Samsung Galaxy Note 20 

Design

• Looks iconic and stunning - not only is this the most premium smartphone design ever by Samsung but is also one of the most cohesive implementations around - the Mystic Bronze colour exudes class
• The front looks striking as well with a center punch hole front camera and nearly bezel-less display
• IP68 water and dust resistant
• The "Glasstic" back for a phone at this price feels cheap
• The 208g weight is mostly on the higher side and one-handed usage isn't easy at all

Display

• Gorgeous 6.64-inch Dynamic AMOLED display - the OLED panel offers great color and contrast, and images really pop on the screen
• The Note 20 has a ‘standard’ 60Hz refresh rate and for a phone at this price, it is unacceptable to not have higher refresh rate
• The Note 20 also misses out on the Higher resolution screen, which is common for this price

Software

• Running the Galaxy Note Ultra is Samsung's OneUI 2.5 on Android 10 - which, as far as Android UIs go, is one of the most refined, well-thought-out experiences

Performance

• The Note 20 houses the Samsung's own Exynos 990, which is one of the best CPUs available in the market, just a shade behind the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865+ - apps open quickly, scavenging through files is swift and multi-tasking is a breeze, it is a top-tier experience
• For its price, the Exynos 990 isn't the best of the best, the Qualcomm's flagship chips are a step ahead and you see the performance lag when running intensive games or apps

Camera

• The Note 20 boasts an very good triple camera system at the back - the standard lens is a 12MP sensor, joined by an ultra-wide-angle 12MP camera, and an optical telephoto 64MP camera
• The primary 12MP camera gives you crisp detailed images with the good dynamic range that Samsung’s cameras are known for and the colours are wonderful
• 64MP telephoto lens is capable of 3x lossless zoom and up to 30x digital zoom - Samsung's mix of sophisticated hardware and software deliver a precise images that are much clearer than anything else in the market (the 100x zoom is not present in the Note 20)
• The Galaxy Note 20's 12MP Ultra-wide lens churns out exceptional results, delivering eye-catching shots, even in challenging lighting conditions
• The low-light shots turn impressive, even in incredibly dark situations, the clarity is quite impressive, and the colours are perfect with little noise - the night mode further improves the quality with brighter and colourful images (though, the Pixel and iPhones still do a slightly better job in low light)
• The most standout camera feature on the Note 20 is Single Take mode - when engaged, Single Take records a 10-second video and snaps multiple images, giving you an entire gallery of options to choose from and share
• Video recording with the phone looks amazing - it’s sharp, colourful, properly exposed, and on-point when it comes to white balance - video also supports live focus mode
• The Galaxy Note 20 has improved ten-fold in Live Focus mode - it captures very realistic photos and is a massive step up from the portrait mode in Samsung’s prior phones (though, iPhone 11 series is still the champ in portrait shots)
• The 10MP selfie camera does a fine job - you get a clear view of your pores in good light, and the target resolution dips in low light to keep images clean and bright
• Overall, while Samsung has created flagship lever cameras that compete at the top level and comes out as champs in many situations, they are still slightly behind the iPhone cameras, that are more consistent

S-Pen

• One of the biggest reasons to consider dropping so much cash on a phone has to be the S-Pen experience - the main upgrade is the new reduced input latency of just 18ms, sketching, annotating, signing documents, or taking down notes feels more responsive - apart from the usual slew of features new additions include gestures to navigate through the interface (back, home, recents, screenshot) without having to be near the phone

Battery

• Average battery life from the 4300mAh cell - with the regular use the Note20 would last till evening and you might need to recharge it between the day
• The 25W Fast charging is a downgrade from last year's Note 10 Plus' 45W fast charging - it takes the bundled 25W charger about 80 minutes to fill up the phone completely, a lot behind the competition as other players are offering up to 65W fast charging which is much faster

Verdict

• The Galaxy Note 20 is not a bad phone, but it does lack almost all of the wow factor features you might expect from a premium phone in 2020 - there's no high refresh rate or high resolution display, battery doesn't last a whole day, fast charging isn't the fastest