Hands on: Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus sits just above the Galaxy S20 but below the pricier S20 Ultra, offering a couple of bonuses over its smaller sibling but stopping short of the extravagance of the Ultra.

If you’re on the hunt for a new high-end phone from Samsung, then you have plenty of options courtesy of the new S20 range. Usually, the Plus variant would sit at the top; however, with the release of the Ultra, this is no longer the case. Instead, the Plus will prove the ideal model for those who want a larger screen, but perhaps aren’t fussed about having the absolute best of everything.

• Read our Samsung Galaxy S20 review: hands on

The S20 Plus matches the S20 in most areas – for an in-depth look at the latter device, read our Samsung Galaxy S20 review: hands on. Much of the features mentioned in that review apply to this device too, so here I’ll go over the main differences between the two handsets.

One of the most notable is that the S20 Plus is purely a 5G phone, with no 4G alternative available. As such, its price is higher than last year’s device at £999. You can pre-order the S20 Plus from today, with shipping commencing on March 13. Pre-order it now and you can bag yourself a free pair of Galaxy Buds Plus, which should nicely offset the lack of 3.5mm headphone port here.

Display

As you’d expect, the Plus version of the Galaxy S20 differentiates itself from the S20 with a larger 6.7-inch QHD+ OLED display. It’s a gorgeous panel, with a small cutout for the 10-megapixel selfie camera and an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor buried inside. The S20 series marks the first time Samsung has opted for a 120Hz refresh rate (up from the usual 60Hz) for a  much smoother look.

As had been rumoured, this faster refresh mode will only be usable when the resolution is set to FHD+; move things up to QHD+ and you’ll have to make do with 60Hz. As much as this is a shame, it seems that battery life would have been the casualty. Considering the poor reception to the endurance of the Google Pixel 4, I’m not surprised that Samsung has opted for this route.

Camera

Since it’s a larger phone, the S20 Plus has room inside for a bigger 4500mAh battery (complete with 25W wireless charging). There’s even room on the rear for an extra camera. The main three-camera array remains as is: 12-megapixel f/1.8 main, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, and 64-megapixel telephoto. However, also included is a DepthVision camera for 3D sensing. It seems this will come in handy when engaging Live Focus and for any AR tricks, too.

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That 64-megapixel telephoto camera is the most interesting of the trio, since it enables some zooming tricks. You can zoom 3x with Hybrid Optic zoom and out to 30x with Super Resolution zoom. However, to test how it actually performs in the real world, I’ll need more time with the S20 Plus – the demo room wasn’t the ideal place for this.

Other camera features include improved night photography, “Pro” video tools, and a wider array of video-recording options including 8K 30fps and 4K 120fps.

Specs

The S20 and S20 Plus are pretty like for life when it comes to the internals, too. Both run either an Exynos 990 (Europe) or Snapdragon 865 (USA); however, the Plus has a single 12GB of RAM option and storage of either 128GB or 512GB. MicroSD remains, plus Samsung says you can add an SD card up to 1TB in here.

• Read our Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review: hands on

Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus – Early Verdict

I can see the S20 Plus being the most popular of the new trio of the S20 devices, even though it lacks the full-blown spec-fest of the Ultra. It’s a decent size, its battery should comfortably get you through the day, and it’s purely a 5G device. 

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