Galaxy S20 Ultra review: Design
S20 Ultra shares the same material structure and features with other products of the Galaxy S20 family. Glass and metal combination comes with design. The friction of the glass surface is sufficient, so it is possible to hold and use the phone without getting lost. On the other hand, it has water and dust resistance feature which is documented with IP68 certificate. On the summer days we are in, you can use the S20 Ultra without any water problems by the sea or the pool. In winter, it will not cause any headaches in the rain or puddle.
With a 6.9 inch screen, the S20 Ultra is the phone with the largest body in the series. During the launch of the Galaxy S20 series, the Ultra model seemed to be quite a big phone among others. But after we started to experience the phone, we found that the big body did not cause much trouble. Of course, it is a bigger and heavier phone than the Galaxy S20 Plus model , which we have experienced and published the review . However, we did not have any problems while holding and using it or carrying it in a pocket.
Samsung has placed the screen protector film from the start. Even if there are small scratches on it after a few days, it seems that you can use it for a long time without removing the screen protector film. Samsung uses Corning Gorilla Glass 6 glass on the front and back of this phone. Since the front is covered with glass, it is under protection from the beginning. There is no noticeable scratch or wear on the back. However, we have to say that the glass surface is very generous in keeping fingerprints and dirt.
The S20 Ultra has a USB-C port, microphone and speakers on the lower edge. While there is no input or output on the left edge, there are volume keys and power button on the right edge. On the upper edge, there is a microphone, nano SIM card and microSD card tray. On the back, there is a camera module that is quite wide and has a considerable outward protrusion. Here, too, there are four cameras, flash and third microphone. The Samsung logo is also placed at the bottom.
The 6.9 inch screen covers most of the front. With a screen-to-body ratio of close to 90 percent, this phone feels as if you are just holding the screen. At the top of the screen, the camera hole is centered. The screen curves on both long sides, but the angle of this curve is not too much. This reduces the possibility of entering wrong commands when holding the phone due to contact with the edges. The frame area on the bottom edge of the screen is not too large.
Galaxy S20 Ultra review: Hardware and Performance
As we mentioned above, the Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 6.9-inch corner-to-corner screen. The screen resolution is 1440 x 3200 pixels, just like the S20 Plus model. The 20: 9 aspect ratio display offers a high pixel density of 511 ppi. However, you can also use the phone's screen with a lower resolution setting. In fact, there is no big difference between QHD + and FHD + resolution at normal use distance. However, we generally preferred to use the phone at the highest resolution.
If you prefer Full HD + resolution in screen resolution, you can also benefit from the screen's 120Hz refresh rate feature. The higher refresh rate offers a smoother visualization in user interface transitions and scrolling web pages. It also shows its difference in games that support high graphic speeds on the game side. Apart from that, it should be noted that the screen dynamically changes the refresh rate according to the content. Overall, the 120Hz refresh rate doesn't make a big difference, but those who like smoother transitions can enable this setting by sacrificing resolution.
Featuring Samsung's Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, the S20 Ultra's display has high brightness, deep blacks and high contrast. The colors are vivid, so a more intense and good experience is offered when looking at photos and watching videos. It is possible to adjust the color temperature of the screen as you wish. You can also use the Blue light filter, which considers eye health. We can say that the viewing angles of the screen are high and the hole in the upper part is not overlooked while playing games or watching videos.
One feature of the screen is that it has a fingerprint reader. Samsung is making this unit better and better. During the time we used the S20 Ultra, we preferred the fingerprint reader as the authentication method. And we did not have any problems in this. Those who desire can also benefit from facial recognition using the camera in front.
The S20 Ultra has two speakers. One of them is placed at the bottom and the other at the top of the screen. The sound output from the two speakers is almost at the same level, so stereo sound is provided to a large extent. The sound quality is good, the trebles do not overdo it at the highest volume. Although the bass is not at a very high level, a little bit of an impact is felt. You can listen to music or watch videos with your friends without connecting any speakers to the S20 Ultra. The speakers of the phone will be enough for you.
