Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Review : The pinnacle of flagship smartphones, but the higher price is difficult to digest

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra brings the best of everything.

Last year in 2019, came the Galaxy Note 10 and the Note 10+ which came with punch hole displays, a powerful chipset either the Snapdragon 855 or the Exynos 9825 depending on region, and a great set of cameras.

The highlight of the Samsung Note series is the S-Pen which makes it unique with all the note-taking capabilities and provides ease while taking photos or videos. Now with the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra all set to take on the market, we will see how to do these stack up in a highly competitive market.

The Galaxy Note 20 and the Note 20 Ultra do not much differ from its predecessors but do get new colors, an insane 108MP main camera seen on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, Xiaomi Mi 10, etc. and come with 120Hz displays.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a lot to offer and is now the pinnacle of the Note series from Samsung. Can the newer Note create an impact in the market with its new appeal and is it worth asking that high asking price? Let's find out in the review.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Design:

When it comes to design, Samsung sticks to a boxy/edgy design with the Note series and it is no different from the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The Galaxy Note series has always gone for a boxy design when compared to the Samsung S series of smartphones which have a curved design around the edges.

Instead of a curved display with any sort of accidental touches, Samsung has gone for a flatter display. 

On the front, there is a bezel-less 6.9 inches AMOLED display which remains the same when compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 10+. 

The front of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a punch-hole display like the Galaxy Note 10+, but now Samsung has put a Gorilla Glass 7 (aka Victuos) which is 2x times scratch resistant when compared to the Gorilla Glass 6 on the Galaxy Note 10+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

On the back, there is a huge camera hump that houses the triple cameras with laser autofocus and a LED flash. Like the front, the back is also made up of Gorilla Glass 7 which makes it feel premium. The Aura design of the Galaxy Note 10+ has been replaced by a clear Mystic Black, Mystic White, and a Mystic Bronze color.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra does not catch smudges or fingerprints which provides a premium look and being a Note, at 208 grams feels slightly heavy when holding in hand. Coming to the top, there is the main microphone and a hybrid SIM card slot.

At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a secondary noise-canceling microphone, a speaker grill located to the left with the lair for the S-Pen. This time the position of the S-Pen has been moved from the bottom right corner to the bottom left corner.

Similarly, on the right, there are the power and volume buttons which were present on the left in the last year's Galaxy Note 10+. The sides of the Note 20 Ultra feels premium and the buttons feel tactile while clicking. 

The back of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra supports Wireless charging, has the wireless power share, and has an IP68 rating which means it is dust and water-resistant. The Mystic Bronze variant felt premium and looks good. 

Overall, Samsung has not changed with the design on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, but with the newer setup for the cameras, the Gorilla Glass 7, and the newer colors with a polished look make it a premium flagship smartphone to consider.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Display:

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a 6.9 inches Quad HD+ display AMOLED display (1440 x 3880 pixels) with a  screen to body ratio of 19.3:9. Now this display has a 120Hz refresh rate and has a 240Hz touch sampling rate.

The screen on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is bezel-less and this time the brightness has been increased to 1500nits which is considerably 300 nits more than that of the Galaxy S20 Ultra and last year's Galaxy Note 10+. The display is HDR10+ certified and has Widevine L1 to stream HD contents from Netflix, Hotstar, etc.

From last year's Galaxy Note 10+, the refresh rate has gone from 60Hz to 120Hz which makes things work smoother on the new Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. But the disadvantage is you cannot use this 120Hz refresh rate at the Quad HD+ resolution which we had seen on the Galaxy S20 Ultra from before.

To use the 120Hz refresh rate, you need to switch to the Full HD+ resolution and at this resolution, playing games or multitasking feels smoother.

However, with the Galaxy S20 Ultra, Samsung had provided a 60Hz and a 120Hz display option but with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, there are two options which include the Adaptive and Standard. Turning the Adaptive option automatically switches to the 120Hz refresh rate where it switches to different refresh rates depending on the load on the application. 

Suppose while browsing, the screen adapts to 24Hz and while gaming switches to 120Hz. This has been done to get better battery life and increase the smartphone's performance.

Under direct sunlight, the AMOLED display has good color reproduction but the colors look a bit washed out. In low-light scenarios, the screen can go dim and there is also the Blue Light filter and the Reading Mode. 

The display on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner which is faster compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 10+, and even the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The face unlock is fast and works well too. Another nifty addition is the sound created when the S-Pen is scribbled on the display.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Performance:

With the flagship S-series and the Note series, Samsung ships two chipsets namely a Snapdragon chipset to the United States and an Exynos chipset to Europe and Asia. This year the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is either shipped with a Snapdragon 865+ chipset or an Exynos 990 chipset.

