I first used a Samsung Galaxy Note phone 9 years ago soon after it was launched at the 2011 IFA trade show in Berlin. It was the month in which Tim Cook was named Apple’s CEO and an ailing Steve Jobs had become chairman of Samsung's arch-nemesis. And this phone represented something very meaningful for Samsung. Samsung was often maligned for being an Apple copy-cat machine, but the Galaxy Note was the first device that most people knew Apple wouldn't ever make. Nine years on, I maintain, it was the most polarising phone I've tested in my career. I was in the minority as I loved its gargantuan size. And soon it turned out that many companies started following Samsung’s lead as many people wanted a big phone. It was when I started using the term "phablet" for a couple of years. Today, as I file this review of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, it is worth realising that this is now the 10th Galaxy Note phone which has also been perhaps the most influential smartphone line since the original iPhone.

In 2020, it can even be said, a lot of what we see in the iPhone also can be traced back to the Galaxy Note; be it the size or some software multitasking capabilities.

The new Galaxy Note 20 Ultra visually is a mild refinement of the Galaxy Note 10+ design but when in hand, it feels like a whole new device. It also feels leagues apart from its predecessor. It is this satin-like finish on the back which makes it feel so plush and exclusive combined with the new mystic bronze colour which meets the needs of both business consumers and fashionistas. Not many can bridge that divide between a hardcore business audience that’s used to trotting anything black and that lifestyle appeal that a lot of modern phones have attempted with gradient finishes. Not since the first gold-coloured iPhone - the iPhone 5S this has happened.

In fact, its predecessor tried to do the gradient thing and it did it really well. But it also became a smudge magnet; this phone just feels plush. It also feels so solid that you don’t need to even put a case on it. Sure, it is big and the back is fundamentally glass but it is not any glass. It is Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the first exponent of this glass and it feels utterly durable, though it will still break if you throw it from the first floor of your house. That's a different thing altogether.

It also gets usual amenities like water and dust resistance, which makes it just about the most well built modern smartphone that doesn’t have a designer collaboration attached to it.

Of course, since this is a Note, it goes without saying that it is a massive device. Its screen is about the same size as the one on Galaxy Note 10+ at 6.9-inches but the panel itself is from a different Galaxy. Samsung is the master of AMOLED screen technology. They are so good that even Apple sources the screens for the latest iPhones from it. On the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Samsung displays Jedi Master levels of expertness with the screen. This phone has an AMOLED screen that has 120Hz peak refresh rate, a quad HD resolution and upwards of 1400 nits of brightness -- but this is already available on phones like the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the OnePlus 8 Pro. The Note ups the ante by becoming the first phone to get a dynamic refresh rate management. In simpler language, this means the screen will not just refresh at 120 frames per second but will be dynamic according to the content on the screen. This means it will ramp down the refresh rate to lower than even 60Hz if it's just a static image. This has huge ramifications for battery life and the S-Pen. Regardless, this is the best screen to have been put on a modern smartphone and likely, no one will beat it including the next iPhone.

The Note has always been about the S-Pen. Now the S-Pen gets a lowered latency level of 9ms which makes it as responsive as the Apple Pencil on the iPad. Remember, the iPad Pro models also have a 120Hz screen that refreshes dynamically, so this improved screen plays a huge role in improving the S-Pen. For the first time, I can put a hand on my heart and say it feels truly instantaneous, like literally a pen. Over the years, Samsung has also deeply evolved the feature set of the S-Pen going beyond basic note-taking and doodling to more pro-level usage which involves things like air gestures to control the phone or deeper integrations with Microsoft’s productivity applications. If the design of the Note 20 Ultra makes it appealing to the lifestyle audience, then certainly, it is the S-Pen that makes it the modern-day BlackBerry or Nokia Communicator for the productivity fiends.

Deeper integration with Microsoft's Windows OS via the My Phone app also gives it some levels of synergistic equity that's only been available to die-hard macOS and iOS users. So I can check my calls and messages or even cut-paste from the phone to the notebook seamlessly. Samsung has also improved the Dex system which transforms the user interface of the phone to something like Windows when connected with a screen and input apparatus. All of these are small steps, but the sum of them makes the Note a beast for getting work done.

