Samsung Galaxy 20 Ultra: Is it just too big?

Typically when reviewing phones, Ausdroid – like other tech websites – writes lengthy reviews that look at most aspects of the phone or gadget being reviewed.

However, the length makes such reviews difficult to read; not everyone has time to read such a long review, and many don’t need that much information, preferring to read about particular features only.

As the Galaxy S20 Ultra reviews have been out for a while and we have finally had a couple of weeks with the phone, we thought we would touch on each of the main feature areas individually.

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First up let’s look at the overall design and size of the phone itself.

Remember back when we all thought phones were getting too big? Remember when Steve Jobs said no one was going to buy a phone with a display bigger than 3.5 inches? We used to have fun with one of our former writers who was first onto the Galaxy Note bandwagon. Turns out he was way ahead of the curve (Matt Booth, well done good sir).

Each year Samsung has been making their smartphones bigger and bigger. This year the Galaxy S20 Ultra is 166.9 x 76.0 x 8.8mm, bigger than the biggest S10 version last year — the S10 5G was 162.6 x 77.1 x 7.9 mm. Incidentally, the phone that started the massive sizes, the Galaxy Note, was not even this big last year — the Note 10+ was 162.3 x 77.2 x 7.9mm. The OnePlus 7 Pro was a big phone by every account but the Ultra has that covered:

Of course Samsung seems to have made full use of the massive size that the Ultra is. They have thrown all the specs and all the numbers in there. More on that later.

If you are someone who still wears skinny jeans (or even worse, skinny track pants……*shudders*…) then the Ultra may pose some problems for you. My wife has issues fitting a Pixel 4 XL into her handbags — there is no way in hell she could fit this into them.

As someone who prefers a bigger phone, although the phone is big my habits of using the phone do not need to be adjusted to be able to comfortably navigate the OS.

Sitting in the hand, the device has a nice curve on the rear to it. No cutting into the hand, comfortable — even with that massive camera module poking out from the rear. Let’s discuss that rear while we are here.

Thin cases will still have the camera module resting on the table if you rest it that is how you do it. It does worry me that the camera module could become scratched by doing this but the only alternative is to get a thick case that will make the already big phone bigger again.

As with most glass phones the rear is a fingerprint magnet although the Cosmic Grey does do a decent job of hiding much of it — view that surface at just the right (wrong?) angle and you will see each and every fingerprint though.

The front of the device is a nice change. Gone is the massive curves on the sides of the display, replaced by a more subtle curve. As such there are no more accidental touches. I am not a fan of massive curves on displays due to the often accidental touches you experience while holding it in your hands — especially for a large device.

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For those who struggle with the thumb gymnastics required to navigate the entire display Samsung have introduced a single handed mode which can be activated by a simple gesture. For me the single handed mode display is too small and I struggle to see the smaller display — but then the astigmatism in my left eye is likely the cause of that.

Everyday use is possible, especially if you are used to using a large smartphone. I enjoyed the way it felt in the hand and the heft to it (220 grams) is such that it feels a very solid build.

Of course part of enjoying using it was that gorgeous display. TBC.