Mobile Phone Review: 24 hours with the Samsung Galaxy S20: what we’ve learned from day one

Mobile Phone Review: 24 hours with the Samsung Galaxy S20: what we’ve learned from day one

We’ve had the phone for a touch over each day – here's what we expect thus far

The Cloud Blue Samsung Galaxy S20 features a slightly reflective surface that caused a rainbow effect (Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S20 is one of the foremost anticipated phones of the year, and it's now on sale within the US (other territories, including the united kingdom, are set to urge the phone on March 13).

We’ve been spending some quality time with our very own Galaxy S20 for a touch over each day now. We’re within the process of producing our full review – we hope to possess that with you at some stage next week – except, for now, we wanted to share a number of our initial thoughts on the newest Galaxy flagship.

It’s very difficult to urge a transparent picture of how good a phone is in only each day – hence why our reviews often take around every week to finish – but we will offer you a couple of tips about what to expect if you’re getting to devour the Galaxy S20.

1. It’s far easier to handle than the Galaxy S20 Ultra 

Samsung Galaxy S20(Image credit: Future)

If you are looking for a phone that's easy to handle, the Galaxy S20 is that the best choice of Samsung's three new handsets.

Looking at the stats on paper, this won’t come as a serious surprise, but the Galaxy S20 may be a relatively small device compared to the S20 Plus or S20 Ultra. We’ve just swapped after spending a couple of days using the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and therefore the Galaxy S20 is noticeably easier to use in one hand.

It’s far lighter – the S20 is 163 grams, while the S20 Ultra was one among the heaviest phones we’ve ever used at 222 grams – which obviously makes it easier to carry , while its size means we're ready to comfortably hold it in one hand.

Of course, most of the people won't be coming to the S20 from a handset with an enormous 6.9-inch display (that’s what the Ultra is sporting), but we’re finding this phone far easier to handle – and it doesn’t beset our trousers anywhere near the maximum amount because the Ultra did.

2. you almost certainly won't miss a 100x zoom

The zoom capabilities of the quality Galaxy S20's camera are likely to be enough for many people.

One of the S20 Ultra’s big selling points may be a 100x zoom that's mind-boggling once you first use it. We've written extensively about the feature here, but while it's certainly a groundbreaking feature we've found it to be of limited value in everyday use.

The S20 only goes up to a 30x zoom, but that in itself is sort of remarkable. In our brief time testing the feature, we’ve been impressed with the standard you’re ready to get. Here's our main example to point out you:

An automatic mode shot on the Samsung Galaxy S20

An automatic mode shot on the Samsung Galaxy S20 (Image credit: Future)
3x zoom

So, while you won’t get anything as groundbreaking as 100x zoom, if you’ve not had a phone with 30x zoom thereon within the past you’re bound to be satisfied with the type of results you'll see above.

3. The selfie punch-hole is small 

Samsung Galaxy S20(Image credit: Future)

The Galaxy S10 had one among the littlest punch-hole selfie cameras within the business back when it launched in 2019, but the Galaxy S20 beats it with a good smaller aperture.

The selfie camera on the S20 is extremely almost like the one on the Galaxy S10, but the punch-hole itself has been shrunk down significantly, to the purpose where we've not really noticed it while using the phone.

That’s particularly surprising as Samsung has decided to maneuver the selfie shooter to the middle of the highest fringe of the display, instead of putting it within the top-right corner love it was on the Galaxy S10.

if you are looking for a segue, maybe 'something else worth mentioning here is that…'

4. We don’t miss the Bixby button 

Samsung Galaxy S20(Image credit: Future)

The Bixby button was dropped for the Galaxy Note 10 phones, but this is often the primary Galaxy S phone for a few generations that haven’t had a fanatical hardware button for summoning the Samsung voice assistant.

We haven’t been given a selected reason why Samsung has dropped the Bixby button from its devices, but if you’re swapping from a Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S10 device it’s likely to be a relief that you're going to not accidentally hit it when trying to vary the quantity on your phone.

That's something we wont to find happened fairly regularly – and therefore the button also looked quite almost like the facility button, so it had been easy to accidentally launch Bixby rather than waking the phone's screen.

5. 120Hz is our go-to settings change… thus far 

Samsung Galaxy S20(Image credit: Future)

A high display refresh rate is one of the go-to upgrades for tons of phone manufacturers in 2020. It essentially means you'll enjoy a smoother experience when playing games, and even just when scrolling your Twitter feed.

It’s likely that your current phone features a 60Hz refresh rate, but some devices are upping this to 90Hz or 120Hz tech. The Galaxy S20 features a 120Hz screen, but strangely the corporate hasn't enabled the feature by default – you will need to vary it within the display settings.

We imagine that's because a faster refresh rate generally drains the battery faster, and Samsung doesn't want you to experience less-than-satisfactory-life unless you particularly want to require advantage of the feature.

We did cash in of it though – it had been one among the primary changes we made once we took the phone out of the box, because it offers a significantly better experience when gaming, also as when scrolling social media feeds or articles.

It’s a feature we’ve grown wont to on other top-end devices, just like the OnePlus 7T Pro, and it’s something we expect works rather well on the Galaxy S20 – whether it significantly impacts battery life may be a question we'll answer in our full review, also as sharing more findings from our in-depth testing process.