There's no denying that the Galaxy S20 Ultra is something bold. Something special. It exists to show off its camera features. There's the 108-megapixel sensor, capturing scenes for detailed crop-ins that invariably make you say "wow!" Then there's the 100x zoom lens that reveals lettering, faces and architectural details you can't see from afar with the naked eye. And the beautiful 40-megapixel selfie camera that won't spare your feelings when you turn off beauty mode.
The most advanced (and expensive) new flagship undeniably pushes boundaries. Samsung wants you to see these photos and crave this phone. Facing the iPhone 11 Pro, Pixel 4 and Huawei Mate 30, the world's largest phone-maker is playing to win. Does it succeed? Yes… and also no.
On paper, the S20 Ultra is unbeatable. It has that insanely colorful 6.9-inch edge-to-edge display. An enormous 5,000-mAh battery. Plus all the waterproofing, fast charging and reverse wireless charging you'd expect from a top-tier Samsung phone.
But in my real-world tests, the Ultra doesn't play like the all-around superstar I want it to be, especially for $1,400 (£1,199, AU$1,999). Its photography is mostly superb, but unignorable hardware and software drawbacks dampen my enthusiasm for the device as a whole.
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