Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Not 'ultra', but still a great phone

For the 2d twelvemonth in a row, Samsung has launched 3 models of its latest Galaxy S flagship. You lot have the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra to cull from this year, and for the first fourth dimension, the Plus model isn't the pinnacle-cease offering. And, unfortunately, both the Milky way S20 and S20+ miss out on the crazy new 108MP master camera and periscope zoom camera that nosotros find on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, making them considerably more than apprehensive upgrades over the Milky way S10 and Milky way S10+ from last year.

That's not to say the Galaxy S20 and S20+ are lacking when it comes to new features – they have bigger displays that run at a 120Hz refresh rate, a 64MP zoom camera that enables upwards to 30x digital zoom and features similar 8K video recording, a main 12MP camera with larger pixels for improved depression-low-cal photos, big batteries (iv,000 mAh and four,500 mAh respectively), super fast 25W charging, and, of form, the latest software out of the box. In many countries, these phones also come with 5G connectivity as standard.

On paper, the Galaxy S20+ has all the markings of a well-rounded flagship, simply how does it fare in real life? That's the question I'll exist answering in this review.

Note: This review is based on the Exynos-powered Galaxy S20+ LTE with 8GB of RAM.

Milky way S20+ design

Where the Galaxy Z Flip brings a fresh (yet classic) new form factor to Samsung's smartphone lineup, the Galaxy S20 series is as traditionally Samsung every bit information technology can go. Well, at least when yous wait at it from the front. At the back, yous no longer accept the cameras placed in the center of the frame – they are at present vertically aligned in the top left corner. This is a change Samsung fabricated to its flagships concluding year with the Galaxy Note x and Note ten+, and it has now fabricated its way to the company'due south premier flagship line.

It's also good to see that Samsung didn't identify the volume and power buttons on the left side of the phone as it did with the Milky way Note ten and Note 10+. That was peachy for left-handers, simply it merely feels unnatural for a right-hander like me. Of course, in an ideal world, smartphone makers would exist making custom variants for both left and right handed users, but since we don't live in that ideal globe, having all the buttons on the right is a more appealing solution.

Every bit expected, the Galaxy S20+ feels very premium. It has Gorilla Glass 6 on the front, Gorilla Glass 5 on the back, and an aluminum frame. And despite the half dozen.7-inch screen, the Galaxy S20+ doesn't feel very unweildy in the hand equally the bezels effectually the brandish take been shaved off. The S20+ is merely the right size among the three Galaxy S20 models and the perfect fit for those who desire both a large screen and a telephone they tin utilize with i hand adequately easily when the occasion arises.

Galaxy S20+ display

The display is where the Galaxy S20 series brings a major new feature/upgrade: 120Hz refresh rate. As I've said before, the 120Hz display makes a big difference to the user experience. Since the screen refreshes faster, the animations look faster and smoother and and so does scrolling, and the old in particular makes the telephone seem faster than every previous Galaxy flagship as you movement in and out of apps, scroll through your social media feeds, and the like.

Seriously, in one case y'all go 120Hz, you can't go back to 60Hz screens. Everything from the Galaxy S10+ to the mid-range Galaxy A71 feels tiresome in comparison because the screen on those phones doesn't refresh as fast as it does on the Galaxy S20/S20+/S20 Ultra. Yes, you can't apply 120Hzandthe maximum (3400×1440) resolution at the same time, just for near people, the Full HD+ resolution volition be more than adequate.

Non anybody will like that limitation, though. And nosotros sympathise: You don't desire to buy a $1000 phone and non be able to utilize its display at the best possible settings. Simply we also understand that Samsung may take had battery life concerns in heed. Samsung did contemplate enabling the use of both at the same fourth dimension at one point and could introduce the pick in the futurity, but we may well be waiting until the Galaxy Note 20 before that happens.

The screen also has a 240Hz touch screen polling charge per unit, which means the display is super responsive to your touch. That tin requite you the reward against those playing on a telephone with a 60Hz screen with a lower response rate in competitive games like PUBG. Sadly, PUBG doesn't run at 120Hz refresh rate, considering the Extreme frame rate option in its graphics settings is grayed out on the Galaxy S20+. But since it is bachelor on the S10+, it should but be a matter of fourth dimension before the developers enable it for the S20 series too.

