Using 5G hogs battery life, and in part to counter this the Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery capacity, while the S20 Plus has a 4,500mAh battery. We found that the Ultra lasted longer than 24 hours on days we weren't testing 5G speeds non-stop. Essentially, if you want the best Samsung has, this will be worth your investment. S20 or S20 Ultra: which one is the better value? And now there's a new max-sized, max-specced phone out there: the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. This actually has a marginally smaller 6.8-inch screen, but it has even more power, better camera performance, and support for Samsung's S Pen stylus. It's undeniably the better phone then, but will also likely cost you even more than the S20 Ultra does currently - though notably the S21 Ultra's launch price is lower than the S20 Ultra's was. Some good news, though: you’re not going to need to max-out the storage, given our ever-accelerating move to the cloud and the fact that 5G connectivity will allow you to easily pull down remotely stored data. While Samsung phones, those with Exynos chips at least, are fast to begin with, it is months and years down the line where things start to fade. Apple’s phones are so good at staying fast for years that I always feel let down by Samsung in this regard. My Note 10 Plus, for example, takes an extra second longer to load apps now than it did at launch – will the same happen here?

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review | Trusted Reviews Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review | Trusted Reviews

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is also the first phone to record 8K resolution video. You need an expensive 8K TV to view it, but it’s nice to see that 8K recording is starting to make its way to smartphone cameras. It’s worth noting, however, that the file sizes are much larger than regular 4K or 1080p footage. We still found that some iPhone 11 Pro Max and Google Pixel 4 photos retained more detail in low-light situations, although Samsung seems to have improved its Night Mode over the last year, and side-by-side, no one is doing telephoto better than Samsung – unless you count Huawei’s non-Android phones.There is a significant chance that you may break the unreinforced and fragile display panel during this procedure. If you plan on reusing the screen assembly, be sure to apply plenty of heat and be extremely careful during the prying stage. Battery: Actual battery life varies by network environment, features and apps used, frequency of calls and messages, number of times charged, and many other factors.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra - Expert Reviews Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra - Expert Reviews

Of course, there's now the newer Samsung Galaxy S21 range - including the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which zooms further than the Note 20 Ultra, and even supports the S Pen stylus.

Powerful Performance

The decision is an easy one: the 120Hz 1080p setting looks good out of the box, and most people we know who are upgrading from the Note 8 have been impressed. The 6.9-inch screen isn’t big enough to see individual pixels, and we won’t truly need higher resolutions until foldable phones become mainstream. Is this squared-off frame better than a rounded one? That’s highly subjective, but it allows for the S Pen to easily slide straight up into the left side of the phone – a minor change from the right-side slot where previous Note phones had you holster the stylus.