Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus Review

Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus Review
New galaxies of the Samsung are gradually arriving to our country and although it is difficult to buy the latest flagship phones, however the variety in the market is considered a good point. Previously, we have reviews S20 Ultra which really deserves the name ultra and it is one of the best phones ever in terms of software, dimensions, weight and price. Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus are the other models of the S20 family which are logical choices due to their lower price.
Galaxy S20 and S20 plus do not have considerable differences and it makes it easier to choose between them. The only thing you have to decide about is the size of the phone. The following table shows the main specifications of three members of the S20 family.
As you can see, everything is related to the size and Samsung does not sacrifice any of the main features. Galaxy S20 Plus is about $1100 with the original guarantee. Galaxy S20 has not entered officially to the market and its price range is $1000. We will discuss these two phones in the rest of this article.
Design and Build Quality
Samsung also knows that the winning combination should not be touched. So we don’t see any fundamental changes in the design of the Galaxy S20 series. The combination of glass and metal with the highest possible quality and with all the elegance, make up the premium body of these phones and it is fun to hold them in your hand. Even if you are very strict, you can’t find fault with the process of making these two products.
The glass body of the Galaxy S20 series is protected by Gorilla Glass 6, but you don’t take the risk and don’t leave the phone 15-16 million in the hands of fate and destiny. The silicone case inside the box and the protective label on the screen will start working for a while, but in the end, it is better to obtain a suitable cover and protection glass for it.
We can daringly say that Galaxy S20 is the handiest flagship in the market. Everything seems suitable in this phone and it sits quite well in the hand. This phone is 163g and it is about 23 and 59g lighter than S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, respectively. Unlike the Ultra model, the weight distribution in S20 and S20 Plus are uniform and the camera module is not heavier compared to the other parts.
We talked about the camera module. Samsung has become very interested in the large rectangular module, and is also using this design model among its new categories, although the camera wants to fit inside the phone. Of course, the Galaxy S20’s camera module and the Plus model aren’t as big as the Ultra model and don’t taste good. After a while, you will get used to this large module and selfie camera hole.
Another good decision of the Samsung is the reduction of the curve in the edges of the display and it removes the feeling of edge and reduces the possibility of accidental touch. Volume and power buttons are places on the right side of the frame. Fingerprint sensor is placed under the screen and it is an ultrasonic sensor and it isn’t accurate and fast. The suboptimal functioning of the sensor can negatively affect the user experience. Lack of LED notification is another issue for many of the users.
Display
Everything we’ve said about the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s display is true for the two younger brothers. The world’s best AMOLED display – or in the words of Samsung Dynamics 2X AMOLED – with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, gives you a unique visual experience of the Android world. Fortunately, Samsung has used the same display on all three models this time around, for example, not keeping the high refresh rate for the Ultra model to persuade you to buy it.
The screen resolution of the Galaxy S20 and the Plus is +WQHD (1400 x 3200 pixels), which gives a pixel density of 563 and 525 pixels per inch, respectively. However, we used the same default resolution, FHD +, all the time, because the image quality is not much different, but at high resolution, we lose the refresh rate of 120 Hz.
Samsung provides you Natural and Vivid settings for display. Natural mode produces natural colors with sRGB standard and the Vivid mode covers the DCI-P3 colors spectrum. Vivid mode is enabled by default to absorb you to the color and glaze of the image at first glance. In terms of brightness, we are faced with very good numbers. The maximum brightness of the Galaxy S20 screen and the Plus model in automatic mode (Adaptive) reaches about 800 nits so that the phone can be used in all lighting conditions.
The display of the Galaxy S20 series also supports HDR10 + technology, which is not widely used in our country at the moment, but you may be able to watch HDR videos from Netflix, Amazon or YouTube in the future.
User Interface and Software
Samsung’s new flagships come with Android 10 and the One UI 2.1 user interface. The Galaxy S20 security update dates back to two months ago, February 2020, but the Plus model is a bit more up-to-date and uses the April 2020 security pack.