As much as this phone is about work, it is also about play. Microsoft’s partnership also means this phone will be one of the first in the world to get the xCloud service in September. For Indians, there is no clarity. Microsoft hasn’t detailed plans to launch xCloud in India, but we do know the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is not only going to be sold in India but is also made in India.

The made in India bit also comes with a controversial trade-off. Unlike the US, in India, it is powered by the Exynos 990 chip. This is nothing new. Samsung has always used its own silicon in phones outside of the US but in the case of the Note 20 Ultra, this represents quite a performance trade-off especially when compared with the US models. The Exynos chip is plenty powerful, but it wasn’t on par with the Snapdragon 865 when we saw the models of the Galaxy S20+ earlier in the year. The gap widens with the Note as it gets the same old Exynos chip in India while the US audience gets a newer and faster Snapdragon 865+ chip. If this wasn’t bad enough people in India are paying just about the same amount as the US audience during a pandemic that’s crippled the Indian economy. If anything this phone could’ve been cheaper.

But these issues aside, the performance issues have been exaggerated. I have been testing this phone for over a week and it is right up there with the best in the business. Aside from hardcore gamers, who play in PUBG competitions wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in performance which hits users who push the limits of the phone after hours of use at the highest intensity levels.

If you don’t play games, then this just feels like the fastest phone ever. Everything comes into play -- Samsung uses 12GB of DDR5 RAM which is the fastest around. It also uses 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, a very optimised user interface alongside that hyper smooth 120Hz display. So from a day to day use point of view, this phone is like the flash. That’s what the average customer needs to think about. The performance is actually better than any Samsung phone I have tested including the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

In fact, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra even has a better camera than the Galaxy S20 Ultra which was its best camera phone till today. But the Galaxy S20 Ultra camera wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even close to being amongst the best in the business despite its unique 108-megapixel sensor and 100x space zoom capabilities. Samsung has learned from the mistakes and created a product that’s just amongst the best in the business.

Samsung has made a combination of software and hardware improvements. The software is more refined and now there is a laser focusing system which has eradicated all the auto focus issues of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The 108-megapixel camera on the Note 20 Ultra is stupendous. It takes great photos in all kinds of conditions. It is exceptional in low light even without the night mode and the night mode is almost as good as the one on the Pixel, Vivo X50 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro. At the same, this phone is also more versatile as it has fabulous secondary cameras in the ultra-wide, and telephoto lens that can do 5x optical zoom and up to 50x in digital enhancements.

50x may sound less compared to 100x on the S20 Ultra but in practice, it works better and is more pragmatic. You get typical Samsung over saturated colours which are a more subjective preference. At the same time, the Note 20 Ultra also provides the absolute best video on Android on the same level as the Mi 10. It can be said that it is better than the Mi 10 because its secondary cameras also take better footage which makes this phone almost as special as an iPhone 11 for a content creator.

As far as basic amenities are concerned, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra knocks it out of the park. Be it the dual speaker array, the sound via the type C connection from the AKG earphones that come with the package, or the haptics on the phone or the general call and network quality - everything is excellent worthy of a super-premium device. Samsung has also refined its OneUI layer and for the first time, it is also making a commitment towards 3 years of platform updates. OneUI also gets you cool Samsung features like Samsung Pay which works with just about any point of sale (POS) machine so you don’t even need to carry your wallet when you a Galaxy Note in your pocket.

Even battery life is superb. Its 4,500mAH battery isn't huge by 2020 standards given the gargantuan screen. But it seems like Samsung's optimisations to the software, chipset and the dynamic refresh rate technology ensure that it works well enough to last easily beyond a day on a single charge and also offer 7-8 hours of screen on time. It gets charged also fairly quickly at 25-watts and supports fast wireless charging and reverse wireless power share meaning you can charge other devices too from the Galaxy Note itself.

Yes, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is very expensive but then again it is quite the mouthful of a phone. It's massive, gorgeous, powerful and innately functional. It feels special like a phone from a designer like Louis Vuitton but packs the functional usability that was the raison d'etre of Blackberry's back in the day and power and features that one is accustomed to with Android, particularly Samsung's Android. It surely is not for everyone but who care about getting work done in style, this is the only one. And that's noteworthy.

(Price: Rs 1,04,999)