The Snapdragon 865+ chipset is an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 865 found on the Galaxy S20 Ultra (in the United States). The Snapdragon 865+ has an increased clock speed up to 3.1 GHz which is 10 percent more and has slightly faster GPU speeds over the Snapdragon 865.

Exynos 990 on the other hand, is used by the countries in Asia and Europe. So when compared side by side, the Snapdragon 865+ is 20 percent faster and power-efficient compared to the Exynos 990 chipset though both are built on the same 7nm process. 

Coming to the Exynos 990, it has: 2x2.73 GHz Mongoose M5 cores + 2x2.50 GHz Cortex-A76 cores and a lower set of 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 cores and is coupled with a Mali-G77 MP11 GPU built on a 7nm process.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has an 8/12GB RAM variant with a 128/256/512GB storage with slightly faster UFS 3.1 speeds which is faster than the UFS 3.0 speed on the Galaxy S20 Ultra and last year's Galaxy Note 10+. However, there is no 16GB RAM variant which we had seen on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. 

Playing heavy games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty, etc. on the Exynos variant ran smoothly on the smartphone without any lag or frame drops but when compared to the Snapdragon 865 chipset which feels faster and offers slightly better gameplay.

But with extended gameplay, we felt that the Exynos variant felt a bit warm at the back and there is no dedicated liquid cooling system on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

The 120Hz display makes playing games feel smoother and the controls fall easily to the hands. Games supporting higher refresh rates feel smoother but there is not a dedicated gaming mode which is a slight disappointment. 

Coming to benchmarks, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra scores 935 in single-core and 2705 in multi-core tests on Geekbench 5.1, and in Anutu v8, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra scores 508760 which is good. So when it comes to performance and gaming, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is a beast and would not let down.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Software:

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra ships with OneUI 2.5 built on top of Android 10. The OneUI has always provided a cleaner experience with no unnecessary bloatware and comes with very useful applications which are Samsung's own applications. 

Another great feature of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the integration with Windows through which you can connect Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with a Windows 10 PC using the icon in quick settings. With Android 10, you get the navigation gestures, an enhanced dark mode that applies to all third-party applications.

There are some pre-installed applications from Microsoft, Samsung, and some other applications like Facebook, Netflix. The Samsung Pay comes in handy during payments in any public place as it has been refined with each software update. 

Another great thing with the Note and the S-series of Samsung is the assurance of three years of the software update. But unfortunately,  sometimes there is some ad that pops out in the notification which is unexpected in a flagship smartphone.

Samsung DeX:

The newer Samsung DeX experience is good and works wirelessly with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Turning on the DeX greets you with an Android tablet interface which almost similar to the Windows or Chromebook. There are up to 4 fingers supported for gestures and there is the touchpad mode to engage the DeX experience. 

Using the DeX, you can open multiple photos or videos while multitasking on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra can be paired with a wireless keyboard. You can also use the Samsung DeX with the S-Pen also. 

S-Pen Experience:

Talking about the S-Pen, this instrument makes the Note series different from regular smartphones in the market. This year the S-Pen has a glossy finish to it which makes it slightly slippery.

Samsung has significantly reduced the latency rate from 42 milliseconds on the Galaxy Note 10+ to 9 milliseconds on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra which makes note-taking, sketching, annotating, and signing documents much more responsive. You can also click on the S-Pen to click selfies, using in powerpoints and music player to change songs.

With S-Pen you get what Samsung likes to call the "Anywhere Actions" which makes it convenient to do the S-Pen actions anywhere on the screen. Drawing V indifferent directions which include drawing V upside switches to the home screen, drawing towards left and also the screenshot gesture Air Action feels convenient but slightly tricky to use.

There are also other S-Pen features which include Smart Select, Screen write, AR Doodle, previewing translations, and certain links on the web. The most interesting feature was the Screen-off Memo which comes into action when you take out the stylus when the smartphone is in standby and take notes and save it for later reference.

Smart select allows taking different shaped screenshots and allows us to create GIF animations. The Air View action allows hovering over an image to get an enlarged view, in the calendar to get details, and also helps in scrolling up and down by hovering the S-Pen over the edge of the display. 

Samsung Notes and UWB:

With the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Samsung has improved the Notes app which autosave and sync option to automatically save across many devices. Some new features include annotating PDFs, setting templates, and export to PowerPoint files. Another interesting feature is the use of audio bookmarks.

The Samsung Notes has a new feature called Live Sync which can save all the notes in the Samsung cloud and can be accessed at all times. The audio bookmarks come in handy while attaching and syncing any voice recordings to the notes. 

Then there is an Auto straighten feature that can recognize the direction and pattern of the writings in the Samsung Notes app. It can also detect the lines that you are jotting down. 

