OnePlus 8 Pro Vs Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

OnePlus 8 Pro Vs Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

We are going to be doing a detailed comparison between the OnePlus 8 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. We have both the best smartphone OnePlus 8 Pro as well as Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Now we will compare all of the key differences.  

So, let's initially look at the built and design. Now, both devices are very premium. We've got a metal frame with curved glass bowls on the front and the back, and both devices are also IP 68 water and dust resistant. The S20 Ultra does however only come in two options, and they are both glossy. We've got a cosmic black and a cosmic grey, which we see here. So, it's pretty plain and we also have this pretty larger rectangular camera module. The OnePlus 8 Pro comes in this frosted finish of this glacial green, which we have here. There's also a glossy onyx black, as well as an ultramarine blue, which is currently not available in the UK. The camera module is central lined. 

Now, looking at both side by side, I would have to say that the OnePlus 8 Pro does have a better design in my opinion. I do like the central line camera module, which makes things symmetrical. I also really like this frosted matte glass finish, which attracts fewer fingerprints and it also has this really cool effect, depending on the way the light hits it. Now, in either case, you can customize the look of these devices with skin, they've got a huge variety and you can swap things around once you get too bored as well. 

Now, I'm looking at the differences in terms of size. Both are large devices, but the S20 Ultra is slightly larger in the height, the width, as well as the thickness. It's also around 20, 21 grams heavier. But both devices are large and that's because they have large displays. We've got minimal bezels with a punch-out. Now, I would say that the S20 Ultra does have a slightly smaller bezel on the top, but they're very, very similar. Both displays also curve from the sides. However, the OnePlus 8Pro is a bit more curved on the sides in comparison to the S20 Ultra. Now, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a 6.78-inch display. The S20 Ultra has a slightly larger 6.9-inch display. Both of these are using AMOLED technology. Both have up to a Quad HD+ resolution and both also support a 120 Hertz refresh rate with 240 Hertz of touch input. But, there is a little bit of a catch. On the S20 Ultra, you can only have the 120 Hertz refresh rate. If you're at Full HD you cannot have this at Quad HD. 

Now, this seems to be to save on battery life, but on the OnePlus 8 Pro, you do have that option. So, if you do want to go all out and absolutely kill your battery, you can do that. And I like that this option is here, because maybe you do want that very high resolution, as well as that high refresh rate, and this is an advantage that the OnePlus 8 Pro has. The OnePlus 8 Pro also has MEMC technology, so that's motion estimation and motion compensation. This is essentially going to take content that's at a standard prime rate, say 25, 30 frames a second and make it seem as though it's at a higher frame rate by applying motion smoothness and things like that. This is something that you may, or may not like. It is supported across lots of popular apps, such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, as well as YouTube. Now, generally speaking, I don't think you can go wrong with either of these displays, they are some of the best displays out there.

The OnePlus  8 Pro you are getting that advantage of Quad HD+ with a 120 Hertz. On the S20 Ultra, you're getting a centre punch-out, which I do personally prefer a little bit to the side punch-out here on the OnePlus 8 Pro. And the display is also a little bit flatter, compared to the very curved display of the OnePlus 8 Pro. Now, another thing is that the S20 Ultra does have an Always-On Display, which is something that I personally find really useful. You can just see things at a glance. The OnePlus 8 Pro unfortunately still does not have this. I am sure it can come with a software update, but currently and its state right now it is not there, unfortunately. 

Now, both devices do have an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is very, very, fast. However, the technology is quite different. The OnePlus 8 Pro has an optical in-display fingerprint scanner. The S20 Ultra has an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner. So, the technology is superior on the S20 Ultra. It is actually measuring the ridges in your fingers. However, the OnePlus 8 Pro can be a little bit faster I have found. Now, one thing that I do not like on the OnePlus 8 Pro is that you do have to wake the device before you can use the fingerprint scanner. So, there is an extra step involved. You have to either tap to wake it, then press it, or lift the device to wake it. Whereas on the S20 Ultra it is always on and you can just tap in this area whenever and it's going to unlock your device. So, I know a lot of people do praise OnePlus devices for the fingerprint scanner and how fast it is, but for me, that extra step actually makes it slower. So I do personally prefer the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner on the S20 Ultra. 