I should likewise bespeak out that the phone switches back to 60Hz whenever the phone'southward temperature goes higher up 40C. And the phone does estrus upwards often for some reason, though I'one thousand non sure if it's an issue across both the Exynos and Snapdragon variants or but the former. The telephone too works at 60Hz when using apps like Camera and Google Maps, and when the battery charge goes down to 5%. All that is fine, but I promise at that place was the option to disable the switch back to 60Hz when the temperature goes upwardly.

Okay, and then the high refresh rate is awesome, merely what about display quality in general? Well, practise you need to fifty-fifty enquire? This is a Samsung flagship, then the display is phenomenal, with high effulgence levels, vivid colors (with the pick to switch to more natural tones), and very wide viewing angles. In that location'due south HDR support, and HDR content that you tin find on YouTube and Netflix looks great. The display's edges are also less curved this time around, and it feels like a flat display in do. That's bound to make those happy who haven't been fans of Samsung's insistence to offer just curved displays on its flagships the final couple of years.

Galaxy S20+ fingerprint sensor

The Galaxy S20+ (and the S20 and S20 Ultra) comes with the aforementioned ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor that we saw on the Milky way S10 and Galaxy Note x. And while final year this was the best in-display fingerprint solution Samsung had to offer, it's non the case this year. The ultrasonic reader is good enough, and many of y'all will probably have no complaints. But information technology's not very fast – you have to hold the finger a tad too long on the recognition area sometimes for it to work.

Sometimes, it also tells you to cover the fingerprint sensor completely even when you think you're already doing that. It's basically the not-so-consistent performance of the fingerprint sensor that's annoying. The optical in-display fingerprint sensors on Samsung's 2020 Galaxy A smartphones are noticeably faster, so, in my stance, fingerprint recognition remains a less than perfect experience on Samsung's new flagship phones.

Facial recognition is an alternative, especially when combined with the Lift to wakegesture, and information technology works well almost of the fourth dimension. Information technology's made more accurate thank you to the option to add an alternative look that was introduced in One UI 2.0, meaning you can register your face twice, which reduces the chances of the phone declining to recognize you lot.

Galaxy S20+ rear cameras

I'll exist blunt: The Galaxy S20+'s main camera is not the upgrade Samsung is making it out to be. In fact, when y'all look at pictures taken with the Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S20+ on the respective phone's display, y'all would be hard pressed to notice any meaningful difference. At night, you can see less noise in Milky way S20+ photos, especially with photos taken in Night mode, simply the new camera sensor doesn't seem to have in more light than the older sensor on the Milky way S10+.

For comparison, here's a scene captured with the Galaxy S10+ and the Milky way S20+ side by side (slide right for the Galaxy S20+ photograph):

← SLIDE →

The matter is, while the Galaxy S20+'s 12MP camera sensor has a bigger pixel size, it as well has a narrower aperture. The Galaxy S10 and Annotation 10 camera take an discontinuity of f/1.five while the S20+ camera has an discontinuity of f1/.8, so its larger pixel size is somewhat negated in practice. That said, the Galaxy S20+ produces less noise in low-light situations. It also doesn't smudge finer detail as much equally the 2019 flagship, though this is something you can only really detect on a monitor by zooming in on the moving picture.

And hey, merely considering the Galaxy S20+ doesn't offer a substantial upgrade over the Galaxy S10+ in photographic camera performance doesn't mean information technology isn't any good. The lower racket in depression-calorie-free photoscanbe noticeable on the phone's brandish when you capture scenes that include the sky, for example, and daylight photos have enough of particular, excellent dynamic range, and pleasing colors. Basically, y'all get all the strengths of the Galaxy S10 and Annotation 10 camera, merely with the ability to take cleaner pictures when the dominicus goes down.

Here are some samples from the chief photographic camera, a few Alive Focus bokeh shots, and a couple of ultra-broad pictures as well:

The Galaxy S20 serial also has an improved Night fashion. By default, it takes a long exposure shot of upwards to 5 seconds (with a clear countdown on-screen to guide you) for increased light and detail in nighttime shots. If you place it downwards on a steady surface or utilise a tripod, information technology will use exposure fourth dimension of up to thirty seconds to capture the scene. If you can hold the phone stable plenty in your hands, information technology will try to capture the scene using upward to 23-2d exposure. The benefit of an exposure time college than 20 seconds? A cleaner shot with little to no noise.

