Every Samsung presentation reminds me of a challenge. In my opinion, Koreans simply set themselves the goal of surpassing competitors in the senselessness of innovations and the high cost of new smartphones. And how else to explain the fact that from year to year they release devices with incredible amounts of RAM, which will never be useful to them, because their support will stop long before software with such requirements appears, cameras with a hundred megapixels, the potential of which is not even revealed half, and chips like reverse chargers that no one uses? Therefore, there was clearly no need to wait for exceptions. Especially from the Galaxy Note 20.
Calm, only calm
Samsung today unveiled two new Galaxy Note smartphones: the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra. The devices turned out to be very sophisticated, but at the same time too contradictory. Therefore, we will quickly dwell on the characteristics and move on to impressions.
Galaxy Note 20 specifications
This is Galaxy Note 20. New from Samsung, which turned out to be a smaller flagship than the S20
- Display: 6.7 and 6.9 inches depending on the model;
- Processor: Exynos 990 for Russia and Snapdragon 865+ for the USA;
- Camera: 64/108 Mp
- RAM: 8/12 GB
- Memory: 256/512 GB
- Battery: 4300/4500 mAh
- Price: 79 990/99 990 rubles
To begin with, we – that is, buyers from Russia – were given a flagship, but clearly second-rate. Unlike the American version, the hardware base of which is the top-end Snapdragon 865+ processor, the Russian Galaxy Note 20 is equipped with an old Exynos 990, which first debuted at the beginning of the year in the Galaxy S20. Yes, this is still the flagship stone, but the performance of the 865+ will clearly be higher, and it will also have better energy efficiency. In general, a shame.
Is it the Galaxy Note 20. Or the Galaxy Note 10? I'm confused because they look so much alike
The operating system was cut in comparison with the Galaxy S20 – at least in the top-end modifications. If the S20 Ultra had 12/16 GB, then for the Note 20 this gradation dropped to 8/12. I would not say that I was very upset because of this, after all, 12 and even more so 16 gigs today are banal to apply. But against the general background, such a downgrade looks somehow weak-willed, indicating that Samsung, generally speaking, understands the dead-end of the bar once taken, and realizes that its destiny is budget smartphones.
Should you buy the Galaxy Note 20
From a design point of view, smartphones are not to be found fault with. From the front they look very modern, and from the back they are extremely minimalistic. This miniism is provided to them by a newly designed three-chamber module, which was inserted into a rectangular head. Korean designers did not flirt with the roundness characteristic of Chinese devices, but did it in their own way. It turned out simple and impressive.
Samsung has improved the Galaxy Note 20 camera, overclocked the S Pen, but overall it's not a fundamental difference
But with the materials of execution Samsung let us down, at least in relation to the younger version. While the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is made of metal and Gorilla Glass 7, the body of the classic Note 20 is made of some kind of glass and plastic mixture, which is ingratiatingly called 'glastic'. I don't know what's with the strength, but it feels like the whole thing is ordinary plastic and from a conceptual point of view it leaves the impression of trying to save money. In general, to get high, holding a new smartphone in hand, now it will turn out only with the most expensive version for a hundred thousand rubles.
Do the new products have any advantages? Well, there are definitely no ones that no one was expecting and that could really surprise. Yes, the Koreans accelerated the S Pen, reducing its response time to 8ms, yes, they renamed the Galaxy Note 20+ to Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and even clocked the resolution of its camera to 108MP. But, frankly, the thing that they are trying to pass off as perfection itself is some kind of triviality, which I would not buy and would not advise you. Take the Note 10 better. At least it costs adequate money.