Note 20 vs. Note 20 Ultra: Which should you buy? (full comparison!) By CNET

The Galaxy Note: 20 is arguably Samsung's the most powerful phone, but there are two different models which can make it hard to decide between them. If you are trying to decide which one you want to buy, or you just want to know the differences, I'm going to break it down for you one piece at a time, just one note: before we begin I've got the Galaxy Note 20 here, the regular standard, one that costs a thousand dollars, and you can tell because of this mystic green color. The note 20 ultra is what I'm actually using to shoot this video. Now, apart from the color, you may think that size is going to be the first difference. You notice at first glance that isn't really true, because we've got a 6.7-inch screen on the standard Galaxy Note, 20 and a 6.9-inch screen on the ultra so side by side. They don't look that different, but what is extremely noticeable is the back and again, not just the color.

It's the camera bump. The camera module on here sticks out a little, but it is much more noticeable on the ultra it protrudes from the sides, and you just have larger sensor openings. You also have gorilla glass Vitus on the back of the note 20 ultra, which is strengthened glass on the note 20, you have plastic Samsung calls it polycarbonate, but it's really the same thing. If you put a case on your phone, you probably won't really notice anyway, but I do think it is a little cheeky for Samsung to charge you one thousand dollars for a phone that basically has a plastic backing, especially when the company spent all of this time conditioning us to believe that glass is more elegant and just a higher quality product. Overall, however, one benefit is, if you drop the note 20, the back of it probably won't shatter.

Another difference you might notice is the flat screen on the note 20 versus the curved sides of the note 20 ultra I'm a little mixed about this, because I do love the immersive feel of the ultra with its curved screen. However, because the screen truly is edge to edge on a curved screen, I always have the problem that I call the finger going over the edge of the waterfall. If I'm trying to place my cursor at the beginning of an email, for example, the bezels here are still very narrow, so I still did experience the accidental process that I didn't like on the note 20 ultra you're not going to escape this with the flat phone. So it really is just a matter of taste, but I don't think you're going to really lose much of the experience with this flat screen. Speaking of the screen, the regular note, 20 doesn't have a 120 hertz screen refresh rate.

It has the default 60 hertz that everybody had before we had fast refresh rates. What does that mean? Nothing if you've never used a phone with a fast screen, but if you did use it, then you might notice that this one feels slow. However, if you don't have the two phones side by side, you're- probably not going to notice anyway cameras. This is where the note 20 ultra truly stands out. It's not just because the camera mount on the back is physically larger.

It is because there are one or two tricks that the ultra has that the note 20 doesn't the most important one to me. I think in my everyday photography is 5x optical zoom. Now the note 20 is no slouch, there's 3x optical zoom, but when I took both phones out on a photo shoot, I noticed that I did use the note 20 ultras 5x zoom, all the way up to 50x zoom a lot more than I used the regular note 20, and I thought that the photo quality was much, much better on that phone as well for those telephoto shots. So that was really important when I was trying to take hawks flying by or the seals out on, the rocks that were just really too far to get close to for that kind of nature. Photography, the ultra really does have the upper hand.

When you're taking a photo of a flower or a portrait of your roommate, then I don't think it really matters as much. The ultra also has a 108 megapixel camera you're, not going to use that every time, but it does mean that if you take a photo with lots of detail or a picture that is far away, and you crop in you'll retain more of those details than you would on a phone like this. I think those are really marginal use cases. There are extras that are nice to have, but they don't really impact most of the shots that you're going to take on the phone. The camera sensors are different, and I do think that photo quality is better on the ultra.

Your selfie camera is going to be exactly the same for even more detail. You can check out this handy chart for camera specs. Let's talk about everything that the note 20 and the note 20 ultra have in common, because there's quite a lot. They are, for example, both note phones. That means that they have a stylus in the bottom.

This is the s pen. That also means that you can use it to write, navigate and do all sorts of fun things. Both phones also operate android 10 straight out of the box, and they will probably get the android 11 updates at the exact same time too. They both use Qualcomm's, very speedy, snapdragon, 865 plus processors, though in some regions you might have Samsung's Enos chipset instead and then there are all those extras that the two phones have in common like wireless charging, 8k video recording wireless power share, waterproofing and all that jazz. So here's what's different between the two phones.

Apart from everything that I've already said about the screen and the cameras, one of them is battery the regular note 20 is a little smaller. So is the battery 4 300 William hours, rather than the 4500 on the note 20 ultra, but guess what it doesn't have that 120 hertz refresh rate sucking down more battery, so you might actually find that battery life is slightly better on this phone, but really they're both going to last you all day on a single charge, and you'll want to charge it once a day. There is no micro SD card on the regular note 20, but there is one on the ultra. However, you do have 128 gigabytes of onboard storage, but you don't have the option to go up to 512 gigabytes as you do on the ultra there's also a little less ram here, 8 gigabytes instead of 12, but that's still pretty good. So now you know the basic specs what's different.

What's the same, and we come down to the question which one do you buy regular note 20 or the note 20 ultra- and this is my dilemma, because I actually prefer the note 20 ultra. I think that it is a slightly better phone. If you're going to buy a phone, why not buy the most expensive phone that you can afford? However, I think that it's too expensive at thirteen hundred dollars, and then you've got the regular note 20 here, and it has all the core specs that really matter. It is a good, solid phone and I do recommend it. However, I still don't really think it's worth paying a thousand dollars for that's a sticking point for me.

I have a hard time recommending that you pay a thousand dollars for a phone with a plastic backing. I think that is a premium price, and you should have a top quality product, not that the quality isn't there but design wise. This is definitely the lesser phone, but at the same time, I don't think it's necessarily worth 300 extra dollars to buy the note 20 ultra just for the glass backing the micro SD card slot that you may or may not use the faster screen, refresh rate that you may or may not notice and even 5x optical zoom. Although I absolutely prefer the photos that come out of the note 20 ultra again, it is hard to swallow thirteen hundred dollars for the note 20 ultra and did I also mention it- is a big heavy pocket buster. So you really have to love a big phone to want it.

That said, if you find a deal for the note 20 ultra, where you're actually paying the price of the regular note 20, I would take it and consequently, if you can find a perfect deal on the regular note 20 that maybe brings it down say closer to 700 800 and a lot of those deals are going to be constantly around the corner. Trade-Ins buy one get ones all sorts of offers. Then I would consider that, but I would not pay full retail for either of these. Here is another wrench that I am going to throw in your phone buying plans. If you don't think that you're going to use the stylus much anyway and if all you're interested in is those core features on a phone with a nice design that has good solid cameras, excellent performance, long battery life, big screen, then I'm gonna actually recommend the Samsung Galaxy, s20, Fe or fan edition.

That phone has a 6.5-inch screen with 120 hertz refresh rate, if that's something that you're interested in the camera has 3x optical zoom. Just like the regular note 20 here, it also has a 4500 William hour battery, so you're going to get long, lasting, all-day battery life, and it retails for 700. The s20 Fe is the smartest buy, if not the flashiest phone. But if you truly have your heart set on one of the note phones, either the ultra or the regular. My advice to you is pretty simple: buy the one that has the best price the day that you're ready to purchase it.

If you need more help deciding between all of these phones go to CNET and read our fully rated reviews.

Source : CNET