Consumer Technology I got the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra over the weekend.

[Bacon]

This is the phone I had before. The S7 Active. 

This is what I have now. The black Note 20 ultra.

 

The note 20 is literally the third phone I have ever owned and it is a really nice upgrade. Now this is something I would have never bought myself, but my aunt wanted to upgrade my phone for my birthday/xmas. I wasn't that excited about the idea at first, but after looking up some of the phones that I had the option to choose from I got excited about the note 20. 

 

The Note 20 is a really nice phone. While I don't see myself using it often, the pen/stylus is actually nice. What I mean is that this is the most responsive digital writing device I have ever used. It legit is almost just like writing with a normal, but really thin, pen. Tho, the only other stylus' I have used were with the various Nintendo DS systems. 

 

When I first got a smartphone in 2016 there were other Samsung phones that had this type of full top to bottom and side to side screen, and I thought it was stupid. But wow is it nice having no bezel. Now, I may not feel this way if I didn't have a case as, in a way, the case I got is now providing the bezel. Before I got the case, my fat pillowy banana hands did occasionally cause some "miss clicks" so to speak. But man there is just so much screen now, it is awesome. 

 

Without the case the phone feels so thin, weak, and pathetic. I was totally babying the device because of how thin it was and I didn't want to break it. But damn is the design sleek as hell. Like, this phone feels like my first futuristic device. After wielding the Note 20 I understand a lot of complaints about the S7 Active. At the time, the S7 Active had the best battery life of all the phones, and when my previous phone was a sliding full keyboard phone I really didn't want to go full touch controls. I really liked that the S7 Active had physical home and back buttons. But wow do those buttons really get in the way of the aesthetics. I can't ever see myself going back to physical buttons.

 

Of course the phone feels way faster than my previous phone. It is a similar feeling to when I upgraded to my M.2 SSD but a bit lesser. Another thing that makes it feels faster is the 120Hz display. it is like getting my 144hz monitor all over again but, well, 120 instead of 144. I can't say much about the cameras except that the selfie cam is so much better. I always thought I looked distorted as hell with the S7 active's cam, but with the note 20 it feels much more like actually looking into a mirror. 

 

Honestly, this is the first time in a long while I have really enjoyed playing with new tech. Like not even Nintendo Switch was this much fun to just mess around with as I just plopped that sucker into the dock and it just became another console. I didn't even feel this way about the S7 active. I don't know, it just feels good to have this new piece of tech. Like, I wish there were actually good mobile games cuz I just want to play with my phone. Like, I have legit thought about downloading Final Fantasy IV just so I have a game to play on my phone. I had it on the DS but never beat it. 

 

Oh, also, this is the case I got after watching this video. 

[TwinIon]

That's a pretty huge upgrade. Congrats and enjoy the new phone.

 

 

I am slightly curious as to why you'd get the Note when you don't expect to use the stylus? There was a time when the Note line was unrivaled, but now the S20 Ultra is basically the same thing.

 

If you're looking to game on the phone and your internet is good enough I know Samsung has some special deal with MS for X Cloud. I forget what's special, but I know it's specifically well supported on the new Samsung devices. I've tried it out on my Pixel and it's impressive. Some people like controller add-ons like the Razer Kishi, but I'm pretty happy with simple controller clips. It's nice to have a full size controller to grab on to, and you can position the screen so it's in front of your hands, which I like. I haven't put too many hours into it, but I honestly prefer it over my switch for many things.

 

I've actually done more streaming from my PC than the cloud, but either way it's nifty to stream things while kinda watching something else on TV.

 

 

 

[Bacon]

32 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I am slightly curious as to why you'd get the Note when you don't expect to use the stylus? There was a time when the Note line was unrivaled, but now the S20 Ultra is basically the same thing.

1. I just wanted the pen cuz it is cool.

2. The Note20 is actually cheaper than the S20. 

[AlwaysDyingX]

I just picked up my Note 20 Ultra 

 

 

But too busy to even activate it until Christmas Eve 

[Bacon]

Obviously, the worst thing about the phone is no headphone jack and I don't have any wireless earbuds or a dongle. 

[Dre801]

Might be the last Note ever.

 

I'm still using a Note 9.

[Keyser_Soze]

Looking forward to sexy Bacon selfies now

[Bacon]

5 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Looking forward to sexy Bacon selfies now

As sexy as a beached whale that died 3 weeks ago. 

[DPCyric]

There are good mobile games but not many will take advantage of your phones power. Here is a list to get you started:

 

Langrisser

Arknights

Guardian Tales

Genshin Impact

Onmyoji Arena (might just want to wait for LoL Wild Rift at this point)

Raziel (might want to wait for Diablo Immortal)

Dead Cells

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Crying Sun's

Battle Chasers Night Wars

Crashlands

 

Plenty of other good free and paid games too if there is any gene your specifically looking for lmk maybe I can help.

 

Also of note if you get into gaming on it don't get the Razer Kishi it's a bit small for the Ultra. Get an Xbox controller with one of the Power A phone clips or wait for a Kishi XL or something similar.

 

Edit: Also don't forget Gamepass the phone you have is the ultimate Gamepass phone and has the best version of the app on the Samsung Galaxy app store.

 

 

[Bataar]

I'm still using my Galaxy S10+ right now. Next year, I may way to get a Note so I'll have a larger screen to use with Xbox Cloud Gaming. 

[Jason]

1 hour ago, Bataar said:

I'm still using my Galaxy S10+ right now. Next year, I may way to get a Note so I'll have a larger screen to use with Xbox Cloud Gaming. 

