Samsung’s market position is not as good as it was at the start of Android. The relatively weak sales of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S10 series have led the company to face serious competition in all price segments of the smartphone market. The dominant advantage of the business is no longer so dominant. The Samsung Galaxy S7 remains the company’s top-selling Galaxy S series flagship. However, during 2019, Samsung indirectly benefited from the paralysis of Huawei’s international smartphone activity due to political developments, a saga that continues today. In 2020, the company is now the presumed choice by default on the market of high-end Android smartphones, because the rest of the competition is still far behind in terms of market share, sharing of spirit and global availability of devices. .
Can the company extend its lead with the new Samsung Galaxy S20 series?
Samsung has certainly made a lot of effort throughout the Galaxy S series. This year, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is Samsung’s high-end flagship product, but with an equally stratospheric price to match. This represents many firsts for Samsung. The Galaxy S20 + and the classic Galaxy S20, on the other hand, function respectively as the successors to the Galaxy S10 + and Galaxy S10 from last year. The small Galaxy S10e (test) has had no direct price successor this year, although the Galaxy S10 Lite (test) plays a similar role as an “affordable flagship”. Today we’re looking at the central option, the Galaxy S20 +.
The Galaxy S20 + doesn’t have the main 108MP camera with nona binning, and it also jumps to the famous 48MP periscope telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom. However, the rest of its specs are similar to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, except for the screen size and battery capacity. In most markets, it is also much cheaper. In India, for example, the price difference is ₹ 19,000 ($ 253), which makes the Galaxy S20 +, not the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the standard bearer for major Android phones.
Can the Galaxy S20 + take on its heavy responsibilities? Does it make sense to spend double the amount compared to the variety of affordable flagship products on the market? What are the performance differences between the Exynos and Snapdragon variants this year? The Galaxy S20 + certainly has a lot to prove, so let’s see how it works.
specification | Samsung galaxy s20 + |
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Dimensions + weight | |
System on chip |
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Display |
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security | Ultrasonic sub-display fingerprint sensor |
Front camera |
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Rear camera |
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RAM |
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Storage room |
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Battery capacity |
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Water resistance | IP68 |
A software version | Android 10 with One UI 2.1 |
Connectivity |
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audio |
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Colors | Cosmic gray, Cosmic black, Cloud blue |
Starting price | United States: $ 1,199 / India: $ 73,999 |
Summary of Comments
Benefits | The inconvenients |
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About this notice: Samsung India sent me a review unit of the Indian storage variant 4G 8 GB RAM / 128 GB of the Galaxy S20 + (SM-G985F). All opinions in this review are mine. This review was published after one month of use. Max Weinbach contributed to the references of the Snapdragon 865 variant of the American Galaxy S20 +.
Samsung Galaxy S20 + XDA Forums || Buy the Samsung Galaxy S20 + at Amazon.in
Samsung Galaxy S20 + – Design
The design of the Samsung Galaxy S20 + is one of the best flagship phone designs on the market. At the same time, several steps could have been taken to further improve it.
Starting with the build quality, the Galaxy S20 + has a standard metal and glass sandwich design. It has an aluminum frame and a glass back with a shiny finish. The aluminum frame is notably thinner than most phones on the market, with a curved glass extending from the front and rear. It is similar to the Galaxy S10 5G in this respect, and that is because the 5G variant of the Galaxy S20 + must have a thin frame to activate the mmWave 5G radio frequencies, which are blocked by metal and allowed through glass. The 4G variant of the phone does not have the same constraints because it does not support mmW waves or the sub-6GHz 5G, but the two variants have the same design. This means that the phone is less durable than competing glass back phones. There is very little aluminum to be found here, which increases the risk of catastrophic failure during a fall. Unfortunately, that is what it is.
The shiny feel of the glass back is also a questionable negative. Rival suppliers such as OnePlus, OPPO, Realme and others have experimented with, or in some cases completely opted for, matte glass finishes, which feel much more premium in the hand as they approximate the cold feeling of aluminum. A matte finish also leads to fewer fingerprints. Samsung, on the other hand, has stubbornly stuck with shiny finishes on its flagship phones. That means the Galaxy S20 + doesn’t feel significantly different in the hand (when it comes to feel) than phones costing a fifth of its price. It would be nice to see the company opt for matt glass in the future.
