August 5 was a great day for tech enthusiasts. The day saw one of the largest launch events i.e. Samsung’s UnPacked 2020 where the company launched some of the exciting and much-awaited gadgets including the Samsung Galaxy Note20 series, the Galaxy Z Fold2, the Buds Live, Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+, and Samsung Galaxy Watch3 with a tonne of bells and whistles around each product. Check out what Samsung has brought into the stores during the Unpacked event.
One of the largest announcements at the event was none other than for the Galaxy Note20 series. Consisting of Galaxy Note20 and Note20 Ultra, both the devices are at the epitome of flagship devices.
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra
The Ultra variant of the next-gen Note device sports a large 6.9” Dynamic AMOLED 2X display boasting a resolution of 1440p+. The display has a 120Hz refresh rate that can be adjusted to 60Hz when needed. It has a strong protective glass aka Gorilla Glass Victus capable of surviving falls from up to 2 meters. The front packs in a curved Infinity-O display housing a 10MP front sensor on top and an ultrasonic fingerprint rear at the bottom. There are just a fraction of bezels on the sides thanks to the curved display.
At the back, there’s a triple camera setup arranged in a rectangular camera bump which includes a 108MP primary sensor capable of recording videos at 8K while yanking it up to 120FPS with FHD resolution. The camera is paired with optical stabilization and has a Laser AF for precise photography. It adds a 12MP periscope lens capable of 5x optical zoom and it is capable of producing up to 50X Super-Resolution zoom. There’s a 120° 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera along with it.
Talking about the hardware under the hood, the phone is equipped with the latest Snapdragon 865+ chipset although users in Europe and India will have to make it up with Exynos 990 7nm+ chipset which is, of course, slower than the Snapdragon counterpart.
Next up, it gets its juice from a hefty 4,500 mAh battery that sits under the hood producing more than a day of charge even if subjected to heavy usage. The battery is paired with a 25W Super Fast Charge capable of juicing up the battery to half of its capacity in half an hour.
The pricing is at $1,300 for its 256GB storage variant while the higher 512GB variant could fetch higher although the price is still unknown. The phone is set to ship in selected markets on August 21 and will support both 4G and 5G depending upon which variant you pick. According to its Indian pricing, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra is available at Rs 104,999 ofr 256GB and 12GB of RAM.
The Galaxy Note20 Ultra supports S Pen that has been engineered to detect thousands of pressure levels to do its job. Now it can be used with the new Anywhere actions such as drawing in the air to go to the recent apps, home, or back, etc.
Samsung Galaxy Note20
The standard Galaxy Note20 isn’t much different from its elder Ultra sibling. It has a 6.7” Super AMOLED Plus display boosting a 1080×2400 pixel resolution. It doesn’t sport a 120Hz refresh rate and instead uses a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, you would find a 4,300 mAh battery which is barely 200 mAh smaller than the Ultra variant. It has a 25W Super Fast Charge capable of juicing up the battery to its half capacity in just 30 minutes.
Talking about the camera setup, there is a bit of change such as the main sensor boasts a 64MP camera instead of using a 108MP sensor mounted on Ultra. It is paired with a 12MP wide-angle sensor with Dual Pixel PDAF (no Laser AF) but it does boost an OIS just like its primary sensor. The third is a 12MP ultra-wide sensor with a 120° field of view. Overall, the rear camera setup is capable of shooting videos at 8K@24fps that can be bumped to 720@960fps for slow-motion videos.
The device is powered by Snapdragon 865+ which is an overclocked version of SDM865 although it is limited to the USA only. For other markets, Exynos 990 from Samsung will take care of all the processing although I must add that it isn’t as powerful as SDM865+. Talking about its Indian pricing, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra is available in the country at Rs 77,999/- for its 256GB+8GB variant.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live TWS
Another product that Samsung hugely teased and released at the Unpacked 2020 event is the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live TWS. These are earbuds weighing just 5.4 grams shaped like beans. Samsung managed to integrate all hardware horizontally to give it a bean shape that can be easily placed on ears without protruding outside the ears.
Each bud has a 12mm speaker and bass duct along with a total of 3 microphones and a Voice Pickup Unit that detects the location of the speaker. It also has Automatic Noise Cancellation (ANC) feature that cancels out surrounding sound when you are on a call or when listening to music. These buds stay alive for 5.5 to 8 hours depending upon usage while the charging case puts in a total of 20 hours of backup on a single charge. It is also compatible with Qi Charge for wireless charging.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live TWS will be up for sale on August 6 in the US and some other regions while European markets will get it on August 21 at $169 and €189 respectively.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2
Samsung Z Fold2 is the company’s third foldable phone after Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip. Successor to last year’s Fold, the Galaxy Z Fold2 sports a larger 7.6” display when unfolded while the outer display has also grown to 6.2”. Although Samsung did showcase the device, it didn’t unveil much of the information related to its battery, cameras, chipsets, however, the folks at XDA have additional information about.
According to the report, Galaxy Z Fold2 sports a primary 7.6” Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has an adaptable refresh rate feature that can operate on 1Hz to a colossal 120Hz when needed. The display has a 1,768×2,208 pixel resolution and has a dual punch-hole camera setup with 10MP sensors each.
Moving further, when you’ll fold the phone, you’ll find a large 6.2” Super AMOLED panel with a 60Hz refresh rate along with 816×2,260 pixels resolution and a super tall 25:9 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use the S Pen with Galaxy Z Fold2 as it doesn’t support it.
