Cherlynn Low/Engadget

Henry also mentioned the S20’s build quality, saying it “didn’t feel as premium as past phones” and that it “would have been nice to get a proper black color” for the handset. Jun Jie was likewise disappointed with the colors on the Ultra: “You went from Aura-ish colors on the Note10+ to Cosmic Grey on the S20 Ultra that’s more dull than my future. Why?” And both Henry and Steve wanted a headphone jack on the S20 and S20 Ultra, respectively. 

Screen

The screens on all three handsets hit big with users. Sneak said the S20’s display is amazing, Ryan found the screen on the S20+ beautiful, adding that he can use the 120Hz with no noticeable difference in resolution. However, he did say that the “screen glass is easily susceptible to scratching,” and that “after a month of careful use, there are three or four small scratches noticeable when the screen is off. The notion that Gorilla Glass is somehow impervious to scratching is clearly a myth.” 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

When it came to the 120Hz refresh rate on her S20+, Brianna was enthusiastic, saying she “loves the buttery smooth refresh rate” and that she “never knew I needed 120Hz in my life until I saw it in person! Never going back!” Charlie called the screen on the S20 Ultra beautiful, Jun Jie found it glorious and Steve admitted the large screen was one of his “killer apps” on the Ultra, but he skips using the 120Hz mode because it drains the battery.

Camera

There was very little negative feedback about the camera features of the S20 lineup. The S20 and S20+ both have a 3x optical zoom system, while the S20 Ultra boasts a 100x Space Zoom with a 4x optical zoom. Sneak liked the camera on their S20, but Nick was disappointed that his S20+ didn’t feature a real telephoto camera and will instead crop a 64MP frame. 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

S20 Ultra users were more detailed about their experiences. Derek called the camera cool, despite having to return his initial handset because of an issue with it. Steve said he “uses the Pro mode all the time and I love the level of control. I have used the 100x zoom, and while it’s not perfect, it’s better than not having the option at all.” And Charlie found the camera to be amazing, adding that “it has focus issues sometimes but I expect that to be fixed with software updates in the near future. The zoom capability is incredible and very helpful in my job.” 

Battery

The battery life of the phones was only briefly mentioned by the reviewers. David and Nick felt let down by the battery life of their respective S20 and a S20+. David said he was “disappointed with my phone’s battery life compared to my previous phones, and the phones of others in my family.” 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

Meanwhile, Ryan and Jun Jie had the opposite experience. Jun Jie listed battery life as one of the many advantages of going with an S20 Ultra, and Ryan said the battery on his S20+ lasts “considerably longer than my S7, and I can use the phone all day without worrying about recharging.” 

Comparisons

Our users were fairly critical with regards to comparing their handsets to other phone models. David said “one of my biggest frustrations with the S20 is the tediously slow on-screen fingerprint unlock, to the point that I am considering switching back to an LG V series.” He felt that “overall, the S20 is a satisfactory phone but … my previous flagship, the LG V30+, gave a better ownership experience.” Ryan, who upgraded to the S20+ from an S7, said it took him a few weeks to adjust to the size of the newer phone. Nick, who also owns an S20+, felt it was a bad thing that the handset “is so similar to all other A-series Samsungs that you cannot easily tell the difference. It’s not a very shiny flagship, as previous models were. I was twice as excited when I bought my S7 Edge, which it replaced.” Steve was pragmatic about his S20 Ultra, saying “this phone is good for a while but next time I’ll probably look at the ‘A’ series. Better bang for the buck.” Derek was less matter-of-fact about his S20 Ultra: “I’ve learned my lesson and this is the last S series phone I will buy. I’m going back to the Note phones I was buying. This phone was not worth the price.” 

Cherlynn Low/Engadget

However, a few users of each handset were more pleased with their purchases. Sneak was “extremely glad that the Bixby button is gone, and I’m also glad that Samsung didn’t put the power and volume buttons on the ‘wrong’ side like they did with the Note 10 and 10+.” And Jun Jie and Charlie were both happy with their S20 Ultras, with Jun Jie stating there are “many praises to be sung about this phone,” and Charlie finding it an “incredible phone in many ways.” 

WinFuture recently published new renders and a detailed specification list identifying where Samsung could be making compromises. One of the biggest is, for the 4G version only, Samsung is reportedly swapping out the Snapdragon 865 found in most retail versions of the S20 for the, uh, less whelming Exynos 990. As Slashgear wrote, this could irk some Galaxy Note 20 users, because the 5G budget version of the S20 could outperform the Exynos-toting Note 20.

In addition, that 6.2-inch QHD display has been ditched in favor of a FHD version with a pixel density of 407ppi. That said, the report adds that the screen will still have a 120Hz refresh rate, making it ideal for gaming.

Imaging-wise, the S20 Fan Edition’s primary camera is a 12-megapixel f/1.8 lens that has dual phase-detection autofocus and optical image stabilization. That unit is paired with a 12-megapixel, f/2.2 123-degree wide-angle lens and an 8-megapixel f/2.0 telephoto lens, also with OIS. Up front, there’s a 32-megapixel, f/2.0 camera poking through the tiny hole in the phone’s display. 

