Visually Reviewed rate the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus a 9/10
Quick Summary
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is an incredible smartphone and brings many new features and improvements over last year’s Samsung Galaxy S10. The display is phenomenal, the cameras perform very well, the battery life has seen a huge improvement to handle the 5G technology, and the overall power and performance of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is amazing.
Pros
- Incredible display
- Great cameras
- Long-lasting battery
Cons
- Quite expensive
- 120Hz refresh rate (optional) and 5G technology drain battery
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review
Samsung is one of the biggest names when it comes to the technology industry, for everything from smartphones to microwaves, there’s even a good chance you have multiple Samsung products in your house right now. When it comes to smartphones, Samsung’s best-selling series is the Samsung Galaxy S series, the main rival to Apple’s iPhones. This Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review weighs in the pros and the cons and highlights whether or not the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is worth buying.
For all Samsung Galaxy S20 reviews, please see below:
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus specifications
| Release Date: | 13 March 2020 |
|---|---|
| Price (at release): | £999 / $1,199 |
| Colours: | Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue, Cosmic Black, BTS Purple, Aura Blue, Aura Red, Cloud White |
| Storage: | 128GB |
| Display: | 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (525 PPI) |
| Processor: | Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 |
| Memory/RAM: | 12GB |
| 5G Technology: | Yes |
| Cameras: | 12MP wide, 12MP ultrawide, 64MP telephoto rear cameras, 10MP front camera |
| Battery: | 4,500mAh |
| Operating System: | Android 10 |
| Weight: | 188 grams |
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Design
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus comes with seven colour choices: Cosmic Grey, Cloud Blue, Cosmic Black, BTS Purple, Aura Blue, Aura Red, and Cloud White. These seven colours are some of the best-looking smartphone colours we’ve seen yet, we especially love the BTS Purple colour. Below you can see how each colour looks on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus features an edge-to-edge full-screen 6.7-inch display, we’ll get into more detail about this later on. Along with this display comes a pole-punch front camera. Although at first glance it might stick out, with a little bit of time you’ll forget it’s even there. This is much more subtle than the hole-punch front cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus models.
On the back of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, you’ll find the rear cameras are housed in a slightly raised, rectangular shape. The only thing we don’t like about the design of the Samsung Galaxy S20 is the fact that it’s slightly raised. Although for most people this won’t really bother you, it can cause your phone to rock side to side a bit when you have the phone sat on a flat surface, especially if you’re trying to type.
Similar to the standard Samsung Galaxy S20, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also doesn’t include a 3.5mm headphone jack. It was only a matter of time before they made this change as not only are more and more people using wireless devices, but we’ve already seen this change take place in other phones for years now. If you want to use your 3.5mm wired headphones/earphones with the Samsung Galaxy S20, you’ll need to buy an adaptor, else, you’re going to have to look for some new headphones/earphones that are either wireless or have a USB-C connection.
Overall, the design of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is hard to fault. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus in general just looks very appealing with a clean and modern look. As well as this, it’s also been designed to be as ergonomic as ever with a slightly slimmer build than the Samsung Galaxy S10 along with curved edges, although they’re not as curved as the Samsung Galaxy S10, to reduce accidental presses on the sides. This works perfectly with the addition of One UI 2, but we’ll get into that later on.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Display
The display on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is nothing less than incredible. It features a 6.7-inch display and makes use of Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O Display. The S20 Plus is set to have a Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) resolution as default, but in the settings, you can increase this to a WQHD+ (3200 x 1440) resolution.
Along with this display come a bunch of amazing features. Firstly, you can now increase the display refresh rate to 120Hz, we’re used to seeing a refresh rate of 60Hz, this essentially means the display will look twice as smooth. It’s worth noting however, 120Hz isn’t compatible with WQHD+ (3200 x 1440) resolution. If you want to make use of the 120Hz refresh rate, you’ll need to select either HD+ (1600 X 720) or FHD+ (2400 x 1080) resolutions. Understandably, using the 120Hz refresh rate will drain your battery faster than the standard 60Hz refresh rate.
As well as this, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also saw an increase in touch sensitivity, going from 120Hz to 240Hz. This allows your phone to sense your finger presses at a much higher rate. Not only this, but you’ll find that the fingerprint scanner is also embedded into the screen, we’ve noticed some inconsistencies whilst using this.
The display on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also has 525 PPI (pixels per inch) and generally speaking, the higher the PPI, the more detail you can see on your display. On top of this, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also supports HDR10+, Samsung’s own HDR processing technology, where on supported content, makes quite a noticeable impact on quality. It’s also worth noting that the edges aren’t as curved as we’ve seen in previous years, this should help prevent any accidental presses.
Is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus display good?
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus display features one of the best displays currently available in a smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus has a 6.7-inch display with a max resolution of 3200 x 1440, a 525 PPI, and has a screen-to-body ratio of 90.5%.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus comes with three rear cameras and one front camera. Firstly, the main, wide camera has 12MP with an f/1.8 aperture. Along with this, Samsung also increased the size of individual pixels from 1.4 microns to 1.8 microns. These, combined with the larger sensor should allow for more detail and more light.
