Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Review – Is it an Update or a Downgrade?

Is the new Samsung Galaxy Note20 Worth the Money?

Our Verdict

The Galaxy Note 20 is Samsung’s latest smartphone for 2020, but it doesn’t look the part. It doesn’t have the oomph that Samsung Note fans usually look forward to. Well, it is less pricey than it’s Samsung 20 Ultra brother, the right choice for Note enthusiasts that are on a budget.

PROS

• High Camera Specifications
• Enhanced S Pen

CONS

• Doesn’t have Curved edge
• Strangely low-quality screen specifications.

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 is the youngest of the Galaxy Note Series this year. Strangely, it lacks a few specifications and features when compared with other top-end Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which launched around the same time with it.

This entry-level Note doesn’t feel or/and look as impressive, but if you are looking for a high-end smartphone with a good camera at a slightly lower price than the Note 20 Ultra, then this might be the Note for you.

What are you going to get? You will get 5 G (for some market, there is a 4G version), S pen stylus, and the latest tech chipset that you can ever find in any Android phone.

Listen to the highlights yourself. The video below gives some highlights of the launch of the Samsung Note 20:

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Date of release and initial price.

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 was launched together with the Note 20 Ultra and several other devices on Wednesday the 5th August at a Virtual event. You can now pre-order the phone from Samsung in Great Britain and Australia. In the USA, the pre-order will go live a day after the launch.

Most of the pre-order done in the month were delivered on Friday, 21st August. Samsung awarded those who pre-ordered. They were given an Xbox Game Pass Subscription or a pair of Galaxy Buds Live free depending on your location.

Of the Notes launched on 5th August, the Galaxy Note 20 is more affordable, but not necessarily cheap. It costs about USD 1,180 for the one with 5G and 256GB internal storage, and USD 715 for the one with an internal storage of 128GB.

The 4G-only option is not available in the United States, but for USD 1,073, you can get one in Australia and the United Kingdom. Note 20 is much more affordable than the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, although both are equally pricey.

Display & Design

If you have ever owned a Note Phone, then you are aware of the large real estate (screen size) and the luxurious feel of the Galaxy Note 20. This one comes with a 6.7-inch display, which is slightly larger than that of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Surprisingly, the Note 20 display is a downgrade from the Galaxy Note 10 that was released last year. Note 20’s screen is not curved like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10’s screen. Instead, the screen is flat at the top with the screen touching the edges from left to the right.

Another surprising thing is that the display of Galaxy Note 20 only features a standard 60 Hz refresh rate display. This is very unfortunate because its peers like the Galaxy S20 phones and the sibling Note 20 Ultra have been upgraded to a refresh rate of 120Hz.

This means that the window refresh rate is quicker on other phones. The refresh rate is an essential factor in smartphones nowadays. It provides for a crisp gaming experience or when scrolling through apps and social media feeds. You may not notice the difference until you use a smartphone with a display that has a refresh rate of 120Hz. This is a significant omission by Samsung for such a high-end phone.

The display does not look as good as the QHD Galaxy S20 series, but it is good enough for watching your movies and music videos. The display for Samsung Note 20 is a failure if you consider the significant strides that Samsung has made in screen technology. With the range of high-end TVs and other smartphones that Samsung has made, you would expect a better display than this.


The phone’s design is luxurious, with flat metal edges compared to the predecessor models. The flat edges mean you don’t have the look and feel of curved edges. A feature that some people love. Not everybody liked the curved edge design that comes with the latest line of Samsung phones.

Samsung Note 20’s Back feels a little like ceramic in your hand, but it’s simply a brushed effect over the Samsung calls ‘Galasstic.’ Hence, the back of the phone is not exclusively glass. Samsung said that it is made of Polycarbonate.

You have three colour choices for the Galaxy Note 20, with the latest groundbreaking flagship colour called Mystic Bronze. There is Mystic Grey and Mystic Green as well. But if these two colour option doesn’t impress you, Samsung has promised to release more colours, just as they have done for the past models.

