Samsung Unveils Galaxy S20 Smartphones With 5G Connectivity, New Cameras, $1,000 to $1,400 Price Range and More

[M3gatron]

12-16GB RAM? How pathetic that your mobile OS needs more RAM than a full-blown desktop OS (like Win 10) to run properly.

Interesting. So because Samsung chose to put 16GB in their phone it means that the OS actually need 16GB and it's pathetic? This logic of accusing Samsung, that it's given their users more hardware resources is quite strange to say the least. I think it's the jealousy talking. This is why so many users here resorted to 2014 style high megapixel camera hate comments, even if Samsung is using an all new camera sensor tech with pixel binning.

Anyway of course Android doesn't need 16GB to run properly. It doesn't even specifically need 8GB to run properly.

Also it's not 16GB of 2019 RAM, it's the first mobile phone to use the new generation of faster and more efficient low power RAM. Even the 8GB regular S20 should see some decent performance improvements from the faster LPDDR5 RAM. So it's not just about the quantity.

 

[waquzy]

Why do people on hate on Samsung so bad geez calm down they’re both good I’m using an iPhone XR and I still think the s20 looks cool

I’m using the SE and as good as all the S20’s look, they are just way too big and unpractical for me

 

[rjohnstone]

Just in time for android 11!

It's a second tier midrange Galaxy.
I don't ever expect it to get updated like my iPhone XS.

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

What do you mean ?

I mean that my iPad Pro has 2732-by-2048-pixel resolution... that is the resolution whether it is running at a default 120hz as I smoothly slide from screen to screen, or through pictures- or whether it has lowered the refresh rate to save battery, while I’m viewing a static screen for extended periods of time. There is no resolution “trickery” going on. The resolution is constant.
This is fundamentally different than Samsung’s 120hz implementation, which is NOT default (default is half that), & to ramp up to the normal iPad Pro refresh rate, Samsung’s method must 1st decrease the resolution.

 

[nburwell]

Yikes, and I thought the 11/11 Pro rear cameras were hideous (albeit I have gotten used to my 11 Pro camera). Nice work, Samsung?

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

It's a second tier midrange Galaxy.
I don't ever expect it to get updated like my iPhone XS.

* laughs in iPhone 6S running 13.3.1 *

 

[Ds6778]

Meh. Samsung always makes decent looking hardware. Why anyone would pay these prices is beyond me. Just wait a week and they will be buy one get three free.

 

[Moonlight]

It has focused definition, meaning it can decide to select parts of your image, focus on it and make it look sharper.

Wut?

 

[Someirishguy]

It's obviously not the prettiest phone but please do tell how is the iPhone any better than this??

The software, especially integration across different devices.

 

[Abazigal]

At the end of the day, I don’t see this upsetting the status quo. I doubt the S20 is going to entice many existing iPhone users to switch. Meanwhile, Samsung continues to lack a cohesive software and services ecosystem, and they will find themselves sandwiched between cheaper android handsets and Apple having aggregated the best customers (which in turn means fewer customers willing to pay their asking prices for these phones).

Sales will continue to be abysmal, and if you do want one, it can’t hurt to wait a few months for the phone to be significantly discounted.

The market right now does not need innovation, it needs compromise.

 

[RamGuy]

It's really hard to judge this release at all before we get some review's. This is reminiscent of the good old days where the logic was higher number equals better.

I have a really hard time seeing the point of having a 108 MP camera with such as small lens and sensor? What exactly is new and different this time around compared to years ago when compact camera manufactures had the same megapixel race that proved to not improving quality whatsoever? Have mobile phone lenses and sensors become that good that bumping the megapixel count to 108 is starting to make sense?

It's pretty much the same with 5G. Every single example they had during the presentation to argue for why 5G is such a big deal didn't have anything to do with 5G. It's not like video calls, gaming and streaming is not working perfectly using LTE already. Especially for video calls and streaming, what exactly is better using 5G instead of LTE? Will the video calls suddenly start utilising immense amounts of bandwidth making LTE too slow? Will streaming suddenly be starting to offer 4K streams to your phone and if so what benefit do I really have on my tiny phone display? And all this will just demolish my data cap in no time. They made such a horrible job at providing any example of why 5G matters at all at this point in time.

Sure having 5G makes your phone more "future-proof" if you are going to keep your phone for 3+ years. But the examples was just horrible. None of them had anything that made sense in-terms of 5G being better when compared to LTE.

The only real improvement here seems to be the 120Hz display, but like most Android phones with a 120Hz they didn't really mention how and when it's going to be utilised. So will the display mostly run in 60Hz or will your everyday use actually benefit? Without this information it's hard to really tell how much of an improvement it provides.


I'm sure the camera's will be better than before. But all the arguments for 100x zoom and 108 MP doesn't really tells us anything other than Samsung going back to "bigger is better". Feels like they don't have any real improvements or anything new to add so they are just going all in on making everything looks better in the marketing. We need review's to be able to judge if it has any real improvements in actual use.


