Galaxy S20 vs. S20 Plus (full review & comparison) By CNET

Samsung Galaxy S 20 and the S 20 plus you're, trying to decide which one to buy, and I'm going to help you make that decision. We've got to mention that elephant in the room, the galaxy s 20 ultra. This is a literal elephant. I say forget about it: yeah it's in the mix technically, but it's too expensive too big too heavy too unwieldy the battery life drains too quickly and the camera features are negligible over the s20 and s 20 plus for everyday use. Yes, you have 100 8, megapixel, photography and 100 X zoom, but I think that the times that you're really going to be able to benefit from those are so few and far between that you're gonna mostly get the shots that you need out of the s20 and the s20 Plus, whose cameras are basically identical. You can get all the information you want about.

The ultras cameras in my full video review so now that we're agreed no ultra, it's back to the good stuff, the s20 and the s20 plus. Now these two phones share the same core features: they have truly brilliant displays. They also have Android 10 and Samsung's 1 UI 2 software running on top same processors as well, since these two phones are so similar. Your decision is really going to come down to the intersection of size, cameras, battery life, 5g and price. You ready, let's go, the s20 has a 6.2-inch screen and the plus has a six point. Seven-inch screen now remember screen size is measured on.

The diagonal on paper may not seem like a big difference, but in the hand it actually is, and the s20 plus is much bigger. So there are some trade-offs with that. With the s20 it's much more portable. It's relatively lighter easy to use easy to use one-handed. The trade-off is that you have less screen here.

So when you go to watch a video if I've got both of these phones side-by-side I'm, going to lean towards the plus every time just because the screen is larger, and it gives me more viewing space when it comes to typing I do notice that the keyboard on the s20 is smaller, but I could still type very accurately if you're the kind of person who misses the days of small phones, then the s20 is undoubtedly the one for you. If you like, a larger phone that isn't too ridiculous, and you want more of that viewing space and a more ample virtual keyboard than the s20 plus is going to win it for you on this round. Now you might be wondering what is the difference between these two cameras? Well, this one has a larger module and an extra lens. This one is smaller, but the real secret is they're, almost completely identical. That's right, Samsung has given the s 20 and the s 20, plus the exact same cameras on the front and on the back.

These are perfect cameras too. The one difference is that you have a time-of-flight sensor on the + now this is something that's supposed to help make low-light photography better, but, to be honest and most of my photos, I didn't even notice. Now these cameras do lack the ability to take 108 megapixel photos that you get on the ultra, and they also zoom in 30 X instead of 100x. This is actually okay, because you can still take a 64 megapixel photo and crop into it, which is what the benefit of 108 photography is, and you can still zoom up to 30x. To be honest, when you get up to 100 X zoom the photos really grainy, you don't really want to use in any way and the vast majority of instances I found that I was mostly using for 10 and 30 X when I took photos beyond that, it's just a little meaningless.

The bottom line is that all of these galaxies, as 20 phones take very beautiful photos, they're bright, they're, detailed, they're, saturated with color, maybe a little too saturated for some of your tastes and I think that night mode is really improved. You also have low-light photography, which is really beautiful. Some other phones on the market might do a little of a better job in specific circumstances, but I think you're always going to be happy with what you have. We've got a four thousand William hour battery on the s20 and a 4500 William hour battery on the s20 plus. Now, first I was a little concerned about the battery life for these s20 phones, because the ultra just drained so quickly.

It had an extra large screen that also seemed to be starving for battery resources, but that just doesn't so with the s20 in the s20 plus I've been able on both phones to pick them up in the morning.6 a. m. and use them all throughout the night, but there is a little of a wrinkle because of something called a refresh rate. Now this represents the number of times that your screen, refreshes, all the pixels in a second default out of the box, is 60 Hertz, but you can also go into the settings and select 120 Hertz. Why do people want to do this because it makes everything that's happening on the screen so much smoother like scrolling, navigating and playing games? While they do appreciate this setting, especially during gaming, know that using it will sacrifice for your battery life.

If that's something that you're ok with, and you want to just make sure that you have a charger handy to top up your phone and by the way with fast charging. It does hop up really quickly. Then that's just a decision that you need to make all of Samsung's Galaxy s.20 phones are 5g capable, but I wasn't able to actually test 5g on them, and this was incredibly frustrating to me. My review phones were all equipped with 5g capable SIM cards, but I just wasn't in the right place to take advantage of those 5g networks, but I still have some guidance for you. The S, 20 plus, is compatible with millimeter wave, which is the fastest flavor of 5g.

That means that if you're in an area with a 5g network, you're going to be able to get faster speeds than you would on a different phone, the s 20, on the other hand, only works with the type of 5g technology called sub 6, and that means that the peak speeds won't be quite as high as millimeter wave. Well, this matter to you in the real world. Maybe it depends on where you are and what your network can do. The one exception to this rule is that the Verizon version of the S 25 G will support millimeter wave, but that's not out yet, and we don't know when it's going to be, if you don't have 5g in your neighborhood. This entire discussion is a little academic, but it is important for future proofing.

If you're gonna hold on to this phone for two or three years down the line, then it might make a difference to you. If you have the faster version of 5g or the slower version, the only problem is you don't really know, because you can't control it. That's something that your network controls, the s20 is $1,000. The S 20 plus starts at $1,200 for the 128 gigabyte variety. You can also pay more and get 512 gigabytes of storage.

The question is: is the larger phone worth at least $200 more? For me, the answer is no I think that $1,000 is plenty to pay for a premium device, especially when that does essentially the same as the larger model. I have smaller hands, so I care about a smaller phone I like one that's more portable typing doesn't bother me. The only benefit to me for the S 20 plus, is that the screen is larger, which makes it a little more comfortable when I am reading an article or watching videos. But if you don't have the two phones side-by-side, then you'll never know I. Think a 6.2-inch screen is enough. However.

Samsung made the S 20 plus for people who do prefer a larger screen and who want to have a bigger phone, because there is an audience for this market at the end. The day both of these phones are gonna, bring you high-end features that will compete with all the other premium phones out there. That said, I do think that the wise shopper will pay attention to discounts and deals throughout the year. I personally wouldn't run out and buy them I'm, not as excited about them as I was when the Galaxy Note 10 films. I would still choose these above the note 10 for future proofing, especially with 5g capabilities.

My suggestion is to wait until the price is right, see if you can find a buy one, get one deal or get a perfect. Trade-In I, don't know if I recommend going out and buying these phones at full price, but if you do get an S 20 for an S 20 plus, you will definitely appreciate all the power that you get across the board. Make sure that you read my full reviews of both of these phones subscribe and also check out. My video of the s20 ultra.

Source : CNET