The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 line has been unveiled, and consumers have two choices: the baseline Galaxy Note 20 versus the top-specced (and top-priced) Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. So what’s the difference?
This simplifies things a bit, as either Note 20 option caters to a more specific consumer demographic than the three-phone Galaxy S20 line. Do you want a stylus-packing handset and won’t miss a few features to ensure a cheaper price? Go for the standard Note 20. Do you want an absolute top-of-the-line device with the best appearance? Pick up the Note 20 Ultra.
But it’s worth discretely comparing both options to understand what you’re giving up in the Note 20 and what you’re paying extra to get in the Note 20 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (Image credit: Future)
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs Galaxy Note 20 price and release date
Both the Note 20 and the Note 20 Ultra were announced on August 5, 2020, and will be available around the world on August 21.
The 5G Note 20 starts at £949 / AU$1,649 in the UK and Australia with 256GB of storage, while the baseline version in the US costs $999 and packs 128GB of space. The Note 20 is also available in a 4G-only version for £849 / AU$1,499, but will only be sold in the UK and Australia.
As the lower-cost model, the Note 20 gets the more fun colors, including the experimental flagship hue of this cycle, Mystic Bronze, along with Mystic Green and Mystic Grey.
The 5G Note 20 Ultra is notably pricier, starting at $1,299 / £1,179 / AU$1,849 for the baseline model – which gets you 128GB of storage in the US and 256GB of storage in the UK and Australia (and 12GB of RAM in all regions). Bumping the space to 512GB ups the price to $1,449 / £1,279 / AU$2,199. Finally, Australians have the option of buying a cheaper 4G-only option for AU$1,849, but that model isn’t available elsewhere.
The Note 20 Ultra comes in a more premium color set of Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black and Mystic White.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (Image credit: TechRadar)
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs Galaxy Note 20 design
The Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra may look very similar, but they surprisingly diverge in material quality.
The base Note 20, for instance, has a flat front display and a polycarbonate back cover, making it the first flagship in years that lacks a glass rear. The material has a brushed effect, which Samsung calls ‘glasstic,’ which gives it a ceramic feel.
The Note 20 Ultra is glass front-and-back, with the curved ‘Infinity’ display that’s characteristic of Samsung flagships. It’s the larger of the two phones by a few millimeters in length and width, nearly matching the older Note 10 Plus in size, with a colossal 6.9-inch display. The phone is just a hair shorter and thinner than the S20 Ultra.
In both models, the S Pen has been moved to the left side of the bottom edge, but pops out in the usual manner. The pen has improved latency from 45ms in the Note 10 down to 9ms in the Note 20 phones.
The USB-C port is in the center of the bottom edge of both phones, with a speaker on the left side and microphone on the right.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs Galaxy Note 20 display
Given that both phones diverge in build quality, it’s not surprising that the displays differ, too.
The Note 20’s 6.7-inch display is only Full HD (2400 x 1080), which shouldn’t surprise anyone – we saw the same corner-cutting when Samsung dropped the resolution on the base Galaxy Note 10 model. The screen also has a maximum 60Hz refresh rate, which is lower than most other flagship phones on the market but the iPhone 11 Pro series.
Samsung saved the prestige touches for the Note 20 Ultra, but they’re essentially the same as those on the Note 10 Plus, save for a 0.1-inch increase for a WQHD Plus resolution (3088 x 1440).
This makes it a slightly odd 19.3:9 ratio, unlike its predecessor’s 19:9 format. The Note 20 Ultra does pack a 120Hz refresh rate display, which is an upgrade on the Note 10 Plus.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs Galaxy Note 20 cameras
The differences between the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra’s camera arrays match those on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Ultra, respectively, at least in megapixel count. There are a few differences and improvements.
The baseline Note 20 packs a 12MP main shooter with a 1/1.76-inch sensor size, a 64MP telephoto lens with a 3x hybrid optical zoom that reaches a maximum 30x digital zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide camera. There’s also a front-facing 10MP camera located in a centered punch-hole at the top end of the display. Again, these cameras aren’t much different than those in the Galaxy S20.
Likewise, the Note 20 Ultra inherits the S20 Ultra’s photo hardware: a 108MP main shooter with a 1/1.33-inch sensor size, a 12MP periscope telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide camera. It also has a 10MP front-facing camera.
The Note 20 Ultra phone has two big differences from the previous Ultra phone – first, that its digital zoom only goes up to 50x, which isn’t a huge loss as we weren’t using the S20 Ultra’s 100x ‘Space Zoom’ at its blurry maximum anyway, and a new laser autofocus that Samsung claims allows the camera to swiftly switch focus between depth levels.
Both phones shoot 8K video at 24fps, as did the S20 line – but now they can shoot it in 16:9 or a more cinematic 21:9 format.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (Image credit: TechRadar)
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs. Galaxy Note 20 performance and battery
Both phones pack the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset in the US or Exynos 990 chipset elsewhere.
The difference lies in RAM and storage: the Note 20 has 8GB of RAM and only comes in one storage configuration per region (128GB in the US, 256GB in the UK and Australia) that is not expandable – like the Note 10, it doesn’t have a microSD slot.
The S20 Ultra has 12GB of RAM and a similar region-different baseline storage level (128GB in the US, 256GB in the UK and Australia), along with an option for 512GB at a higher price. But unlike the standard Note 20, the Ultra storage is expandable via microSD.
Both phones run Android 10 out of the box and Samsung’s OneUI, which is expected to get an upgrade alongside Android 11 when that’s released later this year. In most regions, only the 5G-capable versions of both phones are on sale – and thankfully, they connect to a variety of 5G frequency ranges, including mmWave and sub-6.
Battery is another divide between the phones, but not by much, with the Note 20 packing 4,300mAh capacity and the Note 20 Ultra having 4,500mAh. Curiously, both phones max out at 25W charging speeds, though they also have wireless charging and wireless power share.
The Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are different enough in their features and offerings to appeal to different consumer niches.
Those who are willing to forgo some flagship creature comforts like 120Hz display will find the Note 20 suitable, with all the same S Pen stylus features as the phone’s pricier sibling. While the phone is more affordable 5G than its pricier sibling, Samsung cut some surprising corners to get the cost down, including the plastic back and lack of microSD slot – features appearing in nearly all mid-range Android phones.
Consumers who want the absolute best, and are willing to pay for it, will get a handful of premium touches like extra RAM, a curved waterfall display, and other perks. We’re especially excited about the laser focus fixture on the main camera, which could seriously help casual photography.
In other words, your decision will probably come down to cost rather than feature set – and thankfully, the most important perks of the Note 20 Ultra are preserved in the standard Note 20. If you’ve been waiting for the next generation of stylus flagship phones, you’ve got two strong options to choose from.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
