Samsung announced three new smartphones today: the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra.
While you might have expected Samsung to introduce Galaxy S11 phones, the company explained it went with the 20-series naming scheme on account of the new decade. Model names aside, the Galaxy S20 line brings some big changes.
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The Galaxy S20 Ultra is Samsung’s new flagship device, featuring a 6.9-inch screen with a QHD+ resolution (511ppi) and a 120Hz refresh rate. And unlike the Google Pixel 4’s implementation of a high-refresh rate display, the S20 Ultra display can be set to always refresh at 120Hz so it’s more in line with Apple’s latest iPads.
Those faster screens will make the Galaxy S20 Ultra an even better gaming phone, especially when you factor in the new 240Hz touchscreen polling rate. This display option basically tells the phone to scan for touch inputs more often in order to reduce latency, and it’s set to engage automatically whenever you’re playing a game
Beyond that really big screen, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra features a 108MP main camera. However, at the end of the day, you’re really capturing 12MP photos with this high-resolution sensor because it uses pixel binning to merge nine pixels into one. This way, the imaging sensor absorbs more light in order to render photos with a wider dynamic range.
That extremely high-resolution sensor also allows the Galaxy S20 Ultra to shoot 8K videos at 24 frames per second – which users can then stream directly to a Samsung QLED 8K TV like the Samsung Q950TS.
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The telephoto camera has also seen a big upgrade – it’s now using a 48MP image sensor with a “folded lens.” This new optic and sensor combo allows the S20 Ultra to push in with a combination of optical and digital zoom. The results of this new zoom technology are a 10x “lossless zoom” and 100x space zoom.
Unfortunately, the ultrawide camera hasn’t received as much love and attention and will stick to a basic 12MP sensor with a 120-degree field of view optic.
On the chipset end, the Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 processor plus 128GB of storage and 12GB of RAM in the base configuration. Additionally, this flagship smartphone will come with 5G radios as a standard feature (last year Samsung made a special Galaxy S10 5G model) and a 5,000mAh battery.
All of this flagship experience comes at a high premium though as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra starts at $1,399. Preorders begin on February 21 and the phone will be available starting on March 6th.
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A whole new galaxy
Samsung didn’t leave its more traditional Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ models to pasture. These phones have seen very similar spec upgrades as the S20 Ultra. For starters, the Galaxy S20’s 6.2-inch screen and the Galaxy S20+’s 6.7-inch screen utilize Samsung’s new 120Hz displays complete with the 240Hz touchscreen polling rate. These phones are also able to shoot 8K video and will be able to connect to 5G networks like the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
The only thing missing from these two lesser handsets is a massively high-resolution main camera. Sadly, you only get a 12MP wide-angle camera on the two regular Galaxy S20 phones – but at least the telephoto camera is nice and sharp with a 64MP sensor, and it’ll give you lossless 3x hybrid optic zoom and a 30x Space Zoom.
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In terms of internals, the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ both feature the same Snapdragon 865 chipset with 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, plus 5G connectivity standard. Of course, being smaller handsets, the Galaxy S20 only has a 4,000mAh battery while the S20+ features a 4,500mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ will be available for a starting price of $999 and $1,199, respectively. Preorders begin on February 21st and the phones release on March 6th.
Better with Buds
Last but not least, Samsung also announced an updated pair of truly wireless earbuds: the Galaxy Buds+.
Easily the biggest improvement these headphones have seen is a dramatic boost in battery life that now nets you 11 hours of playtime on both the earbuds themselves and the case. Compared to last year’s Galaxy Buds, which only had six hours of battery life on the buds with an additional seven hours in the case, you’re looking at about double the amount of playtime.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ also feature 2-way dynamic speakers and three microphones for improved sound and voice quality. Additionally, the Galaxy Buds+ are now iOS compatible so you can connect them to an iPhone 11 Pro, iPad, or any mobile Apple device.
Available starting February 14th, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ will retail for $149.
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Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
Source: IGN.com The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Puts a 100x Zoom Camera in your Pocket