Although Samsung has been producing display panels that support high refresh rates for quite a while, it wasn’t until the recently launched S20 series that the brand implemented high refresh rates into its own devices. The Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra all feature 120Hz refresh rates.
The Asus ROG Phone II also featured 120Hz refresh rate. However, it had a switch to go from 120Hz to 90Hz or even the regular 60Hz. Sadly, the settings menu of the S20 series only featured the 120Hz and the 60Hz option. However, now thanks to the folks over at XDA, these users can access a midway 96Hz refresh rate option.
Watch: Samsung Galaxy S20+ First Look
120Hz is very smooth to the eyes but is known for draining the battery very fast on many phones. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series already restricts its QHD+ resolution when switching to 120Hz to prevent battery drain. But even then, the drop in screentime is significant. However, switching to the midway 96Hz ensures smoothness without much loss of battery. You will still drop down on resolution but you should get much more screen time than the 120Hz option.
To get the setting, XDA senior member sathishtony has developed an app that makes the switch possible. The app will even add two tiles to the One UI quick settings to make switching faster. Note that the app is still unofficial, and can only be found on XDA.
Called ‘S20 Refresh Rate Controller’, the app only changes two values in the system to make the 96Hz toggle available. Installing the apk users can open the app to see only two buttons. These are ‘Set 120Hz’ and ‘Set 90Hz’. Users can choose either and confirm the change on testufo.com.
In other news, Samsung recently revealed that the camera features from the flagship Galaxy S20 series will be coming to the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 series as well. The features will come in an update that is about 1.5GB in size.
According to a report from GSMArena, the new features coming to S10 and Note 10 include “Single Take”. Other features include Night Hyperlapse, Custom Filter, AR Emoji, and Pro Video. Samsung has also added support for 4K at 60 fps on the front camera. The update also brings the updated AI-powered gallery to both these device lineups. This will allow users to quickly review similar shots and select their favorite. In addition, the devices are also getting “Quick Share” and “Music Share” features down from the Galaxy S20 lineup.
