Today, Samsung is holding its virtual Galaxy Unpacked event, and as is tradition for the summer event, it announced its latest Galaxy Note series of devices. The Galaxy Note20 comes in a standard and an Ultra model.
As usual, some of the biggest improvements come along the lines of the S Pen. Samsung says that it has "more lifelike precision", and there are five new Anywhere actions for easier touchless navigation on the Note20.
And of course, a key part of S Pen functionality is taking handwritten notes. Samsung says that it also improved its Samsung Notes app. It has handwriting recognition so it can straighten out your messy handwriting, and your notes will sync between your phone, tablet, and your Windows 10 PC. The app also lets you write on and highlight PDFs, and you can record audio too. This is part of its collaboration with Microsoft, as is the Project xCloud game streaming integration.
The Samsung Notes app can easily sync with both OneNote and Outlook, and Reminders can sync with Outlook, To Do, and Teams. And as always, the Note20 series comes with Your Phone integration.
But that"s just the productivity aspect of it. The Note20 comes with a 6.7-inch FHD+ Infinity-O display, while the Note20 Ultra comes with a 6.9-inch QHD+ 120Hz Infinity-O display. Yes, it seems that this time around, the high refresh rate is limited to the larger model.
The camera is more similar to what we saw from the S20 series. The Ultra gets the 108MP f/1.8 main sensor, with a 12MP telephoto lens and a 12MP ultra-wide sensor. The standard model has a 12MP f/1.8 sensor, a 64MP telephoto sensor, and a 12MP ultra-wide. They have the same features too, with 8K video recording and more.
The chipset is different though. This time around, Samsung is using the Snapdragon 865+, which is a slightly overclocked version of the Snapdragon 865 that was in the S20 series. Outside of the U.S., you"ll see an Exynos chip in most markets. The Ultra comes with 12GB RAM, while the standard model has 8GB RAM, while battery size is 4,500mAh and 4,300mAh, respectively.
Another thing that"s changed is that both units support both sub6 and mmWave 5G. With the S20 series, the standard model was sub6-only. And in fact, to this day, the S20+ and S20 Ultra are the only phones not sold by Verizon that support both sub6 and mmWave 5G, so it"s nice to see Samsung doing it again with the Note20 series.
The Galaxy Note20 starts at $999.99 with 128GB storage, while the Note20 Ultra starts at $1,299 with 128GB storage, although there"s also a 512GB model. With an eligible trade-in, you can get up to $650 off, and obviously, carriers will be offering all kinds of deals. Pre-orders kick off tonight at 12:01am ET.