The Galaxy S20 + has a sleek front design. The screen-to-body ratio is impressive at 90.5%, which is as good as for phones that don’t have mechanical front cameras. The glasses are significantly thinner than those of the Galaxy S10 + and are about the same as those of the Galaxy Note 10+ (test). The phone has a physical headset on the top frame, allowing for stereo speakers. The 10MP front hole punch camera is placed in the center near the top of the camera. This means that its aesthetics are many nicer than the double pill-style front camera cutout on the Galaxy S10 +, or even the perforated front camera on the right of the Galaxy S10e. It is also better for usability because the icons in the status bar are not pushed to the side.
The volume buttons and the side key (used for Bixby by default, but you change it to behave like a power button) are both placed on the right side. The actuating force and stiffness of the buttons are quite good, and their placement is also very good. There is nothing on the left side. The top contains the hybrid double nano-SIM tray (double nano-SIM or nano-SIM + microSD) and a microphone. The bottom contains another microphone, the USB Type-C port (USB 3.2) and the lower speaker grille. Unfortunately, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack in the Galaxy S20 series.
The Galaxy S20 + has a curved screen, but the curvature of the screen is much less pronounced than it was in previous generations. This means that it is less annoying and also offers a more visible screen. The phone also has rounded corners, greatly improving the hand feel. On the back, we have a rectangular camera case at the top left which contains the quad cameras (12MP + 12MP + 64MP + ToF sensor), as well as an LED flash. The sensors are placed asymmetrically inside the enclosure, which is a minor design negative. Again, it seems less annoying than the asymmetrical camera layout of the standard Galaxy S20 and the gigantic “100x Space Zoom” camera housing of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. There’s nothing else on the back apart from the standard Samsung logo.
The Galaxy S20 + is available in three colors in most regions: cosmic gray, cosmic black and cloud blue. The colors are pretty serious, even for the Cloud Blue color. They are a big departure from the fun colors of the Galaxy S10 prism. The three colors are underestimated, which means that they will not stand out. As I mentioned before, it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what consumers choose. Personally, I was a fan of the Galaxy S10e’s Prism White color finish, which alternated between light blue and white depending on the ambient lighting. None of the colors of the Galaxy S20 have a Prism effect. I got the Cosmic Gray variant for review, and while I think the color is a refreshing change in a sea of flashy phones, it can also seem a little boring to many users. Samsung slightly missed the balance here. Other regions such as Best Buy in the United States and South Korea are getting more vibrant colors such as Aura Blue, but they are regionally limited. Photos of the Aura Blue variant can be seen below, thanks to Max.
The ergonomics of the Galaxy S20 + are surprisingly great. They are better than the Galaxy Note 10 Lite (test) due to the smaller volume of the phone. The weight of 186 grams and the thickness of 7.8 mm greatly contribute to the balance of the phone in the hand. The weight distribution is excellent and although the phone is too large to be used with one hand, it can be used for long periods without your hands getting tired. The curved display, rounded corners and curved back are all good points here, and the overall feel of the phone in hand is excellent.
The curved display, rounded corners and curved back are all good points here, and the overall feel of the phone in hand is excellent.
The Galaxy S20 + case contains a 25 W USB C-PD 3.0 Super Fast Charger with PPS and PDO, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, USB Type-C headphones tuned by AKG and a case in transparent plastic. It is disappointing to see Samsung jump on the supply of a type C to type A cable, even for such an expensive phone. The company deserves credit for grouping headphones at a time when most suppliers choose not to group them. However, there is no 3.5mm to USB Type-C adapter in the box, just like the Galaxy Note 10+. Again, it would not cost Samsung much to bundle these two items in the box for the convenience of users.
Overall, the design of the Galaxy S20 + is excellent, but it does not push the limits significantly. A matt glass finish would have greatly contributed to making the device more pleasant to the hand, even if the fit and finish remain objectively excellent. IP68 certified water resistance is a positive that most affordable flagship products don’t have, and Samsung has been covering this for four years now. The aesthetics of the centered perforated camera is a big improvement compared to the last generation, the thin glasses are useful to reduce the volume of the device and the ergonomics is, subjectively speaking, unprecedented on the smartphone market top of the line.
Samsung Galaxy S20 + – Screen
The Samsung Galaxy S20 + has a 6.7 inch (3200 × 1440) Quad HD + dynamic AMOLED screen with an aspect ratio of 20: 9 and 525 PPI. It has an optional 120 Hz (HFR) refresh rate, which can only be enabled in Full HD + resolution (2400 × 1440). Samsung is reportedly working on an update to enable 120 Hz in Quad HD +, but for now, users can have 120 Hz in Full HD + or 60 Hz in Quad HD +. The OPPO Find X2 series has 120 Hz in Quad HD +, so Samsung is behind. The phone comes with a refresh rate of 60 Hz at full HD + resolution ready for use. The dimensions of the screen are 155 mm x 70 mm. A removable plastic screen protector is applied to the screen at the factory.