And what's the point with 8K video recording? They claim you can use Samsung Anycat to cast 8K video directly to your TV. How so? The WiFi in Samsung televisions is maxing out at 867 mbps in a best-case scenario. That equals 108 megabytes per second. That's before you take any kind of interference, range etc into consideration. In a real-life scenario you will have a really hard time being able to push more than tops 50 megabytes per seconds at best. Do they claim that the 8K video recording is compressed to below 50 megabytes per second? So the bandwidth for 8K video recording is mostly the same as for 4K video recording? How won't this get bandwidth starved?

And why make such a huge deal about 8K video recording and directly communication with YouTube, and how you are live streaming using the Galaxy S20 and still the stream is only in 1080P? Don't they realise how stupid that looks? Why brag about all of this, the close integration with Google and YouTube and still your very own live stream using the Galaxy S20 doesn't offer anything beyond 1080P? Like come on now..

 

[and 1989 others]

This camera bump thing is getting way out of control.

 

[Lozza013]

Welp Cloud Pink isn't 5g for Aus (is it elsewhere?), though rollout is slowly building for Aus and Telstra want +$15 on lower plans, I'm not bothered not having it.

I expect Telstra to drop that stupid $15 charge by next year.

 

[M3gatron]

* laughs in iPhone 6S running 13.3.1 *

Well the A50 when it launched last year it was cheaper in Europe than a brand new 16GB iphone 6s so I don't see what's so funny.
The Galaxy A50 was design and priced as a budget phone from the beginning and it's getting Android 10 in less than a year from it's launch. How is that bad?

 

[rjohnstone]

It's not just a visual framework. It's their own OS (obviously borrowing heavily from Google). For example, Google's Android does not support S-pen (on phones) or memory cards, IR blasters and a lot of other hardware and features used by Samsung.

You're still wrong.
Samsung does not fork their OS from AOSP.

Pop open any Samsung Galaxy and look at the About section. It's Android.
Drop into the file system... it's Android.

Apparently you do not know how Android works. The framework design allows for modularity from different vendors to add support for hardware and visual elements. The core is all Google and that is why Samsung can push out security updates at the same pace as Google.

Hell Samsung beat Google on pushing out the January security update.
How? Because even Google uses some proprietary frameworks for Pixels devices and the security patch broke them.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Well the A50 when it launched last year it was cheaper in Europe than a brand new 16GB iphone 6s so I don't see what's so funny.
The Galaxy A50 was design and priced as a budget phone from the beginning and it's getting Android 10 in less than a year from it's launch. How is that bad?

Sorry, I don't pay attention to how ridiculous the cellphone market looks outside of the US.

 

[torana355]

At the end of the day, I don’t see this upsetting the status quo. I doubt the S20 is going to entice many existing iPhone users to switch. Meanwhile, Samsung continues to lack a cohesive software and services ecosystem, and they will find themselves sandwiched between cheaper android handsets and Apple having aggregated the best customers (which in turn means fewer customers willing to pay their asking prices for these phones).

Sales will continue to be abysmal, and if you do want one, it can’t hurt to wait a few months for the phone to be significantly discounted.

The market right now does not need innovation, it needs compromise.

I do agree the prices are out of control, I'll be sticking with my Note 10 for at least another year. I don't buy into the Apple vs Samsung vs Android nonsense, each platform and brand has its positives and negatives and competition drives the market forward. However 1400 for a phone is pushing it irrespective of the brand.

 

[rjohnstone]

* laughs in iPhone 6S running 13.3.1 *

Touche'

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Also, adoptable storage is still garbage. I buy Apple's highest capacity phones for a reason (and not because there isn't an SD Card slot for water and dust to get in through).

When SD card is in the same slot as the SIM card, how is this an issue?

 

[AustinIllini]

How long have Apple users been waiting for a Mail app that works?

Well, we've had the App store for a decade plus so....

...not very long?

 

[rjohnstone]

Well the A50 when it launched last year it was cheaper in Europe than a brand new 16GB iphone 6s so I don't see what's so funny.
The Galaxy A50 was design and priced as a budget phone from the beginning and it's getting Android 10 in less than a year from it's launch. How is that bad?

I paid $249 for a 64GB A50. Not bad for a backup phone.

 

[Royksöpp]

A Samsung phone is bad investment and I would not recommend them to anyone.

 

[itsmilo]

A Samsung phone with iOS would be amazing

 

[AustinIllini]

A Samsung phone with iOS would be amazing

So basically an iPhone with a design similar to Samsung.

 

[omontalvan]

In terms of looks? In every single way.

At the same price point, I'll choose the iPhone EVERY time.

You mean the phone that has been around for 3 years that still sports a big ass notch and that looks exactly the same as the latest iPhone??... In other words, at that price point if a phone looks pretty to you then that's it?

I am not an Apple fan or Samsung/Android fan but I will always take functionality over aesthetics any day. At least lately, Samsung has been trying to come up and is at least listening to consumers.