Samsung Unpacked Recap

Unpacked opened with a Zoomy, flashy multi-screen video of the Z Flip, the predicted clamshell phone. They are calling this building on the Galaxy Fold. Head of UK Mobile product marketing, Rebecca Hearst is calling it the ‘Zed Flip.’ They are positioning it as for trend setters and a premium device. 6.7 inch screen. Outside screen is a tiny two line thing, as predicted. Time, text, alarm, or calls displayed in it. The inside screen does look great. you can shoot from the outside cam without opening the phone, using the tiny outside display as a view finder. There is a hole punch cam in the inside screen.

Colors are: Mirror Purple, Mirror Black, and Mirror Gold (in limited countries).

Access to YouTube Premium will come with the Z Flip. There is a 3 stop hinge, so you can use it flat, or in flex mode, use the two parts of the screen separately! Watch a video on top part, and comment on bottom. Scroll through photos on the bottom, and see them bigger on the top part.

The hinge has a fiber shield that protects the elements of the hinge. They are using ultra thin glass, and claim 200,000 folds without problem.

The Galaxy Z Flip will be out February 14th, for $1380.

A video rolled with Thom Brown on fashion versions of Samsung gear. They seem to all feature a red, white, and blue racing stripe down the middle of the phone, and on watchbands, etc. Limited Edition will be explored more tomorrow during New York fashion week.

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Dr. T.M. Roh has taken the stage. He is doing a recap of the Galaxy phones. Now, touting the transformative power of 5G. He cites 5G, IOT, and AI as a convergence that will revolutionize how people and companies interact.

Finally, the reveal of the Galaxy S20. Rolling a video staring with an old 1800’s cam, to a Polaroid, then to slick video of the new handset. They are showing 3 models on screen. They are actually capturing and streaming the live stream over Galaxy S20’s!

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Drew Blackard, head of US Mobile Product Management is up. He is pointing out that the cam is probably the most important aspect of smartphones. They have rebuilt the entire cam section for the S20 series. They will feature a 64 megapixel cam, so you can zoom in on an area in a shot, and the edit will be clear. With ’space zoom,’ you can get 30x closer and still get a clear shot. Single Take mode will utilize each of the cams, roll 10 seconds of video, and the AI will give you the ability to pick the best shot from whichever one you think is best.

Moving on to video, the S20 will have 8K video available. Now rolling a demo with a video producer. You can capture video in 8K, upload to YouTube, then cast it to a TV and watch it in 8K right on the big screen!

You can crop any frame in video, and get a clean shot from it….with a zoom and one click.

With a micro SD card, up to a massive 1-1/2TB of storage should get you by!

Note that all the features noted above are available on all 3 of the Galaxy S20 models.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra though, gets something extra. It will have a 108MP camera! The detail is stunning. You can zoom in anywhere in the shot and it’s gorgeous. The Ultra also has the ability to catch 3x the light in every image. They use a folded lens with a 10X physical zoom and 10X of electronic zoom. You can get 100x zoom total. It’s relatively clean for such extreme zoom.

They are announcing Netflix as their mobile use partner, with bonus content exclusively available on Samsung channels (drawn from Netflix Originals). They have integrated Bixby to search your Netflix for viewing on the phones.

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David Park onstage, Head of Mobile Channel Marketing. He is touting partnership with Google. Google Duo is being integrated into the S20 and Z Flip. HD video chatting will be available.

Mobile gaming over 5G…they have 120Hz response rates on the S20s. They claim less lag between touches and the game responding. They are also partnering with Microsoft and getting 4 Xbox games. You can preorder now. More will be out later this year.

Next product reveal: Galaxy Buds Plus. They have a woofer and tweeter in each ear bud! A partnership with Spotify lets a long press gives you new songs based on your history there. There are 2 exterior mics on each bud, and ambient sound for walking around the city without getting run over (hopefully.) Buds Plus also work with iOS using a Samsung app. They are wirelessly charged, and can last up to 11 hours. Charging case adds another 11 hours! They are $149 starting on February 14th!

So how much for the phones and when?

they will drop March 6th. The base Galaxy S20 is $999, the S20+ is $1199, and Ultra is $1399. ALL are 5G! They also announced price cuts for the S10s….S10e $599, S10 $749, and S10+ $849.