The dynamic AMOLED nomenclature means that the screen supports HDR10 +. It also means that the screen is an OLED that reduces the amount of blue light in the harmful range to reduce eye strain. This is achieved by moving the wavelength of the blue OLED a little higher in the visible spectrum. This hardware feature was first part of the Galaxy S10 / Galaxy Note 10 screens, and has now made its way to the Galaxy S20 screen.
In terms of resolution, Samsung conservatively ships the screen with Full HD + resolution, as it does from the Samsung Galaxy S8. This is suboptimal in terms of image clarity, although it is acceptable. There is a noticeable difference in clarity when you activate WQHD + resolution. However, this does not work with the refresh rate of 120 Hz. At present, the general consensus is that 120 Hz in Full HD + is a better compromise than 60Hz QHD +. It is wrong to say that the Galaxy S20 + has a QHD + 120 Hz screen; because the two features cannot be activated at the same time. Activation of 120 Hz at QHD + is physically impossible at the moment.
I leave the complete analysis of the display to Dylan, but my impressions of the brightness of the Galaxy S20 are excellent. Again, the manual brightness is set to a conservative maximum of 350 to 400 nits. High Brightness (HBM) mode in direct sunlight can bring the display to ~ 800 nits with auto brightness on, which means the readability of the sun is excellent. You will have no problem viewing the content even in direct sunlight. Viewing angles are also excellent, with no rainbow interference effect and minimal angular color change when changing angles. The contrast is theoretically infinite.
In terms of color accuracy, the Galaxy S20 + leaves a good impression on me. The screen comes with natural color mode activated, Vivid mode being available as an option. Natural mode is always calibrated too hot, which remains the only weak point. Color accuracy compared to sRGB and DCI-P3 color ranges is noticeably good, and support for automatic color management means that photos from WCG ranges are supported in Google Photos as well as in Samsung Gallery . The remaining problems are minor. In terms of black clipping, Samsung has finally improved the screen’s ability to distinguish between different shades of black. It’s still not up to the iPhone, but the gap is getting closer.
In terms of energy efficiency, the optional 120 Hz refresh rate of the phone screen presents major problems. As AnandTech stress, this is simply not an effective implementation because the impact on the battery life with the 120Hz mode is very important. The screen apparently has no real implementation of the variable refresh rate (VRR); 120Hz mode uses a 120Hz refresh rate all the time. The panel itself supports four refresh rates: 48 Hz, 60 Hz, 96 Hz and 120 Hz. Samsung has judiciously made the 60Hz mode the default, but as is currently the case, 120Hz comes with a big cost of energy. The company uses a single MIPI interface, but the problems seem deeper. Users will lose at least an hour of screen time if they keep 120Hz mode on, according to general consensus and my experience as well.
Overall, the Galaxy S20 + screen is as good as the high-end Android smartphone market.
Overall, the Galaxy S20 + screen is as good as the high-end Android smartphone market. Samsung’s implementation of a high refresh rate leaves much to be desired so far, but it is possible that energy efficiency may be improved with future updates. In terms of display quality, the gap between Samsung and its competitors is slowly narrowing, which means that phones with large screens can be purchased at cheaper prices.
Samsung Galaxy S20 + – Performance
System performance
The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is powered by the Samsung System LSI SoC Exynos 990 in most international markets, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is reserved for phone variants from the United States / Canada / South Korea / China / Latin America . The Indian variants have the SoC Exynos 990, as expected.
For more information on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, see our launch article and our comparison of references between the Snapdragon 855 and the HiSilicon Kirin 990. We have not yet analyzed its performance on a commercial phone, the Snapdragon 865 Galaxy S20 + will therefore be our first opportunity to see how the SoC behaves in the real world.
However, the Exynos 990 should be behind the Snapdragon 865 from the start. For a few years, the SoC Exynos have not been able to compete with the SoC Snapdragon competitors of a generation. The gap was particularly severe in the 2018 Exynos 9810, which was far from the performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. Last year’s Exynos 9820 was a much improved effort, but still couldn’t compete with the Qualcomm Competitor Snapdragon 855. The Exynos 9825, featured in the Galaxy Note 10, was nothing more than a 7nm shrinkage of the Exynos 9820, as it had the same CPU and GPU performance. To make matters worse, Samsung’s basic personalized effort, which started with the Exynos 8890 powered by Exynos M1 in 2016, has effectively ended. 290 employees have left Samsung’s Austin Research Center (SARC) and the CPU project is finished there. The team was responsible for developing Samsung’s fully customized cores, starting with the Exynos M1 (Mongoose) in the Exynos 8890 and continuing to the Exxynos M5 in the Exynos 990.
