I have been making content online for as long as I can remember and each time I have the opportunity to lay my hands on tools that will help I embrace it.
I remember back when I first got my Note 10 Plus in 2020. I used up almost all of my first 3 months salary to purchase the smartphone.
However, now, I do not regret doing that because I've made the value of the phone back and much more in profit, out of the creative works I use it for - graphics, photography and videography etc.
Some years down the line, the phone begins to show aging and I have to pivot and get a better phone for my creative work.
So I sourced for funds and gathered about ₦460,000 at that time to get a refurbished Note 20 Ultra about over a year ago.
You'll wonder why I would get a Note 20 Ultra in 2024, when we already have 4 flagships that had been released after it.
Well, it's majorly because that was what I could afford at that time.
But asides from that, this smartphone actually performs quite well for the kind of work I use it for.
Here are my use cases for the smartphone:
Video Editing:
Top on the list of my use cases for the smartphone is video editing. I HEAVILY use the Note 20 Ultra for editing videos.
Editing on PowerDirector
I edit almost all my content for social media on this smartphone.
In fact, I have edited a lot of content for Hive using this smartphone
With an Adreno 650 Dedicated GPU for graphics, it handles most of my graphics need with ease.
Also considering the wholesome real-estate screen available for editing, it also give ample space to edit.
The S-Pen that comes with it is an invaluable tool.
I edit all my content on PowerDirector, a very capable video editor I have been using for mobile editing for years now.
I also sometimes use the more robust version on PC, even though I can no longer afford the subscription fees for the PC.
How my editing pane looks like on PowerDirector
Photography/Photo editing
Since I came across Lightroom and FaceTune on Android, I have seldom had a need to edit photos on my PC. Both apps have been so well developed to edit professional-grade photographs with powerful tools for retouching and editing.
More than 90% of the edited pictures I have on social media have been edited using Lightroom and/or Facetune.
Here are some of my previous Hive posts where I edited photos using these editing platforms:
Shots with my best Lens
NatGeo Wild By my window sill
A beautiful model, a historic location and a fantastic photoshoot
To make it even more interesting, there is a feature called Samsung Dex that enables you to convert your Android to a PC by mirroring your Android on your PC in a very nice way that makes it even easier for you to work.
Movies
Yes! Movies. Boasting a 6.9 inch screen, it has the same screen size as the latest s25 ultra and even now has curved edges which the s25 ultra does not have. With the QHD+ screen and AMOLED technology, it's a bliss to watch movies on!
See the crispness of the screen!
Why would I say watching movies is a "thing of creativity". Well it is for me, because I get to observe in detail the framing, lighting and composition of the different shots when I watch them.
The screen crispness, detail and clarity of Samsung phones have been maintained since the days of the Note 9, and it never makes me miss the fact that I don't have a TV in my house.
While there are other things that I do with this phone, I think these 3 come at the top of my creative needs my Note 20 Ultra solves.
Here is a detailed review I did of the smartphone in 2025:
What do you think?