Galaxy Note 20 & Note 20 Ultra launch, optimised for cloud gaming
Rumours and leaks were cascading forth, right up until the eleventh hour, but that hasn’t stopped the official launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra from still being an exciting affair.
Serving as the linchpin in Samsung’s 5 August Unpacked event, the new Note 20 line is here to double-down on taking “productivity to the next level” – Samsung’s words, not ours.
What that really boils down to, though is a pair of powerful phablets, complete with new S Pen (Samsung’s signature stylus) features, improved specs, cameras, displays and software – as you’d expect for a pair of phones that hover either side of the £1000 mark.
Alongside an improved camera setup, new navigation-focussed Air Gestures and a more advanced Samsung Notes experience – with tighter Microsoft integration, Samsung also brought out Xbox’s Phil Spencer to outline the new Note’s tighter integration with the company’s forthcoming cloud-gaming service, currently under the guise of Project xCloud.
Here’s are the spec highlights of everything being brought to the table, starting with the Note 20:
And here are the Note 20 Ultra’s specs:
Price and availability
In the UK, the base Note 20 will arrive in both 4G and 5G variants, with a £100 difference separating them. The 4G Note 20 starts at £849, while the 5G version will start at £949.
The Note 20 Ultra, meanwhile is 5G-capable as standard and starts at £1179 – that’s actually £20 less than the launch price of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which launched back in March.
Both Note 20 phones will be available to purchase on21 August, direct from Samsung’s website and “select partners,” which we assume to include the likes of Amazon – we’ll update this piece once we know exactly who Samsung is referring to.
Following the phones’ 5 August unveiling, between6 Augustand20 Augustboth the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra will be available for pre-order, with those who partake enjoying a ‘Galaxy Gaming’ or ‘music reward’.
In the case of the former, Samsung is offering up the recently-unveiledPowerA MOGA XP5-X+ Controller– a third-party Xbox One-style Bluetooth gamepad with an integrated smartphone mount – as well as its own wireless charging stand (Note 20 pre-order get a stand which charges wirelessly at up to 7.5W [EP-N5105], while Note 20 Ultra pre-orders include a stand that charges at up to 15W [EP-N5200]).
As for the music reward, Note 20 buyers can expect a pair ofGalaxy Buds+, while Note 20 Ultra buyers will get their hands on the brand new Galaxy Buds Live, which launched alongside the