Previous users of the Samsung phones are familiar with the One UI interface. Version 2.1 of this skin is not much different from version 2.0 and even the first generation One UI. However, in addition to the many personalization features, optimization for working with one hand and a dark mode, Samsung has added a few new features to the Galaxy S20 family that may not be useful to many. For example, you can add playback via Spotify to Bixby routines, or have a video call with your contacts via the Contact Page and the Google Duo app. The images below show parts of the phone’s user interface.
Samsung’s new feature, Quick Share, which is actually Apple’s AirDrop rival, allows for fast file transfer between Galaxy phones. Music Share also allows you to play music on another phone via the Galaxy S20 on a Bluetooth speaker or car audio system. Naturally, this feature is only limited to Samsung and Android 10 phones.
The One UI 2.1 interface is still one of the most complete and beautiful Android skins that works well, and now it’s even more appealing with the 120Hz screen. Of course, if you don’t like this interface, the phone’s powerful hardware can easily run third-party launchers.
Hardware
Like the previous models, Galaxy S20 comes with Exynos chipset which is a bit slower in terms of performance compared to snapdragon and it is improved in terms of battery life. Also, unlike the 5G models that come with 12 or even 16 GB of RAM, LTE models come with 8 GB of RAM, which meets the needs of the most professional users.
To test the performance of the Galaxy S20 and the Plus model, we went to the Antoto benchmark applications (version 8), Geek Bench (version 5), PC Mark, and 3D Mark. You can see the results obtained by these two phones in the table below. We’ve also added Ultra, Note 10 Plus and S10 Plus scores to the table for comparison.
As you can see, Galaxy S20 series is not much different in terms of performance, and the Ultra model does not do much with 4GB of RAM. The Galaxy S20 Plus is 14% and 23% more powerful than Samsung’s previous two flagships, the Note 10 Plus and S10 Plus, respectively. Graphical performance has improved significantly, and compared to the previous two flagships, we see an increase of 38 and 58 percent, respectively.
The hardware power of all three Galaxy S20 models exceeds the current needs of the mobile world. New galaxies can easily run any program and run games with maximum graphics settings. For example, Call of Duty Mobile runs on Very High mode and maximum refresh rate without any lag and delay on this phone. Of course, the frame rate of this game is limited to 60, and if you want to get the most out of the 120-inch display of this phone, you should go for games like 1945, Mortal Kombat or Arena of Valor.
Another issue that we came across was an increase in the temperature of the Galaxy S20 when running games. After half an hour of running Call of Duty Mobile, the body of this phone gets a lot of heat, while this issue is slightly felt in Plus or Ultra models. It seems that this issue is related to the small frame size of this model.
Sound Quality
All three models of Galaxy S20 combine the original speaker and speakerphone to give you stereo sound. The sound quality of the Galaxy S20 and the Plus model is very good and will surprise you. More interestingly, the volume is the same in all three models and there is no difference between them. The lack of a headphone jack is another feature of Samsung’s new galaxies and most of the flagships on the market, but the presence of USB-C headphones inside the box solves the problem to some extent.
Camera
The Galaxy S20 Ultra made a lot of noise with its 108-megapixel camera and zoom. The two younger brothers are also effective in photography, but not as much as Ultra. The two phones use two 12-megapixel cameras and a 64-megapixel camera for photography. The main camera doesn’t differ from previous generations in terms of resolution, but it has a larger sensor that naturally has larger pixels (1.8 microns vs. 1.4 microns). The 64-megapixel camera is responsible for photographing telephoto, but it works hybridly, and there’s almost no real optical zoom. The ultra-wide camera sensor is also slightly larger than the previous generation. Below you can see the specifications of the main cameras of Galaxy S20 and Model Plus.
Main camera: 12 MP, 1/1.76” sensor, f/1.8, PDAF dual-pixel focus, optical stabilizer
Telephoto camera: 64 MP, 1/1.72” sensor, f/2.0, PDAF focus, optical stabilizer
Ultra wide camera: 12 MP, f/2.2
Depth sensor: 0.3 MP ToF (only in Galaxy S20 Plus)
The camera interface is simpler and more functional than before. In the bottom bar we see the main shooting modes and in the top bar we see the settings related to them. Other shooting modes are available via the “More” option and can be added to the bottom bar. You can use tree icons to select the lens. It is also possible to zoom in easily with the buttons next to the shutter.
