Samsung skipped a few numbers for its latest Galaxy S20, which takes over the flagship mantle from 2019’s Galaxy S10. While it may be a confusing jump, there’s good reason for it, as Samsung has packed a lot in it’s a massive upgrade, especially if you’re keen to get your first 5G phone.
Good
A truly fantastic display
Strong camera performance
Lots of power and 5G-ready
Bad
Price is higher, especially for 5G
Erratic fingerprint scanner
Doesn’t support all 5G networks
The Galaxy S20 is cheaper, and in my opinion easier to handle, than the Galaxy S20 Plus and the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but that doesn’t mean this is a cheap or low-spec device.
Here’s what you’re getting: a 6.2-inch screen with a fast 120Hz refresh rate, 5G download speeds (where available), high-spec cameras on both sides of the phone, and a big battery to boot.
This is the phone to get if you want to try out the new tech that Samsung has to offer, but you don’t want a large phone, or a large dent in your wallet. You could go for the Ultra if you want more storage or a 108MP camera, and can stretch to the price tag, but for day-to-day use the S20 is going to be the best choice for most people.
Key Specifications
Review Price: £799
CPU: Snapdragon 865/Exynos 990
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Battery capacity: 4000mAh
Interface: OneUI 2.0
Audio: no headphone jack
5G? Yes – 4G/5G options
Display: 6.2-inch 120Hz OLED QHD+
There are very few surprises with the Galaxy S20. It’s a Samsung flagship through and through: top-end specs, classic Samsung design and so on.
Everything just seems that bit better this time around especially the camera, which offers a significant bump-up on Samsung’s previous efforts.
The S20 is unlikely to change the minds of those who aren’t already fans of Samsung’s design, software and even some photography attributes. For everyone else, though, there’s plenty to like here.
he camera since it’s the big focus here. Even though it’s the Galaxy S20 Ultra that benefits from the fancy new additions (108-megapixel main sensor, 100x zoom, 40-megapixel selfie), the S20 offers a significant upgrade.
There are three main rear cameras: a wide 12-megapixel with an f/1.8 lens and OIS; an ultra-wide 12-megapixel; and a 64-megapixel telephoto with an f/2.0 lens and OIS. Samsung says the sensor on that main 12-megapixel camera has been completely rebuilt, with its bigger pixels allowing in more light.
The most important thing for anyone upgrading from last year’s Galaxy S10 is that the resulting snaps are a huge leap forward. Samsung’s camera offering had stagnated for years, with the same sensor repeatedly used in its handsets. With the S20, the company kicks things up a gear.
Another highlight of the Galaxy S20 is its 4,000mAh battery. It’s larger than the cell in the S10, and we’ve found the battery life to be strong with typical use – this phone isn’t going to last you much longer than one day of normal use, but what smartphone does?
The expanded capacity has had one negative consequence: it’s squeezed out the headphone jack. It’s the same story with the S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, and it’s the first time Samsung has dropped the feature from its S range.
The Galaxy S20 is missing some of the top-end features that the Galaxy S20 Ultra is showing off, but it’s more affordable, and easier to hold or store in your pocket, and while it may not be the most impressive device from Samsung in 2020, it’s a powerful phone that will more than satisfy most who buy it.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 has a 6.2-inch display, offering exactly 0.1-inch more screen real estate than 2019’s 6.1-inch S10. It doesn’t dramatically change the overall size of the phone, and its max resolution remains the same as that of recent Samsung Galaxy S models at WQHD+ (3040 x 1440).
Samsung is still offering a default resolution of Full HD+ (2220 x 1080), which looks more than sharp enough for most tasks, and saves battery; you’ll need to head into the settings to switch to the higher resolution.
A big upgrade for the Galaxy S20 is the maximum 120Hz refresh-rate display. This is double the rate at which the display refreshes on most phones, including previous Samsung devices, and what it means in practice is smoother scrolling and animations.
This is particularly pertinent when you’re mobile gaming as it allows for a more immersive experience and could even give you the edge over an opponent, but it makes everyday things like scrolling through your social media feeds look smoother too.
Touch-sensitivity is also upped, to 240Hz from 120Hz to make games more responsive, by sensing your finger brushes on the screen at a much higher rate than previously. This isn’t something we found noticeable when we were using the phone, but those more dedicated to their mobile gaming may find that it makes a difference.
We know an increase in screen size might be off-putting for some and we have good news and bad news about that. First the good news: while the S20 is taller than the S10, it’s also a little narrower, with a 20:9 aspect ratio, and the screen is only marginally bigger.
The bad news: there’s no Galaxy S10e sequel (that was the smallest, and cheapest, of the S20 range) to offer those with smaller hands a 5.8-inch display size.
The Galaxy S20 is the best first chance for mainstream consumers to get 5G on their smartphone. Only 1% of smartphones that shipped in 2019 were 5G phones, and most of those were expensive variants of 4G flagships.
The S20 is largely 5G by default – as mentioned, in some markets you can buy a 4G version of the phone, but 5G is the norm, and download speeds will hover at around 200Mbps on average, 6x greater than 4G speeds in some parts of the world.
This does, of course, depend on 5G being available in your area from your provider, but even if it isn’t yet, Samsung is baking in the future-proofed connectivity.
There’s an important distinction between the 5G capabilities of the Galaxy S20 on one hand, and the S20 Plus and Ultra on the other. While all three support the low-to-mid-band sub-6 technology, only the Plus and Ultra have mmWave antennas, which pull down even faster speeds.
The Galaxy S20 is powered by one of two different chipsets, and where you live will decide which version you’re getting. If you’re in the US you’ll get Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 865 chipset, while those around the rest of the world get Samsung’s similarly high-end Exynos 990.
The 5G variant of the phone we tested comes with 12GB of RAM. It may be that some tasks will run a little slower on the 4G version, as that only has 8GB of RAM, but plenty of flagships ‘only’ offer 8GB, and we’d still expect strong performance from that phone.
We haven’t encountered any issues with the power on tap in the Galaxy S20, but when we’re able to properly test the Snapdragon 865 version of the device we’ll be sure to update this review with our findings.
The Galaxy S20 is running Android 10, the latest and greatest version of Google’s operating system. Samsung’s own One UI is overlaid, so it’ll look different to the software you may have used on other Android phones that aren’t made by Samsung, but the design is attractive and it’s easy to use.
Samsung includes a lot of its own apps on the device, but if you don’t want these on your phone you can delete most of them and stick with Google’s own pre-loaded options.
You’re limited to just 128GB of storage on the Galaxy S20 – there isn’t a more capacious option. This should be more than enough space for the average user, but if you’re planning to shoot lots of 4K video you’ll likely want to make use of the microSD card slot.
The Galaxy S20 supports cards up to 1TB – if you need even more internal storage, you’ll want to opt for the Galaxy S20 Ultra or Galaxy S20 Plus that offer 256GB and 512GB options.
For most people, the Samsung Galaxy S20 is the best Android phone available right now. This will likely be the biggest selling flagship Android device of the year, with a lot of happy customers.
Yes, some other handsets offer a few extra tricks and some have a better camera (the Pixel 4, for instance, especially in low-light) but no other phone offers a package that’s quite as complete as the S20.
From the 5G support to the flawless performance; from the hugely improved camera to the utterly gorgeous display – the S20 is the Android king. For the time being
