Samsung’s 120Hz screen: Ultrafast battery slayer. In addition to the camera, the Galaxy S20 phones have a standout feature in the 120Hz screen. This number refers to the screen pixels refreshing 120 times a second, which doubles the standard speed of 60 times a second, or 60Hz.
Flagship phones from OnePlus and Google, and gaming phones from Razer and Asus, all have 90Hz or 120Hz refresh rates as an option, especially one that’s intended to make scrolling and gameplay much smoother.
I’m an atrocious gamer, but I could immediately tell the difference with the 120Hz screen turned on. Even wiping out at nearly every turn on Riptide GP2: Renegade, I still managed to come in first place against a bunch of game bots, on a harder level than I’d ever attempted (cough, level 2, cough).
It felt as if time slowed down. I was Neo in The Matrix, dodging bullets by manipulating my surroundings. I was a time bandit, and it felt good.
Unfortunately, keeping 120Hz on full-time also drained battery like a thirsty vampire. One day, I went from 100% to 15% in a mere nine hours, admittedly after heavy use that included three hours of Google Maps navigation.
Another day, battery life drained from 100% to 12% in 10.5 hours after use that included tethering to my laptop for an hour and streaming Netflix for three hours. But keeping the phone on 60Hz gave me better than all-day life regardless of what I did.