Next year, Samsung will therefore have to move to ARM stock cores, just like Qualcomm and HiSilicon. Its custom base strategy did not work because the base designs were inferior in terms of performance and efficiency compared to ARM solutions. The successor to the Exynos 990 should be very similar to Qualcomm’s next flagship SoC Snapdragon in terms of CPU performance. However, the current Exynos 990 is not affected. In fact, the design of the Exynos M5 processor was already complete by the time the custom kernel project ended. For the foreseeable future, it will be the last Exynos SoC to offer fully customized processor cores.
The Exynos 990 is manufactured using the Samsung 7nm LPP process using EUV. Its process node is theoretically more advanced than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, which is manufactured on TSMC’s N7P (DUV) process. (The only SoC to be manufactured on TSMC’s 7nm N7 + EUV process is the HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G.) However, the chip size of the Exynos is even larger because the Exynos M5 cores are larger than the ARM Cortex-A77 cores of the Snapdragon 865..
In terms of connectivity, the Exynos 990 is associated with the 512G modem Exynos 5G compatible Samsung. The 4G variants of the phones have the same modem as the 5G variants, but they lack the 5G RF system, which is necessary to operate 5G. .
The Exynos 990 includes two “large” Exynos M5 cores clocked at 2.7 GHz, two “intermediate” ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz and four “small” ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2 GHz. In comparison, the Snapdragon 865 has an ARM Cortex-A77 Prime core clocked at 2.84 GHz, three Cortex-A77 Performance cores clocked at 2.42 GHz and four ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz.
The middle cores of the Exynos 990 have an obvious performance disadvantage compared to the cores of the Snapdragon 865, which are based on the new ARM Cortex-A77 architecture. The small hearts are clocked higher on the Exynos, while the big hearts are completely different because Qualcomm uses the A77 cores of ARM while the personalized Exynos M5 is the successor of the Exynos M4 (Cheetah) used in the ‘Exynos 9820 and Exynos 9825.
The Exynos 990 has the new Mali-G77MP11 GPU based on Valhall ARM, and this is the first time we have tried it. The GPU competes with Qualcomm’s Adreno 650 GPU in the Snapdragon 865, and again, it should be disadvantaged by default.
In terms of synthetic CPU performance, the Exynos 990 does not compete well with the Snapdragon 865. Yes, it is a little faster than the old Snapdragon 855, but that also comes with a huge cost of efficiency. Compared to the Snapdragon 865, the Exynos M5 core of the Exynos 990 has an energy efficiency deficit of 100% compared to the upper A77 core of the Snapdragon 865, according to AnandTech. Even the efficiency of the A76 middle cores is far behind the A77 middle cores of the Snapdragon 865. The Exynos 990 is simply not an efficient SoC, even against the Snapdragon 855.
In the Geekbench 5 single-core score, the Exynos 990 variant of the Galaxy S20 + is virtually tied or on average around 30 points better than the Snapdragon variant of the phone. It’s another story in multi-core scores, however, where the Snapdragon variant scores, on average, around 300 points more than the Exynos variant. As we previously explained, Samsung continues to aim for high single-core scores on Geekbench at the expense of real-world benchmarks, and this leads to a misleading picture of SoC performance. So the Exynos M5 kernel of the Exynos 990 can be on par with the ARM Cortex-A77 in the Snapdragon 865 in Geekbench, but SPEC gives a more detailed picture and it is obvious that the ARM Cortex-A77 is a bit faster in single core, which in turn leads to better multi-core performance.
PCMark Work 2.0 is more or less the only reference we have for testing a simulation of real-world performance, because it tries to test common tasks such as web browsing, writing, photo editing, etc. There are four possible ways to test the Galaxy S20 + here. Samsung offers a high performance mode in the power mode settings, which runs at a higher system speed by default. You can therefore have the normal optimized mode at 60 Hz; High performance mode at 60 Hz; Optimized mode at 120 Hz; and the high performance mode at 120 Hz.
The disparity in the overall score is most apparent when comparing the optimized mode at 60 Hz to the high performance mode at 120 Hz. The difference in score is 17% (10,319 versus 12,338). Activating 120 Hz mode significantly increases the score for Web 2.0 browsing even if you do not activate high performance mode.
The graphic shows the third combination, where I use the Galaxy S20 + in 120 Hz mode with the optimized power mode. Here, the Exynos 990 variant of the Galaxy S20 + offers a clear improvement over its predecessors and is the top scorer. The overall score (a geometric average of all the sub-scores) is significantly higher than the Exynos 9820 variant of the Galaxy S10e. It’s only 2% lower than the Snapdragon 865 variant score, which is very nice to see.
