Samsung Unpacked 2020 goes virtual

This morning, Samsung held their annual Unpacked event, but for the first time, as expected due to the pandemic, they hosted it virtually. Normally these events are private media events, previously held in New York City with only invited media in attendance.

Today’s event saw them officially announce a full lineup of new devices including the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra smartphones, Galaxy Watch3, the Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+ tablets, Galaxy Buds Live and the Galaxy Z Fold2.

The Note 20 / Note 20 Ultra bring with them a 120Hz refresh rate and a new colour, Mystic Bronze which is also available on their other devices as well. These 5G capable devices also work with WiFi 6. Nearby Share is a new feature that uses UWB to easily share photos and documents with other UWB equipped Galaxy devices.

In partnership with Microsoft, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is coming to the Samsung Note 20 series this September. This allows you to pair a bluetooth game controller with your device and can play over 100 Xbox games, streamed from the cloud.

Dex is now wireless. This allows you to connect a Galaxy Note 20 series device to your tv to use as a larger, second screen to view content and be productive.

The Galaxy Watch3 brings with it blood pressure (BP) monitoring and electrocardiogram (ECG) readings (pending approval on a per country basis). Running analysis will offer real-time feedback during your runs and you can track your oxygen uptake with an expanded Health Monitor app. Compared to the original Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch3 is 14% thinner, 8% smaller and 15% lighter — combined with a larger display.

Galaxy Buds Live are their reinvented wireless earbuds with active noise cancelling which feature up to 6 hours of battery life (21 hours possible with the charging case) and also offered in the new Mystic Bronze. A 5 minute charge would give you around 1 hour of playback time.

The new Tab S7 series of tablets are 5G ready and feature an available Book Cover keyboard with integrated S-Pen holder. The tablets feature the same 120Hz refresh rates as the Note 20 series. The Tab S7+ comes with a 12.4″ Super AMOLED display while the Tab S7 features a 11″ LCD display.

The final unveil was the upgraded Galaxy Z Fold2. This folding device has a new front 6.2″ display that (finally) is the full screen, unlike the original version which had a much smaller display. Unfolded, it now has massive 7.6″ screen.

The Note 20 series (Note 20 5G 128gb $1399.99, Ultra 5G 128gb – $1819.99 and $2029.99 for the 512gb) and the Tab S7 series (S7 $919.99/$1029.99 128gb/256gb and S7+ $1189.99/$1299.99 for 128gb/256gb) will be available as of August 21st. Galaxy Watch3 (41mm $549.99, 45mm $599.99) and Galaxy Buds Live ($249.99) are available August 6th (in stores August 21st).

More availability and pricing details will be coming September 1st for the Z Fold2 which is when pre-orders will open for that device.

We’re looking forward to getting our hands on all these new devices. Stay tuned for our full reviews in the coming weeks.

Updated to show Canadian pricing