LikeGlossy strains, matte bronze finishExceptional display high quality and 120Hz refresh rate5x optical zoom captures sharp pictures in ample lightS Pen creates standout alternatives for utilizing the cellphone
Don’t Like$1,300 is simply too costly proper nowA giant, heavy, awkward phoneUnsightly digital camera bump that invitations breakageNote 20 Ultra rocks whenever you lay it down flat
What’s the very first thing you wish to know in regards to the new Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G? That it is a attractive, superpremium machine stuffed with high-end options? That I genuinely take pleasure in utilizing the cellphone, together with its distinctive 6.9-inch display, sharp 5x optical zoom digital camera and a stylus for annotating screenshots and taking notes? Or that, as Samsung’s most superior cellphone, the Note 20 Ultra makes small however important enhancements over the Note 10 Plus, particularly relating to images?The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is a do-everything cellphone, and the road has at all times been one which Samsung has positioned for a rarified group of Android “power users” who need top-shelf the whole lot. If you are somebody who believes the individual with probably the most cellphone toys wins, pay attention up. But in the event you’re in search of worth, or perhaps a cellphone for the instances, this 12 months, in a local weather of deep world recession, steep unemployment and waves of lockdowns, the Note 20 Ultra will make even much less sense for you than earlier than. Unless you already know you’ll be able to’t reside with out it, it is exhausting to advocate the Ultra for all however probably the most loyal Note followers, or folks upgrading from older telephones. Order from Amazon | Samsung | Verizon | AT&T | Xfinity Mobile | T-Mobile | US Cellular | Best Buy Why? Let’s begin with the worth. The Note 20 Ultra is de facto costly. It begins at $1,300 (£1,179, AU$1,894) for the 128GB model (you too can purchase it in 512GB). Then there’s the truth that in case your energetic work and social life-style has modified in any respect, like mine has, you will not actually reap the benefits of all of the options it has to supply. Will the Note 20 Ultra nonetheless be the cellphone you wish to use post-pandemic, or will a greater improve come alongside by then?
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I’ve at all times loved utilizing a Galaxy Note, for the stylus in addition to the sleekness of the road’s design. The Ultra produces top-notch specs, checks all of the containers, and I wish to like it. But for me, it would not completely come collectively, and when it comes to worth, it is a miss. If you get a ok trade-in deal or bundled supply, I believe you may be pleased with the options and efficiency, even when some elements, just like the digital camera bump, aren’t your favourite. But if you wish to reserve a bit of cash this 12 months and save your splurge when you may have extra certainty and freedom of motion, there are many wonderful units effectively under $1,300 that can see you thru till then, together with the Google Pixel 4A, Samsung Galaxy A51, iPhone 11 or 11 Pro and OnePlus 8 or 8 Pro. Scroll all the way in which to the tip for the complete listing of specs in comparison with the usual Galaxy Note 20. Samsung additionally has another super-ultrapremium cellphone deliberate for the tip of the 12 months: its Galaxy Z Fold 2, which fits on preorder Sept. 1.
Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra 5G is placing from each angle
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Is the Note 20 Ultra’s mystic bronze colour actually all that? Can you continue to see fingerprints? I’m in love with the mystic bronze colour of my Note 20 Ultra evaluation unit. It’s acquired a refined shimmer that to me feels understated and stylish, with out dropping a dynamic end. In sure lighting, it seems to be rose gold. The matte end does quite a bit to maintain fingerprints on the again to a minimal — I can barely see them. Switching to the S Pen will instantly hold the display cleaner than typing along with your fingers, however I take advantage of each enter strategies on the cellphone. Mystic white and mystic black, which I’ve not seen in individual, have shiny glass backings. How good is the display? The 6.9-inch show is superb: clear and sharp, with an method to the 120Hz display refresh price that is rather more polished and helpful than Samsung’s first try with the Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra. The default mode is “Adaptive” movement smoothness, which activates 120Hz refresh whenever you’re scrolling or utilizing options that may reap the benefits of the sooner display. It’ll flip to the 60Hz customary when the display is static, saving on battery general. You may toggle to 60Hz if you would like to protect much more. You commerce off giant digital camera sensors for an enormous ol’ bump that retains the cellphone from mendacity flat whenever you put it down.
