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| Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra in mystic bronze along with S Pen and Galaxy Buds Live / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Samsung unveiled its new flagship smartphone the Galaxy Note20 Ultra during its first virtual Galaxy Unpacked 2020 event, Wednesday. Surprisingly the phone is similar to the S20, more so than the past Note series. But looks could be deceiving as the tech giant's pride is all in for the Note20 Ultra showcasing top-of-the-line specs.
The Note20 Ultra comes in three colors ― Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black and Mystic White ― and pre-orders for the phone is set to start Friday, with an asking price of 1.45 million won ($1,225).
Unboxing the Note20 Ultra, users will be glad to see a large 6.9-inch curved display which literally covers the entire front face of the handset. What makes it trendier is that the screen's edges are rounded off giving it a larger and sleeker vibe.
The screen itself is bright as it is equipped with a Quad HD with a resolution of 3088 x 1440 and curved side edges.
The display has a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, coming in handy when watching movies, playing games or even simply scrolling through social media.
Samsung says the refresh rate will automatically adjust depending on what the user is doing with their phone, for instance maxing out at 120Hz when playing high-graphic games or toning down when just shopping online.
Another perk of the Note series is the S Pen stylus that can be found on the left-hand side of the Note's bottom edge, popping out with a slight push.
The tech giant has made some minor improvements to the S Pen for the latest releases such as additional gestures for controlling particular functions, improved latency and a nib that allows users to write more accurately and quickly.
The rear of the Ultra is made of glass giving a more premium look than the polycarbonate used for the regular Galaxy Note 20.
But what grabs attention is that the edges are less rounded than its predecessors', yet it still fits comfortably in one's hand with just a little bit of a stretch.
The Note is equipped with both a fingerprint scanner embedded in the display along with Face Unlock.
What Samsung fanatics are most enthusiastic about is the cameras in the Note20: three in the rear topped with a 108MP f/1.8 main camera, 12MP f/3.0 telephoto and a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide. The camera could seem a little odd as it protrudes a little, which is because Samsung wanted to slim down the phones to 8.1mm which is 0.7mm slimmer than the 8.8mm S20 Ultra.
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| The picture shows the protrusion of the Galaxy Note20 Ultra rear camera / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
However, the camera array protruding so far from the body may prove to make the lens area more vulnerable to breaks, cracks and scratches when dropped or dragged along a surface.
Just from the camera alone it might look less impressive compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which was equipped with a 100x 'Space Zoom' and a slightly wider telephoto aperture.
However, the Note20 Ultra is equipped with the 50x 'Space Zoom' and when comparing the functions on the S20 Ultra's 50x zoom, it is noticeable that the Note20's resolution is slightly better than that of S20 Ultra.
On the front is a 10MP selfie camera, with a major benefit that the Note series S Pen can be used to remotely trigger shots.
The Note20 Ultra packs a 4,500mAh battery able to go through a full day on a single charge and, with the 25W fast charger, the battery could be charged to 50 percent capacity in just 30 minutes, the company said.
The Galaxy Note20 Ultra runs on a Samsung Exynos 990 processor paired with 12GB of RAM.
The storage is a massive 512GB but there are also options for the lesser 128GB and 256GB variants depending on how much storage one needs. But if a user needs more storage a microSD card slot is available for an additional storage up to 1TB, available only in the Ultra model.
