Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra FULL REVIEW - 2 Weeks Later! | The Tech Chap By The Tech Chap

Hey guys I'm tom of tech chap and I finally get to share with you my full review of the Galaxy Note 20 ultra, but I want to do something a little different rather than me just scripting this whole thing and waffling on for 10 minutes. I actually want to answer your questions, the ones that you posted on my previous videos on my Instagram posts, I'm at the tech chat- if you don't already follow me to give you- hopefully some real world, helpful advice and answers about note, 20 ultra and at the end, we'll sum up about whether you should actually buy this thing. So, let's jump right in and mad says on popular opinion, the protruding camera bump actually looks nice. Well, actually, nearly 360 people liked that question or like comment. So maybe it's not an unpopular opinion that people like this camera bump. Personally, I actually love the look of this thing, but of course, once you put a case on it, it doesn't really matter anyway, and I think we can almost all agree.

It looks a lot better and more premium than the s20 ultra, particularly in these new colors. John Camacho clearly disagrees with me saying: mystic black is a little boring well for me, I think mystic bronze looks best and then the white and then the black. But, to be honest, all three colors of the note 20 ultra look way better than the British summer gray we get on the s20 ultra JS says you kept the screen protector on Samsung, encourages you to take it off for the Instagram fingerprint reader. I don't know if that's true. I've not actually heard that um.

Maybe it is slightly more reliable without the screen protector, but I prefer to keep it on. Although the funny thing is, I only have a big scratch in the screen protector on the note 20 ultra, which I can't unsee now, which is really frustrating, because actually this is the first phone that comes with gorilla, glass, 7 or glitter glass victors, and they say it's actually two times more scratch resistant than the previous gen and since I've already got a scratch on the protector, let's just peel it right off and then hopefully, when I come back to this in my long term, review we'll see how gorilla glass Victor's fares. As for the fingerprint reader, I've not really had any issues with using it with the screen protector I'll have to see if that makes a difference now. What I would suggest, though, is actually registering the same finger twice. It makes it a little faster and more reliable, although most of the time I tend to rely on face unlocking unless I'm out about wearing a mask, in which case I go back to the fingerprint drive club asks.

Is it a little wider than note 10 plus well here they are side by side, and I'll, throw in the s20 ultra for good measure and the note 20 ultra is actually the exact same width as the note 10 plus, but about two millimeters taller and 0.2 millimeters thicker. You can also see they've slightly shrunk, the whole punch and ever so slightly trimmed the bezels, particularly the bottom one. I never got the too big for one-handed use. The note is designed for two hands. Hence, the pen says whether fox well yeah, I think you're.

Absolutely right. I mean the note is the original phablet, but I would say the more squared off corners does make it feel bigger to hold than the s20 ultra or the OnePlus 8 pro, and it's not quite as comfortable in my opinion, but yes with the s pen, especially it's absolutely a two-handed phone, although there is a one-handed mode, if you prefer a comparison with the Xperia 1 mark ii could be intriguing. Well, Nigel just for you here is one I made earlier. So here's a side by side with the mark ii versus the note 20 ultra. I must admit I really do like the taller design of the opera.

Although you can see the bezels are a little chunkier. It is more comfortable to hold in the notes, but of course you are getting a smaller screen which design do you guys prefer? Does it support e sims? Yes, it does. We do get e sim support with this and with the ultra model we're getting a hybrid dual sim, so you can actually put two sim cards in here. It supports dual sim, and also you've got micro, SD card support with the ultra model, so you can actually top this up with an additional one: terabyte of micro, SD storage for a maximum potential of 1.5 terabytes. If you just want to go crazy with storage looks like a nice phone, but I don't use the s pen, I've already got the s20 plus and really enjoy it says Robert well, I think that's one of the big questions.

Actually, if you're not fussed on the s pen is the note still worth buying well. In my opinion, yes, I think it is. I never think I'm going to use the s pen that much, but when I have it, I find myself taking little notes. Recording video and taking screenshots using the pen as a remote shut up signing documents actually comes up a lot and, from a hardware perspective, it's more responsive than before, and they've also added new air actions which well, I can't really be bothered with it, still feels pretty gimmicky. But aside from the smaller battery, which we'll come back to in a second, the note is still definitely worth considering whether you care about the s pen or not.