Along with this is the ultrawide 12MP camera. This camera has an f/2.2 aperture and has a smaller sensor with larger pixels, 1.4 microns over last year’s Samsung Galaxy S10 with 1 micron.
The third and final rear camera on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is a 64MP telephoto camera. This telephoto camera comes with smaller individual pixels than the Samsung Galaxy S10, but a much higher megapixel count and a wider aperture at f/2.0, compared to the Samsung Galaxy S10’s f/2.4. The telephoto lens also allows for 3x lossless zoom, and if that’s not enough for you, there’s also 30x digital zoom, although this isn’t lossless.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus’ front camera not only takes up less space, but it’s now placed in the centre of the display, rather than being on the right side like last year’s Samsung Galaxy S10. This year’s front camera uses a 10MP sensor that’s 1.22 microns and has an f/2.2 aperture. This is pretty much the same as last year’s front camera, except the Samsung Galaxy S10 had an f/1.9 aperture, so there’s an improvement there.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus has also made some big improvements to its video recording capabilities. The rear cameras are capable of recording 8K at 24fps, 4K up to 60fps, 1080p up to 240fps, and 720p at 960fps. Something to consider when recording in 8K is the file size, it’ll use up about 600MBs per minute of 8K video. If you do find yourself recording in 8K, it’s worth knowing that you’re also able to take 33MP photos at the same time you’re recording.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also allows for up to 20x zoom whilst video recording, the only exception for this is if you’re recording at 8K, in that case, you’ll only be able to zoom up to 6x. As well as this, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus comes with a new feature called ‘Super steady.’ The Super steady feature essentially acts as a camera stabiliser when you’re recording to reduce the amount of shake and blur in your videos. It’s worth noting this is limited to 1080p videos.
In terms of new features, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also comes with the new ‘Single Take’ mode. With the press of a single button, this new feature allows AI (artificial intelligence) to take up to 14 types of photos and videos within 3-10 seconds. This is the perfect feature if you’re unsure which camera modes to use, especially if you don’t have much time.
What are the camera specs of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus?
- The wide lens is: 12MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.76″, 1.8µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS
- The ultrawide lens is: 12MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 1.4µm, Super Steady video
- The telephoto lens is: 64MP, f/2.0, 29mm, 1/1.72″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 1.1x optical zoom, 3x hybrid zoom
- The front camera is: 10MP, f/2.2, 26mm, 1/3.2″, 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Battery
This year’s Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus has a 4,500mAh battery, this is a huge improvement over last year’s Samsung Galaxy S10 3,400mAh battery. As well as this, in the box of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, you’ll find a 25-watt charger. This is a great addition as it allows for super-fast charging.
When using this 25-watt charger, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus can go from 0-100% charge in around 90 minutes, whereas if you use a wireless charger, this may take around 3 hours.
With the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, it’s worth keeping in mind that certain settings you may change could impact how fast the battery will drain. For example, if you decide to change your screen refresh rate from 60Hz to 120Hz, this will drain your battery much faster.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Performance
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus comes with one of two system-on-chips, depending on your location. If you live in Asia (except for India and Indonesia), North America, or Latin America, your Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus will include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. If you live elsewhere, your Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus will include the Exynos 990.
In terms of RAM (Random Access Memory), the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus comes with 12GB of RAM. When it comes to storage, there’s only one option for the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, and that’s 128GB. It’s worth noting however that the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus has microSD support of up to 1TB.
Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is running Android 10, Google’s operating system. However, we expect to see this upgraded to Android 11 in the near future.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Pricing
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus was released on 13 March 2020. At release, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus started at £999 in the UK, and $1,199 in the US. Since the release of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, the prices have dropped and below are some of the best deals from Amazon.
Quick Answers
How much does the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus cost?
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus was released on 13 March 2020. At release, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus started from £999 in the UK, and $1,199 in the US.
What are the differences between the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S20?
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus has a bigger display, and includes a larger battery size.
Is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus worth buying?
If you're looking for a bigger display or and bigger battery size, we recommend the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus. If you're not too bothered about having a larger display, we don't recommend the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus. However, if you're looking for something better with more upgrades, feel free to check out our Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus review: Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is easily one of the best smartphones currently available. The display is incredible, the battery life is amazing, and the cameras are brilliant. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus also brings many new and improved features over last year’s Samsung Galaxy S10, the most notable is the 5G technology and 120Hz display refresh rate. When compared to the standard Samsung Galaxy S20, the main upgrades with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus are the screen size, going from 6.2-inch to 6.7-inch, and the battery size, going from 4,000mAh to 4,500mAh.
The additions of the 5G technology and the support for 120Hz display refresh rate meant that the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus needed to have a large battery in order to keep up with the new battery-draining features.
You might also like to check out our Samsung Galaxy S20 review.
For all Samsung Galaxy S20 reviews, please see below:
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