It’s been a few years since a Samsung S-Series phone was truly exciting. If we look to last year, the Note 10 was arguably more impressive when it comes to happy snaps. A bunch of its features was even pushed out to the S10 via an update in September.
But this year is different, at least when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. That thing is packing some big numbers and cool sounding features… and I’ve found myself really itching to try it.
As I said in my big spec round up for the S20, the S-Series cameras over the past few years haven’t been bad. They just haven’t been that interesting. Sure you could get some nice shots, but they weren’t on par with Huawei’s P Series, the Google Pixel 3 and 4 or the Oppo Reno. As for the features, they were again perfectly adequate, but nothing to lose one’s mind over.
In 2019 the flagship S10+ had a 12MP telephoto, 12MP wide-angle and 16MP ultra-wide rear setup (plus ToF on the 5G model) and 10MP front-facing camera. Considering that the most expensive version of this phone cost $2,399, it was a underwhelming to say the least.
This year, the equivalent S20 Ultra has been improved, at least on paper, in leaps and bounds. While the telephoto lens is only 48MP (I say that in comparison to the regular S20 and S20+ which boast 64MP telephoto lenses) and the ultra-wide lens is 12MP, the wide-angle is bloody 108MP and the front-facing camera is 40MP. Plus it has the equivalent of a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor. Hot damn those are some juicy specs.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/02/samsung-galaxy-s20-plus-ultra-australian-price-release-date-specs/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/samsung-s20-3-410×231.jpeg” title=”Samsung Galaxy S20 Phones: Australian Price, Specs, Release Date” excerpt=”The first Samsung Unpacked for 2020 is now in the bag. With it comes the new Samsung Galaxy S20 range which has three phones (and a lot of variants) – the S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra. Thanks to yet another leaky boat, we weren’t surprised by the specs, but now they’re all shiny and official. We have all the details right here for you, including when you can get them in Australia and how much they cost.”]
It also has some cool sounding features, like its Space Zoom technology. While the name makes me giggle a bit, I’m certainly here for the its alleged capabilities. In the S20 Ultra it will apparently offer a casual 100x zoom thanks to a combination of hybrid optic zoom with AI-powered digital zoom. I’m really keen to see how this compared with Huawei’s P30 pro 50x zoom, especially because as great as this sounds… the demo at Unpacked wasn’t the best. But I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve tried it myself.
As for the smaller S20 and S20+, it will apparently hit 30x zoom.
The new ‘Single Take’ feature also sounds handy – it can capture multiple photos in one shot or video. In real world terms this means it can capture a cropped shot, live focus shot and an ultra wide shot all in one go, giving you options to choose from. It also works with video.
Ad for video, Samsung is doubling down on its love of 8K. Every S20 device – from the entry level to the most specced out Ultra.
Of course, these are just numbers so far. We can’t say how good this actually is until we try it. But it’s nice to be truly excited for a Samsung phone camera again… even if the rear array is a bit of a beast.
What a lad
I guess it can be friends with the Pixel 4.
Until then, we have all of the Aussie pricing, spec and release details for the S20 series right here.