In terms of the breakdown of individual scores, the Exynos 990 phone variant obtains the best score in Web 2.0 navigation (better than the Snapdragon 865), video editing (slightly lower than the Snapdragon 865) and photo editing 2.0 (higher to the Snapdragon 865) brand. In the Writing 2.0 test, the phone is beaten by both the Snapdragon 865 variant as well as some Snapdragon 855 phones, but the score is still high. The score for Photo Editing 2.0 is particularly remarkable because it is much higher than the score for the Exynos Galaxy S10e – it is at the top of the ranking. The score helps the Exynos 990 to match the Snapdragon 865 in the overall score. In the data manipulation score, the Exynos 990 is lower than the Snapdragon 865.
We are turning to Speedometer 2.0 to test web performance. The Snapdragon 865 Galaxy S20 + is at the top here, while the Exynos 990, as expected, is a bit behind. The score is only comparable to most Snapdragon 855 phones, which are of an older generation. Again, this clearly shows that face to face, the Exynos is doing the worst.
AndroBench’s results show impressive storage performance numbers. The Galaxy S20 + still has UFS 3.0 storage, not the new NAND UFS 3.1 specification, which is used in iQOO 3 (first impressions). Even so, it is capable of displaying the highest sequential read and sequential write numbers we’ve seen yet. The numbers of random reads and writes are also not to be laughed at. Compared to the Galaxy Note 10+, the Exynos Galaxy S20 + has faster NAND because all performance is higher.
GPU performance
The Exynos 990 GPU Mali-G77MP11 is the first GPU to be based on ARM’s new Valhall architecture. When the Exynos 990 was announced in October, Samsung was fairly conservative about GPU performance, saying there would be a 20% improvement in performance or energy efficiency compared to its predecessor. In the end, the company estimated the GPU’s gains in terms of peak performance, but was honest about them in terms of sustainable performance. These are two different aspects. For short bursts, the Mali-G77 manages to improve against its predecessor; but in terms of sustained performance, the differences are not large. Even after ARM’s efforts, the best GPU in the business still cannot compete with the Adreno 650 in the Snapdragon 865. It manages to fight the Snapdragon 855 only in terms of peak performance, but still once, this should not be the point of comparison.
In 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme, the graphics score of the Exynos 990 variant of the Galaxy S20 + is higher than that of the Exynos Galaxy S10e powered by the Mali-G76MP12, for both OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan. The scores are lower than those of the Snapdragon 865 Galaxy S20 +, as shown in the benchmarks. Again, the physical scores (which measure the CPU, not the GPU performance) are lower than the competition – both of the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 855 variety. The overall score of the Exynos 990 Galaxy S20 + is 10% lower than OpenGL ES 3.1 and 25% lower than Vulkan compared to the Snapdragon 865 Galaxy S20 + powered by Adreno 650.
Once again, buyers of the Exynos variant of the Galaxy S20 phones will get objectively worse GPU performance than buyers of the Snapdragon variant.
This means that once again buyers of the Exynos variant of the Galaxy S20 phones will get objectively worse GPU performance than buyers of the Snapdragon variant. This is not fair, but it has been the case at least since 2018.
User interface performance, RAM management and unlocking speed
The performance of the Exynos Galaxy S20 + user interface is the story of two different experiences. Dans le taux de rafraîchissement d’affichage par défaut de 60 Hz, les performances sont well. C’est la meilleure performance de tous les produits phares de Samsung en termes de temps de lancement d’applications et de fluidité des appareils, mais ce n’est pas une génération plus rapide que les produits phares de 2019, en particulier les téléphones Snapdragon 855. En fait, les téléphones avec un taux de rafraîchissement de 90 Hz tels que le OnePlus 7 Pro se sentent plus fluides que le Galaxy S20 +, car leur taux de rafraîchissement élevé est activé hors de la boîte, tandis que le Galaxy S20 + opte pour aller avec le 60Hz standard. Il n’y a pas de bégaiement perceptible en tant que tel dans l’interface utilisateur, mais les animations de l’interface utilisateur dans One UI ne sont pas aussi rapides que celles d’OxygenOS. La fluidité du mouvement est toujours bonne pour les utilisateurs qui n’ont pas essayé les affichages à taux de rafraîchissement élevé jusqu’à présent ou pour ceux qui ne se soucient tout simplement pas d’un tel aspect.