S20 Ultra also sold in 990 in Turkey's Exynos processor. This 7nm + based processor offers a flagship phone-worthy experience. There is a performance in line with the performance we achieved in S20 Plus. Navigation in the user interface is smooth, games and applications open quickly. We felt the phone got a little overheated in certain jobs, but in general, the S20 Ultra is not a smart phone in terms of warming either. In Benchmark tests, it achieves the same results with other members of the S20 family.
The phone has 12 GB of RAM. This high amount of RAM helps the phone do a good job when it comes to multitasking. You can easily use two applications at the same time in S20 Ultra. You can also experience desktop computing using the DeX feature. Thanks to the high amount of RAM, you will be able to get a better desktop experience. In addition, using on-screen applications such as WhatsApp or Messages on the big screen takes place smoothly.
128 GB internal memory will suffice for most users. Moreover, you can save space without sacrificing quality by using the HEVC format for video recording. There is also a microSD card slot for those who want. For those who do not want to expand the memory, but want to use a second line, this slot can also be used as a SIM card slot.
On the battery side, we see that the S20 Ultra has a 5000 mAh battery. The screen and processor of the phone are high profile, battery consumption is higher. Still, it reveals battery performance in line with that of the S20 Plus. In normal intensity use, it has a battery life that easily removes one day and even sags to the second day. It is possible to reach a fullness that allows the phone to be used for a few hours in a short time with the adapter that comes out of the box with the 45W fast charging support. Wireless charging is also available and accessories with 15W power output are supported. Meanwhile, the reverse wireless charging that we see in high-end Samsung phones, Samsung's Wireless Power Share is also among the features of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. With this feature, Qi wireless charging supported smart phones,
Galaxy S20 Ultra review: Firmware
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with Android 10 installed. On top of that is the One UI 2 user interface. Samsung started introducing the One UI 2 user interface earlier this year on the S10 and Note 10 series of last year. However, with the S20, it brought some innovations on the software side. For example, Apple among Samsung Galaxy phonesQuick Share, which allows sharing photos, videos or documents similar to AirDrop, is one of them. On the other hand, the Samsung Daily interface, which replaces Bixby Home, looks more useful with the advice it offers from multimedia services such as Netflix and Spotify. In addition, you can use Google Duo instead of Samsung's video calling application. If you choose Duo, you can make video calls practically with more people. However, the person you are calling should also be a Duo user.
As we have always said in previous Samsung phone reviews, the One UI user interface allows large-screen phones to be used more comfortably with its large icons and other controls. We see the benefit of One UI in S20 Ultra, which has a very large screen. You can access your favorite applications by dragging the drawer on the side of the phone towards the center. You can even drag and drop whatever you want from them to the middle of the screen to open two apps on the same screen or use the app in a floating window.
Apart from that, it comes loaded with many applications that we are used to seeing on Samsung's Galaxy phones. Besides Google's popular apps like Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Microsoft also has apps like Office Mobile, LinkedIn, OneDrive. As we mentioned in the previous section, you can install DeX software on your computer and connect the S20 Ultra to the computer and display the phone's user interface on the big screen, as if using a computer, with the appearance of the desktop. This way you can open websites in desktop view. Or you can view your photos or videos better. DeX provides practicality in working with Office documents. In addition, after enabling the Connect to Windows control in Quick Settings, you can connect to the S20 Ultra with the Your Phone app on your PC. Seeing notifications and messages coming to the phone on the computer screen, accessing the phone's user interface from the computer and answering incoming calls from the computer are among the functions offered. In other words, you can better evaluate the high processing power of S20 Ultra with your computer and achieve an uninterrupted working environment.
Galaxy S20 Ultra review: Camera
Samsung naturally emphasized camera capabilities during the introduction of the Galaxy S20 family. Other members of the series have 64-megapixel cameras, but the 108-megapixel camera on the back of the S20 Ultra stands out for its more efficient use than others. For example, the S20 Plus's 64-megapixel sensor was located on the telephoto camera. The main camera had a 12-megapixel resolution. However, we see that Samsung has allocated the high number of pixels on the S20 Ultra to the main camera.