The Stylus is held on the body of the Note 20, but it has been shifted from the right side – which we are used to in past Note phones. It is now placed on the left side. If you are a Note user, you will often find yourself trying to pull the Stylus from the right side.

The S Pen for Note 20 has been significantly improved. New gestures have been introduced on the Stylus to communicate better with the phone. The accuracy and sensitivity of the S Pen have been enhanced for a realistic experience.

The ‘Air Gesture’ feature of the S Pen is exciting. It allows you to navigate your apps, and you can even capture the screen using the Spen. This is a feature that I didn’t find useful.

You can now record audio notes with the S Pen while writing notes. The Stylus will sync what is being said as you write on the screen. This, in turn, provides an interactive timeline for the recording.

Battery and Camera

The Galaxy Note 20 has an impressive camera, just like the Galaxy S20 and S20 plus. The rear camera consists of a 12MP f/1.8 primary, 64 Megapixel telephoto, and an ultra-wide 12 Megapixel camera.

The primary camera is not as strong as the 108 Megapixel shooter found on the Note 20 Ultra – it is just the same as the main camera on the Galaxy S20 and S20 Ultra.

The Note 20 comes with a 10 Megapixel Selfie camera. It is centrally located at the top,  with the lens hidden in a small pin-hole. If you don’t like notches on your phone, then this is a well-finished front for you.

Note 20 does not have the Ultra’s zoom camera. It zooms ideally 3x by cropping the centre of the 64MP sensor.

The Note 20 comes with a 4300 mAH battery, which will keep your phone on with full functionalities for the whole day.

The phone supports 25W fast charging. Unlike the Galaxy s20 Ultra and Note 10 Plus, it doesn’t support the 45W fast charger. Whereas you can charge your phone faster, you will not use the fasters technology available.

The good thing is that Note 20 supports 15W fast wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Performance and Applications

The Galaxy Note 20 is made of top-notch chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 856 plus for the USA version and Exynos 990 for the United Kingdom version and the rest of the markets. The processor speed will be supported by an 8GB RAM to ramp up the performance.

The base model will come with 128 GB (US) or 256 GB (UK) storage. These configurations seem to be regionally based and cannot be changed or downgraded upon purchase.

Do you want the best Samsung phone with the best internet configurations? The Galaxy Note 20 is the phone of the future. It features super-fast internet speeds, thanks to its 5G feature. But this privilege is limited to specific regions. In the UK, you will be able to pick either 4G or 5G version, depending on your budget.

The US versions will only have the 5G Galaxy Note 20, and it will pack sub-6 5G (AT&T and T-Mobile), or both Sub-6 and the even faster mmWave 5G Antennae (Verizon and probably the unlocked Galaxy Note 20 in the US).

The device runs on Android’s 10 Operating System with Samsung’s One UI 2.5 overlay above the screen that makes it look identical to the Samsung phone you have now. It is not far from the android that is a feature in other mid-range phones.

We would expect the Note 20 to be updated to Android 11 or later. But it seems Samsung is not in a hurry to update its phones.

Despite the shortcomings, Note 20 remains a good budget phone with a stellar performance in terms of speed.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Note standard is not the top phone on the Samsung brand new phones. After the Plus models were introduced by Samsung last year, and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra this year, the Galaxy Note 20 doesn’t measure to their level but remains a decent choice.

Galaxy Note 20 is the right phone for you if you want a smartphone that has an S-Pen Stylus, a big screen, and does not leave a dent in your wallet.

However, if you want the very best that Samsung can offer and have some money to spend, Check out the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or any of the Galaxy S20 variety.

Rumours suggest that Samsung could launch an S21 smartphone next year. Rumours have it that the smartphone will have an S Pen; this means that Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra is the last of the Note series smartphone. This may not be a good thing for the Note lovers.

In summary, we see that the basic Note 20 has unique luxurious features but is lacking in terms of specifications and design. Lack of a MicroSD card slot may not be received well by some Note fanatics.