Hither's a scene I captured in automatic mode next to the same scene captured in Night fashion with around 5 seconds of exposure time (swipe left for the Dark mode shot):

← SLIDE →

And here's the Night mode shot yous come across higher up compared to the same shot captured at 23 seconds of exposure time (swipe left for the 23-2nd shot):

← SLIDE →

Alright, let'southward talk almost zoom. The Galaxy S20+ has a 64-megapixel F2.0 telephoto camera that provides up to 30x digital zoom and up to 3x hybrid optical zoom. This time around, the telephoto lens is not an bodily zoom lens – Samsung is just achieving zoom on the Galaxy S20 and S20+ by capturing a 64MP prototype and cropping it. And thank you to the high-resolution sensor, you go lossless zoom at 3x magnification. 10x shots are also usable, but at 30x, things become too soft, and it is difficult to keep the phone steady plenty to avoid blurry pictures.

The gallery below shows yous a scene captured at 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 10x zoom, and 30x zoom:

Here's another scene, captured at the same magnification levels as the scene in a higher place:

And another:

As y'all can see, the zoomed photos are usable at up to 10x magnification, though there'southward a loss in sharpness as y'all motion by 4x zoom. Sharpness as well suffers when you use the zoom functionality at dark. For one, the telephone volition apply the main 12MP camera for up to 4x zoom at night, like to how the Galaxy S10 and Note ten utilise the main camera for 2x zoom in depression low-cal. Furthermore, the 64MP photographic camera is unable to resolve a lot of detail at 10x and above. The camera does attempt to artificially sharpen things after capturing a picture, but the quality but isn't good enough to be of much utilise.

Here'due south a nighttime scene captured at 1x, 3x, 10x, and 30x zoom:

Here are a bunch of other scenes captured at different zoom levels:

It's non just zooming in to things that the 64MP camera is useful for. You can also use it to have 64MP pictures at 1x magnification by switching to 64MP fashion using the aspect ratio toggle in the camera interface. The camera itself will sometimes suggest you to switch to 64MP style to "capture every last item" in a scene. Unfortunately, in that location'south non a lot of extra detail in 64MP pictures compared to 12MP pictures shot with the main camera. It'south in that location, but only when you zoom in and look closely, so I simply ended upwardly ignoring the camera's suggestions and sticking to 12MP photos.

The 64MP photographic camera is also the one used for capturing 8K videos. The Milky way S20 series records 8K videos at 24 frames per second, and yous tin can excerpt 33MP stills from those videos. While you lot can see more item in 8K videos compared to 4K videos, the photographic camera crops too much of the frame. Videos also feel jittery because they're shot at 24 fps and because the 64MP sensor has no stabilization, and the phone tends to easily heat up with just viii to 10 minutes of video recording, so taking 8K videos is recommended only in short bursts.

Since YouTube isn't letting us upload videos at 8K resolution just yet, you can cheque out an 8K video sample that we have uploaded to Google Drive by hitting this link.

Information technology'southward also frustrating that the Galaxy S20 lineup comes with 128GB of storage on the base model. That's just too low if you take a lot of 64MP pictures (which are upwardly to xv MB in size) and 8K videos. I filled up 40GB of storage with photos and videos in around ii weeks of testing the telephone's camera, so you volition need to slot in a microSD card after a couple of months of use if yous shoot a lot of photos and videos. Sadly, that isn't a solution if you use ii SIM cards like me, so the considerably costlier 512GB variant is the 1 yous volition have to buy.

Okay, time to talk about something positive, and that's the new Single Take photographic camera fashion. If you've e'er constitute yourself in a situation where you are stuck deciding if you should accept a photograph or a video of a special moment, similar when your friend is cutting their birthday cake, Single Take is for you. When you tap the shutter button in Single Take manner, the phone starts recording a video for 10 seconds, simply it also takes a couple of nevertheless pictures from the master and ultra-wide camera during those 10 seconds.

Single Accept will also have a couple of bokeh shots when it thinks the subject is right (if you're shooting a video of people or a video of yourself using the front camera, for example), crop out images of things in the frame that it thinks are interesting, apply various filters to some images, and even produce a panorama shot. Another neat new characteristic is Nighttime Hyperlapse recording. Standard Hyperlapse mode has been part of Samsung's smartphones for many years, but with the Galaxy S20 serial, you can shoot long-exposure hyperlapse videos, which is bang-up for recording cars streaking by at dark.

