Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Three advantages and three disadvantages after three days

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has been my main smartphone for three days. There will be time for a full review, but now I want to share with you the first impressions and photos from this smartphone.

A test copy of Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra arrived to me on Friday, which means that I used it all weekend. It's definitely too short to check this device in all conditions and usage scenarios, but I already know a lot about it.

Here are the three biggest advantages and three biggest disadvantages that I noticed after three days of using the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Advantage No. 1 - the Galaxy S20 Ultra screen is mastery.

For several years, on the occasion of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series smartphones, we write that the screens are almost perfect. And although on paper each new model is slightly better than the previous one, in practice the quality jumps are not visible to the naked eye. Until now, we have seen rather evolution, which could be clearly seen only when we returned to devices two or three years ago.

Against this background, the Galaxy S20 Ultra screen is a revolution, i.e. a great and very noticeable step forward. I mean refresh at 120 Hz, after which it is difficult to return to the screen with a standard refresh. The smoothness of movement gives the illusion that the smartphone works twice as fast. Elements while scrolling are much more readable, and the whole is very pleasing to the eye and so clear that it seems even unreal , from another world. It's hard to say in words, you just have to see.

Although currently 120 Hz mode works only after limiting the resolution to FHD + (2400 x 1080), in this setting the screen is still sensationally detailed and sharp, and smooth refreshment at 120 Hz provides a completely new level.

In addition, I have the impression that Samsung has better optimized the "live" mode in the screen color settings. Until now, the colors in this mode seemed a bit too saturated. It was probably an illusion, because the screen in the tests showed great color reproduction, but I had a subjective impression that some colors were too saturated. Only in the S20 Ultra everything looks like it should.

During the weekend I spent a lot of time watching YouTube on the huge 6.9-inch screen and it turned out that I reached for the iPad much less often. The galaxy S20 Ultra screen is simply gigantic, making movies and games look phenomenal.

As a side note, I like the movement of the camera's eye to the center of the upper beam. This arrangement is less invasive in movies and games, because it less often covers the elements of the interface. By the way, I have to praise the stereo speakers, which have a sensational quality. They are probably also helped by the fact that due to the size of the smartphone they are strongly spaced.

Disadvantage 1 - Galaxy S20 Ultra is really gigantic.

The large screen works great in multimedia and applications because it holds a lot of content. Unfortunately, smartphone support suffers because it can't be used with one hand. It's just not possible. Yes, not difficult but just impossible .

And of course, the Samsung One UI 2.1 overlay is optimized for displaying headlines at the top and interface elements at the bottom within thumb range. Only that in practice the external application has it in the nose. The problem also appears when reaching the upper system bar. The screen is not excessively wide, but it is extremely long, which is the result of using the 20: 9 aspect ratio.

In addition, the smartphone body is powerful. Galaxy S20 Ultra is quite thick and heavy. It is almost 9 mm thick (in the place of the protruding island of cameras it gets a lot over a centimeter), and the weight is exactly 222 grams. This equipment is heavy in my pocket and often hurts, which I felt especially when driving a car when the smartphone was in my pocket.

We'll see if I can get used to these sizes for two weeks of testing.

Plus No. 2 - The camera is universal like never before.

You can write a doctorate about the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra camera. It is so here that it will take more time to check all possibilities in all lighting conditions than ever before. The test will come in about two weeks.

The first impressions are very, very positive. I was afraid how the transition from 12 to 108 megapixels would work in practice, but Samsung engineers knew what they were doing. The camera copes well with demanding conditions, mainly due to very efficient algorithms of automatic HDR. The camera is very careful not to overexpose the photos. Pictures look beautiful.

The ultra wide-angle lens is a great addition. During the day it gives results at the level of the main module, but I can already see that it performs much worse at night.

The telephoto lens deserves a separate text. Samsung has significantly increased the focal length to 103 mm (equivalent to full frame). This gives a 4x magnification relative to the base lens (equivalent to 26 mm), although after switching to a telephoto lens in the application the camera uses a 5x magnification, so we have applied a light digital zoom. Pictures taken during the day with this lens are surprisingly good! At night, unfortunately, there is a lack of light.

Disadvantage 2 - "Space Zoom 100x" looks like a shell.

What about the famous 100x zoom? Samsung boasts such an element to the extent that information about the multiplicity is printed right next to the telephoto lens. Unfortunately, the tech mechanism makes a really bad first impression.

The 10x hybrid zoom looks good not only on the smartphone screen, but even on the monitor. The 30x Zoom still looks great on the smartphone screen, but the monitor can already see that it is a powerful digital zoom. In turn, at a maximum setting of 100x the image has very low quality even on the smartphone screen. It is out of focus and very blurred.

A hundred times zoom I have to test deeper, including using a tripod. Until now, I photographed like everyone else, i.e. from hand. The effects are far below expectations. I really don't understand why Samsung decided to boast about a digital zoom of 100x, if it looks the way it looks?

Advantage No. 3 - the battery is good. Just like the loading speed.

It is good, even very good. The first days of using a smartphone are not meaningful, because the whole system is still laying , and I also intensively test various settings of the screen and the entire smartphone. Despite this, even under such conditions, the battery without any problem was enough for the whole day, and I remind you that the screen is set to refresh at 120 Hz.

It bodes well for the future, but I will share specific numbers after some time. The charging speed of 45 W is also very impressive. We can fully charge the battery in just over an hour. In other words, connecting your smartphone to the charger in the morning, for showering, breakfast and a quick coffee, should provide energy for the whole day of operation.

Disadvantage # 3 - the screen reader could be more precise.

The reader is placed at a very comfortable height, it also covers a fairly large screen fragment. I always hit him, but accuracy is not a problem. The ultrasonic scanner is very sensitive to the pressure on the screen. For the whole thing to work quickly and reliably, you need to press your finger against the glass really hard. So much so that it's uncomfortable and certainly unnatural.

Lighter finger placement is not always effective and I really don't know what it depends on. Sometimes just a touch of the screen is enough, and other times the reader has his moods. Unfortunately, the percentage of failed screen unlocks is - at least for now - too high. Perhaps after a long time of testing I will better sense this element of the smartphone.

I'm taking further tests!

And there is a lot to test. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is a smartphone that has virtually everything that can be put in a smartphone in 2020. Yes, it also has 5G connectivity, which I will try to use in practice during testing.

In terms of performance and smoothness of operation, it is a monster, but I do not have to mention it. In addition, the finish, materials and design are simply the highest shelf. Samsung managed to use a flat screen with 2.5D curved glass above. Amazingly, the smartphone has not lost its character and is very similar to the S10 line, although at the same time it is much more modern. The frames are slimmed down practically by half, so they are now literally symbolic.

After the first three days, you can see that the smartphone has several weaknesses, but in general it is a design extremely refined. Galaxy S20 Ultra is definitely one of the most powerful and best (or maybe the best?) Smartphone available on the market.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Three advantages and three disadvantages after three days