The Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G might just be the most top-of-the-line highest end Android flagship
we've ever seen, with the best specs and longest name. Is it worth the $1400 though? We probably
already know the answer, but let's chat as to why.
Inside the box we get the USB-C and USB-C charger. Some USB-C corded headphones and
a clear protective case. Got to love free protection. Let's get started.
[Intro]
Now remember, this Ultra is Samsung's premium flagship for the moment priced at $1400. There
are still the regular S20's of course at the more reasonably unreasonable $1000 price point.
This review is going to be all about Mr. Premium here.
[Scratching sounds]
Samsung seems to be really liking the soft screens these days. Luckily when I peel off
this screen protector, the display underneath doesn't die like we saw on the Galaxy Z Flip.
Let's see if Samsung remembers how real glass is supposed to act. We'll take a look at the
large camera bump in just a second.
I've personally been using a Samsung phone for the past 4 years or so as my daily device,
so I am a pretty big fan of the phones that Samsung makes...usually.
As long as the advertising is pretty close to what gets delivered, and we aren't robbed
at the checkout. I'm pretty easy to please. With the S20 Ultra we start seeing scratches
at level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. It's nice to see glass again. This phone
will be able to handle every day objects and fingernails without getting scratched or dinged
up. My razor blade does no damage to the top 40 megapixel selfie camera. The earpiece is
up here as well and it's super thin slit. There's no speaker grill to scratch or get
damaged. I'm a fan of this flatter screen design as well. If the phone ever gets dropped,
the frame is going to be what gets hit instead of the glass, which is good. Cuz glass is
glass, and glass breaks. Metal however, might scratch, but won't shatter. The power button
and volume button are made from metal and can still be removed. I don't recommend stealing
other people's phone buttons, but if being a terrible human is your thing, the option
is available.
There are no buttons on the left side of the device, nor on the top. But there is a SIM
and SD card tray. Thumbs up to Samsung for keeping the expandable memory alive. This
guy can hold an additional 1 terabyte of storage with a normal micro SD card. This slot helps
future proof the phone, which is pretty important considering that $1400 starting price point,
and how long you're going to have to keep using it to pay it off.
The bottom of the phone has a little clear plastic protector to keep it from rubbing
inside the box. The bottom stereo speaker and USB-C port are down here as well. There
is no headphone jack. Let's take a look for a second at the main selling point of this
S20 Ultra, and that's the camera. This boy is thick. For people outside the United States,
the rise is about 2.4 millimeters tall. For people inside the United States, it's a bit
thicker than a quarter, yet also still pokes out above a toothpick. The hump is a decent
sized fraction of a fruit snack, and it's just about the same size as a slice of
butter. I mean, if we think about it, the S20 Ultra has 4 cameras, one of which is 108
megapixels, and the other is the 48 megapixel telephoto camera. So the hump size is relatively
reasonable. And if you look closely, you can see how much space that camera hardware actually
takes up inside the phone. Check out how much room the 100x space zoom periscope camera
actually needs, so that size of the exterior glass lens does match the dimensions of the
hardware below it.
Happy to announce my Teardown skins with dbrand are officially back. We managed to hoard enough
printer ink to hopefully keep around long term this time. We're covering a lot more
phones with this batch. And there are now two different styles of Teardown instead of
one. You can see what they both look like on this grip case. The original version on
the right looks like it still has the shiny glass layer on the back. Or we have the new
ultra matte version which looks like you're just holding the bare circuit boards Personally,
I kind of like the glossy version. True story, I've had the Teardown Skin on my phones since
our last batch, and a stranger came up to me in public legitimately concerned that my
phone was falling apart...which means our skin is definitely doing its job. I'll leave
the link for the Teardown skin down in the description.
Of course, I am getting ahead of myself. This is a durability test video and not the teardown.
But there is one more thing. We also tore down MacBooks. Starbucks won't know what hit
them. You can see the dual fans with the batteries. And my favorite part: even the track pad has
its own see-through teardown protection. You can see the copper windings for the taptic
motor underneath. There's a good chance we have a skin for your phone in your hand right
now and we'll be adding more devices as the time goes on. Link is down in the description.
You're not going to want to miss this one.
Now, don't get me wrong, the Ultra is a cool phone. Top of the line and all that jazz.
But it's not really doing anything that we haven't already seen before. We saw the 108
megapixel camera already in the $500 Mi Note 10. And that periscope zoom camera we saw
inside the P30 Pro, which also currently costs around $600. Both of those phones with similar
features are less than half the price of this Ultra phone. Samsung has also taken their
S20 series and made 5G mandatory this time around and they charge a premium for it. 5G
coverage still isn't even a thing yet for half of the United States. And the Millimeter
Wave, the high speed portion of 5G is currently covering basically nobody. The 5G phones are
still very premature and paying a few hundred dollars out of your own pocket to sponsor
a futuristic 5G tech you can't utilize is very much not worth it here in 2020. Unless
of course you do live in a large city and know for sure that the Millimeter Wave 5G
system is right outside your window. Basically, the $1400 Galaxy S20 Ultra is made up of components
that we can find in other phones that cost half the price and includes a 5G system that
most people can never use. Sometimes verbal burns hurt the most.
The 1440p AMOLED display lasted about 30 seconds under the heat from my lighter and did eventually
recover. The screen is also capable of 120 Hertz refresh rate at 1080p. We first saw
this tech on the ROG Phone 2 that's currently selling for $500-600 on eBay. Just another
reason why this phone shouldn't be costing $1400. The S20 Ultra is using the underscreen
ultrasonic fingerprint scanner we saw debuted last year on the S10. I'll set my fingerprint
first before adding some level 7 deeper grooves to the screen. And even with this additional
artwork, my phone was able to sense and read my fingerprint every single time. The ultrasonic
fingerprint scanners are safe from scratches. I tried bumping up my exposure so we could
get a look at the transparent pixels that surround the rectangular fingerprint scanner
inside of the phone. But it looks like we'll just have to wait until the next video to
see how big it is. The rectangle is still currently invisible. Samsung hid it well.
Finally it's time for the bend test. Honestly, with how rock hard and rigid Samsung phones
usually are. I was surprised that this thick phone had a little bit of give to it. It's
the subtlest of sways of course. Probably due to the length of the phone and it's 6.9
inch screen. The S20 Ultra does survive my durability test however. No cracks, kinks
or permanent damage anywhere. All I'm saying is, if I had $1400 in my pocket, first of
all I wouldn't spend it on a cellphone. But if for whatever reason I had to, it would
not be this one. The S20 Ultra is a Frankenstein conglomerate of parts found in many other
much cheaper phones. And it doesn't bring anything new to the table. If I wanted a top
of the line phone that screamed 2020, I would get the Galaxy Z Flip. Even with its fragile
screen, it's futuristic design and form factor warrant the $1400 price point way better than
this S20 Ultra does. Either way, everyone is different. But the one place you can't
go wrong is with a Teardown skin. Link is in the description. Let me know what you think.
Tell me your thoughts on the S20 Ultra down in the comments, and come hang out with me
on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks a ton for watching, I'll see you around.