There is a new feature called UWB which lets two Galaxy Note 20 Ultra by sharing larger files, photos, or videos between each other. But this is only limited to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, not the Galaxy Note 20.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Cameras:

Samsung has always provided the best in terms of the camera when it comes to the Note series. Last year's Galaxy Note 10+ had impressed with its set of cameras and this year it further improves. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra gets a triple camera setup instead of the quad cameras on the Galaxy Note 10+. 

The 3D camera seen on the Galaxy Note 10+ is not present on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra instead it has laser autofocus. The main camera is the 108MP Samsung HMX sensor seen earlier on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It is a Nonacell sensor and outputs 12MP images using pixel binning. This camera has an f/1.8 aperture with OIS. 

Then there are two more cameras which include the ultrawide camera which is has a 12MP f/2.2 aperture with a 120-degree field of view and a 12MP f/3.0 telephoto camera that has 5x optical zoom and 50x hybrid zoom.

The 12MP ultrawide camera is the same one found on the Galaxy S20 and S20+. The bigger Galaxy S20 Ultra uses the 48MP sensor though. The telephoto camera on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a lower aperture f/3.0 aperture compared to the f/3.5 aperture on the Galaxy S20 Ultra which aides in capturing better details.

Main Camera:

Coming to the main camera, the 108MP sensor does a good job of taking images. The images have good color reproduction and the dynamic range is wide also. There was some oversharpening in images and the contrast was a little bit let down. But the details remained excellent and the white balance has been improved compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra's laser autofocus system helps it focus on a particular object whether in day or night. The 12MP images have very good details and switching with the 108MP camera mode, you do crop in some objects in the images, but the details are excellent and the colors do not look washed out.

At night, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra provides excellent details with a wider dynamic range. The colors look punchier and improve the darker areas compared to the Galaxy Note 10+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It also reduces noise to a much extent but does take hit due to some over sharpness. 

The presence of OIS reduces some noise and brings better highlights in shadows and lights up the darker patches. Turning on the Night Mode improves the dynamic range and the exposure in long shots. The noise is further reduced to a larger margin. Compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the image shots taken are quicker and have more contrast.

Ultrawide Camera:

The 12MP ultrawide camera has a 120-degree field of view which helps it takes wider images. Here the camera performance on the ultrawide camera is similar to that on the main camera. 

The dynamic range is wider here and the contrast works well. The color reproduction stays good but there is some noise present in the images. The night shots taken from the ultrawide camera have good details, and the dynamic range is better when compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra. 

With the Night Mode, the noise is reduced and the contrast improves also. The images do have more saturation when the night mode is turned on than on the normal night shots.

Telephoto Camera:

Instead of the 48MP telephoto camera on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a 12MP f/3.0 telephoto camera which has 5x optical zoom and goes up to 50x digital zoom. This is at least better than the 4x optical zoom and 100x space zoom present on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. 

Using the on-screen buttons you can change from 0.5x all the way up to 50x. At 5x zoom, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra takes sharper images with a good amount of details and the dynamic range works well. 

Moving to 10x and 20x zoom, the images have good details but at 50x zoom, the images have slightly washed out colors but still the images have better details than the 100x zoom images on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Similarly, at night, the images have a better dynamic range and the details come out good at 2x till 20x zoom. Above 20x zoom, the noise is clearly seen and at 50x, the images lose color but still have better details. Turning on the night mode improves the exposure in the dark and also reduces noise in the images.

Portraits:

When it comes to portraits, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra takes some very good images with a good amount of subject separation from the surroundings. When it comes to human beings, the skin tones come out natural and the edge detection works well.

Samsung's Live Focus comes into the picture providing better background blur and the dynamic range is wide also. The exposure in the background is good and the colors look punchier.

Front Camera:

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a 10MP f/2.2 front camera which takes some very good selfies with good color reproduction and the skin tones look natural. However, there is some tendency to whiten the skin but can be turned off when not needed. 

This may be a lower 10MP sensor compared to the 40MP front camera on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but has slightly better contrast, the Galaxy S20 Ultra has a wider aperture capturing more objects or humans into the frame. 

With the HDR turned on, the images have a good dynamic range, and the colors seem to be saturated well over the skin tones thus not letting the colors down in the background.

The portraits are taken from the front camera also come out good and the edge detection works well. The contrast is good and you can adjust the background blur using the slider.

At night, the images have a good amount of noise but the skin tones look sharper and have a decent dynamic range.

Video:

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra also defines the word flagship with its video capabilities. It can go up to 8K video resolution capped at 24fps. 4K and 1080p video recording are present on all the cameras. The 8K footage comes out with good color reproduction but the dynamic range is very narrow. 

