Hands-On, 120 Hz Display, Battery Performance
Contents
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra : Hands-On Experience
In this exclusive video, we present to you our hands-on experience of the Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone in both colour options – Cosmic Black, and Cosmic Gray!
Samsung removed the dedicated Bixby button, so the only buttons you will find are the Volume control and Power buttons along the right edge.
The hybrid SIM tray is located at the top, with a second microphone that is used for noise cancellation.
Like the Galaxy Note 10, the Galaxy S20 Ultra no longer has the 3.5 mm audio jack. So you will only find the USB Type C connector at the bottom, flanked by the speaker and main microphone ports.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra does not come with an internal DAC, so you will need to use the provided USB Type C earphones, or purchase a USB-C audio adaptor with a built-in DAC.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra : 120 Hz Display
One of the new features introduced in the Galaxy S20 Ultra is a 120 Hz refresh rate for its Super AMOLED display.
Doubling the refresh rate to 120 Hz allows for smoother scrolling and a more realistic gaming experience.
However, running the display at 120 Hz will reduce the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s battery life.
The display not only refreshes twice as often, the GPU has to work twice as hard.
This is why Samsung sets the display to 60Hz by default.
To ensure it will last a long time, Samsung gave it a very large 5,000 mAh battery. The corresponding Galaxy S10 Plus from last year only has a 4,100 mAh battery in comparison.
On top of that, the S20 Ultra supports 45 watt fast charging, although it only comes with a 25 watt fast charger out to the box.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra : Battery Life!
We ran the PCMark Work 2.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, with the display set to 60Hz and 120Hz. Here were the best results we obtained :
So there you have it – increasing the display refresh rate on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra from 60Hz to 120Hz will reduce its battery life by about 21% or roughly 2.5 hours.
| Work 2.0 | Black Shark 2 Pro | Galaxy S20 Ultra (60 Hz) | Galaxy Note10+ | Galaxy S10+ | Galaxy S20 Ultra (120 Hz) |
| Battery Capacity | 4,000 mAh | 5,000 mAh | 4,300 mAh | 4,100 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
| Battery Life | 12 hours 25 mins | 11 hours 32 mins | 10 hours 32 mins | 10 hours 17 mins | 9 hours 4 mins |
| Battery Utilisation | 4.30 mAh / min. | 5.78 mAh / min. | 5.44 mAh / min. | 5.32 mAh / min. | 7.35 mAh / min. |
| Review Links | Black Shark 2 Pro | Galaxy Note10+ | Galaxy S10+ | ||
| Price Check | UK | MY | SG | AU | US | UK | MY | SG | AU | US | UK | MY | US | UK | MY | US | UK | MY | SG | AU |
Now we can see why Samsung set the display to 60Hz by default. If battery life is important, keep it at the default refresh rate of 60Hz.
But if you prefer to enjoy the 120Hz display, go on right ahead. Thanks to its large 5,000 mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra will last you quite a few hours!
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra : Recharging Speed
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra supports 45 watt fast charging, but only comes with a 25 watt fast charger. Let’s find out just how fast it recharges its 5,000 mAh battery.
| Galaxy S20 Ultra | Galaxy Note10+ | Black Shark 2 Pro | Galaxy S10+ | |
| Battery Capacity | 5,000 mAh | 4,300 mAh | 4,000 mAh | 4,100 mAh |
| Charger Output | 25 watts | 25 watts | 27 watts | 15 watts |
| Recharging Time | 57.5 minutes | 63 minutes | 67 minutes | 91.6 minutes |
| Recharging Speed | 69.6 mAh / min. | 54.6 mAh / min. | 47.8 mAh / min. | 35.8 mAh / min. |
| Review Links | Galaxy Note10+ | Black Shark 2 Pro | Galaxy S10+ | |
| Price Check | US | UK | MY | SG | AU | US | UK| MY | UK | MY | SG | AU | US | UK | MY |
Impressive! Even with the same 25 watt fast charger that shipped with the Galaxy Note10+, the Galaxy S20 Ultra recharged its battery 27.5% faster!
It has an excellent battery life : recharging ratio of 12:1. A general rule of thumb – for one of hour battery life, you just need to charge it for 5 minutes.
The fastest recharging happened up to the 85% level. This took just 37 minutes. Then the recharging speed slowed down, and it took a further 20.5 minutes to top up the last 15%.
Next Page > Work + Gaming Performance, RAM + Storage
Support Tech ARP!
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
