iPhone 11 Pro Max vs. Galaxy Note 20 Ultra - Which Phone is Better?? By JSL Review

What is going on everyone. My name is Jason, and this is the iPhone 11 Pro max versus the Galaxy Note, tony ultra okay. So when it comes to smartphones, arguably still the two biggest titans in the game are apple and Samsung they've been at each other's throats for a while and really kudos to both were still leading the pack after so many years, and when it comes to both companies top-end flagship phones, they no doubt garner a ton of attention. Last year, apple debuted, the iPhone 11 Pro max a luxurious device, that's premium in virtually every way possible and is still recognized as one of the most posh smartphones available today, impressive. As that phone is, there are many who would say that it doesn't even come close to what Samsung has been bringing to the table with their Galaxy Note, lineup a point really driven home by the recent release of the beastly note, 20 ultra a phone that is so aggressively specked out and polished. It almost seems reserved for royalty now to be fair.

The true comparison for 2020 needs to be between the note 20 ultra and the very hyped iPhone 12 Pro, but today I thought I'd put these two phones in the ring, together kind of as an exhibition match to see how they would stack up against each other before the 12 pro and the note 20 ultra main events later this month. Now before I get into the review, if you're into checking out the latest consumer tech products before you buy them or if you're, just a taken like me, I make a video like this every single week so make sure to hit that thumbs up button and don't forget to subscribe. So you can be the first to know when a new JSL review is out, and you don't miss anything, a quick question for you guys. I really hope this doesn't get too ugly in the comments. But before I get into this, which phone do you think is better the iPhone 11 Pro max or the Galaxy Note 20 ultra curious to get your thoughts.

Let me know what you guys are thinking in the comments down below okay. First, off, let's talk physical design and, let's start with the iPhone, you have the standard flagship blueprint of having a glass on glass setup, but apple really steps it up a notch in a few ways. First, the 11 pro max uses stainless steel for the frame, as opposed to more common aluminum, something I've always been. A fan of. I find that the stainless steel is warmer and more pleasant in the hand, and the dark finish here is really well executed.

Moreover, the glossy frame is contrasted nicely against a frosted glass panel. The first time apple has gone this direction and man they nailed it. The matte finish gives the phone a less glitzy and more aggressive look, but still maintains that luxurious mo, and it's incredibly clean with just the Apple logo smack in the center. This is, by far for me, been one of my favorite design choices for the iPhone, mainly because it's so fingerprint resistant, and I have to say that the midnight green color has to the test of time. It's really great.

Now the note lineup has always pushed the envelope when it comes to physical design, and many of the core elements remain the same in this case. First, you have the massively large size, it's a behemoth in the hand, and it maintains the squared off corners, which I've always enjoyed again. It gives it an edgier look that differentiates it from most phones out. There, Samsung put the buttons back on the right side of the phone, which I find way more comfortable and not to be outshone by its rival Samsung debuted, this new mystic bronze, color, and seriously I'm loving it. The satin finish here is masterfully done.

It's seriously gorgeous when it catches the light. The polished, aluminum frame pairs perfectly here and even the insanely large camera housing jarring, as it may be, is actually really beautiful. To look at it's cut to precision and the detail that went into matching the colors and textures is no doubt testament to the note's unyielding pursuit of excellence. To me, this is the most well-thought-out version of the note. Yet when it comes to physical design, and I'm blown away at how Samsung is able to make a phone, this size look and feels so refined, though both phones represent the upper echelon of premium phones.

To me, the note 20 ultra edges out the iPhone here. The meticulous details, Samsung put into designing this device really makes this arguably the best looking best feeling smartphone available today, and it's an opinion that has gotten more firm over time rather than the other way around now. The next component I want to talk about here is an extension of the physical design and that's the displays. The iPhone 11 Pro max is packing a 6.5 inch. Super retina Dr display a beautiful OLED panel, ironically supplied by Samsung and look.

The display is great on this phone. It can get really bright. Apple fine-tuned, the color signs for accurate and punchy colors. You get great contrast with the inky blacks you're able to accomplish using an OLED, and the solid screen to body ratio makes content consumption really enjoyable. I like that.

