Samsung is still offering a default resolution of Full HD+ (2220 x 1080), which looks more than sharp enough for most tasks, and saves battery; you’ll need to head into the settings to switch to the higher resolution. Alas, Samsung seems to have taken a pared-down approach when it comes to the Galaxy S20’s design. In an era of foldable phones, the S20 lineup looks rather utilitarian in comparison, with the usual chrome-tinted edges – which still look nice by the way – and pearlescent finishes on the rear glass panel failing to offer anything particularly new or groundbreaking. It’s a positive result overall, allowing for 3x lossless zoom that’s the best we’ve seen on a smartphone so far. There’s also 30x digital zoom if you need it, and while this isn’t lossless we found it to be useful in some scenarios. The main camera, which remains 12MP, has an f/1.8 aperture. That’s theoretically inferior to the S10’s f/1.5 + f/2.4 dual aperture, which changes to suit the lighting conditions with the ‘wider’ f/1.5 setting pulling in more light for improved low-light shots.

Samsung Galaxy S20 review | TechRadar Samsung Galaxy S20 review | TechRadar

Another highlight of the Galaxy S20 is its 4,000mAh battery. It’s larger than the cell in the S10, and we’ve found the battery life to be strong with typical use – this phone isn’t going to last you much longer than one day of normal use, but what smartphone does? Here’s the bad news: there’s no Galaxy S10e sequel (that was the smallest, and cheapest, of the S20 range) to offer those with smaller hands a 5.8-inch display size.This is the case with a lot of flagship phones now, and while it may disappoint some, the feature is less of a deal-breaker with more and more of us using wireless and true-wireless headphone and earbuds – and of course Samsung has you covered with its own Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds Plus. If you do decide to shoot in 8K, you can hit the camera button when you're recording to take a 33MP still image. This should be useful if you want a high-quality snap while you're already filming video.

Samsung Galaxy S20 review: Cheapest and the best - Expert Reviews Samsung Galaxy S20 review: Cheapest and the best - Expert Reviews

Where Samsung really comes into its own, however, is in the S20’s zooming capabilities, with what it calls ‘Space Zoom’. This is a silly marketing phrase, of course, but the S20 is capable of using a combination of optical and AI-digital techniques to magnify up to 30x. For the record, the much more expensive Galaxy S20 Ultra is capable of delivering 100x zoom. Instead, If you directly compare with the next phone along the price spectrum – the Galaxy S20 Plus – then you might spot that the experience remains largely the same. Aside from the size and battery differences – as well as an option for 4G – the Galaxy S20 uses a near-identical combination of internal components. That’s the new Exynos 990 processor, 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage, if you weren’t aware. If you need the ultimate in zoom capability the Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with a game-changing 100x zoom, but it’s unlikely that you’ll find much use for that in everyday shooting, and we found 30x to be more than enough.The S20 is scoring far higher than the S10 5G from 2019, which returned an average result of 2197, and the OnePlus 7T Pro, which scored 2584. These scores won’t mean a lot for the average user, but it’s a positive result for the Galaxy S20, and we found that it was reflected in day to day use. The Galaxy S20 also comes in either 8GB or 12GB of RAM variants, with the option to pay a little more for 5G connectivity. There’s no choice when it comes to storage, but the 128GB of onboard space can at least be upgraded up to a further 1TB via microSD if required.