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Is the Note 20 Ultra’s curve nonetheless related in 2020? I like the stylish, immersive look of a curved, waterfall edge. But the Note 20 Ultra’s true edge-to-edge show made it exhausting to position the cursor on the edges of the display the place I wished it to go, and I seen — particularly when mendacity down — that gripping the cellphone whereas typing or navigating typically referred to as up different apps or options unintentionally, or else closed out what I wished to do. Just a little extra grip buffer — or higher contact rejection alongside these edges — would go a great distance. What sort of glass protects the digital camera and cellphone? Samsung makes use of the brand new Gorilla Glass Victus on the Note 20 Ultra’s back and front. Corning claims the duvet materials can stand up to drops as much as 2 meters (about 6.5 toes) and can be twice as scratch-resistant in comparison with Gorilla Glass 6, which is rated for a 1.6-meter (5.25-foot) fall. But the digital camera module, which stands proud from the again, is roofed with Gorilla Glass 6, which means that if the cellphone had been to fall on its again and hit this half first, it could be theoretically extra susceptible to breaking than the remainder of the machine. (Stay tuned for our upcoming torture take a look at.) I’ve had cracked glass over my digital camera lens earlier than and it ruined each portrait shot I attempted taking after. A case would possibly actually assist fill within the empty house and distribute forces within the occasion of a fall. What in regards to the Ultra’s huge digital camera bump? When I first acquired the evaluation unit from Samsung, I described the design as siren-meets-cyclops. It’s really properly styled, however it’s nonetheless simply too huge. The essential downside is that whenever you place the Note 20 Ultra on a flat floor, like your desk, and begin writing or navigating with the S Pen, the cellphone really rocks. This has occurred on all of CNET’s evaluation models. Is the fingerprint reader higher than on different Galaxy telephones? Yes. Fingerprint scanning errors nonetheless occur, however few and much between, and I normally get in on the second attempt. This makes cell funds quite a bit simpler. My professional tip for the reason that S10 is that this: Enroll your dominant thumb twice, your different thumb as soon as and your dominant index finger as soon as. You have a complete of 4 fingerprint profiles to work with. The Note 20 Ultra has a crisp, vibrant display.
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
How is the Note 20 Ultra’s zoom high quality? The cellphone’s 5x optical zoom is de facto sharp and produces wonderful photographs when there’s ample lighting. I preferred how a tip popped up on display as I took a photograph of a buttery, multilayered croissant, suggesting I shoot at 2x and pull again. Much higher picture. Samsung pulled again from 100x Space Zoom on the S20 Ultra and I’m glad. The 50x zoom on the Note 20 Ultra is sufficient for many makes use of, and far improved with the upper optical zoom output to begin with. Use it to seize scenes you would possibly ordinarily be too far-off to get, like a cute canine with its head out the window, a hawk circling overhead or capturing a humorous avenue signal. I took this image utilizing auto mode on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Here we’re at 50x zoom, the very best the Note 20 Ultra will go.
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
What about the remainder of the cameras? Taking pictures with the Note 20 Ultra cellphone was loads of enjoyable. I used to be a bit of restricted by the current circumstances with the vary of pictures I naturally wished to take, however I nonetheless discovered photographs I beloved: purple clouds rippling in an impossibly pink summer time sky, a scrumptious picnic lunch and a glowing candle at an out of doors restaurant at night time. Shot in auto mode on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra — no filter.
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
The Note 20 Ultra has a 108-megapixel digital camera function, which helps you to take an in depth shot and crop pictures after the very fact. My outcomes had been uneven, with a blown out picture of a flower that fully lacked element, to a reasonably profitable shot of a bug that had landed on my shirt. Night mode and selfie high quality had been stable, and I particularly like the brand new selfie filter that permits you to heat up or quiet down the tone earlier than you are taking a shot.
Pro video mode is a Note 20 Ultra unique, and is full of settings which might be frankly over my head as a result of I’m not an expert videographer. I did like having the ability to change the microphone route, and easily zooming in was a pleasant function, however high quality throughout night time shoots was poor. Keep a watch out for our in-depth Note 20 Ultra versus iPhone 11 Pro Max digital camera comparability. A nighttime picture taken with out night time mode from the Note 20 Ultra.
