Galaxy Note 20 Ultra – SomeGadgetGuy

December 2, 2020

The End of the Galaxy Note: The right time to say goodbye?

It makes me sad to lose a phone that focuses on productivity.

The Note has long been the crown jewel example of Android specialty hardware. Samsung built up this product line to represent the bleeding edge of mobile tech. It’s rightfully the first phone many consider when they need to really work while on the go.

But in light of increasing compromises, does the Note still have a place in the smartphone landscape? Is the niche of “stylus enabled” worth the loss of battery capacity?

Maybe it’s the right time to let it go? Continue reading “The End of the Galaxy Note: The right time to say goodbye?”

November 17, 2020

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Camera Conclusion: A STEEP price for RAW capability…

Note 20 Ultra Camera Conclusion!

A BIG phone with BIG cameras and a BIG price tag! Expectations are always high for a Note. This has historically been Samsung’s crown jewel workhorse phone.

Following the S20 Ultra, and selling at a PREMIUM tier, what should we expect from this camera hardware? Samsung says this phone is “pro grade”, so let’s see that in action! Continue reading “Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Camera Conclusion: A STEEP price for RAW capability…”

October 26, 2020

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: The case for SPECIALTY Hardware

This is an interesting position for me to be in. As an overall brand, I’m not the biggest fan of Samsung these days.

I feel they buy their market position more than they earn it. They pour advertising dollars into media to sway consumer behavior and manipulate search engine popularity algorithms. They set a toxic tone of mocking rivals in their ads, but quickly copy those same rivals when it benefits their profits. They were one of the higher profile phone manufacturers caught cheating benchmarks back in the day, and likely copied Apple’s update policy of slowing down older phones. As a corporation, they’ve abused their market position to inflate prices on components. Their PR has been the most punitive I’ve ever worked with (and failed to work with), over several media publications.

While I appreciate individual products, I don’t like Samsung as a company.

Which is why it feels funny writing a defense for one of their most expensive phones. I’m not the guy for this job, but I’ll try my best.

The Note 20 Ultra is a great phone at a very good price. Continue reading “Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: The case for SPECIALTY Hardware”

October 20, 2020

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra By The Benchmarks: Samsung’s Fastest is PRETTY Good for the Price…

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is a beast of a phone.

For 2020, we can call this slab “Peak Samsung”. A prime example of a company pushing its current manufacturing to the limits, and delivering the absolute best “standard” form factor smartphone it can. The Note has a rich history of being the crown jewel enthusiast and productivity device.

We can’t overlook however, the Note 20 Ultra also starts at $1299.99 for 128GB of storage. For that price we should expect the bleeding edge of technology, and a spec sheet packed full of premium-tier exotic options.

Samsung doesn’t disappoint for spec sheet junkies in the United States. Including a Snapdragon 865+ chipset, UFS3.0 storage, and 12GB of RAM, the Note should be leading most of our performance testing.

And it does. But it doesn’t always win…

Performance testing is more involved than running a synthetic bench and comparing who’s number is bigger. Let’s dig a little deeper than that. Here’s the Note 20 Ultra: By The Benchmarks! Continue reading “Galaxy Note 20 Ultra By The Benchmarks: Samsung’s Fastest is PRETTY Good for the Price…”