Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ Hands-on

Written by Joey MacedaPublished • February 12, 2020

Samsung has just unveiled its latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S20, S20+, and the S20 Ultra. We got our hands on all three, but let’s take a look at the first two devices.

It’s not the first time Samsung released three different models in a flagship series, as we got the same treatment with last year’s S10 series. It’s just that this time, they dropped the E variant, and introduced the Ultra variant.

Anyway, immediate design changes from the S10 — it’s still got a punch-hole camera, but it now takes on the center placement, like on the Note 10 series and the recently launched Galaxy A71. Speaking of the A71, we get a similar rectangular rear camera module on the upper center of the back.

Phones in hand, they’re what you expect. Thin, sleek, almost bezel-less sandwiches of metal and glass with the display being the center point, this being Samsung after all.

Checking out those Infinity-O displays, we get a 6.2-inch screen for the S20 and a 6.7-inch one for the S20+. They both use Dynamic AMOLED panels with not just a QHD resolution, but a refresh rate of 120Hz, although you’ll have to bump down to FHD to experience it. It’s also got a 240Hz touch response rate, which Samsung is touting as a gaming-focused feature, as it reduces the delay of your taps on the screen. And like usual, under the display, we get an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner for biometric security, Face Unlock is available as well.

Checking out the rest of the body, we get the power and volume buttons on the right, we get the SIM card tray up top, and at the bottom, the main microphone, Type-C port, and a loudspeaker.

Again, missing here is the headphone jack that the S10 series had. And I think, at this point, it’s confirmed — Samsung killed the headphone jack for its flagships. We don’t get one on any of the S20 Phones.

Checking out the internal hardware, we get either the Snapdragon 865 or Exynos 990, depending on your region, and both the S20 and S20+ have 8GB and 12GB of RAM options. For storage, the S20 gets 128GB, while the S20+ has 128GB and 512GB variants. The configurations available will vary per market.

Now while the hefty amounts of RAM and powerful chipsets will mark an incredible upgrade in performance, this is already expected. Samsung’s focus on pushing these phones into the future is definitely on 5G. The company has said that all three models will be 5G-ready, but only the 4G-only models will be available here in the Philippines.

The applications of 5G for this phone are shaping up to be cool, so far. There’s Full HD video call via Google Duo, which is now baked into One UI, as well as being able to play the full-fledged version of the game, Forza Street, thanks to their partnership with Microsoft.

Rounding out the internal spec, we have a 4,000mAh battery for the S20 and a 4,500mAh one for the S20+. Now, these huge capacities are just insane, considering how thin and light the phone feels in hand. I wish they supported Samsung’s new 45W fast charging, which is reserved only for the S20 Ultra. The standard and the Plus only support 25W fast charging, which, granted, is still fast.

Aside from 5G, the other big talking point for the S20 series are the cameras. Now, our time with the phones was very limited, so we weren’t able to get our sample photos and videos, but these phones surely have an upgraded camera department.

Samsung is now pairing its computational photography in its flagships with a higher resolution sensor, consisting of a 12MP F1.8 (main), 12MP F2.2 (ultra-wide), and 64MP F2.0 (telephoto) for the S20 and S20+. The S20+, though, gets a fourth sensor for Depth Vision. These two phones now rival even Huawei in terms of zoom capability, topping out at 30x digital zoom.

We get not just 8K video recording, which is crazy, but also video in Pro Mode! Finally! Native pro mode on these cameras without using an app like FilMic Pro is a substantial upgrade. Not to mention we also get improved Super Steady Mode, which was one of my favorite features from last year.

But my favorite new feature is Single Take Mode. It uses all of the S20’s cameras at the same time to take a 10-second video. It then uses AI to process the video and select the best moments, and provide you with these options — be it the best still frame, the best part of the video, and it even generates a boomerang and applies filters. The S20 and S20+ also have the crazy Space Zoom Feature, but if you want to see that in action, check out our video on the S20 Ultra.

But yeah, that about wraps it up for this video on the Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Ultra. For our initial impressions, all three phones in the series are remarkable and have taken everything good from last year, put it into three excellent packages, and added even more good stuff on top. And while the S20 and S20+ are great phones, they’re a bit vanilla in terms of what the entire series has to offer. For the complete package, you’ll want to check out our hands-on of the S20 Ultra here.

Samsung Galaxy S20 specs:
6.2-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2.0 display, 563ppi, 120Hz, HDR10+
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 octa-core 2.8GHz CPU
Samsung Exynos 990 octa-core 2.7GHz CPU
8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
128GB storage
MicroSD up to 1TB
Triple rear cameras: 12MP F1.8 (main) + 12MP F2.2 (ultra-wide), 64MP F2.0 (telephoto)
– 8K video recording, Space Zoom, Hybrid Optic Zoom 3X, Super Resolution Zoom up to 30X
10MP F2.2 front camera
5G NSA, Sub6
4G LTE Cat.20, 4×4 MIMO, up to 7CA
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner (under-display)
Face Recognition
USB Type-C
IP68 dust and water resistance
Samsung One UI 2.0 (Android 10)
4,000mAh battery w/ 25W fast charging, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare
151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9 mm
163 g

Samsung Galaxy S20+ specs:
6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2.0 display, 525ppi, 120Hz, HDR10+
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 octa-core 2.8GHz CPU
Samsung Exynos 990 octa-core 2.7GHz CPU
8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
128GB/512GB storage
MicroSD up to 1TB
Quad rear cameras: 12MP F1.8 (main) + 12MP F2.2 (ultra-wide), 64MP F2.0 (telephoto) + Depth Vision
– 8K video recording, Space Zoom, Hybrid Optic Zoom 3X, Super Resolution Zoom up to 30X
10MP F2.2 front camera
5G NSA, Sub6
4G LTE Cat.20, 4×4 MIMO, up to 7CA
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner (under-display)
Face Recognition
USB Type-C
IP68 dust and water resistance
Samsung One UI 2.0 (Android 10)
4,500mAh battery w/ 25W fast charging, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless PowerShare
161.9 x 73.7 x 7.8 mm
186 g