It's a flat display with a uniform, minimal bezel and though the notch at the top is starting to make the phone's design feel dated. It really does fade away in the background when using the phone, the sheer size of the phone makes this a power user's phone of choice, as the screen real estate in many ways makes almost all the things that you do on this phone more enjoyable now transitioning to the note 20 ultra, to say that you have a big display here would be an understatement, to say the least: it's packing a massive 6.9 inch, AMOLED display and man. Furthermore, it's almost overwhelming, there's virtually no bezel whatsoever and though I'm not the biggest fan of curved edges with just a hole punch cut out for the front-facing camera. This is one of the most immersive displays on a phone, something that's made way more apparent when you actually have this phone in your hands and true to Samsung form. The quality here is fantastic, colors are saturated, it can get crazy.

Bright contrast is excellent, and this is hands down my favorite phone to consume, HD content and game with it's such a thrilling experience now when compared against the iPhone. The quality is pretty similar, but the note is a bit brighter and more encompassing with its better screen body ratio, where the note really zooms past the iPhone with its display is with one of its most coveted features. The 120 hertz variable refresh rate. Having a note with this pottery smooth scrolling capability is really the feather on the cap for this phone. It makes the user experience noticeably better, and it's the one thing it needed to really declare itself as the true flagship phone now you do have to lock the resolution at 1080 to take advantage of this, but it's really difficult to notice any degradation in quality, and it's so worth it.

So, at the end of the day when it comes to display to me, it's a clear win for the note 20 ultra here, it's better in virtually every way, and it's the crowning feature on this very luxurious phone. Okay, let's compare some of the more nuanced features of both phones and, let's start with power and storage, the iPhone comes equipped with apple's, a13 bionic chip powerhouse of a processor that not only gives you a seamless user experience, but also a reliable lifespan. That's best in class. The note 20 ultra is no slouch either boasting the powerful snapdragon 865 plus processor, and a pretty insane 12 gigawatts of ram. Now it's hard to make apples to apple's comparisons here, because the hardware and software are so different and the specs alone are misleading, but it's fair to say that both are extremely powerful devices that will be able to handle the most arduous tests that you can throw at a smartphone with relative ease.

Now, where you start to see, some differences here is with the internal storage options. The 11 pro max's base model comes with 64 gigabytes of internal SSD storage. To put it bluntly, it's small for 2020 and Samsung did the right thing here and made the base model. Note.20 ultra come with 128 gigabytes of internal storage. Now, when it comes to battery life, both phones are unsurprisingly packing.

Some hefty batteries, the iPhone has close to 4 000 Williams and the note 20 ultra has 4 500 and both perform really well. Both phones support wireless charging and fast charging the note using a universal USB type c, while apple uses its proprietary lighting port. Now, the 11 pro max has a reputation of being a battery beast, and it's true. This phone can easily last you a day and a half of moderate use, and it's really become one of its best features. The note 20 ultra does well too, but if you rock out with 120hz refresh rate all the time like I do, you aren't going to take a moderate hit on the battery life, but I am pleased to say that I could comfortably get through a day of heavy usage without any issues.

When it comes to biometric security measures, Samsung uses their in-display fingerprint reader. I've always appreciated the technology, and it has grown on me. A bit of truth be told. I wasn't always the biggest fan, because the sensor is small, and it's not the fastest thing in the world, but I do appreciate what having an embedded system like this allows for from an overall design standpoint, the iPhone 11 Pro max uses its tried and true face ID system, and to me, it's just better: yes, you have to pay for it with a notch, which is no doubt a high price to pay, but I'm consistently impressed at how well this biometric security system works and mainly how unobtrusive it is from a user standpoint. Now the note isn't without its unique features, especially the beloved s-pen, tucked away at the bottom of the device.

The s-pen can be an extremely useful accessory, as the display is so big on this phone and man, the latency has been reduced to near second generation iPad, pencil levels, and it's quite impressive. Now personally, I still have not trained myself to use the s pen as much as I probably should, but I know that there are folks out there that live and die by it, and I can totally understand why. Okay, the last comparison I want to do between these two phones is between their cameras. Let's start with the front facing cameras. The iPhone 11 Pro max has a 12 megapixel sensor that can impressively shoot 4k video at either 24 30 or 60 frames per second, the note note20 ultra has a 10 megapixel sensor that can also shoot 4k video in either 30 or 60 frames per second.

Now, when comparing selfies both do excellent, and I was surprised at just how close they are in quality. They're sharp colors are punchy and they both manage their respective portrait mode shots really. Well, I noticed that the iPhone selfies are a bit sharper. When it comes to details on the face, the note seems to be doing more noise reduction or face smoothing that Samsung is kind of known, for it really comes down to preference, if you like it or not- and it's kind of shocking that I'm saying this, but the selfies coming out of the iPhone have more saturated colors, something that Samsung was known for aggressively doing. It looks as though they've toned it down a bit to make it less artificial, which I think is a good move.

