Just ordered an S20 Plus.

[Theot]

I'm having some occasional issues with charging on my 4XL that seem to be getting more frequent and I'm a little hesitant to go all in on the Pixel 6 right away because, well history. I tried an S21 Ultra a few weeks ago but it was just too big and heavy for me. I can't find the unlocked S21 Plus right now and I want something to get me a year or more. While browsing Samsung site for other options I noticed the certified renewed section and found the unlocked S20 Plus. About the same size and slightly lighter than my 4XL with a bigger screen, twice the RAM and storage. Hoping it fits my needs.

Any tips, tricks, advice or warnings about the S20 Plus? Thanks in advance!

 

[justafew]

Still loving my S20+, so you made a good choice. Even the battery life is still excellent a year later.

If you really want to see what all it can do, download Goodlock from the Samsung Store and play some with all the additional customization features it offers (themes, multitask, onehand operation, sound assistant, etc.). Lots of really cool tweaks you can do to make the device really feel like your own vs just a vanilla phone.

 

[RapidTurtle]

I love mine, I think you'll be happy with it. Gorgeous screen, it's fast, smooth 120 hz scrolling, and my battery life is also still very good after 1 year. I have no complaints about it at all.

 

[missy8787]

Still got my s20 plus love the night mode on the camera I love how clear my pics come out taking them at night and battery is still great after a year.

 

[BergerKing]

Just because it's "Last year's" phone doesn't make it a bad one, by any means. I got a Note 20, not the Ultra, and it does the job just fine, no reason an S20 wouldn't. Enjoy your new phone!

 

[mustang7757]

I'm having some occasional issues with charging on my 4XL that seem to be getting more frequent and I'm a little hesitant to go all in on the Pixel 6 right away because, well history. I tried an S21 Ultra a few weeks ago but it was just too big and heavy for me. I can't find the unlocked S21 Plus right now and I want something to get me a year or more. While browsing Samsung site for other options I noticed the certified renewed section and found the unlocked S20 Plus. About the same size and slightly lighter than my 4XL with a bigger screen, twice the RAM and storage. Hoping it fits my needs.

Any tips, tricks, advice or warnings about the S20 Plus? Thanks in advance!

Congrats, let us know what you think when you get it.

 

[Theot]

Just got it today. Still in the box, hope to get it setup tomorrow. Took a week, sat at a FedEx depot for three days. Apparently the free shipping means you wait lol.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I think you will enjoy the Samsung Experience. It is very different from the Pixel. I went from a 4xl to the S10+ and it was so nice to have features like Dex and Goodlock options. The screen is amazing and the overall quality is just there. After 18 months with it, I am looking forward to the Pixel 6 Pro. I got a 4a 5G and I love Android 12. But that is just me.

You will love the S20+ and good luck with your new phone. The only thing to remember is the camera output is more saturated than the Pixel and some pictures may seem blurrier than with the Pixel because Samsung isn't so good at moving photos. But the Single Take function in the camera is amazing. Try that and you will love that feature.

 

[Theot]

Thank you all for the advice and tips.

So I'm about a day in and still setting things up and tweaking settings but overall first impressions are mostly positive. Like I found on the S21U One UI isn't my favorite but with some help from good lock and some time moving things around in the app drawer I can live with it. I definitely need to play with good lock more but idk how much I'll really do with it, I tend to keep my layout pretty simple. I did put Nova Launcher on it and while I know gesture navigation isn't supported (thanks Google) it works well enough that you can use it as long as you don't mind some occasional small glitches due to using the gestures. It works perfectly fine with button nav but I just can't see me going back to that now.

I haven't played with the camera much yet I did use it for a football game last night and I'm loving the versatility. So as long as I can get solid quality out of the camera I think I'll be fine. The main thing that's held me to the Pixel is the camera but it's not like any of these flagships take truly bad photos anymore.

I start a new job on Monday and I have to go to the office full time which will be the first time doing that in close to two years. In that time I've had my personal laptop available right next to me all day for personal things and now I'll likely not be able to do that. Part of the draw was for Dex, so that will be nice to have available for when I need it during the day as I like to keep my personal stuff including browsing off the work computer and network.

The build quality is of course top notch. Size and weight are about perfect for me and the screen is fantastic. While I'd prefer a flat screen this curve is very slight and subtle and I think it works pretty well actually. We were out yesterday afternoon in very bright direct sunlight and I had no problem seeing the screen which has always been a challenge with the Pixel. Looked it up and looks like the peak brightness is just shy of 3 times what the 4XL could do which explains it. Haptics are great. This really does look and feel like a new device, may stick to the certified renewed stuff from now on just to save money if this holds up.

 

[Theot]

Update, I'm a little torn. One complaint I really have with the S20+ is one UI. I can live with the home screen but the lack of the Google discover feed not being available and the horizonal app drawer are driving me crazy. I ended up just going with Nova Launcher and just putting up with the little bit of jenk that comes with the gesture navigation and third party launchers. It's not perfect but at least it makes sense. Trying to organize the app drawer in one UI is an absolute disaster in my opinion for anything other than alphabetical which doesn't work for me. That and I've really become accustomed and like having the search bar below the dock using pixels the last few years.

Don't love the camera, don't hate it. Not sure I like it. Not sure I've used it enough to really have a feel for it either. I feel like it lacks some detail that I get with the Pixel but if I'm not pixel peeping it's fine. Definitely some unnatural color though, especially outdoors. Not ultimately bad, just different. Sometimes the grass looks like it's radioactive.

All that said, the device is fast, has great battery life, great screen, great haptics, good speakers and works really well with the Samsung ecosystem. Performance is great and it's the right size for me. While there's a lot of Samsung stuff I don't use, there's a few things that work better than what Google is doing. The best part, and maybe the only really usable part of Bixby for me is Bixby routines. Much more versatile and functional than Google's routines. Split screen, floating windows, scrolling screenshots.

If they'd fix the launcher or at least give us options that would be great. Thanks for reading.

 

[gray2018]

How are you liking your S20+ now? I had a chance to try it out recently. Seems like a decent device. The screen seems rather small though compared to my 6.8 inch Note 10+, even for only being slightly smaller. It's definitely not as wide.

It's definitely a pretty smooth and snappy device though. The cameras, like all S20 models and IMO all Samsung models of 2020, have issues. One thing I personally noticed is that when taking pictures of people, all S20 models seem to make people look completely washed out or unnatural. Definitely some overexposure going on with the S20 line.