Samsung unveiled a new flagship line on February 11. On March 13, sales of the Galaxy S20, S20 + and S20 Ultra will start in Russia. Smartphones can already be pre-ordered on the official website. The cheapest modification of the S20 will cost users 70 thousand rubles and already with it, users have access to a screen with an increased refresh rate of 120 Hz. The innovation is one of the main reasons to buy Samsung's new flagship.
Does 120Hz affect the running time of the Galaxy S20 Ultra?
Disadvantages of the Galaxy S20 Ultra
Of course, it was not without its drawbacks. For example, the 120Hz mode is available only at FullHD resolution, and in some situations, the smartphone can independently turn off the increased screen frequency. This applies when the battery heats up to 42 degrees. This usually happens in games, so it's not entirely clear how the S20 will perform at increased frame rates even in supported applications. If the smartphone is not so good in terms of heat dissipation, why release such a gadget to the market? And if the device heats up at a frequency of 120 Hz under load, then what is the use of an increased frequency if the games are likely to be standard 60 Hz? Besides, what is the need for QHD-resolution if the phone heats up with the increased frequency? If you don't quite understand why you need a screen with an increased frequency, you should read our recent material on this topic.
By the way, the S20 allows you to shoot video in 8K quality, and it is limited to 5 minutes due to thermal problems. Probably, modern processors have already reached the point where it is necessary to think more carefully about the cooling system. Many sources report that the heat dissipation of the Snapdragon 865 is 5W, the same as the Snapdragon 855, so it is not entirely clear why Samsung is having problems with this. Perhaps not a very good design, which is not designed for loads in the form of a 120 Hz screen.
120 Hz frequency consumes battery power
The autonomy of the phone in this mode will not please many either. Our colleagues from phonearena tested the device, according to which the S20 Ultra lasted 12 hours and 23 minutes in 60 Hz mode, and only 10 hours and 2 minutes with 120 Hz screen refresh. The difference is 2 hours and 20 minutes. If translated into percent, we get about 20%, which is quite significant.
The tests were carried out in an optimized mode, and in both cases, FullHD-resolution was used, since, as we wrote above, the device does not support 120 Hz at QHD.
Galaxy Note 10, for example, at 60 frames runs on a single battery charge for 11 hours and 37 minutes. This is worse than the S20 at 60Hz, but noticeably better than the S20 at 120Hz.
Is 120Hz screen just marketing?
Now an interesting question arises. But will users really activate an increased frequency, which turns off during load and consumes battery power noticeably faster? For example, I am not ready to give up 2.5 hours of using the device for the sake of greater smoothness. These are not the numbers that the average user is willing to sacrifice. And even if he does not know about the specific numbers, in practice you can easily understand that in this mode the phone will sit down noticeably faster.
Galaxy S20 Ultra specifications
- Display: 6.9 inches, QHD, Dynamic AMOLED, Gorilla Glass 6, HDR10, 120Hz
- Processor: Snapdragon 865 / Exynos 990
- Memory: 128/256/512 GB of internal and 8/12/16 GB of RAM
- Camera: 108MP + 48MP periscope + 12MP ultrawide + 0.3MP ToF
- Battery: 5000mAh, 45W, 15W wireless charging, 9W reverse charging
How many points does the Galaxy S20 Ultra score in AnTuTu?
In AnTuTu, Galaxy S20 Ultra scores over 500 thousand points. The testing process can be studied in the video below:
Buy Galaxy S20 Ultra
At the time of this writing, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is not available for sale, but it can be purchased through the Samsung official website. The device in Russia is sold only in a modification with 128 gigabytes of internal memory and 12 gigabytes of RAM for 100 thousand rubles.
I propose to discuss the issue of the S20 battery consumption at a refresh rate of 120 Hz in the comments to this publication. Also, do not forget to read our news in Yandex Zen.