The current Samsung’s 2020 flagship smartphone, Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, is truly an impressive device if we looked on the official specification sheet. The device delivers immersive display, good cameras and incredible spec but is this device worth to get it? Let’s find out more down below.
Specs
For Malaysia market, here is only one variant for the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra in Malaysia which comes with Samsung Exynos 990, 12GB RAM (LPDDR5) and 128GB internal storage. The spec is blazing fast indeed for playing games or doing work. If you need more space, a SD card slot is available that supports up to 1TB. 4G/LTE still worked too so no worries. The phone weighs only 220g so it’s quite light for a large ultra phone. Powering inside the Ultra is a monstrous 5000mAh that supports 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. The battery definitely can last you throughout a single day charge.
Display and Audio:
Gorgeous AMOLED display 
The 120Hz refresh display gives gaming experience like console & PC 
Remember to go to the settings to set your 120Hz refresh 
One of the bottom firing speaker next to the USB Type-C charging hole
With a 6.9-inch Quad HD+ AMOLED display, the Ultra’s display can deliver impressive vivid and bright images. The display also opted the Infinity-O design which is good as it doesn’t disrupt the viewing when playing games or watching great quality video content at YouTube. But the best part of the display is the 120Hz refresh rate. Just browsing or playing games on the phone with the 120Hz refresh rate just makes you feel wowed. But do take notice that the 120hz refresh rate does consume a bit more on the battery. The audio setup on the S20 Ultra is stereo which is located at the bottom firing speaker and the earpiece. The sound is delivers an amazing I think the sound is amazing and done its job well.
Software
Samsung’s One UI has up the game to be one of the best Android experience. Everything is fast and snappy. Overall, it is easy to use for everyone. The security feature is also good as it comes with in-display fingerprint, facial recognition and Samsung Knox.
Camera
Behold the 40MP front camera 
Daylight shot is amazing for the front camera 
Once its dark, the 40MP start to develop softer and noisy image 
Turn on the flash when selfie at dark place 
Alternatively, use the Night mode on the selfie camera during low-light situation
Over to the front camera, it’s packed with a 40MP shooter. On bright daylight, the 40MP camera selfie shots are on point and details. But during dark environment, the front camera is struggling a bit. So remember to turn on the flash or use the night mode during low light selfie. The front camera can even capture videos up to 4K 60fps. This is good for those who want to use their smartphone as vlogging. The front camera video quality is nice during daylight. However I couldn’t say the same for dark condition videos as soft and noisy quality is visible.
On the rear camera, the Ultra has a quad camera setup. The main camera is a 108MP with F1.8, the ultra wide-angle lens is a 12MP with F2.2 while the telephoto lens is a 48MP with F3.5. The fourth camera is a DepthVision Camera which works for portrait photography, AR measurements and effects.
The 108MP main cam takes excellent daylight shot 
Wide-angle lens provides nice details too but distortion can be noticed 
Telephoto 3x zoom – Fantastic 
Telephoto 10x zoom – Still great 
Telephoto 30x zoom – 30x zoom is the best. Zoom more than that, I don’t think it will be a great idea 
Telephoto 100x zoom – The 100x zoom is a no-no. Details are lost, soft and noisy 
The 108MP main cam can provide quite good low-light images 
Wide-angle lens on low light situation is performing average 
Telephoto 3x zoom delivers a softer and noisy quality image on low light 
For low light situation, the Telephoto 10x zoom is the maximum you can go. Images are getting softer and noisier quality 
Night mode will solve most of your problem. Shot with 108MP main cam
Photo details on all three rear cameras are crisp and colours are quite balanced without any over-saturation. The ultra wide-angle lens does produced some distortion in the image. However this is quite a common issue for wide-angle lens. The telephoto lens provides a 100x zoom which Samsung calls it the Space Zoom. Nice but try not to use more than 30X zoom as I noticed details will gradually get noisy and softer afterwards. Low-light photos on all three lens perform just slightly above average. So make sure to use the Night Mode as it really improves the picture quality.
The rear camera can record video up to 8K 24fps. The 8K recording is only available on the main lens. I will be touching more on the 4K recording for this review as that will be most people are using right now. The video and audio quality is good enough for content creators who wish to use smartphones. You can even use the ultra wide-angle lens and telephoto lens when recording 4K format. For video recording in low-light situations, the main camera still works fine. But the ultra wide-angle and telephoto lens start to develop softer and noisy details during low-light conditions.
Both front and rear camera offers “Single Take” mode. What it does is allows the phone to shoot photos and videos with all of the cameras, and then magically pull out the best shots and moments in one album. Good for those social media.
*watch the review video for S20 Ultra’s Front and Rear camera video recording
Worth mentioning
There are other things worth mentioning when you’re getting with the phone. You still got the in-display fingerprint scanner and facial recognition as your security. Both security features are fast which is great. It unlocks fast and without hassle. There is also Samsung DeX where you can turn the phone into a PC via a USB Type-C to HDMI cable. You also get a TPU case and AKG USB Type-C earbuds for your S20 Ultra.
Pros and cons
Cons
- The phone could feel a little bit warm during intense gaming or shooting in 4K. But the warmth is still bearable.
- The video recording during low-light situations was average at times. The autofocus takes quite a while to focus on the subject and scene. Perhaps a software update might help with this issue.
- The price of RM4999.
Pros
- Flagship spec that delivers fast and smooth operation.
- 120Hz and Infinity-O Display good for video consumption, playing games and even work productivity.
- Good work productivity device. It has a good camera setup, large screen for videos or doing amendment on your proposal and fast WiFi and 5G connection.
No doubt the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G catered to people who are looking for a flagship 5G smartphone or a true Samsung Galaxy series fans. It is definitely one of the best 2020 Android smartphone experiences. But, I still wished I can see more improved innovation from Samsung like the Z Flip. Overall, it is truly an ultra smartphone you can buy right now.