Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Hands-on

Written by Joey MacedaPublished • February 12, 2020

Samsung launched not one, but three new Galaxy smartphones — the Galaxy S20, S20+, and the S20 Ultra. What we have here is the latter and the most high-end device in the family. Check out our hands-on below.

Clocking in at nearly 7-inches, it’s now the second-biggest phone in Samsung’s flagship repertoire, second only to the Galaxy Fold. You’d think it was a Galaxy Note device when you have it in your hand until you realize there’s no S-Pen. But despite all the hardware it’s packing, it’s still very sleek and sexy — metal frame clad in 2.5D curved glass panels.

Like the other two phones in the series, we get the same center placement of the punch-hole camera, as well as the rectangular rear camera module on the upper left of the back, though this one is significantly bigger, and for a reason. It’s got a slightly different set of camera lenses and sensors, including a periscopic telephoto lens. On the standard and the Plus models, the display, at least to me, is the focal point. On the Ultra, it’s the rear camera module.

But checking out the Ultra’s display, it’s a 6.9-inch QHD Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O screen with support for a 120Hz refresh rate at FHD, as well as 240Hz Touch Response, which Samsung is touting as a gaming feature for lower input latency. Still, I can see this as boosting the phone’s overall response-feel as well, Making it not only look smoother but feel smoother as well when you’re using it.

It edges out the Note 10+’s display in terms of size by just 1/10th of an inch, but they look slightly different, as the S20 Ultra has more of a curved profile in contrast to the Note 10+’s more boxy profile.

For buttons and ports, it’s just the same with the other S20 phones — power and volume buttons on the right, SIM tray on top, Type-C port, primary microphone, and loudspeaker down at the bottom.

The chipset is the same as well — that’s either a Snapdragon 865 or Exynos 990, depending on your region — but the crazy part about the Ultra is that you can get up to 16GB of RAM along with the 512GB storage variant. The 128GB and 256GB models come with 12GB of RAM, which still is a heck of a lot.

Just like the other two, the S20 Ultra has a big focus on 5G. The S20 and S20+ will be coming to the Philippines in their 4G only variants, but interestingly, the 5G version of the S20 Ultra IS coming to the Philippines, with a catch. The 5G connectivity for the Philippine version will be disabled in the meantime, as confirmed by a representative from Samsung, which may indicate that a software update could unlock the 5G connectivity, perhaps when our 5G networks in the Philippines are up and running.

The S20 Ultra comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery with support for 45W fast charging. It is huge not only for the S20 series but could also indicate something even more significant for the upcoming Galaxy Note 20, since that series is more focused on productivity. But for the S20 Ultra, its focus is definitely on its camera power.

Disclaimer, our time with the phone was very limited, so we won’t be able to show you our photo and video samples until we publish our full review. Anyway, this sounds crazy, but we get a 108MP camera included on the rear module, and aside from that high resolution, the S20 Ultra takes it a step further by using some new pixel binning technology, combining 9 pixels into one at the sensor level.

And while the S20 and S20+ top out at 30x zoom, the Ultra goes all the way up to 100x zoom. That’s crazy. We also get 8K video recording and an improved Super Steady mode, as well as my new favorite feature, Single Take Mode, which we discussed in the S20 and S20+ video, so be sure to check that out.

But we also get another insane camera feature — Space Zoom. Now the S20 Ultra, with its folded lenses, allows for 10x lossless zoom, which is excellent. But with 100x Space Zoom, it not only optically zooms in as much as you can, but it also crops as far as 100x and then uses AI to enhance the photo after the fact. It is sure to spark competition from other mobile photography giants. You already know who.

Now, to sum up the entire experience with the S20 Ultra — if you want to experience what the S20 series is all about, then you’re going to get that with this phone. It’s taken all that worked from the 2019 Samsung flagships and packed more future-looking stuff. In a way, it also sets the bar for other flagship smartphones.

I’m excited about this thing, and if you guys are too, stay tuned for our full review.

So that about wraps it up, what do you guys think about the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra? Let us know in the comments below.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra specs:
6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2.0 display, 511ppi, 120Hz, HDR10+
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 octa-core 2.8GHz CPU
Samsung Exynos 990 octa-core 2.7GHz CPU
12GB/16GB LPDDR5 RAM
128GB/26GB/512GB storage
MicroSD up to 1TB
Quad rear cameras: 108MP F1.8 (main) + 12MP F2.2 (ultra-wide), 48MP F3.5 (telephoto) + Depth Vision
– 8K video recording, Space Zoom, Hybrid Optic Zoom 10X, Super Resolution Zoom up to 100X
40MP F2.2 front camera
5G NSA, Sub6
4G LTE Cat.20, 4×4 MIMO, up to 7CA
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner (under-display)
Face Recognition
USB Type-C
IP68 dust and water resistance
Samsung One UI (Android 10)
5,000mAh battery w/ 45W fast charging, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare
166.9 x 76 x 8.8 mm
220 g