 

Isn't the screen size increase all just vertical now? Doesn't seem like it'd do anything for gaming. 

[DPCyric]

Another tip, I found typing on the 20 Ultra to be a pain the default keyboard sucks. I switched to the Typewise keyboard and it's the best phone keyboard I have used (both the beehive and traditional layout).

[BloodyHell]

Just got a Galaxy s20 Ultra, to replace my severely cracked screen on my iPhone X. I love it so far. The camera is excellent, screen is great, I'm impressed after having iPhone for the last 6 years. 

 

I also love that it's usbc. I hate lightning connectors, they always seem to become loose and finicky after while. Never had those problems with usbc.

 

Also, I got a set of Galaxy Buds+ for free with the phone, and I love them. 

[BloodyHell]

On 12/26/2020 at 4:30 PM, Jason said:

 

Isn't the screen size increase all just vertical now? Doesn't seem like it'd do anything for gaming. 

Yup. Far better off with the S series for gaming.

[Joe]

25 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Just got a Galaxy s20 Ultra, to replace my severely cracked screen on my iPhone X. I love it so far. The camera is excellent, screen is great, I'm impressed after having iPhone for the last 6 years. 

 

I also love that it's usbc. I hate lightning connectors, they always seem to become loose and finicky after while. Never had those problems with usbc.

 

Also, I got a set of Galaxy Buds+ for free with the phone, and I love them. 

 

I did the opposite switch for the first time in my life. I do think iphones are better than android phones, but the difference isn't as massive as I was led to believe.

[Jason]

8 hours ago, Joe said:

I did the opposite switch for the first time in my life. I do think iphones are better than android phones, but the difference isn't as massive as I was led to believe.

 

I think it comes down to whether or not Apple's UX decisions work for you tbh, and whether you're okay being locked into their default apps (I know they're improving that...slooooowly). I'm not nearly as big into customization as I used to be (like flashing custom ROMs levels of customization) but for me it comes down to I really do not like some of Apple's UX decisions, Samsung's skin has gotten infinitely better than it used to be, and stuff like widgets work like I've long come to expect them to.

[Joe]

12 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

I think it comes down to whether or not Apple's UX decisions work for you tbh, and whether you're okay being locked into their default apps (I know they're improving that...slooooowly). I'm not nearly as big into customization as I used to be (like flashing custom ROMs levels of customization) but for me it comes down to I really do not like some of Apple's UX decisions, Samsung's skin has gotten infinitely better than it used to be, and stuff like widgets work like I've long come to expect them to.

My S8+ was a positively wonderful phone so this wasn’t a huge leap by any stretch. Siri is just leaps and bounds better than Google Assistant or Bixby, but that could be siento the age of my phone, possibly. In general, this phone is just so much smoother. Plus, it restarts or powers on significantly faster than my S8. There are a couple Android things I miss, but it’s mostly nit picky: I need a back button and a notification bar ffs.

[Bacon]

6 minutes ago, Joe said:

Bixby

I don't even know what that is and it is on my Note20. I saw it a force stopped it. 

[Ominous]

Swiftkey keyboard (I think MS owns it now) is the best keyboard I've used for Android. 

 

[BloodyHell]

11 hours ago, Joe said:

My S8+ was a positively wonderful phone so this wasn’t a huge leap by any stretch. Siri is just leaps and bounds better than Google Assistant or Bixby, but that could be siento the age of my phone, possibly. In general, this phone is just so much smoother. Plus, it restarts or powers on significantly faster than my S8. There are a couple Android things I miss, but it’s mostly nit picky: I need a back button and a notification bar ffs.

My s20 is definitely as fast as my iPhone X. I was actually impressed at how fast it boots up.

[BloodyHell]

11 hours ago, Bacon said:

I don't even know what that is and it is on my Note20. I saw it a force stopped it. 

I haven't used it, but I think it's just Samsung's Siri.

[DPCyric]

16 hours ago, Ominous said:

Swiftkey keyboard (I think MS owns it now) is the best keyboard I've used for Android. 

 

 

Have you tried TypeWise yet?

[Bacon]

56 minutes ago, DPCyric said:

Have you tried TypeWise yet?

I did, but you gotta pay for vibration with their pro shit. Yeah, lol, never using that. Also when it comes to typing, I despise it when numbers are not also on the same page as the letters. I don't want that extra step to input numbers. A bunch of devices do that shit and I hate it. 

 

I will admit that there is a lot of quality shit built into the app, but that you gotta pay for basic features and the numbers thing, I just gotta pass. But man, that backspace feature is awesome. 

[DPCyric]

4 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I did, but you gotta pay for vibration with their pro shit. Yeah, lol, never using that. Also when it comes to typing, I despise it when numbers are not also on the same page as the letters. I don't want that extra step to input numbers. A bunch of devices do that shit and I hate it. 

 

I will admit that is a lot of quality shit built into the app, but that you gotta pay to basic features and the numbers thing, I just gotta pass. But man, that backspace feature is awesome. 

 

The backspace is crazy good I even catch myself trying to use it in other places (like the lock screen lol). However if having the numbers without switching is that important for you it's totally a death knell for it (I think the backspace is a fair tradeoff for the vibration).

[Joe]

6 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

My s20 is definitely as fast as my iPhone X. I was actually impressed at how fast it boots up.

 

Yeah admittedly it's pretty unfair of me to compare my brand new Iphone to my 4 year old S8+. The fact that it wasn't a massive leap just shows how well-made Samsung phones are in the past few years.