The 108 megapixel main camera has features such as f / 1.8 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilization. Next to this camera is a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, which comes with an aperture of f / 2.2. The telephoto camera has a periscope structure and a resolution of 48 megapixels. It offers f / 3.5 aperture, 103mm focal length, optical image stabilization, fivefold optical zoom and tenfold hybrid zoom. In addition, there is a 0.3 megapixel Flight Time camera. At the front, there is a selfie camera with a resolution of 40 megapixels and an aperture of f / 2.2.
High-end Samsung Galaxy phones generally produce high brightness and vivid colors. We can say the same for the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The photos taken with S20 Ultra in sufficient light are extremely satisfying in terms of vitality and brightness. The photos taken are rich in details. The details are slightly more pronounced in 108 megapixel full resolution photos, but when compared with the pictures taken in automatic mode, that is, there is no big difference.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra also does a good job at macro shooting. The results are also satisfactory for taking portrait photographs with a blurred background. Sometimes it aggressively blurs fine details like hairs, but you can adjust the background blur later to get better results. The S20 Ultra performs generally well in low-light shooting. By keeping the exposure high, it usually captures details, but this can result in high noise in some conditions. Still, you can take photos that are not blurry and low-noise, in general, with noise, with the S20 Ultra. There is also a night mode. You can capture impressive night landscape photos by making a long exposure. However, for best results, it is useful to keep the S20 Ultra as steady as possible using a tripod.
One of the features that Samsung emphasized on the S20 Ultra was the high zoom ratio. This phone can zoom 100 times. It does this with a combination of optical and digital zoom and takes work to such a high level. Although 100 times zoom may sound nice, when we look at the shots, we see that shots without details and clarity are made. Maybe you can choose the zoomed shots where more details are captured with a value like 30 times the zoom. However, the possibility of zooming 100 times helps the S20 Ultra to function like a binocular when necessary.
There is also a high resolution selfie camera on the front. If you want, you can take lower selfies in low light by choosing lower resolution. You can also focus on the details by choosing the maximum resolution. Galaxy S20 Ultra is enough for low light selfies. You can take advantage of maximum resolution under sufficient light. You can also record 4K video with the front camera. For those who shoot videos, the S20 Ultra will be useful with its front and rear cameras.
The S20 family had two major innovations on the video side. One of them is 8K video recording. There is not a lot of 8K supported TVs yet, and the ones are very expensive. At the same time, it cannot be said that there is too much content. Samsung, with the S20 Ultra, allows those who have 8K TV in their home to produce the content they will watch on their television. 8K video recording is currently only a distinctive camera feature. For owners of Galaxy S20 Ultra, 4K / 60fps or 4K / 30fps video recording will be more ideal options.
Another important innovation on the video side was the professional video mode. We also see similar professional tools in the video shoot on the video side. By selecting the professional video mode, you can adjust the settings such as exposure compensation and white balance as you like before starting the video shooting. If you wish, white balance, etc. during shooting. you can change several settings. There is also the possibility to change the aspect ratio.
The S20 Ultra captures the line of previous high-end Samsung Galaxy phones, revealing good video shooting performance. The optical image stabilization system with high image quality and brightness, besides the main camera, enables the still images to be obtained when you zoom in. The Super Balanced shooting mode, which is offered with the help of the ultra wide-angle camera, is also available, but without the need for it, you can take shots that give the impression of a professional video camera. The S20 Ultra is also successful in recording audio. With multiple microphones on it, it records the environment well. Increasing the volume of the subject you are zooming in is also among the recording features available.
We are familiar with the S20 Plus, which we have previously reviewed on the camera interface of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. On the right edge of the screen are the capture key, camera switch button, and controls to choose the shooting modes. One-shot mode is remarkable in these modes. You can shoot from different angles and styles using different cameras, and then review them later to determine the best shot. With One Shot, the S20 Ultra can capture impressive scenes. Apart from that, there are modes that enable creative works such as Slow Motion and Fast Motion. Thanks to the high processing power of the S20 Ultra, you can edit photos and videos directly on the device.