PC World - USA (2020-10)

48 PCWorld OCTOBER 2020

REVIEWS SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 20 ULTRA

upgraded as well, with better handwriting

support and annotated audio. I suspect you’ll

be using your Note to take notes more often

than with previous Notes.

The rest of the S Pen’s tricks aren’t nearly

as impressive. Samsung turned its stylus into a

Bluetooth remote with the

Note 9 and added app

gestures last year. Now the

Note has even more “air

actions” that let you control all

aspects of the phone with

back, recents, home, and

screenshot gestures. I could

somewhat see the appeal of

using the S Pen as a remote

for the Camera or Gallery, but

the use case for the new air

actions is extremely limited.

And that’s if you can get

them to work. While I was

able to complete the handy

tutorial that forces you to

practice each of the new

gestures, getting them to

work while using the

phone wasn’t so simple. I

often triggered the wrong

gesture or none at all.

I struggled to find a

reason to use them. Even

when I was using the S Pen,

it was just as easy to tap the

phone than wave my hand

to go back a screen or switch apps.

The new S Pen is joined by a new version

of One UI (2.5) that brings minor camera and

interface tweaks, as Samsung continues to

refine one of the best Android skins this side

of the Pixel. Samsung has specifically

The camera bump on the Note 20 Ultra is very bumpy.

The Note 20 Ultra is impressively thin at 8.1mm, but the camera

bump adds some girth.