Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Big photos, big zoom range and big price.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra is Samsung’s biggest Android phone, and its most daring sales pitch: you can own the world’s most advanced 5G phone with massive camera specs... if you’re prepared to spend more money than ever on a non-foldable smartphone.
The Ultra is designed for early adopters, and three things stand out: it has a massive 6.9-inch display with next-gen fluidscrolling tech that will stretch your hand; five cameras to capture 108MP photos, 40MP selfies and 8K video, and 5G antennas with peak speeds 66 times as fast as 4G LTE.
It’s a nice jump from the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus cameras, although issues with inconsistent autofocus and overexposure keep the Ultra from being the best camera phone. Even with a camera software update, we still find the Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus to be better in most non-zoom scenarios.
The cameras specs do shine for far-off subjects. The 48MP telephoto lens allowed us to get up close and personal thanks to an impressive variety of zoom lenses. It far surpasses the 2x optical and 10x digital zoom of previous Samsung phones, and the limited 8x digital zoom on the Google
Pixel 4 – although 100x zoom snaps were hardly Instagramworthy, 30x zoom looked fine on a tripod.
Samsung’s ‘single-take mode’ helps you answer an everyday question: should I take photos or a video?
Take both. Its new ‘single-take mode’ captures a variety of shots over a 10-second span: photos, ultra-wides, portraits, hyperlapse video, regular video, and so on. It kept us out of the settings menus and in the moment, plus you can also clip 33MP photos from video, which proved handy.
The S20 Ultra has a monster spec list: 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 128GB or 512GB of internal storage kick things off.
There’s also a huge 5,000mAh battery for pulling down battery-intensive 5G signal, although we found it could only last more than 24 hours in 4G mode. There in-screen fingerprint sensor from last year’s phones, but it sadly is the first S phone without a 3.5mm headphone jack.
It’s impossible to justify the Galaxy S20 Ultra price for everyone – even those who bought the S9 Plus or S10 Plus, and intended to get the next ‘big one’ from Samsung.
For others, though, the word ‘upgrade’ means a completely different thing: they want a phone that pushes new boundaries, and they don’t mind if that pushes the price tag further into Galaxy Fold territory.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra goes big in every way imaginable, with 108MP photos, a 100x camera zoom, 40MP selfies, and a 6.9-inch 120Hz display. With over-the-top internal specs on a par with some laptops, you’ll pay more for this phone than any non-foldable phone before it, but that’s not surprising.
Matt Swider
Samsung’s ‘single-take mode’ helps you answer an everyday question: should I take photos or a video? Take both. Its new ‘single-take mode’ captures a variety of shots over a 10 second span.