Here’s everything we know about the brand new Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra.
Last night, Samsung held their annual ‘Galaxy Unpacked’ event in San Fransisco. The event is their way of showcasing the latest technology to the world, and giving consumers and businesses a look at their upcoming, next generation smartphones.
During this event, Samsung released four separate devices:
- Samsung Galaxy S20
- Samsung Galaxy S20+
- Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
To keep things simple, in this article, we’re going to talk about the S20 and it’s bigger brother, the S20+.
Samsung Galaxy S20 & S20+
The Galaxy Unpacked event saw the introduction of Samsung’s newest generation of its famous ‘Galaxy’ phone series. During the event, Samsung released two separate versions of its new Galaxy: The S20 and S20+.
The Samsung S20 is the successor to Samsung’s previous model, the Galaxy S10 (for some reason, they’ve decided to skip nine numbers, but you do you Samsung).
Both the S20 and S20+ are essentially the same phone (the main difference being the S20+ has a larger screen size), and the following information is the same for both devices, unless otherwise stated.
Now we’ve introduced the phones, lets dive into the specs, the technology and
The Display
The display is a whopping 3200 x 1140 resolution on both phones, with Samsung’s unique ‘infinity-o’ camera cutout at the top. The display uses Samsung’s AMOLED technology, putting out gorgeous dynamic range and sharp, crisp details. The S20 has a 6.2” display, and the S20+ comes with the larger 6.7” display.
The new phones also benefit from a 120Hz refresh rate—meaning that the animations and movements on the phone look smother than ever. However, it is worth noting that if you opt to set your phone to the 120Hz refresh rate, this is only available at 1080p. Whereas the 60Hz standard refresh rate is able to make use of the display’s maximum resolution of 1440p. The reason for this is most likely to help preserve battery life.
The Cameras
We couldn’t talk about a new Samsung without mentioning the camera. Every generation of the Samsung Galaxy comes with a bigger, better and more feature-packed camera than ever—and the S20 is no exception.
The S20 and S20+ both have the same triple camera set up. This includes:
- 12MP Ultra Wide Camera
- 12MP Wide-angle Camera
- 64MP Telephoto Camera
- 10MP Selfie camera
The S20+ also comes with a depth camera, to give you the soft bokeh effect that everyone loves. As well as super fast video autofocus, realtime video blurring and more.
One of the most impressive things about the new S20 and S20+ is the telephoto zoom capabilities. The 12MP telephoto camera has a 3x optical zoom, with extra 10x digital zoom, giving you a total zoom of 30x.
They’ve called this new 30x zoom ‘space zoom’.
Another massive new feature of the S20’s cameras is the 8K (yes, 8K) video recording at 24fps. 8K video recording brings Hollywood movie-style quality to a smartphone. It’s an incredible addition to the already impressive spec sheet of the S20 and S20+.
Along with this 8K video mode, is the ability to grab shots from a previously recorded 8K video. This means that you can record a video, and grab a frame from that video that is higher quality than a lot of other smartphone cameras.
Because 8K video requires a minimum of a 33MP sensor, the S20 & S20+ use the phone’s 64MP 3x telephoto camera, instead of the ultra-wide or main camera. This does mean that 8K videos are more zoomed in than non-8K videos. The 8K mode also doesn’t support video effects or autofocus.
Battery
With a phone with specs as impressive as the S20 & S20+, you be right to be worried about battery life. With bright, 120Hz, high quality AMOLED displays, and a whopper of a CPU, the phone does need a big battery.
The S20 comes with a 4,000mAh battery, and the S20+ with a 4,500mAh battery. Which is ‘moderately good’.
Phone manufactures always have to make a decision between batter life and phone size, with batteries taking up the majority of a phones interior ‘guts’. With the S20 & S20+, Samsung have gone right down the middle—not choosing to provide a beefy, heavy and thick phone, but instead providing us with a moderate phone with a moderate battery size.
However, the moderate battery of the S20 & S20+ shouldn’t be an issue, we still expect all-day battery life from these phones. But with a 25w fast charger in the box, and Qi wireless charging, going from empty to full in a short space of time won’t be an issue for most users.
5G on the Samsung S20 & S20+
5G is a big topic at the moment, so it’s no surprise that Samsung chose to release their new S20 & S20+ with 5G capabilities built in.
However, there is a slight caveat.
The S20 & S20+ only come with low band sub-6 5G. Essentially, there are two forms of 5G, millimetre wave 5G and sub-6 5G. These two different forms of 5G provide very different speeds. Millimetre wave 5G is the technology that has everyone talking, with up to gigabit speeds. But millimetre wave is very rare and patchy at best.
These two new phones come with sub-6 5G. This means that they still get 5G, and still benefit from faster speeds, but they’re noway near the speeds of that high-band millimetre wave 5G. But its a step forward for connectivity, so no complaints there.
For what it's worth, the S20 Ultra does come with millimetre wave 5G capabilities.
The Price of the Samsung S20 & S20+
As you might be expecting, the Samsung S20 & S20+ don’t come cheap. All this high-tech, high-end specs and technology comes at a price, with the S20 starting at £799 (£899 for the 5G variant) and the S20+ starting at £999.
But, as we’ve seen over the past few years, thousand pound phones have become the norm, with Apple’s most recent iPhone 11 Pro also starting at the £999 price tag. And of course, if you’re looking for a business, then you may be able to benefit from reduced price phones or kit funds with our tariffs. So it’s not all doom and gloom.
What is the difference from the Galaxy S10?
The main difference between the S10 and S20 series is, of course, the internal’s of the devices, with the S20 including more premium technology and the latest generation silicone and chips.
However, there are a couple of physical differences, the main one being that the screen on the new S20 and S20+ doesn’t bleed over the edge of the device. While this does technically increase the screen-to-body aspect ratio, it also provides a better user experience, enabling Samsung to move the buttons to more ergonomic positions on the frame.
Another physical difference is the camera bump. The Samsung S10 had a cantered single line of cameras across the upper back of the device. These new Galaxies have a larger, rectangular camera on the back with the cameras arranged vertically down the left hand side of the bump.
Should I upgrade to the Samsung S20?
It depends. If you’ve already got a Samsung S10 or S10+, then you’re probably best off keeping your current device until next years line up. However, if you get a lot of use out of the camera on your phone, then the S20 is a great jump up from the previous S10 model.
It’s a great phone for businesses executives too, with its high-powered screen and 5G capabilities, it allows you to take the office anywhere and work from any location you like. It also integrates seamlessly with our VoIP telephone systems too.
The S20 really is a great new phone. Not revolutionary, but great. It packs an almighty spec list into a neatly, well designed package that consumers and businesses will find a great tool for media, social and business use.
