Samsung Galaxy S20 review - What more could you want - Android
The regular Samsung Galaxy S20 may not grab the same headlines as its Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy S20 Plus relatives, but it’s still equipped with much of the same advanced mobile technology. Priced at a slightly more reasonable $999 than the $1,399 S20 Ultra, the Galaxy S20 is likely to be most consumer’s entry point to this year’s flagship series.
This makes the Galaxy S20 an even more important handset for Samsung than in previous years. It has to prove that the cheapest S20 isn’t an afterthought and can still provide a flagship experience — especially when even more affordable mid-tier 5G smartphones are chomping at Samsung’s heels.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 comes with the predictable assortment of accessories. The handset ships with a 25W charging plug, UBS-C to USB-C cable, a SIM ejector tool, and a pair of AKG USB-C earbuds.
Sadly, there’s isn’t a screen protector or case included. That’s definitely something you’ll want to source yourself if you’re accident prone, given the phone’s glass back.
I’ve been quite critical of Samsung’s design change. The iconic waterfall display is now flattened and the camera housing has morphed into a rectangular blob. The S20’s looks aren’t going to please everyone, but I can’t say all my complaints apply to the more compact form factor of the standard Samsung Galaxy S20.
As far as the essentials go, the smaller Galaxy S20 is ideal. Featuring a classic combination of glass and metal trim, it’s light but sturdy, and actually grips much better without the curved waterfall display. The slippery nature of the glass back isn’t a problem when it’s easy to wrap your hand around the whole device. Single-handed use is effortless. The volume rocker and power buttons are located exactly where you want them to be.
Aesthetically, the Samsung Galaxy S20 is a decent looker. The rectangular camera module houses only three lenses, so it’s slimmer than the S20 Plus and Ultra models. Shaving off a few millimeters may be a small change, but it makes the handset look more slick than its bulky siblings.
I’m not entirely sold on Samsung’s choice of colors for this generation, although the Cloud Blue version I have is a vast improvement on the Cosmic Gray. The coating reflects a shimmery rainbow of colors in the right light, which helps brighten up the handset a bit.
The Galaxy S20 provides the perks of a big screen while still being sleek and lightweight.
The Galaxy S20 boasts an Infinity-O display panel. A single punch hole reveals the selfie camera. The big black dot doesn’t exactly gel with the whites and grays of Samsung’s UI, but you’ll eventually stop noticing it. Overall, I think I prefer it to a notch. Just about.
The camera offers rudimentary face unlock security; you won’t find any fancy infrared face scanning tech here. For the best security, you’ll probably want to use the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner embedded in the screen. From a users point of view it works just like a regular fingerprint scanner, you just need to press on the right spot on the screen. However, it’s powered by ultrasonic sound waves that bounce of your fingerprints rather than a capacitive touch sensor.
Samsung’s entire S20 range abandoned the 3.5mm headphone jack, including this smaller model. However, with consumers increasingly embracing Bluetooth audio, and a pair of USB-C AKG buds in the box, this isn’t quite the inconvenience it was a couple of years ago.
On the plus side, Samsung removed the Bixby button from the Galaxy S20 series. Instead, just hold down the power button to activate Bixby Voice. If you’re not a fan of Bixby, you can switch this long-press option to bring up the shutdown menu instead.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S20 just feels right, both in usability and aesthetics. The phone’s impressive screen-to-body ratio means I didn’t feel like I lost any screen real estate moving down from a bigger handset. The standard S20 certainly isn’t a compact smartphone, but it’s much more user-friendly than the gargantuan 6.9-inch Ultra version.
Every year Samsung produces a top tier display for its flagships and the Galaxy S20 is no different. The 6.2-inch panel features an optional 120Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling and frame rates in supported games.
The 120Hz mode looks silky smooth flicking through menus and walls of text, though it’s definitely more of a quality of life improvement than an essential upgrade. The option to switch to Quad HD+ from the Full HD+ default resolution is a minimal difference visually, and it does suck down more juice. As such, I stuck with the Full HD+ 60Hz default setting for the majority of my time with the phone. I’d rather have the slightly longer battery life.
The simply sublime quality of the display is the real story here. The panel is punchy and crisp, providing excellent colors for a wide range of content. HDR10+ support is a nice bonus, too, and one that has a noticeable impact on quality when viewing supported content. Samsung’s latest display technology does not disappoint.
As you’d expect from a modern flagship smartphone, performance is excellent even when multitasking in and out of several apps at once. I have the Exynos model, which is a tad slower than the Snapdragon variant, but I certainly don’t have any complaints about day-to-day use.
Our benchmark results place the handset comfortably ahead of last year’s flagship phones, for both general app and gaming performance. Particularly, the Exynos 990’s Mongoose M5 monstrous single core score stands out. The Galaxy S20 handles everything you can throw at it, though if you’re after the best performing phone we’ve tested so far, it’s a fraction behind the Snapdragon 865 Galaxy S20 Ultra.
I did notice that our Exynos model became a little warm when put under strain, such as when downloading numerous apps in the background or when taking lots of pictures in quick succession. Heat certainly wasn’t an issue for everyday tasks.
Without 5G technology on board chugging down power, our 4G-only Samsung Galaxy S20 pushed through a full day of heavy use with capacity to spare. I couldn’t wear the phone down with two and a half hours of Spotify, an hour of YouTube, two and a half hours of web browsing, messaging, and a decent camera session thrown in. Talk about impressive.
I calculated just over 6 hours of screen on time with the phone. Your mileage will vary depending on gaming habits, screen brightness, and the number of background apps you have running. Fresh installs always tend to run a bit longer after all. The phone’s standby time is also pretty good, losing less than 5% overnight.
30/03/2020 03:49 PM
30/03/2020 04:29 PM
30/03/2020 09:46 AM
30/03/2020 07:26 AM
30/03/2020 06:30 PM
30/03/2020 08:21 PM
30/03/2020 05:11 PM
30/03/2020 09:05 PM
2014 © Canadian apps and news
