There are two important changes in the S20 Ultra: the first one is that the Bixby button is gone (good riddance!), and the second one is much more unfortunate, and it's the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack. Not a surprise considering current trends, but definitely a feature that some people are still missing on the latest smartphones.

On the back, you have bulging out a camera module the size of which we haven't seen since the good old Nokia Lumia times. As one acquaintance puts it, "if my kid is scared of it, than it definitely doesn't pass the beauty test". Hopefully, Samsung has some serious camera magic to show in exchange for this giant camera module, we take a look at the photos and videos a bit later in this review.

Finally, this latest glass and metal concoction is also IP68 water and dust resistant, which is something that we have come to expect and it simply means that you should not worry about getting your phone a bit wet. At the same time, diving with it is definitely not a good idea, especially in salty water that would damage it, a reminder I feel obliged to put as another acquaintance of mine washed their water protected Galaxy phone in the sea only to find out its USB-C port was compromised.

Display


We have already mentioned part of the screen specs, so here is the full breakdown: you get a big, 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with a maximum resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels. Most importantly, this is practically a flat screen. Gone are the times of those Galaxy phones with their displays tapered towards the edges. We find flat screen easier to use and even small conveniences like finding a proper glass screen protector are much easier with a flat screen.

The phone has a tiny punch hold camera centered at the top and bezels so tiny that... well, it makes using the phone without a case actually quite frustrating at times as just holding it you accidentally touch parts of the screen and trigger random actions. Slap a case on it, and this problem disappears, though.

The big new feature here, however, is something called a 120-Hertz refresh rate. If you are just as devoid of memories from your high school years as yours truly, let me remind you that a Hertz is a unit of measuring frequencies, and in this case, it means that the screen of the S20 Ultra refreshes 120 times per seconds, double that of your typical smartphone that runs at 60Hz. In reality, this means that the phone reacts to your touch with a sense of urgency and immediacy that you don't quite feel on a 60Hz phone and everything appears to be running faster and smoother. The difference is really noticeable and you don't have to be a geek to see it BUT and that's a big one, it will also result in considerably higher power consumption. That is why Samsung gives you the option to go into the display setting and change it to the traditional 60Hz mode where you will get better battery life.


There are two things to know about the 120Hz option: first, it's not available in the maximum Quad HD resolution and it only works in Full HD mode; and second, there is no in-between 90Hz option, which we find a bit strange as that would have been a nice balance between smoothness and not too high of a battery drain.

The rest is all about the colors and Samsung as a company that is also making AMOLED screens has absolutely mastered them. You have two color modes: a Vivid and a Natural one, which basically lets you choose between oversaturated, vivid colors (the default option) and more toned down colors (that is the option we prefer as we find the Vivid mode a bit too unrealistic).

Traditional staples of the Samsung display experience are all still present: you have the quite useful Always-on Display option that gives you a quick peek at notifications, you have the Edge lighting which lights up the edges of the screen with a pulsating color show (this is meant to replace the traditional notification LED light that is missing here), and you have the Edge screen with shortcuts.