Now, let's talk about the cameras. We'll start with the front-facing cameras. You can see here that we do have the punch-outs. The S20 Ultra does have a high resolution, as well as a wider aperture. And you can see some samples here. I think both of them do a pretty good job overall. I do find that the OnePlus 8 Pro does still overexpose for selfies. This is something that I've noticed on previous OnePlus devices as well. It does make you look a little bit fairer, compared to how you actually are. The S20 Ultra, although it is not my favourite selfie camera and it can still lighten your skin a little bit. I would still prefer it overall to the OnePlus 8 Pro. And also for video, because the OnePlus 8 Pro can only film at 180p from the front-facing camera at 30 frames a second. The S20 Ultra can film at up to 4K, 60 frames a second from the front-facing camera. So, for those reasons, the edge does go to the S20 Ultra for the front-facing camera, but things are quite interesting when we look at the rear-facing cameras. So, we do have a Quad camera setup on both of these. The three main cameras are similar in the sense that we have got an ultra-wide camera, we've got a primary camera and then we've got a telephoto camera, which is going to give optical zoom. The fourth camera is different. The S20 Ultra has a Time of Flight sensor, which is going to help with depth information. The OnePlus 8 Pro has a colour filer camera, which I'm still a little bit confused about. I'm not sure what the exact use of this is, because as far as I can see a lot of the filters that you get on there you can actually apply in a post anyway, but nevertheless, it's there. Now, you can see a few samples here, the primary cameras I would say are very good at both for most situations. They do have good dynamic range overall and good colours. For the ultra-wide cameras, I think both do a good job. The S20 Ultra is slightly wider, which I do prefer. And for the telephoto cameras, the S20 Ultra does have much more optical zoom. So you can get in much closer to your subjects and this is a lot more noticeable when you go to the likes of 10 times up to 30 times. 

 Now, I know it does seem 100X here on the S20 Ultra, but you guys probably already know how I feel about this. It's not really practical, it's not really usable. I am not sure why Samsung has plastered 100X on here when it is at this level. It is fine to have and you don't need to use it, but Samsung doesn't plaster it on the freaking device. Now, for low light, it was quite interesting because in certain situations I did prefer the S20 Ultra, in certain situations I preferred the OnePlus 8 Pro. Here you can see an outdoor shot. The S20 Ultra for me is a lot better, there is a lot of processing happening on the OnePlus 8 Pro's shot. But, on this indoor shot, I did prefer the OnePlus 8 Pro which did better maintain the colours and the detail compared to the S20 Ultra. The OnePlus 8 Pro also has a macro mode which lets you get in super up-close using the ultra-wide camera. This is something you do not have on the S20 Ultra. Now, for video both did seem to do a good job. One area where the OnePlus8 Pro is definitely better is in autofocus. This is something that the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a struggle with, even after numerous updates. It just doesn't have that dual pixel autofocus, which Samsung has been known for, for a long time and it can struggle a lot of times with focus. 

The OnePlus 8 Pro is definitely faster and better here. And rear-facing cameras. We can switch to ultra-wide on both. And we can also zoom. It is three times on the OnePlus 8 Pro and there are five times on the S20 Ultra. The S20 Ultra, however, does offer 8K video. Now, this is a great addition. It does crop in quite heavily and you do lose some stabilization and things, but it's definitely a nice option to have if you do want to play around with it. This is something that's not available on the OnePlus 8 Pro. Now, of course, this is not a detailed Super Saf style camera comparison. I just wanted to show you a few image and video samples. I will hopefully do some more in detail camera test when the lockdown is over. Right now I can pretty much just shoot in and around my house, which is quite limiting. 

Now, let's talk about performance. So the OnePlus 8 Pro, it is all about speed. It does come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, along with the X55 modem for 5G. The S20 Ultra comes in two options. So, you guys may already know about this, but depending on your region you are going to get either the same, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, or you might get the Exynos 990. The Exynos chipset, unfortunately, is just not as good as the 865 when it comes to performance, but more so when it comes to power efficiency. 865 is just better in my experience. Unfortunately, you do not have a choice about this. So, depending on your region the OnePlus 8 Pro might actually be the faster devices, or it might be quite equal. This is something that, you know, hopefully, Samsung will improve over time and have some more consistency. I just like if they went all out on the 865. 

