28 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 72
and Razer all released phones with 90- or 120Hz
screens. Even worse, those phones have actually used
Samsung displays. But the S20 levels the playing field,
bringing a 120Hz high-refresh display to Galaxyland
for buttery smooth scrolling and crisp animations.
Samsung isn’t limiting the high refresh rate to the
uber-expensive S20 Ultra either. Samsung offers its
120Hz display – which oddly doesn’t have a cute
marketing name like the Pixel 4’s Smooth Display or
the OnePlus 7T’s Liquid Display – on every version of
the S20. And you don’t need to raise your brightness
level to ensure it works properly. On paper, it seems
like the best of both worlds: a glorious 1440p Infinity
display and the fastest refresh rate around.
However, pixel purists looking to get their scroll
on might be bummed when they turn on their new
S20 for the first time. That’s because you can’t use
the 120Hz setting at full resolution. At all. Not even
if you agree to a battery hit.
For starters, the 120Hz screen is off by default. So
you’ll need to visit the display settings to turn it on.
While it’s somewhat strange that Samsung would keep
one of its best new features hidden, it’s not a total
surprise. For years, Samsung has been shipping its
Galaxy phones at a default Full HD 1080p resolution
rather than full-res Quad HD 1440p in an effort to
squeeze the most battery life out of them. Samsung
devotees have known for years that they need to
hit the display settings and switch the resolution to
WQHD for the best possible text and image rendering.
However, when they go to switch on the 120Hz
screen, S20 users are going to be in for a bit of a rude
