The Galaxy S20 Ultra is an expensive smartphone, but in return Samsung packed the best technology in one device • But does it also live up to its promise?

• Everything needed in expensive packaging // Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is an attempt by the South Korean company to push its S Series prices up. While the S10 Plus rose at NIS 4,000 at launch, the Ultra model sold at prices ranging from NIS 4,500 to NIS 4,800. For this price, you get the edge of Samsung's technological capabilities (if we put aside the smartphones with the folding screen right now). I took the ultra for a trial period to see what Samsung has been able to improve since the previous generation.

Design: There is no significant change in the design of the previous editions and there is nothing wrong with that. The smartphone has a sideways screen, which means very little frame and thin upper and lower margins, but ones that still exist. The screen body ratio is 90.6%, which is excellent. The device itself is made of Gorilla Glass 6 glass both front and rear with an aluminum frame. This glass along with the big screen weighs quite a bit - 222 grams and 8.8 mm thick in your pocket. You will feel very good about this smartphone in your pocket. According to tradition, the ultra-waterproof 1.5 meters for 30 minutes (IP68 standard).

Galaxy S20 Ultra in Cnet's fall test

The Ultra is a smartphone that is sensitive to falls and scratches. Samsung equips the ultra with a screen protector affixed to the factory display, which also means you don't really have to buy one in the store. In addition, there is a basic transparent case also included in the kit.

Screen: The huge ultra-high screen comes in 6.9 inches at a quality resolution of 3200 by 1400 pixels with excellent Dynamic AMOLED technology. The screen supports a wider HDR 10 Plus color range and most importantly an image refresh rate is 120 Hz which allows screen movement to look better and smoother. The problem at this time is that this high image refresh rate exists only at 2400 by 1080 pixels and not at 3200 by 1440 pixels. At the higher resolution you will need to use a 60 Hz image refresh rate. Samsung should later open the 120 Hz high-resolution option.

More at The Gadget Reviews

• Overview: Mi Note 10 - Smartphone with 108 megapixel camera

• I checked the Tellur car wireless charging bracket

• Review: Nokia 7.2 - 48 megapixel camera for NIS 1,400

Interface with lots of features, but not perfect

Interface: Samsung is working hard to make its interface (One UI 2.1) a complete experience for users. It includes backup service - Samsung Cloud, smart home app control - Smart Things, Basic Call Recognition, Samsung Pass Password Saving, Samsung Notes for Writing, Fast Web Browser, Samsung Health Fitness Index, Galaxy Store App Store and Editing App Video.

Samsung does most of these things well, but there are also less good things, vocal assistant Bixby and Samsung Daily, which is browsing a News Feed menu from Flipboard, promoting in-store apps and downloading Themes. Daily access is swiped right in the main screen. This is a less successful alternative to Google's news page. It is better for Samsung to invest this important real estate into something else. The operating system is Android 10 and there is also a call recording.

Hardware: The processing power is huge here: Samsung's Exynos 990 processor with 12 Gb of working memory and 128 Gb of storage (also available in 256 or 512 Gb versions) and card expansion. Samsung has also started bringing the devices with Dual Sim. Which means you can put two SIM cards on this device.

Of course, the Ultra is a device that flies fast and Samsung even lets you determine that some apps will not close in the background and allow fast activation. Not that this smartphone will turn them on quickly anyway, but the main thing is that it can be done. The fingerprint sensor is located below the screen, it works with ultrasonic technology and works well overall. The ultra does not include a 3.5mm connection, but yes there are two powerful speakers here.

Crazy zoom, successful photography

Photo: Ultra's back has 4 sensors for the new high-megapixel camera: 108-megapixel with optical image stabilizer, 48-megapixel telephoto sensor with optical stabilizer, 12-megapixel wide-angle (120 °) sensor and depth sensor (ToF). The selfie camera - 40 megapixel sensor.

Samsung has been very strong on the zoom issue, it offers dual optical zoom 4 and such successful up to 10, which is a hybrid-optical zoom. To go even further, Samsung has integrated technology that it calls Spice Zoom, which also uses a dual 100 hybrid zoom through artificial intelligence. It looks cool, but the quality is double 30 and double 100 really low, Samsung software seems to smear the image for it to be grainy. It's nice for the enthusiasm or performance of a spy operation, but it's not really pictures to boast about.

Apart from the zoom theme, the quality of regular photos is just as important. The main sensor as I mentioned is 108 megapixels, but by default it's 12 megapixels unless you manually change it. Don't worry, Samsung will occasionally remind you that this option exists through a message before taking a picture. The 108-megapixel camera requires a lot of illumination and the interior detail is not good enough to approach objects. The standard camera offers excellent image quality: sharp, rich in detail, excellent at night and in any situation. Yes, there is the problem of over-handling / smoothing the face, which should be resolved in a version update. It's not that bad, but it does exist. I was really surprised by the selfie camera featuring great pictures.

Battery: What really disappointed me in the ultra is the battery. Samsung equips this smartphone with a 5000 millimeter / hour battery, which is just a whole lot, but something about energy management, alongside a huge, high-quality screen and high image refresh rate, make this device barely survive an entire day. In FHD Plus resolution mode with 120 Hz refresh rate, I stayed with less than 20% energy at eleven at night when I started using ultrasound at 7 am (4 hour screen time). Samsung offers a very fast 45 watt charger that did not come with a review kit, so I can't tell if it's doing a good, fast job.

Price: NIS 4,500 to NIS 4,800

Bottom line, Ultra is the tech front, Samsung has packed everything it could on this smartphone to offer the best device it can. True, there are camera bugs that require enhancement and the 120 Hz image refresh rate does not exist at high resolution, but this should be resolved later. The price of the Galaxy S20 is very expensive, but it offers just about anything you want.

Score: 9.5

Proper Disclosure: Tzahi Hoffman is a technology blogger and public relations professional in the field of startups. Hoffman is not a public relations executive for companies he writes on (or their competitors) in The Gadget Reviews, and is not in conflict.

The review was first published on The Gadget Reviews