Hither's a night hyperlapse video shot with the S20+:

https://youtu.be/oy_EyHg6GPc

There'due south more than: The Milky way S20 serial likewise comes with a Pro video style that lets you record videos after manually adjusting parameters such as shutter speed. This is a feature that had already existed on Samsung flagships until it was taken away with the Android Pie update, and it will soon be headed to the Milky way S10 and Galaxy Note 10 as well. Other mutual camera features found on new Galaxy devices are present as well, such as AR Emoji, Super Slow-mo 960 fps videos, standard slow movement, and Live Focus Video. You can also brand 3D scans of real-earth objects with the 3D ToF camera at the back of the phone, though the results are usually hit and miss.

Galaxy S20+ front camera

The Milky way S20+ has the same 10MP forepart photographic camera equally the Galaxy S10, though the aperture has gone down slightly from F1.9 to F2.2 considering the punch pigsty in which the camera resides has gotten smaller. That doesn't really make a huge difference in practise, and selfie quality is pretty similar to what you got with the Milky way S10 serial. Outdoors, in that location's practiced enough detail, at to the lowest degree when yous turn off the beautification settings, and skin tones are faithfully reproduced. Indoors, with good lighting, the story is similar, though some noise tends to creep in.

Withal, considering how skillful the rear cameras have gotten on Samsung'south phones, I notice myself beingness disappointed by the quality of selfies you get from the company'southward flagships. Selfies look like they have been taken from a much poorer quality camera than photos with the rear camera, and in 2020, it just doesn't feel correct. I hope Samsung will fix that with the Milky way Note xx, like making the Milky way S20 Ultra'due south 40MP selfie camera standard on all models, though from initial testing I haven't institute the Galaxy S20 Ultra's front camera to be much better, either.

Milky way S20+ performance

You would expect the Galaxy S20+ to accept excellent performance, and while that is the example most of the time, I noticed some bug that I've not seen on previous flagships from Samsung, hinting at a lack of optimization. The about abrasive is when you lot are viewing videos from apps similar YouTube or Amazon Prime Video in picture-in-pic manner (in which the video player shows up as a small window on-screen) and open some other app at the same time, the sound skips for a second. This happens both over the phone'due south speakers and over Bluetooth headphones.

The animations in the user interface too stutter from fourth dimension to fourth dimension, though I'one thousand assuming that is a result of the processor sometimes existence unable to supply the needed number of frames to match the 120Hz refresh rate. Only, other than the audio skipping and animation stutter at 120Hz, the Galaxy S20+ performs great. The faster display refresh rate is a major bonus: It helps make general navigation through the interface and zipping in and out of apps feel extremely polish and quick, more than than whatsoever previous Milky way flagship. Of class, the phone is fast no matter if it's running at 60Hz or 120Hz, but the latter makes the feel notably amend.

Gaming performance is top notch as well, with no lag or stutter in everything from PUBG to Call of Duty Mobile. Multitasking, too, though with just 8GB of RAM on the base model, the S20+ does tend to kill apps faster compared to, say, the Galaxy Note 10+. But Samsung has a neat solution for apps yous don't want to be killed in the background: You tin select one app from the recent apps screen that the telephone will keep locked in retentivity at all times, which comes handy for, say, keeping a game alive in the background. You lot can lock up to iii apps if you have the model with 12GB of RAM, which will be the case if you buy the 5G variant.

Galaxy S20+ software

The Milky way S20 serial runs One UI 2.ane and Android 10 out of the box, and maybe the most useful new feature it brings is Quick Share. Quick Share lets you send files to other Galaxy phones running One UI 2.1 over Wi-Fi with a single tap. Once you select Quick Share from the share menu, you lot will be shown all devices you can send files and media to, just as long every bit the screen on the other device is on. Yes, I UI 2.1 is currently express to the Milky way S20 lineup and the Galaxy Z Flip, but it volition be arriving on at least the Galaxy S10 and Notation 10 in the most future.

There'southward also Music Share, which lets other devices connect to a Bluetooth speaker via your Galaxy S20. Basically, when your Galaxy S20 is continued to a Bluetooth speaker, your friends can play music via the same Bluetooth speaker by connecting to your Galaxy S20 instead of connecting directly to the speaker. Samsung has as well taken its partnership with Google further with the Galaxy S20 series through Google Duo integration in the native dialer and contacts app. You can ready the video call button next to the regular call push button to make calls via Google Duo in Full HD quality with up to 8 people.

