Design
- Top end flagship build quality - the S20 Plus is a fine piece of hardware that exudes quality and craftsmanship
- The front looks absolutely gorgeous with an almost edge to edge screen and just a single punch-hole at the top centre - the front glass is slightly less curved along the side edges than previous S series phones
- The phone is sealed tight and carries an IP68 rating, so you can accidentally dunk it in some water and it’ll survive
- Aesthetically, the Galaxy S20 Plus looks dull, there's no flair in the design, like the Aura Glow option Samsung introduced last year, which looked fascinating - the huge camera module doesn't help either
- The in-display fingerprint sensor is unreliable - it’s slower than other sensors on competition and far less accurate
- It is also huge and requires two hands to use most of the time - it doesn’t fit well in pockets, despite its slippery surfaces, and more or less requires a case for protection, which will only make it bigger
Display
- Stunning 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen that is the best you can buy on any phone right now - the sharpness of the display is simply outstanding with eye-popping clarity
- The 120Hz refresh rate gives the screen a luscious smoothness that has to be seen to be believed, you’ve got a screen that simply dominates every other panel on the market
- The screen is also HDR10+ certified, which means the right content will deliver incredible dynamic range - the HDR10 movies on Netflix look really impressive
Software
- Running the Galaxy S20 Plus is Samsung's OneUI 2 on Android 10 - which, as far as Android UIs go, is one of the most refined, well thought-out experiences
Performance
- Powering the Galaxy S20 Plus is the Samsung's own Exynos 990, which is one of the best CPUs available in the market, just a shade behind the Apple's A13 - the phone feels fast all the time, no matter what content or app you throw at the S20 Plus, it devours the calculations and offers buttery smooth performance
Camera
- Samsung gave the Galaxy S20 Plus an impressive quad-camera system on the rear - the standard lens boasts a 12MP sensor, joined by an ultra wide-angle 12MP camera, an optical telephoto 64MP camera, and a time-of-flight camera to help process depth information
- 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 - the S20 Plus’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 S20 and S20 Plus)
- The S20 Plus’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 S20 Plus 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, this uses the ToF camera to help judge depth and create a portrait-like effect when capturing video - it is also capable of capturing 8K videos (though, the use case for 8K is very limited)
- The Galaxy S20 Plus has improved ten-fold in Live Focus mode - the S20 Plus 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
Audio
- A pair of USB-C headphones is included in the box
- Very good stereo speakers
Battery
- Good battery life with the massive 4500 mAh cell - you will get a comfortable one day of use with heavy to moderate use
- Sufficient fast charging with the supplied 25W charger - it boosts the battery by 50% after just 27 minutes
- Also supports 15W wireless charging, and it can fill the battery to 50% in just 35 minutes on a charging pad
- It also supports wireless reverse charging and can charge other phones or accessories that support wireless charging
Verdict
- The Galaxy S20 Plus, actually has identical capabilities to the smaller S20, but is for those who want a bit more screen space without paying for the top-of-the-line S20 Ultra - it may well end up being the best selling of the three - it has a gorgeous screen, classy hardware, wicked performance, good battery life, and capable cameras, and the Samsung's name - if what the S20 Plus offer is what you're looking for, go buy it (though, it’s also huge and heavy)
- That said, if you're someone who enjoy smaller phones that are easy to carry around and have near to no compromise, get the smaller Galaxy S20, you'll get the same fast processor, 120Hz display and improved cameras with a handy form factor