I saw another review where the regular note 20 screens seemed better than the ultra says dark man's. Well, first, how dare you watch other reviews? You should only be watching my videos, but in all seriousness, Samsung's only sent out the ultra for review. I haven't had more than a couple of hours with the standard notes, but on paper at least the ultra should be a lot better. It's brighter 1500 nits versus 1000. We get quad HD and 120 hertz options, whereas the regular note is stuck at full HD, plus 60 hertz and while they do use slightly different screens, they're both AMOLED, but really the ultra, should be a lot better.

Do they have 120 hertz in quad HD now? Well, I'm sure most of you guys know the answers to that already, but sadly, no like the s20 series, it's still quad HD, plus at 60, hertz or full HD, plus at 120. The big difference. This time, though, is we get adaptive refresh? You can't really tell, but it slows down, based on what you're doing to save battery life. Okay, this is the big question. Snapdragon versus Enos comparison, as you guys know, because I don't stop talking about it.

In some regions in the UK and Europe we get Samsung's own Enos 990, whereas in North America, and elsewhere they get the fancy shiny, new snapdragon 865 plus there was already a disparity between the two chips, even on the s20 range. But now the snapdragon model gets the even faster 865 plus. The disparity between the two phones is on paper, at least even greater. So is it actually a big deal? Well, I asked my good friends, Michael josh, from gadget match and editing from bought at work for the results from their snapdragon models and starting with geek bench five CPU test. The a65 plus is six percent faster than a single core and a whopping 25 percent faster in multi-core and then in the 3dmark slingshot graphics, benchmark again we're looking at a hefty 20 boosts for the snapdragon.

So I'm still going to try and get an actual Qualcomm model here in the UK. So I can do a proper, side-by-side test and run some frame rate tests and games, but to see 15 20 30 improvements on the North American model versus this UK one with the Enos chip. It is very frustrating it does feel like we're being shortchanged. Maybe that's why Samsung are actually putting 256 gigs of storage in the base model here in the UK uh, whereas in the US it's 128, maybe they feel sorry for us. So why is this the case? Well, no one really knows for sure it could be.

You know profit margins. It could be patent issues. You could argue that it actually is good to see some proper competition to Qualcomm, and if it was just a couple of percent difference between them, then I wouldn't have a problem, or you know if they even discounted the European model, but to see such a difference in performance and no real price or marketing change. Yeah. That feels like we're getting a bad deal here.

Gabrielle asks: is there any major difference in performance versus last year's note, 10 plus? Well, I just so happen to have one right here. So, let's put it to the test and in geek bench 5, the newer Enos is 13 faster in single core and nine percent faster in multi-core and then in the OpenCL graphics test. It's just a four and a half percent boost. So in terms of the Enos models, the note 20 ultra is on average eight percent faster than the note 10 plus, but you'd struggle to really tell a difference in real life. Again it's that 120 hertz refresh.

That makes a big difference now. This is a good question. Does anyone actually play mobile games seriously that require the fastest processor on the market? Well, I think the answer is most people don't, but if you're paying over a grand for a phone, you want it to be future-proof and handle new games and apps coming out over the next two or three years comfortably. Also, high 90 and 120 hertz refresh games are becoming more common. So to get those high frame rates with the max graphics settings does usually require the best chips, but if you're not bothered about gaming, the other advantage is you usually get the best ISPS or image signal processors, so generally, camera performance is also better.

