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Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra sneak peek – first impressions
The new Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra is still only available for pre-order, but we managed to get our hot little hands on a sample model for an early preview, along with the also-yet-to-be-released Buds Live and the new Galaxy Watch 3.
Not to spoil the upcoming review, but colour us impressed. Like, really impressed.
You may remember we weren’t entirely in love with the Galaxy Flip Z when we reviewed it earlier this year. Not that it was bad, but it just didn’t grab us the way we thought it might. Well, the new Note iteration is a whole different thing.
Here are a few notes (ha!) about the new products to give you a sense of what to expect.
Galaxy Note20 Ultra
It’s a very pretty colour. The ‘Mystic Bronze’, which early leaks led many to assume was copper, is like a more grown-up, sophisticated version of rose gold.
It sits a little wonky on flat surfaces with its oversized triple camera panel on the back.
It’s big. Real big – 6.9 inches. Yet because it’s still somewhat narrow, my tiny carny hands didn’t struggle to hang onto it or even use it one-handed.
The stylus is almost the same length as the stylus in last year’s Note 10 model, which seems like a missed trick given there’s all that extra length to play with in the handset itself.
It’s incredibly responsive. Obviously this is Samsung’s premium, flagship phone so you’d want it to be more high powered than a mid-tier model, but wowee this one’s fast. In my brief play around with it I’m not seeing any latency whatsoever in basic day to day use. I’m not a gamer, though, so YMMV.
Buds Live
First off, these are genuinely nothing like any ear buds we’ve used before! Comparing them to the Sony noise-cancelling in-ear buds and the ubiquitous Apple Airpods Pro, the Buds Live are completely different both in form and in function.
There’s nothing that sticks down into your ear canal. Instead, they wedge into the outer part of your ear. This will likely involve something of a learning curve as it’s not immediately obvious how they work, since they look like a pair of shiny, metallic jellybeans.
The jellybean shape is really cute and looks kinda cool in your ears. They also come in ‘Mystic Black’ and ‘Mystic White’, but we like the bougie metallic ones best.
You can charge them up wirelessly by resting the case on your phone for ‘wireless power share’, which is very futuristic and makes life easy.
They’re very comfortable!
The sound is good. The noise cancelling is at times slightly less effective than it is with the Airpods, however for our money this is offset by the fact that the sound quality is more well rounded and warmer overall.
RRP $319 but you can snag them free if you pre-order the Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra.
Galaxy Watch3 LTE
We’ve done the hard yards with a few Samsung watches over the years and this one is by far our favourite. It’s a true improvement on previous models, with all the best aspects of the previous watches brought together in one place.
While the OG Galaxy Watch was pretty chunky and the smaller, lighter Galaxy Active didn’t have a rotating bezel, the new Galaxy Watch3 LTE is the perfect combo of features. The Goldilocks of Samsung watches, if you will.
We really prefer the rotating bezel – taking it off felt like a shame considering it’s both a classic watch signifier and a highly useful feature for a smart watch since it allows seamless scrolling between apps. RRP $849.
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