INSTANT UPGRADESINSTANT UPGRADES
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2 TIDY UP YOUR TEXT
Samsung’s stylus is also an
optical character recognition
(OCR) whizz and can straighten
wonky notes too. In the Notes
app, tap the icon displaying a
scribble and a ‘T’ to convert your
scrawl into selectable text. This
can be copied out to messages
and emails – and if you want to
neaten up your notes, the icon
to the right will help make even
the most illegible squiggles flow
in clean horizontal lines.5 TURN IT OFF
While we like Bixby, it makes
powering down the Note20
Ultra a bit of a head-scratcher.
As we’ve just seen, long-press
the ‘power button’ and you get
a voice assistant instead. So,
swipe down from the top to
expand the notification menu:
in the top right there’s a power
icon for turning off your phone.
And yes, in this menu you can
also remap the button on the
right to power off.1 OPEN THE SHUTTER
The S Pen doubles as a remote
shutter for photographers.
Long-press its button and your
Note’s camera fires up; now
press the button once to take
a picture – perfect for a group
shot with you in it. Double-tap
the S Pen button and the Note
swaps to the selfie shooter. You
can zoom in and out with circular
gestures while holding the
button, and sideways gestures
switch shooting modes.4 TALK TO BIXBY
Even if you’re sold into Google
Assistant, Alexa or even Siri,
there are some things they
can’t do that Samsung’s Bixby
can: “Set screen-on time to five
minutes”, “Show me pictures of
my dog”, “Show my bank cards
in Samsung Pay”. To access
Bixby, long-press the button on
the right – the one you thought
was a power button. As long as
it’s held down, you can instruct
Bixby in walkie-talkie style.3 GAIN AN EDGE
If you see a little lip on the right
side of your screen creeping
over into the main UI, that’s
your Edge Panel. Swipe this
into the screen and press the
cog at the bottom to switch
out your various Edge Panel
options. They range from
favourite apps and contacts
to clipboard items, with more
downloadable from the Galaxy
Store. Cycle through your chosen
panels by swiping horizontally.6 MAKE PRO VIDEO
The Note20 Ultra’s Pro Video
mode is excellent. On top of
letting you control everything
from ISO through to manual
focus, it supports audio source
control. To choose your mic,
fire up Pro Video mode in the
camera, tap the microphone
icon, and select between Omni,
Front, Rear, USB and Bluetooth.
You can see audio levels, there’s
a histogram... oh, and the phone
supports 8K recording.N
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...SKETCHBOOK
Enjoy drawing and
want something
more advanced
than Samsung’s
Notes app? This
one harnesses
the phone’s 4096
levels of pressure
sensitivity and
9ms latency.
£freeCONCEPTS
A doodling app
with a difference:
with an infinite
canvas, screen and
page constraints
are gone, while
pressure and tilt
sensitivity take
full advantage of
the S Pen’s power.
£free (IAPs)DRAW IT
Pictionary by a
different name,
what better way
to claim an unfair
advantage over
the competition
than by using
the S Pen while
everyone else
fumbles around
with fat fingers?
£free (IAPs)