Inside, the report says that all handsets will have 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 4500mAh battery, Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi 6 as standard. What will differ is the colors, with the handset available in white, blue, orange, lavender, green and red, although it’s not clear if the phone will be made out of glass or plastic. Whichever material it does use, the report says that it’ll support wireless charging.

It’s thought that we’ll see the S20 Fan Edition launch around the same time that Apple launches its latest handset. That certainly makes sense, since this could provide a powerful — and price conscious — alternative to the new iPhones.

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With a 46 percent decline, Gartner says the South Asian country saw the worst drop in smartphone sales among the top five markets for phones globally. Before the pandemic, India was one of the few places where smartphone sales were growing globally, but the country adopted strict lockdown measures to cope with the coronavirus. And while Apple had a presence in India before the pandemic, particularly in the premium segment, it was not among the top five manufacturers.

In Q2 2019, Samsung and four Chinese firms — Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme and Oppo — held that position. Three of those companies — Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo — also appear in Gartner’s list of the biggest phone brands globally, and they’re the same manufacturers that saw the steepest declines in sales of their phones. Samsung, in particular, had a tough last three months. The South Korean company sold approximately 54 million units in Q2 2020, a 27.1 percent decline year-over-year. Xiaomi and Oppo didn’t fare much better either. They saw sales of their phones decline by 21.5 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively.

For Huawei, Samsung’s loss was the company’s gain. Gartner says the two are in a “virtual tie” for the number one position — though it’s worth noting research firm Canalys recently said Huawei shipped more phones than Samsung this past quarter.

If there’s any silver lining for phone manufacturers, it’s that some of them also make PCs. The same shelter-in-place orders that tanked phone demand, helped boost computer sales this past quarter.

You no longer need to subscribe to AT&T’s main offerings to get a taste of its 5G service. The carrier’s Cricket Wireless prepaid brand has launched 5G service (via The Verge), providing the faster downloads and reduced lag with lower service costs. You’ll need to spend at least $60 per month for an Unlimited Plan to use a 5G phone, but that’s not surprising given how easily you can chew through data using 5G.

The update also brings 5G to Cricket’s internet-only Simply Data plans, including a new $90 per month plan that offers 100GB at 5G speeds. Service starts at $35 per month for 20GB of full-performance data.

After that, as Android Police pointed out, things are unclear. The policy applies to “flagship models,” suggesting that entry-level devices like A-series phones will still only get two years of Android updates.

In any case, the shift brings Samsung’s flagships a bit more into line with Google, which offers Android updates on Pixels for at least three years from the release date. Samsung typically rolls out security patches beyond that two-year span of platform updates.

The latest approach means that fewer people might feel the need to update their phone after two years, which might hit Samsung in the pocket a bit. Still, it should come as some comfort for people about to shell out at least $999 on a new Galaxy handset that it’ll remain up-to-date (at least on a software basis) until 2023.

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 family is expensive when even the ‘entry’ model begins around $1,000. The company thinks it has a solution, though: turn the phone into more of a service. It just launched an Access plan that provides an S20 phone, a Premium Care warranty, Microsoft 365 and 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage for a monthly fee. Prices range from $37 per month for the base S20 through to $48 for the S20 Ultra. You can upgrade or cancel at any time, although you’ll pay $100 if you either get a new phone in less than nine months or cancel in less than three months.

The device payments will last for three years if you don’t upgrade, although Samsung is clearly hoping you’ll use this to keep getting its latest phones. Trade-ins don’t count, so keep that in mind if you think you could get a better overall deal by selling your old phone.

This is otherwise a run-of-the-mill Galaxy S20 with a 6.2-inch, 1440p display, a Snapdragon 865 processor, 12GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, a 4,000mAh battery and the usual arrays of front and rear cameras. Although Samsung shows the Tactical Edition in a rugged casing, there’s no mention of the phone itself being rugged.

The S20 variant will be available in the third quarter of the year from “select IT channel partners.” If you get one, there’s a good chance it will have been issued to you as part of a bulk order. Still, this might be good news if you’re either a soldier eager for a tactical communications upgrade or an official who regularly handles classified data.

There are reportedly already plans to fix the tinting issue, but that and other flaws (most notably slow camera autofocus) have marred the Ultra’s debut. The flagship phone’s $1,400 price is already a point of contention — its chances aren’t helped by any hiccups that give people second thoughts.

The deal means you could get from $500 off for the Galaxy S20 5G 128GB, up to $800 off of the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G 512GB. That effectively gets you these expensive phones for as little as $500 for the entry-level Galaxy S20 — better than most OnePlus or Xiaomi flagships these days.

It’s clear that the coronavirus crisis has taken a bite out of Galaxy S20 sales, which is terrible timing for Samsung as these phones were just released. On top of that, the S20 Ultra has received some pretty tepid reviews. Samsung has tried other ways to mitigate the lockdown impact, most notably by offering in-home trials in South Korea. It’s also rolling out an at-home repair service specifically for its foldable devices.

In any case, if you were looking at buying an S20 to keep you in touch during this crisis, now might be the time — just be careful not to drop it.