The laser autofocus does add to some detail in videos and improves the stabilization. There is also an option to record HDR10+ videos on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

The videos from the main camera come out good as the presence of OIS helps it capture less amount of noise and the dynamic range works well at 4K and 1080p resolutions. For the ultrawide camera, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra gets the Super Steady mode present on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Here also 4K and 1080p videos come out great on telephoto and the ultrawide camera with good dynamic range and coming to the telephoto camera, at 5x zoom, the details are excellent at 4K and above that noise is clearly seen and the video footage becomes much shaky. 

For both the ultrawide and the telephoto camera, the 1080p videos come out great and have a better dynamic range and less noise. There is also a Night Hyperlapse which helps in taking videos at night with a good amount of detail both at 4K and 1080p resolution thus reducing noise.

Similarly, on the front camera can record 4K videos at 30fps with a good amount of detail and the dynamic range works well. The videos have good stabilization but the contrast needs to be improved. The portrait videos have good detail but the amount of noise is still present and needs some improvement.

There is a new Pro mode for the video using which enhances the audio recording using the primary microphone 

Overall the cameras do seem to be a good upgrade over last year's Galaxy Note 10+ and the Note series determines the best of the cameras in the Samsung lineup.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Battery Life:

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a 4500mAh battery to power such a huge display and a power-hungry processor. With the display set to 120Hz, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra can last for a one single day with moderate to heavy usage. 

The smartphone can easily last for one and a half days with light to moderate usage when the display was set to 60Hz. With OneUI 2.5, the battery optimizations have become slightly better but when compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra feels a bit short since it has a massive 5000mAh battery.

The standard screen on time was 5 hours with the display set to 120Hz and increases to 6 hours when the display is set to 60Hz. Still, there are the basic Battery Saving modes and also an enhanced Ultra Power Saving Mode that turns off the mobile data restricts background applications thus enhancing battery life.

There is a 25W fast charger supported with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra which is good but when compared to the 45W fast charging on last year's Galaxy Note 10+ is a slight of a letdown. But still, you get good charging speeds with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

There is also support for 15W wireless charging which is slower compare to 30W Warp Wireless charging on the OnePlus 8 Pro but still has good charging speed. Then there is 4.5W Wireless Power Share which is down in number compared to 9W on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The fast charger takes around 82 minutes which quite slow when compared to 30W Warp Charging on the OnePlus 8 Pro and 45W fast charging on Samsung flagships in 2019. Still, the battery life is pretty good on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, but not the best.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Audio Quality:

The speakers on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a dual speaker setup with a louder and clearer sound. However, like the Galaxy Note 10+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra, it also lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack which is been common in many flagships.

There is support for Dolby Atmos which enhances the sound while playing games or watching videos. Overall, the loudness is the best in a smartphone as it also has support for Hi-Res audio and has a clear edge over most of its rivals.

Using the wireless headsets or a Bluetooth supported earphone works well with a loud and clear sound.

Verdict:

Overall, Samsung has done a great job with the Note lineup many years, and this year also with the Samsung is taking the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra to a different level. The design and feels of the Note feels premium with the sturdy Gorilla Glass 7 on top of it. It also has three attractive colors on the back making it look premium.

It has a massive display with a 120Hz refresh rate, then there is a powerful chipset under the hood, so whether it is day-to-day performance or playing heavy games, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra just goes through it.

What sets the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the presence of the S-Pen which is improved from before with lower latency and has many new features this year discussed above. The 4500mAh battery is average but still good considering the huge display and the powerful chipset underneath.

In terms of user experience, OneUI 2.5 has improved from before and provides a bloatware-free experience with all the functionalities of Samsung and Microsoft applications. In terms of cameras, we have a massive 108MP camera which was seen on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

All the cameras perform well in all conditions and the 8K video recording is also the best when compared to other smartphones having this feature. The inclusion of the 50x zoom is better than the 100x space zoom on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. 

But some of the things which include 25W fast charging is a slight of a letdown compared to last year's 45W fast charging on the Galaxy Note 10+ and 30W Warp charging on the OnePlus 8 Pro. The massive screen may feel heavy for some users with small hands. 

Another big disappointment for the Asian and European markets is the presence of the Exynos 990 chipset which is less powerful and not so battery efficient than the newer Snapdragon 865+ found on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in US markets. 

To sum it up all, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra defines the word "premium flagship" to a different level and with S-Pen, it creates an impact on the smartphone industry making an excellent tool to use. The price is comparatively higher over its predecessor. 

But what you get is the peace of Samsung and the versatility of the Note series that has been continuing for many years.  

Click here for buying the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.