The device will likely feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ chipset along with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 256GB of internal storage although other storage variants might be available with it. The foldable phone has 5G connectivity that connects to both mmWave and sub-6 GHz networks for better surfing and browsing on the blazing fast 5G network if available.
Samsung has integrated a triple camera setup on Galaxy Z Fold2 that looks similar to Note20’s setup. It uses a 12+12+12MP set up with the primary camera equipped with OIS while the other two sensors are ultra-wide and telephoto.
Under the hood, you would find a large 4,500 mAh battery that will keep the phone running for ages while the 25W fast charging adds to its USP. It comes along with 11W wireless charging and also supports reverse wireless charging aka PowerShare. Samsung hasn’t released the device at the event but instead has fixed the date September 1 as the day when pre-orders for the next-gen foldable phone will be available along with the pricing and other details. As of now, we know that the phone will be available in Mystic Bronze and a Mystic Black variant and a Thome Browne special edition is in the matter as well.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+
The Galaxy Tab S7+ sports a giant 12.4” AMOLED panel with a 420 nit brightness and a resolution of 2,800×1,7752 pixels. The device has great audio and video capabilities which is homologous to the Tab S7 as well. It has an ultrasonic fingerprint reader for faster unlocks and security. It has DeX mode that allows it to pair with your Note device as well as an add-on keyboard gives it a laptop-like experience. Just like its predecessor, the Galaxy S7 series is heavily integrated with Microsoft Office.
The device has a 10,090 mAh battery capable of producing an output of 16 hours of continuous videos on loop while staying as slim as 5.7mm. There’s a 45W fast charging support so that you can juice up the battery faster than ever. Galaxy Tab S7+ sports a Snapdragon 865+ chipset just as other devices launched by Samsung at the UnPacked event. Talking about the camera, it houses a 13MP+5MP sensor setup while the front houses an 8MP sensor. It is S Pen compatible allowing users to do more to express creativity and more with Galaxy Tab S7+.
Talking about the pricing, the Galaxy Tab S7+ has two variants i.e. Wi-Fi and 5G with two storage configurations. The Wi-Fi variant has a price tag of 900 Euros for its 6+128GB while the higher 8+256GB variant has a price tag of 980 Euros. Similarly, the 5G variant is available at a price tag of 1,100 Euros for the base 6+128GB while the higher 8+256GB is available at 1,180 Euros. The Galaxy Tab S7+ will be available in the European markets on August 21.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7
The standard Galaxy Tab S7 is basically a cost-effective version of the Tab S7+. It has a 11” LTPS TFT panel instead of an AMOLED panel allowing it to be lit up at 500 nits. The device is backed with a 120Hz refresh rate that offers ultra-smooth transition. You can use the S Pen with your Tab S7 which is now more powerful than ever.
Further, the device has a smaller than S7+’s 7,040 mAh battery that should allow 14 to 15 hours of battery backup for sure. It also supports DeX mode for connecting with devices while the Book Cover keyboard gives it a laptop-like experience. There’s four AKG speakers located two on right and two on left with Dolby Atmos offering a great audio experience.
Talking about the pricing for Tab S7, it is available in two variants i.e. Wi-Fi and LTE. The 6+128GB configuration of Wi-Fi variant has a price tag of 700 Euros while the higher 8+256GB goes for 780 Euros. Add 100 Euros on these pricing for the LTE variant. The Galaxy Tab S7 will be available in Europe on August 21.
Samsung Galaxy Watch3
The USP of the latest Galaxy Watch3 would be its SpO2 blood oxygen level sensor although the update to activate it will be relayed later. Meanwhile, users can use the blood pressure and ECG sensors on-board to get the said readings.
The Galaxy Watch3 arrives in two sizes i.e. 41mm and 45mm with a Super AMOLED display of 1.2-inch and 1.4-inch along with 360×360 pixels resolution. Both the smartwatches are covered with Gorilla Glass DX for display’s protection against falls. Moreover, the smartwatch is certified with IP68 water and dust resistance that offers excellent resistance against the two types of irritants. The cherry on the cake is that the Galaxy Watch3 complies with MIL-STD-810G which is a relief thanks to its certified durability.
Moving on, the Watch3 has an Exynos 9910 chipset on-board with a dual-core CPU clocked at 1.15GHz. It has 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM along with LTE modem and eSIM for its LTE model. Finally, it runs on the Tizen 5.5 that Samsung has been loyal to for its wearables It is equipped with a bunch of features such as the ECG and BP monitor although it is market-dependent. Furthermore, Samsung has developed a feature to real-time feedback after the system analysis running pattern although the feature will be activated later this year.
Galaxy Watch3 integrates seamlessly with any device such as the latest Galaxy Note20 series and offers more than 120 different videos of workouts that users can stream on their phones. The watch has sensors to detect motion. The outer ring on the dial is rotatable allowing added navigation wherever required.
The next-gen Samsung Galaxy Watch3 will be available in selected countries starting on August 6. It will roll out to European countries on August 21 similar to the Galaxy Note20 series. There are two sizes available with Wi-Fi only or LTE + Wi-Fi variant and will be available in multiple color options.
It includes 41mm Galaxy Watch3 available in Mystic Silver and Mystic Bronze available at 429 Euros for the Wi-Fi model while the LTE model will incur 50 Euros extra. The larger 45mm version will be available at 479 Euros while the LTE variant will be up for 509 Euros and will be available in Mystic Black, Mystic Silver, and a special Titanium edition.
