Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra long-term review

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Introduction

Oh look, this is one Galaxy S20 that has Ultra in the name! And it also comes with an Ultra price! But is it all-around Ultra enough to really, truly justify those things? That's a very good question, one which we'll try to answer for you in this long-term review.

This year Samsung wasn't content to go with its usual two-size approach to its flagship S smartphone line (with an "e" or "lite" - or both - thrown in for good measure from time to time). Instead, it went ahead and created the quintessential "everything and the kitchen sink" device in the appropriately named S20 Ultra. A phone that misses absolutely nothing you'd want in a high-end handset in this day and age. Or... does it? Could it actually have some weird compromises hiding underneath that shiny Ultra branding?

We've spent weeks on end using the Galaxy S20 Ultra exclusively, in order to bring you an image of what it's like to live with, that is as accurate as possible, if inherently subjective. Without spoiling anything, we can say that yes, it's a premium experience undoubtedly, but things aren't always perfect and neither is the S20 Ultra. No phone has ever been, but this one got us hopeful, based on what it brings to the table on paper.

To find out what we liked about it during our extensive usage period and what we weren't so thrilled about, join us on the next few pages as we explore Samsung's still-current (but not for long) top dog smartphone in depth. Note that we have the Exynos-powered model, so that will obviously influence our opinions. The Snapdragon version seems to offer slightly better performance and better battery life, according to the internet at large. We can't vouch for this as we haven't had that model in to compare to.