The Galaxy S20 is Samsung’s best phone ever, but you can’t have it just yet. You can preorder it, and it’ll ship to your door next week. But when you take it out of the box, it’ll come with a few preloaded bugs that will ruin its signature feature. Samsung has confirmed it’ll fix that feature, but failed to admit it did anything wrong.
The Galaxy S20 has three signature features (if we count 5G support). The other two are the 120Hz display and the rear camera system. All three S20 phones come with 120Hz-ready Infinity-O OLED screens, and all of them feature quad-lens cameras, although it’s the S20 Ultra that delivers the best camera experience, at least in theory.
It’s that camera experience that Samsung has to fix via software updates. Early reviewers discovered what appear to be significant focus issues that affect both photo and video modes. One other issue concerns the skin smoothing feature of the cameras.
Samsung said that an update is in the works, without addressing any of the criticism, per The Verge and Input:
The Galaxy S20 features a groundbreaking, advanced camera system. We are constantly working to optimize performance to deliver the best experience for consumers. As part of this ongoing effort, we are working on a future update to improve the camera experience.
Remember last April when early Galaxy Fold reviewers discovered not one, but two ways to destroy the foldable screen? Samsung had to cancel the phone. The redesign of a few key features delayed the phone’s launch by five months. The Galaxy S20 issues are nowhere near as massive, and software updates will likely improve the entire experience. However, let’s not forget that Samsung is asking anywhere from $999 to $1,399 for a Galaxy S20, a price that should ensure a great overall experience right out of the box.
You can read about the Galaxy S20 camera issues for yourself and see plenty of sample photos and videos over at Input and PCMag, as well as comparisons with other phones. If you want to see the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s most awesome and gimmicky feature in action, check out all the 100x zoom camera samples.