L’activation du mode 120 Hz fait cependant une énorme différence. Je suis convaincu de dire qu’avec le mode 120 Hz activé, l’Exynos Galaxy S20 + est probablement le smartphone le plus rapide et le plus fluide que j’aie jamais utilisé. Il n’y a pas de bégaiements et les animations sont si fluides qu’elles glissent sur l’écran. C’est un gros problème compte tenu de la fluidité des téléphones en 2019. Le Galaxy S20 + bat même le OnePlus 7 Pro (test) en termes de fluidité avec un taux de rafraîchissement de 120 Hz. Certes, je n’ai pas utilisé de téléphones comme l’OPPO Find X2 Pro ou le Xiaomi Mi 10 jusqu’à présent, et il est possible qu’ils soient plus lisses ou tout aussi lisses que le Galaxy S20 +. Cependant, le Galaxy S20 + place la barre haute à franchir.
Avec le mode 120 Hz activé, l’Exynos Galaxy S20 + est probablement le smartphone le plus rapide et le plus fluide que j’aie jamais utilisé. Il met une barre haute à franchir.
Si vous vous souciez de la fluidité de l’appareil, vous devez activer 120 Hz. Oui, il a un coût important en termes de durée de vie de la batterie. Oui, le fait de ne pas avoir un véritable taux de rafraîchissement variable n’est pas optimal. Même ainsi, les améliorations de la réactivité globale de l’appareil sont incroyables.
La variante 4G du Galaxy S20 + a 8 Go de RAM LPDDR5, tandis que la variante 5G a 12 Go. Je ne peux pas m’empêcher de penser que c’était une mesure de réduction des coûts inutile. Android a besoin de beaucoup de RAM pour garder les applications en mémoire, et même dans ce cas, les applications peuvent être expulsées de la mémoire et rechargées au hasard. Par conséquent, 12 Go de RAM auraient pu être utiles. En l’état, 8 Go de RAM sont toujours acceptables, même pour un produit phare, mais je rencontre le point de coupure habituel dans les sessions de navigation Chrome où plusieurs onglets doivent se recharger. La spécification LPDDR5 est plus un aspect évolutif par rapport à l’ancienne norme LPDDR4X car, bien qu’elle apporte des améliorations de la bande passante mémoire et de l’efficacité énergétique, les différences réelles seront impossibles à repérer à partir de maintenant.
Le Galaxy S20 + est doté du capteur d’empreintes digitales à ultrasons sous-affichage de Qualcomm, appelé capteur sonique 3D. Il s’agit toujours du capteur de première génération de Qualcomm et non du capteur de deuxième génération le plus récent (3D Sonic Max), annoncé en décembre. Le capteur le plus récent avait une surface 17 fois plus grande (20 mm x 30 mm contre 4 mm x 9 mm pour le capteur de première génération) avec la même vitesse, et il permettait même d’enregistrer deux doigts à la fois. Cependant, il ne s’est pas retrouvé dans la série Galaxy S20. Peut-être qu’elle ne pourrait tout simplement pas être prête à temps. Quoi qu’il en soit, l’expérience de déverrouillage actuelle sur le Galaxy S20 + est décevante. Le capteur nécessite moins de pression qu’un capteur optique d’empreintes digitales sous-affichage, ce qui est un avantage majeur – un léger tapotement peut faire le travail si le doigt a été correctement enregistré (et si le système a l’impression de fonctionner). D’autres points positifs incluent sa nature toujours active, et il est théoriquement plus sûr qu’un capteur optique (bien que cela ne se traduise pas toujours correctement dans la vie pratique).
D’un autre côté, son principal inconvénient est qu’il n’est tout simplement pas aussi fiable et précis que les derniers capteurs optiques. Le déverrouillage prend moins d’une seconde, mais il peut encore y avoir de nombreuses tentatives infructueuses car le taux de précision n’est que d’environ 75 à 80%. Les capteurs du OnePlus 7 Pro et de l’OPPO Reno 10x Zoom (test), en revanche, ont une précision d’environ 95%, ce qui les rend beaucoup mieux. Samsung is the only vendor going with Qualcomm’s ultrasonic sensors, and I have to wonder if it’s worth it. A 3D facial recognition system would have come in handy, too, but it would have necessitated a wide notch or pill-style display cutout (the new Huawei P40 Pro shows the way forward for secure 3D face unlock). Ultimately, going with one of the newest optical sensors from Goodix would have been a better decision for Samsung, as the ultrasonic sensor can still be frustrating to use at times.