Ultimately, I think it's a draw when it comes to still images. Both are fantastic, but let's look at the video so no lie. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the note handled its 4k front facing video. It's really sharp and the powerful snapdragon 865 plus does a good job of managing colors and dynamic range, and it's probably some of the best front-facing camera video I've seen coming out of any smartphone, but when you compare it with the footage coming out of the iPhone, it's pretty clear that the iPhone is still better. The colors are more vibrant and the dynamic range is so good, truly a testament of the processing power of the a13 bionic chip, so the iPhone is superior when it comes to video here.

But again, I am very impressed with the game Samsung has made in this area. Okay, now going to the rear cameras, both come equipped with the standard high-end, triple camera setups, but two very different approaches. When it comes to sensors, the iPhone has 12 megapixel sensors for each camera, on the back, preferring to go with the smaller megapixel count, but with larger pixels. The note 20 ultra, on the other hand, has a staggering 108 megapixel primary sensor, while the ultra line and the zoom are 12 megapixels, plus the note20 ultra zoom lens optically punches into five times, whereas the iPhone only does two. Now when it comes to comparing day-to-day still images again, they are very similar in quality.

The pictures are razor, sharp, the colors are near identical and the image processing both are able to pull off is pretty amazing. The main difference I noticed was in dynamic range. The note 20 pulls up the saturation and exposure more aggressively making for more evenly exposed shots, while the iPhone leaves in more of the shadows for better contrast, the five-time zoom on the note performs really well, and it's more useful when you need to punch in when compared to the iPhone, I noticed when taking macro shots. The focus is better on the iPhone, I'm not sure if it has to do with the megapixel size. On the sensor, or if it's something to do with the image processing, but it almost looks as though the shots coming out of the note have a very shallow depth of field.

So only certain parts of the images are tack sharp, while the rest are blurred out now it could also be because the shutter lag on the note is pretty bad, which could explain why I might be missing focus on these macro shots. Now, when it comes to video the note 20 ultra can shoot in a ridiculous 8k resolution at 24 frames per second, and despite it taking up all your internal storage, the footage is seriously impressive. It's detailed, the colors are accurate, and it just looks fantastic. It is, however, better to shoot wider angle and dynamic shots using 4k, because it won't be as demanding on the processor, and you get some perfect, smooth video on this phone. One thing Samsung made sure of was fixing the focus issue.

The s20 ultra was having, and I'm happy to say that you get smooth racking, focusing without any issues, and the quality here is great. But again, the video coming out of the iPhone is a force to be reckoned with. I don't know what apple does in their video processing, but it really has the secret sauce for its video capability. The colors are saturated, the focus is buttery smooth and the shots that you're able to get on this phone are just simply incredible, but even though the iPhone's video quality is better in the long run, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize the leap Samsung has made here and man it's starting to close the gap. Okay.

So at the end of the day, when comparing these two flagship phones, which one is better well to me, if I take into consideration all the features, it's a pretty clear win for the note 20 ultra I mean this thing is built to perfection. The user experience is intoxicating with the 120 hertz refresh rate. It has a really well-designed s pen for power users and the cameras have seen significant improvement from last year. Now, to me, this choice makes sense for two reasons: one as mentioned at the beginning of this video. The iPhone 11 Pro max is last year's model and not a one-to-one comparison.

As the note 20 ultra was just released. Second, the note is 300 more expensive than the iPhone making it one of the most expensive consumer smartphones available today at 1300. I expect this phone to be stellar, and I don't think it's too much to ask that it beats out a phone. That's a year older now we'll see how the note 20 ultra stacks up against the much anticipated iPhone 12 Pro max, truly the main event that I'm excited for make sure you're subscribed to the channel, so you don't miss out on it. But let me know what you guys think.

Do you think I'm right in saying that as impressive as the 11 pro max? Is it just can't compete with the note 20 ultra? Let me know what you guys are thinking in the comments down below. Okay, that's about it, for this review. Don't forget to leave me a thumbs up if you guys found it useful. It really helps me out if you guys have any questions about the iPhone 11 Pro max or the note 20. Ultra leave them down in the comments, and I'll be sure to get to you.

Thanks for watching, and I'll see you guys in the next one you.

Source : JSL Review