The rest of the software package is pretty much what you run into on the Galaxy S10 and Milky way Note 10. You lot get all the usual features you find on modern Milky way phones: Bixby Vocalization, Bixby Routines, One-handed mode, two types of navigation gestures, Dark mode, Secure Folder, themes support, Dual Messenger, Link to Windows (Microsoft Your Phone app integration), screen recorder, ability primal customization, Game Launcher, Game Booster, Edge Screen, Kids Mode, Always On Display, Samsung DeX and full Samsung Pay support.

If history is any guide, the Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra will be the first to receive the next version of Android (Android 11). We're still hoping Samsung will start offering iii major Android updates to its flagships, but if it doesn't, the Galaxy S20 series will stop its life on Android 12. Security updates volition come monthly for iii years, and then every 3 months after that.

Galaxy S20+ audio quality

With the Galaxy S20 series, Samsung has finally axed the 3.5mm headphone jack from its flagship lineup. Every bit with the Milky way Note x and Note x+, Samsung is providing a USB-C version of its AKG earphones in the box, and in many countries, costless Galaxy Buds+ are beingness offered equally well. The USB-C earphones audio the same every bit Samsung'south iii.5mm AKG earphones, which is to say they are excellent but tend to focus more on the college frequencies, though you lot can enable Dolby Atmos to add together more depth to the audio.

Dolby Atmos works over the stereo loudspeakers as well. The speakers sound great – they go really loud and don't distort even at the highest volume. Withal, they can sound uncomfortable because like the earphones, the speakers put the high frequencies forepart and center. Every bit for call quality, I had no problems with calls on either of the two SIM slots. Voices come in loud and clear, and I didn't get whatsoever complaints from people on the other finish, either.

Galaxy S20+ bombardment life

The Galaxy S20+ offers excellent bombardment life, whether you use the display at 60Hz refresh charge per unit or 120Hz. With the latter, y'all do lose a couple of hours, but you lot can notwithstanding manage to get through the entire work day and have fifteen-20% bombardment left. If you use 60Hz, the S20+ will concluding you all solar day with typical usage that involves some browsing, gaming, and camera use and still have enough charge to remain idle until the next morning before requiring a top-upward.

And, thanks to 25W super fast charging support, y'all don't need to accuse the phone overnight. The Milky way S20+'s 4,500 mAh bombardment charges from 0 to 100 in less than 70 minutes. With ten minutes of charging, the phone goes from 0 to around xx%, and a 30-minute charge takes it all the way upward to 50%. The S20+ as well supports 15W wireless charging if you have Samsung'due south compatible charger, and reverse wireless charging is supported every bit well.

Galaxy S20+ verdict

The Galaxy S20+ isn't the top-stop offering in the Galaxy S20 lineup, simply it's an excellent phone regardless, and probably the one that most folks will end upwards buying. The 120Hz display is amazing and has to be experienced to be appreciated, the zooming capabilities are pretty useful, the master photographic camera takes great pictures in all lighting conditions and comes with some neat features, performance is excellent, and battery life is solid with crazy fast charging speeds to lucifer. The software is what you look from Samsung today: beautiful, intuitive, and packed to the brim with useful features.

All the usual Milky way hallmarks are present likewise, like IP68 water resistance, stereo speakers, and microSD support, and the only negatives I tin think of is the boring pattern (now the Galaxy Z Flip exists), the fact that Samsung's flagship front cameras haven't evolved much over the last couple of years, the 128GB base storage, not-so-awesome fingerprint sensor, and the absence of a headphone jack. But the Galaxy S20+'due south strengths overshadow the weaknesses, and information technology'south an amazing phone that you tin can't get wrong with, at least as long as you're okay with its price tag.

Pros	Cons
120Hz refresh rate is awesome, makes phone feel extremely zippy	No three.5mm headphone jack, no dongle in the box
Phenomenal display whether it'south at 60Hz or 120Hz	Zoom quality not bully in low lite, phone uses 12MP main camera for up to 4x zoom at night
Excellent pictures from main 12MP photographic camera, neat photographic camera modes	120Hz doesn't piece of work at max resolution, gets disabled when phone heats upward
Great 3x zoom pictures from 64MP photographic camera, very usable pictures till 10x zoom	Photographic camera functioning not a major upgrade over Milky way S10 camera, 8K recording feels like a gimmick
Phone doesn't feel overly big despite vi.7-inch display	128GB of base storage not good enough anymore
All-day battery life, crazy fast charging	Fingerprint sensor could exist better
Solid performance
I UI ii.1 brings meaningful new features, including Google Duo integration, Quick Share

Source: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-s20-plus/review

Posted by: strangeasself.blogspot.com

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