The thermals of the Exynos Galaxy S20+ are good in a vacuum, but the phone is still prone to heating up more than Snapdragon 855 flagships such as the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom. Heat isn’t an issue on most occasions, to be fair, and the Galaxy S20’s thermal solution is up to scratch when it comes to sustained CPU performance. I tested the CPU throttling using CPU Throttling Test’s benchmark, and the CPU was throttled to 85% of its full capacity after a 15-minute test, which is a fairly good result. Thankfully, the throttling of the Galaxy S20+ is not even perceptible in real-world use – although the phone does get hot after extensively using the camera and when doing heavy multitasking.
The 120Hz mode objectively and subjectively makes it one of the fastest, smoothest Android flagships on the market.
Overall, the Exynos Galaxy S20+ has a much-improved real-world performance. It heats up less than the Exynos Galaxy S10e, and it doesn’t have any perceptible stutters, even in 60Hz mode. The 120Hz mode objectively and subjectively makes it one of the fastest, smoothest Android flagships on the market. However, negative points such as the unreliability of the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor drag down the overall score here.
Samsung Galaxy S20+ – Camera Image Samples
We will be taking a closer look at the Galaxy S20+’s camera in a follow-up review article. Meanwhile, here are some samples from our unit. Note that these samples were taken prior to the rollout of the camera-focused update (ATCH), i.e. on the ATBM build.
Samsung Galaxy S20+ – Audio
The Samsung Galaxy S20 series opt to skip out on the 3.5mm headphone jack. I have analyzed the reason for this removal in a separate article. In short, it’s not a good decision for consumer choice and convenience. The market may, by and large, appear to have accepted flagship phones with no 3.5mm headphone jacks, but that doesn’t mean headphone jacks are not appreciated by the majority of flagship phone buyers. In any case, the whole situation is just profoundly disappointing as few major vendors sell flagship phones with headphone jacks anymore. Sony did reverse its position this year with the Sony Xperia 1 II, though, and it’s a path that I wish Samsung would follow in the future.
The Galaxy S20+ thankfully does support audio accessory mode for its USB Type-C port, letting the phone accept both active and passive adapters. This means the phone still has a DAC, unlike the Google Pixel which needs purely active adapters. Subjectively, wired USB Type-C audio from Samsung’s AKG-tuned earphones was far too quiet for me. I have found this to be the case with Samsung’s older AKG-tuned 3.5mm earbuds as well, so users should just buy their own wired or wireless earphones. I didn’t have the opportunity to try out the Galaxy Buds+ with the phone.
Speaker quality on the Galaxy S20+, on the other hand, is as good as ever. Samsung has got this covered since the Galaxy S10, and there are no unpleasant surprises to be found here. The stereo speakers provide balanced sound without audible distortion, and volume levels are also acceptably high.
Samsung Galaxy S20+ – Software
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ is powered by One UI 2.1 on top of Android 10. To check out our thoughts about One UI, read our initial One UI review and the software section of our Galaxy S10e review. To know more about One UI 2.0-specific features, check out the software section of our Galaxy S10 Lite review.
The list of new features that One UI 2.1 brings is quite a big one. It’s now being rolled out as an update for the Galaxy S10 series as well as the Galaxy Note 10 series. The new features include Quick Share, which is Samsung’s competitor to Apple’s AirDrop. Other features include a better stock keyboard with multilingual transmission and text undo/redo support, Music Share, Pro Video in the camera app, and Single Take, which is a gimmicky feature. Similar images are now grouped together in the Samsung Gallery app, Google Duo integration is present in the dialer and Samsung Messages app, a dedicated power button is present in the notifications menu (as the side key is configured for Bixby by default), and users can record time-lapse videos at night. Also, Android 10 gestures will finally work in third-party launchers in the upcoming One UI 2.5 update.
One UI is one of the most feature-rich and well-implemented custom user interfaces.
Holistically, One UI is one of the most feature-rich and well-implemented custom user interfaces. Its focus on one-handed usability and pleasing typography continues to be excellent even a year after its introduction.
Samsung Galaxy S20+ – Battery Life and Charging
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ is powered by a 4,500mAh (typical) / 4,370mAh (minimum) battery. That’s a big battery in terms of capacity, but equally, it should be kept in mind that the Exynos 990’s Exynos M5 cores have a 100% power efficiency deficit against the Snapdragon 865’s ARM Cortex-A77 cores. The A76 middle cores also have much inferior power efficiency compared to the Snapdragon 865’s A77 middle cores. Then, we have Samsung’s optional 120Hz implementation, which is in a nascent stage and which still needs work. It’s not a recipe for excellent battery life, and unfortunately, this is one area where the Galaxy S20+ fails to perform as well as it should as a flagship.