Samsung has also opted for 64-megapixel photography to use a second camera to capture high-quality photos. You might think that this camera is not suitable for wide-angle photography with a telephoto lens, but it is interesting to know that this camera also has a wide-angle lens, maybe one or two degrees different from the main lens. In fact, the whole zoom process is done in a non-optical way; it doesn’t matter if you call it digital or hybrid. This can be considered as one of the main weaknesses of the Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus camera, which we will discuss in more detail below. First, let’s take a look at the photos taken with the main camera.
[The Galaxy S20 and Plus cameras are exactly the same. After taking a few photos and comparing them, we made sure the output was no different. So here are some photos taken with the Galaxy S20 Plus.] As expected, the camera captures stunning photos in bright light that are almost perfect in terms of color richness, contrast and dynamic range. The focus is very fast and accurate, and you will usually get the desired result by pressing the shutter once. Artificial intelligence recognizes the subject well and applies appropriate settings to the image. This camera is your main tool for photography. You can also count on this camera for night photography. Here are some pictures in the dark.
For night photography with the Galaxy S20, it’s always a good idea to choose a dedicated Night mode, as the resulting photo has a much better color combination and potential noise is lost. Of course, if the ambient light is low, the AI automatically activates the Night mode.
As we said, the telephoto camera does not have a real optical zoom, and by combining software and hardware techniques, it performs the magnification process. By selecting the telephoto camera icon, the magnification is set to 3X, which gives you the best results. However, at this level of zoom, we also see a decrease in detail and the photos seem to have watercolor effect. However, the output is good in terms of color richness and contrast, and if you don’t zoom in the photo too much, you won’t notice the flaws. For night photography with this camera, it seems necessary to use Night mode, because otherwise you will get a dark image with small details and dead colors. Here are some photos taken with the Galaxy S20 telephoto camera with 3X zoom.
The Galaxy S20’s ultra wide camera does a good job in daylight and captures good photos. Even with intense sunlight at different angles, the flare is not visible in the photos, and the distortion of the edges is greatly corrected. In a dark environment, however, it is better not to count on this camera because we are facing a sharp decrease in detail and a lot of noise at the output. Of course, Night mode can compensate for this to some extent, but in this mode you have to wait at least 5-6 seconds for each photo. Below you can see the images taken with the Galaxy S20 ultraviolet camera.
The Galaxy S20’s 10-megapixel selfie camera and the Plus model are of good quality, although they don’t reach the Ultra’s 40-megapixel camera. The camera takes bright, colorful photos in good light, and the bokeh effect is applied properly. In a dark environment, however, we see significant noise. If you are bored, you can reduce the noise by activating Night mode.
Battery and Charge
The Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus have 4,000 and 4,500 mAh batteries, respectively, which is a significant increase over the previous generation. Of course, due to the powerful hardware and high-quality display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, the need for a high-capacity battery was also felt. Our tests showed that with the default resolution (+ FHD) and the refresh rate of 120 Hz, the battery of these phones will eventually accompany you for a day, which is not an acceptable result.
In the PC Mark battery test, the Galaxy S20 and the Plus model lasted 7:51 and 8:52 hours, respectively, in exactly the same conditions. This 1-hour difference can lead many buyers to the Plus model. Battery charging time, however, is quite good, and both phones are fully charged with a 25-watt charger in 50 to 55 minutes.
Conclusion
Samsung’s triple galaxies are an exciting combination for the mobile world this year. The Ultra model is certainly Samsung’s flagship phone to date, but it’s very expensive and is unlikely to hit the market any time soon. So many buyers will go for the regular or Plus model.
The Galaxy S20 and the Plus model are no different except for the dimensions, weight and battery capacity. If you want to hold a beautiful, handy and lovely phone, the Galaxy S20 is the best choice for you. The hardware of this phone is far more powerful than most users need, and it has acceptable camera performance. Of course, the battery life of this model is a little less than its two older brothers.
The Galaxy S20 Plus is closer to the Ultra model in terms of dimensions and size. If you are used to big phones, you can choose this model that has a better charge and is a better option for watching content or playing games. Of course, the extra ToF camera on this phone doesn’t do much, and don’t expect the portrait photos of the Plus model to be very different from the regular model.