I can't find a single feature or benefit that makes this a compelling purchase, says Zachary well, fair enough, although we haven't got to the cameras yet, but how about playing say, forza, horizon 4 on the note 20 ultra with Xbox game pass and then using DEX to wirelessly, cast it to your TV I'd say: that's pretty noteworthy, so this is still in beta right now, and it's not exclusive to the note. But you can connect, say a wireless Xbox controller to your phone sign up to game pass and then use the note as a makeshift games console it's definitely playable on the phone with my 17 megabit connection, although it's still not as responsive as playing on a console or PC natively. In my opinion and while then casting it to my lg TV with DEX does work, and it's pretty cool. It's not really playable, it's too laggy and there are tons of compression. Unfortunately, it could improve with updates it's still in beta, of course, and if you have a hundred plus meg connection, it might be more reliable gaming aside, though, DEX is actually a pretty nifty feature and for the first time it is completely wireless, so you can cast your phone to your TV and then use it like a desktop PC, which is pretty handy if you're a big multitasker or power user.

Alright. So let's move on to the camera, and the first question comes from the Mr airplane, who says: is the camera improved compared to the s20 ultra and does it also have autofocus problems? Well, let's start with the focusing issue, and if we do a little side by side test, you can see the note 20 ultra with its new hybrid laser autofocus is faster and smoother than the s20 ultra. Now this is my neighbor's cat Felix who moves every time I try to take his photo yet in almost every one, despite his best efforts, the photos are clear and in focus with a note, it's impressive stuff actually- and I think this should be the new standard camera benchmark. The fast moving Felix test, so the camera on the note 20 ultra, is essentially a tweaked version of the s20 ultra setup, with an ultra-wide main and telephoto lens and other than the new laser autofocus. The main difference is we're getting five times: optical zoom versus four times on the s20 and the space zoom maxes out at 50 times, instead of slightly ridiculous a hundred times.

So if we put the note side by side with the s20 starting with the ultra-wide and straight away, you can see the note handles the dynamic range, a bit better. There's slightly more detail on the clouds and the hedge in the foreground is brighter with more detail on the note switching to the main lens, both of which are 108 megapixels, which then use pixel binning. So you end up with 12 megapixel photos, and it's a similar story with the less contrast more evenly exposed. Look on the note, then we have the four times optical on the s20 ultra and the five times optical. On the note and then moving up to 10 times.

Zoom you can see. The note is looking sharper, but then the next zoom up is 30 times on the s20 and 20 times on the note, as you can see here, but if we crop in on the note to match them up, you can see the note is much sharper more detailed. It really is a big improvement and then moving up to 50 times zoom, which is where the note maxes out and while the difference is less noticeable. The note is still more detailed. If you look closely particularly around the stone cutouts in the window and then finally, the 100 times zoom on the s20, which, as I say, we don't have the option for on the note, but I've cropped to match, while neither look great there's, definitely more definition in the notes photo.

So even though it's only a bump from four to five times optical zoom, all the way up to 50 times and then cropping beyond that, it has made a noticeable difference to quality. So here's a few more shots side by side to give you an idea of how it compares to the s20 ultra and while there's not a night and day difference between them in tricky lighting. You can really see how the note offers better dynamic range. Looking at the back wall, you can easily make out more detail on the wallpaper, and it's more evenly exposed around the candles low light shots seem better as well. This is just a regular photo without night mode and already the note is a good deal brighter, but then switching to night mode and while the s20 catches up the note is still lighter.

The note can look a little washed out, sometimes in night mode, but it is brighter and still sharper than the s20 switching round to the selfie camera again in low light, and they both look pretty rough but night mode. Selfies do make a big difference. Both are much sharper, but the note still looks more natural now in good light. They both take a great selfie and then, of course, you also have live, focus aka portrait selfies. There is definitely a pattern, though, of the note giving us brighter slightly less contrast shots on the s20 subjectively.

If much prefer it, but overall, especially when it comes to focus, speed, zooming in and dynamic range, the note is clearly better than the s20 ultra. I will also be posting a full iPhone 11 Pro versus note, 20 ultra camera comparison. The next couple of days so make sure you're subscribed. So you don't miss that next question, and why would I use pro video well Samsung's added a whole host of new pro video options? So if you know what you're doing- and maybe if you also pop it on a gimbals as well, you can shoot much more professional video so putting it to the test and here's a few shots. I took with it the other day.