In the default 60Hz mode, the Galaxy S20+ generally lasts for a full day of use in my experience. Screen-on time can range from 5.5 hours to 6 hours, which isn’t an excellent showing for a 4,500mAh battery capacity. This may again point to the Exynos 990’s inefficiency. When we enable 120Hz, battery life drops drastically. At that point, it’s fair to say that the 4,500mAh battery capacity behaves like a 3,300mAh battery in terms of life. The drain can be observed in real-time, to the point where screen-on time figures drop to around 4.5-5 hours. You will struggle to get the phone to last more than 24 hours on a single charge with 4-5 hours of use.
In relative comparison, phones like the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom and the Huawei P30 Pro offer much, much better battery life. The battery life of the OnePlus 7 Pro with 90Hz mode and QHD+ resolution is comparable. With a generation-newer chip, the Galaxy S20+ offers disappointing battery life in 120Hz mode. The battery life at 120Hz is worse than the Galaxy Note 10 Lite’s battery life, and that particular phone is powered by the inefficient, two-year-old Exynos 9810 SoC. Even the idle drain on the Galaxy S20+ is not as good as it should be, as it’s inferior to vendors such as OPPO and OnePlus. It’s fair to say that Samsung has a problem here, and the company must improve the phone’s battery life in future updates.
The Galaxy S20+ supports 25W Super Fast Charging using the USB-C PD 3.0 with PPS and PDO support. Third-party super-fast charging is still restricted as the requirements are extremely specific. If you don’t use a Super Fast Charger, the fast charging on the phone is limited to 15W and not 18W. Unlike the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the Galaxy Note 10+, the Galaxy S20+ doesn’t support 45W charging. This doesn’t make a substantial difference in terms of charging time, as those phones will stop drawing 45W of power once they have reached 30% battery. It takes about an hour for the Galaxy S20+ to be charged from 20% to 100%. The charging time is acceptable in itself. Proprietary charging standards such as OPPO’s SuperVOOC 2.0 (the basis for Realme’s Dart Charging) are significantly faster at the cost of charger fragmentation.
The phone supports Samsung’s Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 at 15W, and again, this speed is falling behind the proprietary fast wireless charging technologies that other vendors use, which can go up to 30W. Wireless PowerShare (reverse wireless charging) is also supported for charging wireless earphones or smartwatches, and it supports 9W of power.
Odds and Ends
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ has good cellular signal reception and call quality, as expected. It supports dual VoLTE. VoWiFi is supported for Jio and Airtel users in India. The phone also supports dual-frequency GNSS for better location tracking, making it the first Samsung flagship to have this feature.
The phone’s vibration motor is one of its particular highlights. This is the first Samsung phone that offers comparable haptics and a comparable typing experience to phones like the OnePlus 7 Pro and the OPPO Reno 10x Zoom. It’s significantly better than the Galaxy S10e, but it’s still not best-in-class as the Reno 10x Zoom offers a slightly better vibration experience.
Final thoughts
It’s a bad time to buy a phone right now, let alone an expensive flagship phone like the Samsung Galaxy S20+. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete lockdown in India and many other countries across the world, and buying a new smartphone is not an essential service. As e-commerce platforms are suspended, so are phone sales. Aspiring buyers of the Galaxy S20 will have to wait at least a few weeks to buy it.
It’s the reason why we are separating our camera review from this review. The cameras are the major selling point of the Galaxy S20+. I did my camera testing with the prior ATBM update, but Samsung then shipped a new camera firmware with “improved camera performance” as part of the ATCH update. Due to the lockdown, we will not be able to re-test the camera image quality on the ATCH update until it ends. For our analysis of the phone’s image quality prior to the ATCH update, stay tuned for our upcoming camera review.
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ is an excellent phone. In terms of mind share, it may be overshadowed by the top-end Galaxy S20 Ultra, but that would be unfair for it. That’s because it can stand on its own right. Its cameras have different strengths. The phone offers excellent display quality, good real-world performance, class-leading device smoothness with the optional 120Hz mode, a generally great set of cameras with excellent image quality in most situations, a feature-rich user interface, and pleasing design with great ergonomics. It does have some notable negatives such as less than stellar battery life, issues with the power impact of the 120Hz mode, the efficiency disparity of the Exynos 990 SoC, and an (often) finicky ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Overall, it’s clear to see that for flagship phone buyers, its list of positives outweighs its list of negatives.
Samsung Galaxy S20+ XDA Forums|| Buy the Samsung Galaxy S20+ on Amazon.in
The Galaxy S20+ costs ₹73,999 ($988) in India for the solitary 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant.
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