Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G Review: Powerful cameras and a versatile S Pen Video



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The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G arrived in our country just under two months ago and is Samsung’s bet for the high-end. It’s a phone that offers it all, with great potential to exploit in productivity and photography. However, we could not expect less, given its price: more than 4,000 soles in the Peruvian market. Does it justify it? You decide.

Design

Without a doubt, this is one of the most attractive sections of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Maintaining a sleek aesthetic, the phone features square corners, minimal bezels, and a matte finish glass back cover, which not only provides a charming look, but makes fingerprints and dirt less visible.

Mystical bronze color design. Photo: Carol Larrain

My test unit was in color Mystic Bronze, which is the iconic shade of this series and, by the way, the most eye-catching. Its metal body offers IP68 water resistance and both the front and back are protected by the new Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, which promises to withstand drops of up to 2 meters and be more resistant to scratches.

Something that strongly characterizes the line Galaxy Note It is its size and this model is the largest created by Samsung. In length, the phone measures over 16cm (164.8mm); however, in my experience of use, it was lightweight and comfortable to use. I got used to its large size pretty quickly, so it wasn’t a problem managing it on a day-to-day basis.

The volume controls and the power button are well placed and easy to use. What can cause some inconvenience, depending on the hand you write with, is the location of the compartment where the file is located S Pen, which is on the left side. Furthermore, when using the mobile phone horizontally, care must also be taken to cover the lower speakers.

Headphones with AKG technology. Photo: Carol Larrain

screen

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has an Edge screen Dynamic AMOLED 6.9-inch resolution and Quad HD + (3,088 x 1,440 pixels). Its size and image quality make it ideal for enjoying multimedia content. Both indoors and out, it was clear and crisp, with a good level of maximum brightness. However, it’s not one of the brightest on the market.

6.9 inch curved dynamic AMOLED screen and Quad HD + resolution. Photo: Carol Larrain

It is compatible with HDR10 + and it offers a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, although this mode is not fixed, but it automatically adapts according to what is displayed on the screen, allowing you to take advantage of it only when necessary and helps to save battery. There’s also the option to choose a standard 60Hz refresh rate.

Adaptive display options (up to 120Hz) and standard display (60Hz). Photo: Carol Larrain

Being an OLED panel, we can access the function of Always on display, which allows you to display various items on the idle screen, such as the clock, date, calendar events, images from the gallery, emojis, GIFs, or the music player. On the other hand, to take advantage of its curved design, the mobile has the ability to customize notifications with “Edge Lighting”.

Although the “Edge” style of the screen is distinctive of the Galaxy Note and gives it an interesting look, it is not functional. Curvature causes false touches, especially when lying down, as resting or rubbing the palm of your hand holding the phone can cause you to press send and send a message early or inadvertently activate applications and functions.

performance

The internal power of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is managed by the processor Exynos 990, along with 12GB of RAM, enough to deliver very fast and agile performance. From the execution of operations multitasking until video game, its performance is outstanding. It also has 256GB of storage, expandable up to 1TB with a microSD card.

As an operating system, it runs Android 10 with the One UI 2.5 user interface, which provides a variety of customization options. About sound, the smartphone includes earphones tuned by AKG and stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos technology, powerful and with good sound quality.

In the section of the biometric authentication, the phone has facial recognition and an ultrasonic fingerprint reader under the screen, although the latter is not as fast as you might expect and sometimes has scanning errors. In terms of connectivity, the equipment comes with support for 5G technology, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC.

The performance of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is supported by the Exynos 990 processor. Photo: Carol Larrain

Battery

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra integrates a battery of 4,500 mAh, which supports 25W wired fast charging and 10W wireless charging. In addition, it supports reverse wireless charging (Wireless PowerShare), so you can supply power to other devices, such as headphones or phones, simply by placing them on the back cover.

Above autonomyUnder normal conditions of use and without expecting much, the smartphone battery can last until the end of the day. However, I was expecting a longer lifespan for Samsung’s flagship. In high demand situations, such as spending several hours playing games or watching videos, the energy runs out relatively quickly.

Cameras

This is one of the highlights of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. On the front, it has a selfie camera 10 MP (ƒ / 2.2) housed in a hole in the center of the display At the rear, includes a triple camera Consisting of a 108MP (ƒ / 1.8) main lens, a 12MP (ƒ / 2.2) ultra wide-angle ring lens and a 12MP (ƒ / 3.0) telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and digital zoom up to 50x.

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra triple rear camera. Photo: Carol Larrain

The whole set is assisted by an autofocus laser sensor and an LED flash. Apart from the excellent resolution of the photographs and their good rendering in different scenarios, the feature that surprised me the most was their optical image stabilization (OIS) when recording video, as the reflected movement in the shots was smooth, with almost no annoying vibrations.

It has a Pro video mode, which is unique to this model, and is packed with pro-level settings. It also has support for recording video in 8K resolution at 24 fps and in 4K UHD at 60 fps, HDR10 + technology, directional microphone, slow motion, super slow motion, hyperlapse, macro and panoramas. In the following video, I explain all the camera options in detail.

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S Pen

In this new generation, Samsung has reduced the stylus latency to less than 9 milliseconds. The result? The S Pen writes on the screen noticeably faster, giving the same feeling as on paper. This experience is taken to the next level when integrated with the tools offered by the application Samsung Note.

It is a fairly complete app, it has several styles of pencil and markers, an option to straighten what we have written, an easy writing panel, the ability to convert handwriting to text and a function that turns each into perfect figures geometric element to be drawn. And, as a novelty this year, Samsung Note allows you to write directly to PDF files.

Menu dedicated to the functions of the S Pen. Photo: Carol Larrain

If it is removed the stylus with the screen off, the option to take quick notes without unlocking the phone is enabled. On the other hand, if you go out with the screen on, your utility menu opens automatically, including options to create notes, make smart selection, design animated messages, draw with AR and translate text.

You can take notes with the screen off. Photo: Carol Larrain

Among the other features offered by the S Pen are the famous ones aerial gestures, which allows you to perform various actions on your smartphone without touching the screen. In total, there are five customizable options. Also, it acts as a remote to control the camera app. Finally, it is available in Mystic Bronze color, provides up to 24 hours of battery life and has an IP68 resistance.

The S Pen connects to the phone via Bluetooth. Photo: Carol Larrain

Additional properties

Samsung DeX

With this new tool from Samsung, we can link the file Galaxy Note 20 Ultra computer or smart TV to get a “desktop view” of the phone interface. Both devices are connected via the same Wi-Fi network and allow you to run all system applications, transfer files, and even open games.

Samsung DeX support. Photo: Carol Larrain

Your phone app

This application, owned by Microsoft, is also used to synchronize the phone with the PC, but has the particularity that it allows you to make / receive calls, messages and notifications. In addition, it provides direct access to photos, videos and files stored on the mobile phone, as well as the ability to mirror the screen to control the applications and the entire interface.

Native compatibility with Microsoft’s Your Phone application. Photo: Carol Larrain

Augmented reality area

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is packed with features powered by Augmented Reality, but highlights the Augmented Reality Zone section, which can be accessed from the main menu or from the camera. From here we can create custom emojis of ourselves or other people and use them in videos, photos, stickers and more.

Verdict

Good The bad
– Elegant design.
– Screen size.
– Performance and quality of the photographic system.
– Software performance.
– Versatility of the S Pen.
– Support for wireless charging and reverse charging.
– IP68 water resistance.
– The edge of the screen causes false touches.
– Slowness of the fingerprint sensor.
– Price.

Unboxing the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G

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