Samsung’s Galaxy S phones have always been one of the best and go to Android phones for premium segment customers in Nepal. The Galaxy S series have been offering all the latest features and also come in multiple screen sizes and options. The focus is now on the recently launched Galaxy S20 and S20+ which is considered a game changer with new offerings and interesting upgrades over its predecessors.
Design and Display
Samsung Galaxy S20 Series, both S20 and S20+, comes with a striking glass body protected by the latest Gorilla Glass 6 and aluminium frame. Both phones also have IP68 dust/water certification but Samsung has excludes the 3.5 mm headphone jack on the ‘S’ series.
As for the displays, while S20 comes with a 6.2-inches QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED panel with HDR10+ compliance, S20+ has a taller 6.7-inches “Infinity-O” QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display. Refresh rate of 120Hz makes debut on both the phones, but you can turn on 120Hz only in FHD+ resolution because activating the superior refresh rate on the vibrant QHD+ resolution will dry down the battery in a mere couple of hours.
Camera
Samsung has also upgraded the cameras on S20 series compared to the S10 family. The Galaxy S20 has a vertically arranged triple rear camera setup with a 12MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 64MP telephoto lens; both primary and telephoto lens supporting OIS. The S20+ version comes with an additional ToF 3D “Depth Vision” sensor camera for improved portrait shots alongside the identical S20 triple rear camera setup. Both phones can deliver 3x optical zoom and 30x hybrid zoom, click stunning low-light photos and videos because of the bigger image sensor, and also have the same 10 megapixel circular punch-hole cutout front camera on top of the display.
One big software addition by Samsung on the S20 series is called Single Take mode. The user can shoot one 10 second video clip using this mode and the system automatically uses all the camera tools like AI best moment, ultra wide, live focus, AI filter, smart crop, video forward and backwards, fast forward and original video at once and generates a range of content. The user can then select options, and can save or share them. The Single Take mode is also available for the front camera and according to Samsung, the package of per take of Single Take mode is 55MB in total.
The S20 series is also one of the first smartphones to offer 8K video recording. The phones capture 8K super resolution (7680x4320px) videos at 24 frames per second (fps) which is 16 times higher than FHD and gives off a snappy 33MP image. Anti-rolling stabilizer, pro video mode and super slow motion/hyperlapse modes are some of the video offerings of the S20 series. The super slow-mo feature shoots at 960fps in HD resolution. The 8K videos captured by S20 series phones can also be converted down to 4K or FHD without affecting the original resolution.
Performance and Memory
The S20 and S20+ are powered by the latest Exynos 990 chipset in the global variants which is also available in Nepal, while the Snapdragon 865-powered versions are available in the US and Canada only. The S20 version only supports the moderately slower sub-6GHz spectrum of 5G and not the faster mm Wave 5G connectivity whereas the S20+ supports both sub-6GHz and mm Wave of the 5G spectrum. Both phones run on One UI 2.0 based on Android 10 out of the box and have the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor too.
A new generation of RAM – Samsung LPDDR5 RAM – makes its debut in the S20 series. Both Galaxy S20 and S20+ have 12GB RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.0 storage on the 5G variant, while the 8GB RAM 128GB Storage configuration can be found on the LTE models. The Galaxy S20+ 5G variant can go as high as 512GB in terms of internal storage.
Battery
The Galaxy S20 has a standard 4000 mAh battery whereas S20+ comes with a bigger 4500 mAh battery. Both phones support 25W fast charging via a faster Type-C to Type-C connectivity called “USB Power Delivery 3.0”. They also support 15W wireless and 9W reverse-wireless charging.
Other Interesting Features
Both S20 and S20+ supports 240Hz touch response making the phones incredible in terms of gaming hardware. The phones also have a new gaming function that allows users to keep up to five apps/games suspended in RAM ready to go at a moment’s notice which cuts down or eliminates load times when resuming games and reduces holdup while playing games.
Samsung has also installed a feature called Music Share in its S20 series phones. Through this feature the user can basically do pass-through Bluetooth connections, meaning the user wouldn’t have to disconnect his/her Bluetooth connection with the car to let another user connect with the car’s Bluetooth, and the another user can connect to the car’s Bluetooth directly through the user’s Galaxy S20. The feature also works with smart speakers.
Pricing
The Samsung Galaxy S20, with 12GB RAM and 128 GB of storage, will cost Rs 1,07,499 and S20+ with 12GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage is priced at Rs 1,19,499. The price and availability of the 512 GB variant hasn’t been revealed yet. Both phones come with one year breakage insurance. S20 is available in Cosmic Grey and Cloud Blue colour variants whereas S20+ is available in Cosmic Black, Cosmic Grey and Cloud Blue variants.