This is in full 8k and also the most cinematic 21x9 aspect ratio. This footage is straight out of the phone, no edits or anything while we're talking about the camera. They've also expanded the single take mode, so you can now adjust uh between five and 15 second shots, also in the camera app. For some reason, Samsung hides most of the modes under the more tab, but you can drag and drop them onto the main carousel. So it's quicker to access.

Also, you can switch to shoot in full 108 megapixel mode, if you're on the highest resolution. And finally, I really like when you're taking selfies, you can actually switch to the wider field of view or if it detects more than one person it changes to the wider mode automatically. So you get more in the frame so far so good, then. But how good is the battery life well by the end of a normal day- and I say normal in the loosest sense of the term, because it's still a crazy world, I'm not exactly going to trade, shows and really pushing this. But I tend to end up with about 25 of my battery left, but as a test on the 12th of august.

I didn't top it up overnight, and it survived up until almost 1pm the next day and between the two days I got 4 hours and 36 minutes of screen on time, and then it takes about an hour and 10 to fully charge, which is pretty quick, considering it's a 25 watt charger. But how does it compare to the snapdragon version? Well again, I don't have it physically here, but Michael from gadget's match again saved the day by sending his snapdragon battery usage over which shows 5 hours, 22 and 5 hours 36 of screen on time. Now, of course, there's lots of variables and how we use the phone will be different, but on average his last 22 percent longer than mine, which is pretty significant, Alex asks how's the battery compared to the s20 ultra, because obviously this has a 5 000 William hour cell. This is 4500 well in my experience. It's actually pretty neck and neck after one hour of YouTube and then one hour of Call of Duty.

Both phones were down to 78, so the adaptive refresh screen really does seem to offset the 500 million power smaller battery. So, even though we're looking at similar battery life on this to this, it's still not fantastic, particularly this exhaust model and to see you know, 20 longer, battery life on the snapdragon version is actually a similar difference as well. What we're seeing in terms of performance between the two chips. So again, it feels like we're being shortchanged with this UK European model. I mean it'll still get you to the end of the day, and you know halfway through the next day, if you ration it a little.

So it's not terrible, but not great, not great or terrible. The big question from Henry hall is the note 20 ultra worth the switch. Well, it all comes down to what your current phone is. If you've still got a note, 10 plus, then no, I don't think it's worth. Upgrading at all.120 hertz screen is nice, and you know it's maybe like eight or nine percent faster, but it's not significant. So stick with note, 10 plus not worth the upgrade versus the s20 ultra.

Well, if you already own one of these, it's definitely not worth upgrading, but if you are thinking about buying one or the other, I would definitely go with a note. Firstly, I think it looks a lot better, although it's not quite as comfortable to hold. I do still prefer the rounded corners of this, but we are getting an improved camera, much faster, focusing and better zoom and, of course we also have the s pen and even if you're not going to use it that much you may as well. So I think across the board uh. I would definitely go to the note 20 ultra and also for some reason on Samsung's website.

This is actually 20 pounds cheaper than the s20 ultra, so I'm not sure why anyone would actually want to go for the s20 ultra now that this is out. This is the clear uh winner, but overall as much as they have ranted about the Enos problem. Well, firstly, that's not an issue for anyone living in North America, so you know lucky you, but generally it's not the end of the world, and this is still, I think, probably the best all-round android phone you can buy. You know 5g dual sim stereo speakers, a super bright screen that looks beautiful, the s, pen, incredible and also very versatile camera setup. It really is a fantastic phone.

It is expensive, of course, and there are other great options out there, like the know, s20 plus, maybe or the OnePlus 8 pro, but despite its flaws. I still think this probably is the best android phone you can buy right now. It is just a shame about the Enos. What do you reckon? Would you be tempted to buy the note 20 ultra or maybe even the standard note 20? Let me know in the comments below and also if you haven't already hit, that subscribe button for my camera comparison coming soon and also help me get to that one million subscriber mark I'm edging closer and closer. Thank you.

So much for watching guys I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat.

Source : The Tech Chap