For storage, you do have a base of 128 gigabytes, UFS 3.0. The S20 Ultra is available in a 512-gigabyte version. The OnePlus 8 Pro is also available in a 256-byte option. For RAM the S20 Ultra does come with more RAM straight off the back?  So, you have got 12gigabytes of RAM as a base, you have got up to 16 gigabytes. The OnePlus 8 Pro comes in either eight, or 12 gigabytes of RAM. And now in speed and performance, generally speaking, both of these are going to be really, really good. The S20 Ultra does get one advantage and that is that it does have a micro SD card slot, so you can expand the storage here on the S20 Ultra. You cannot expand the storage on the OnePlus 8 Pro. The OnePlus 8 Pro also comes as default with dual SIM functionality, so that's great. The S20 Ultra, again, this is going to vary depending on your region. Some regions do have dual SIM, others do not. 

Now, let's talk about the software. So both devices do have Android 10 out of the box, and they come with their own skins. So, on the OnePlus 8Pro, we do have Oxygen OS. The S20 Ultra comes with One UI. Now, realistically speaking these are some of my favourite skins. They are my top two, they have very clean, very functional and they also do add features that you don't get as defaults on stock Android. So, I'm very happy with both of these. A lot of it is going to come down to your personal preference. One advantage that I have to give to the OnePlus 8 Pro is that OnePlus is really, really good with updates. They do generally provide updates much faster than the likes of Samsung, as well as many others. So, if updates are important to you then the OnePlus 8 Pro is going to be a great option. 

Now, for speakers, both devices do have stereo speakers. We've got one bottom-firing and then we have got one in the earpiece. Both sound really, really good. And now let's talk about the batteries. So the S20 Ultra does have a larger battery, and in my usage, it's been really good. However, this is once again going to come down to your region. The Exynos version is not as power-efficient, which means I am getting around 20% less battery life on my Exynos version, compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. And I am generally getting over six hours of screen-on time on a regular basis. So, I've been very, very happy with the S20 Ultra. Now, bear in mind this is full HD+ at a 120 Hertz, with the Qualcomm version. I have not had the OnePlus8 Pro long enough as yet to give you a proper conclusion of battery life. Generally speaking, it has been pretty good for me and does get me through the day. For charging, both of these do support very fast charging out of the box, however, you do get a slightly faster charger with the OnePlus 8 Pro, compared to the S20 Ultra. However, you can buy a 45Watt charger separately, which is going to charge up the S20 Ultra very, very fast. And the OnePlus 8 Pro for the first time on an OnePlus device does have wireless charging. This is something that I have been asking for, for a very, very long time. And not only that, but it is also very, very fast compared to the S20 Ultra. The S20 Ultra is around 15Watts and the OnePlus 8 Pro is going towards 30 Watts. So, you're getting from one to 50% in just 30 minutes. This is wireless charging, so it's something that I'm very, very happy to see here on the OnePlus 8 Pro. And both devices do support reverse wireless charging. So, this is where you can use the devices to charge, maybe some accessories or something wirelessly. 

Now, the S20 Ultra here does get the advantage, because it does have faster reverse wireless charging, compared to the OnePlus 8 Pro. The OnePlus 8 Pro also has a new feature, which OnePlus has introduced and that is smart charging optimization, which is supposed to give your battery longer lifespan over time. And what this essentially does is it delays your charging based on your usage pattern. So, say for instance you wake up at 8:00 a.m. every day, and then it's not going to charge your device to really 100% until you wake up. and this way it should help your battery health in the long term.

 

Now, let's talk about the price. The OnePlus 8 Pro has gone up in price, compared to the previous generation, something we've been seeing from OnePlus year and year again. So it is starting at around $900. The S20 Ultra, however, does start much higher at around $1400, or around1200 pounds here in the UK. So you are going to be paying quite a bit more for the S20 Ultra compared to the OnePlus 8 Pro. And the OnePlus 8 Pro, let's be real, is the better overall deal here. You are getting a lot of features for that price. The S20 Ultra is a really good device and it is offering some unique features such as that extensive zoom, but is it worth that higher price tag? Also, let me know which device you would pick overall, the OnePlus 8 Pro or the S20Ultra Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.  Thank You 😊😊😊😊