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Note 20 vs. Note 20 Ultra digital camera
Galaxy Note 20
Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Main digital camera
12-megapixel (F1.8, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, 1.8μm, 79-degree FOV, 1/1.76 inch picture sensor)
108-megapixel (F1.8, OIS, 0.8μm, 79-degree FOV, 1/1.33 inch picture sensor)
Ultrawide angle
12-megapixel (F2.2, 1.4μm, 120-degree FOV)
12-megapixel (F2.2, 1.4μm, 120-degree FOV)
Telephoto
64-megapixel (F2.0, 0.8μm, 76-degree FOV)
12-megapixel (F3.0, 1.0μm, 20-degree FOV)
Front-facing digital camera
10-megapixel (F2.2, 1.22μm, 80-degree FOV)
10-megapixel (F2.2, 1.22μm, 80-degree FOV)
Zoom
3x hybrid
5x optical
Super Zoom
30x
50x
Laser auto-focus sensor
No
Yes
Video seize
8K
8K
How’s battery life? The Note 20 Ultra’s 4,500-mAh battery is smaller than the S20 Ultra’s 5,000-mAh battery, however lasted for much longer throughout my testing interval. I’m not hotspotting for hours throughout a commute nowadays or going out from early morning till late night time, which makes it more durable to check anecdotally. However, I’d name battery life good, not superb, and it will definitely take you thru a typical day. On my heaviest use days, I navigated with Google Maps for about an hour and a half and spoke on the cellphone for over an hour with no important drain. I routinely take two hours of conferences calls whereas on a stroll, with out subject. I’ll replace this evaluation as soon as I’ve outcomes from our extra formal lab assessments in New York. Are there any standout S Pen options within the Note 20 Ultra? Because of the 120Ghz refresh price, the S Pen writes noticeably sooner. There’s additionally decrease latency general (beneath 9 milliseconds, in response to Samsung). I additionally really feel my writing is neater. Samsung introduces new options, like handwriting auto-straighten and PDF importing, which I like. The S Pen writes higher and sooner on the Note 20 Ultra.
Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Then there are the 5 new air gestures, which felt gimmicky. They’re customizable — an excellent factor, however I by no means found out how one can naturally incorporate them into days spent at residence, and your actions should be gradual and consider to get the gestures proper. My favourite S Pen tips are oldies-but-goodies: Using the S Pen to sketch a conceptMagnifying tiny font on a pageAnnotating something and the whole lotTaking exact screenshots and highlighting simply the precise textual content I wish to copy and pasteTaking a selfie by urgent the S Pen button What’s the Note 20 Ultra’s processor like? The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus processor on my Note 20 Ultra evaluation unit is, in a phrase, snappy. Extremely quick, completely competent, nothing acquired in its method. Benchmarking scores had been additionally top-notch. However, some areas use Samsung’s house-made Exynos 990 chipset, which is similar because the Galaxy S20 line. (The Note 20 Ultra with Exynos additionally has 256GB storage versus the 128GB of my configuration.) I have never had an opportunity to check the Exynos model, however will replace this with perception from my colleague within the UK. Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra specs Galaxy Note 20 vs. Note 20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy Note 20
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Display measurement, decision
6.7 inches; 2,400×1,080 pixels
6.9 inches; 3,088×1,440 pixels
Pixel density
393 ppi
496 ppi
Dimensions (inches)
6.36×2.96×0.33 in
6.49×3.04×0.31 in
Dimensions (millimeters)
161.6×75.2×8.3mm
164.8×77.2×8.1mm
Weight (ounces, grams)
6.84 oz, 194g
7.33 oz, 208g
Mobile software program
Android 10
Android 10
Camera
12-megapixel (ultrawide), 12-megapixel (wide-angle), 64-megapixel (telephoto)
12-megapixel (ultrawide), 108-megapixel (wide-angle), 12-megapixel (telephoto)
Front-facing digital camera
10-megapixel
10-megapixel
Video seize
8K
8K
Processor
Snapdragon 865 Plus
Snapdragon 865 Plus
Storage
128GB
128GB, 512GB
RAM
8GB
12GB
Expandable storage
No
Up to 1TB
Battery
4,300 mAh
4,500 mAh
Fingerprint sensor
In-screen
In-screen
Connector
USB-C
USB-C
Headphone jack
No
No
Special options
S Pen stylus; 5G connectivity; Wireless PowerShare; waterproof (IP68)
5x optical zoom, UWB sharing, S Pen stylus; 5G connectivity; Wireless PowerShare; waterproof (IP68)
Price off-contract (USD)
$1,000
$1,300 (128GB); $1,450 (512GB)
Price (GBP)
£849
£1,179
Price (AUD)
AU$1,499
AU$1,849