to get rid of and replace thanon the Note 10 Plus. Samsung made an enormous thing about the latency reduction to 9 milliseconds, so is that this noticeable? Not really, no, and maybe it’s because I’m wont to the Note 10 Plus, but I found my scribbled notes were much neater thereon phone. i feel the sensitivity needs some adjustment, and therefore the palm rejection problems don’t help matters here either.
The new convert-to-text feature is extremely accurate. An easily edited box appears on screen once you convert, and while I never had to vary any words, the formatting was always off and needed neatening up. The S Pen’s Air Gestures work well
It worked equally well playing 1945 and other shooters. The S Pen’s new low latency almost certainly helps, although I wouldn’t say Scribble Racer 2 felt any longer precise than before.
Performance and software
Buy the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra within the U.S. and it comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus processor, but buy an equivalent phone within the U.K. or elsewhere in Europe and it’ll accompany Samsung’s own Exynos 990 processor. this is often the model tested here, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of space for storing . there's a MicroSD card slot to spice up this if you would like more room . no matter where you purchase the phone, it comes with 5G connectivity. Here are the benchmark results:
Geekbench 5: 919 Single Core/2708 Multi Core
3DMark Sling Shot Extreme: 5179 (Vulkan)
These figures are considerably less than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 inside the OnePlus 8 Pro and therefore the Snapdragon 865 Plus within the Asus ROG Phone 3. I didn’t notice any performance problems and benchmark results don’t always reflect real-world speed, but it’s hard to ignore the difference between Samsung’s Exynos 990 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus in these benchmark results
Use the Exynos-powered Galaxy Note 20 Ultra fairly hard, and it'll get a touch hot — never to the purpose where it’s uncomfortable to carry , but you actually get sweaty palm. I noticed this playing Asphalt 9 Legends, but not Hill Climb Racer, so if you never play high-end games or make long calls, you'll not notice.
Android 10 with Samsung’s OneUI 2.5 is installed, along side the July 2020 Android Security Patch, and it operates within the same way because the software found on the Galaxy S20 series devices. It’s bold and colorful, with many ways to customize the design , right right down to an efficient Dark Mode and a helpful always-on screen. It’s fast and reliable, and therefore the gesture controls are fluid. I had no issues with the software in the least .
Battery and security
The Note 20 Ultra’s 4,500mAh battery features a lot to deal with , so don’t expect it to last longer than each day if your screen time is five hours or more. Use it moderately for fewer time and it'll almost creep through a second working day. During my time with the phone, it's not lasted two full days on one charge, and with a mean of three to four hours screen time every day , it’s at around 30% by midnight.
Considering the tech the battery has got to power, I don’t consider this regrettable , and therefore the phone hasn’t left me concerned I’ll need an emergency top-up to last the day. However, it’s not getting to please the hardcore power-users Samsung wants to draw in with the Note series, and if you’re getting to use 5G, expect even more battery drain. I don’t have 5G in my local area, so have I not tested this feature. The 4G LTE signals are good, and Wi-Fi calling on supported networks is useful , although I did find Wi-Fi range was a touch short. The 25-watt wired charger takes the battery to 50% in half-hour , and you'll use wireless charging too.
An in-display fingerprint sensor secures the Note 20 Ultra and, unfortunately, it’s as finicky because the one on the Note 10 Plus and therefore the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It’s not as fast to acknowledge your print because the OnePlus 8 Pro, or as quick to unlock the phone. there's a face unlock system, but it’s similarly ponderous and has a clumsy way of activating. As a result, I accidentally turned the separate off and on again while I waited for it to figure . Unlocking Samsung phones generally is frustrating compared to most other phones i exploit .
So much more
I’ve been using the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra as my main phone for nearly fortnight , and there are still many features to explore, or that I even have not used for any appreciable length of your time . this is often unusual, and highlights just what proportion effort Samsung has put into making the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra its most powerful and feature-packed smartphone available.
An example is that the new Wireless DeX system. Samsung DeX takes your phone display and puts it on a monitor or television, then changes the software into a desktop-style system where you'll run apps, view photos, watch video, and even play games. Previously, DeX required an HDMI cable or special dock to work , but the Note 20 Ultra introduces wireless support. The feature likely works best with Samsung televisions, but refused to link with Screen Mirroring on my Sony Android TV.
The list goes on. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra features a power-sharing mode to wirelessly charge the Galaxy Watch 3, Galaxy Buds Plus, or the Galaxy Buds Live, it provides access to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass to stream console games onto your phone, and later this year a software update will add the power to run your phone apps on a Windows 10 PC. Right now, Samsung Notes sync with OneNote. There really may be a ton to get on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which helps increase the longevity.
Our take
The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is that the biggest, baddest, most hardcore flagship smartphone you'll buy today. it's everything you'll want from a phone today — and just about everything for tomorrow too, including 5G, making it a secure purchase for somebody who wants a phone which will last for years. Samsung does got to fix the palm rejection and edge recognition problems though, as this blights an otherwise superb follow-up to the superb Galaxy Note 10 Plus. thereon note, when Samsung fixes this issue, the phone will receive a replacement score.
A word on the worth . It’s expensive, but once you consider how powerful and capable it's , and the way many features it offers, there’s more longevity within the Note 20 Ultra than many other flagship phones that cost a couple of hundred dollars less. Samsung says it designed it this manner , and it shows. Buy it, and you'll even begin to think about changing your phone for several years.
Is there a far better alternative?
If you would like the simplest technical specifications, a stylus, and an excellent camera, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra stands alone. If you aren’t that worried about the S Pen stylus, the Galaxy S20 Ultra may be a decent alternative, although I prefer the Note 20 Ultra’s design and camera. At this price, you ought to even be watching the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, which features a standout camera and screen.
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