\nThe biggest caveat to all of this, of course, is that the TCL 20S doesn\u2019t pack any kind of waterproofing or dust proofing. So although this phone does look close to flagship-level in design, whether in Milky Way Gray as my review unit for TCL 20S or in North Star Blue, it isn\u2019t quite going to stand up like one. At least not against water or other debris.
\nYou\u2019ll have to look hard if you want a better budget display than this one
\nIn the brightest sunlight on a cloudless day, TCL 20S stays visible thanks to NXTVISION 2.0
\nThe display on TCL 20S is, in a word, marvelous. Especially with consideration for the low price-point. And that doesn\u2019t just come down to its 6.67-inch size or its resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels with a 91-percent screen-to-body ratio. Although those things definitely help drive a more premium experience.
\nThe sole caveat taking away from this experience, of course, is that TCL didn\u2019t opt for a higher frame refresh rate.
\nNo, the real star of the show when it comes to this display is NXTVISION. With the software in place, starting from the easiest-to-notice difference, bright sunlight isn\u2019t an issue anymore. With \u201cSunlight display\u201d enabled, even direct sunlight doesn\u2019t cause unnatural glare or the vanishing details problem that appears on most smartphones. Leaving alone smartphones in the budget tier, competing directly with this TCL handset.
\nUnder review, the other major NXTVISION features were also more than noticeable with TCL 20S. At its simplest, the feature takes users\u2019 selected color presentation option \u2014 the default is \u201cvivid\u201d \u2014 and adjusts things on the fly. So contrast, brightness, tone, hue, and other factors automatically adjust precisely to environmental lighting.
\nAdditionally, NXTVISION upscales SDR content to HDR. Improving contrast further. With improvements also possible on the gaming and imaging front.
\nAll of that is, conversely, looking past the included Reading and Eye Comfort modes. And completely ignores that the display responsiveness is also incredibly high with this phone. Especially compared to others in its price bracket. If you want a great screen at a budget price \u2014 again, sans the high refresh rate \u2014 TCL 20S definitely delivers.
\nBuilding on top of that, finally, this display is T\u00dcV Rheinland Circularly Polarized certified. Put simply, that means that you can still see the display in natural colors, unlike most smartphones, while wearing polarized sunglasses.
\nPerformance is well-optimized but hardly perfect, as its price suggests
\nPlay all of the latest titles with TCL 20S, despite its low price
\nIf you like games but don\u2019t want to spend a lot of money, TCL 20S has you covered \u2014 or at least that\u2019s the impression my review left me with. Not only was I able to play some fairly intensive titles without lag. That\u2019s because this phone comes with dedicated game optimization features. And, as we\u2019ll discuss later on, a dedicated space to store games. That way, they weren\u2019t taking up space in the app drawer.
\nBut it appears the optimization extends to the entire underlying OS as well. In apps, the only slow-down I noted was in image processing and in launching some of the heavier Play Store titles. Otherwise, the octa-core Snapdragon 665 powering this handset just seemed to handle everything I threw at it. Up to and including multitasking.
\nOf course, there are always going to be exceptions on this front. And games are hardly the best gauge of the performance of a smartphone. Although they are the most common use cases users will notice any dips in responsiveness or long load times.
\nBeyond that, obvious delays are going to be noticed in image processing and video processing. Particularly where editing of those is concerned. But TCL\u2019s optimizations also help on those fronts, compared to other Snapdragon 665 handsets I\u2019ve tested out. Albeit, not to the extent we\u2019d want in order to call it a \u201cpremium\u201d experience.
\nFast charging is nice to have but great battery life is better
\nFast charging is part of the TCL 20S bundle but not quite up to flagship standards
\nIt isn\u2019t at all uncommon for a budget-friendly smartphone to feature a long-lasting battery. So, when I averaged between 6.5 and just over 8 hours of screen-on time during my review of TCL 20S, I wasn\u2019t too surprised. The battery, which can be used via OTG cable for reverse charging too, is rated at 5000mAh, after all.
\nBut it\u2019s equally important to note that battery life is always subjective. It\u2019s going to vary widely from user to user, depending on usage, screen brightness, volume, and which radios are turned on. Among other things.
\nFor my battery test, I effectively simply used the TCL 20S. That meant a good deal of time was spent in streaming media, with slightly less time spent in games. Regardless of how I used it though, with battery-saving features turned off and NXTVISION 2.0 active to boot, this phone consistently made it through well over a single day of use.
\nAnd that\u2019s a good thing since TCL\u2019s \u201cfast charging\u201d here isn\u2019t necessarily the quickest. In fact, using the included cable and wall adapter, this phone took just over two hours to refill. Fast charging smartphones in the upper end of the mid-range and even some in the budget segment take on average just over an hour to fuel up. So it\u2019s a bit difficult to justify calling the charge here \u201cfast.\u201d
\nAll of that did, however, mean that I could use the phone all day. I just charged it at night when I wasn\u2019t using it. So it didn\u2019t turn out to be a big deal for me. Although it could be for some users.
\nCamera quality is one area where TCL 20S really takes a hit
\nExtras abound with the TCL 20S quad-camera
\nAs already covered in this review so far, TCL 20S is a smartphone that doesn\u2019t really look like it\u2019s all that cheap. It also doesn\u2019t perform like it is. But not everything is perfect in this device either. We\u2019ll discuss some highlights of the cameras here momentarily. To begin with, though, it\u2019s well worth looking at the flaws too.
\nNow, obviously,\u00a0 TCL has done a lot of work with its camera software to ensure a great user experience. And, for the most part, it\u2019s been successful on that front. Especially for a low-end handset. There are really three areas where this camera setup, comprised of a 64-megapixel high-resolution camera falls apart.
\nThe first, of course, is on Super Night Mode. While that\u2019s reasonably good, especially for the price, the mode feels like it simply isn\u2019t ready for prime time. The camera, in night mode, only captured as much light as my eye could see in closer shots. And in longer shots, particularly sky shots, it didn\u2019t even do that. Instead, offering up a pixelated blur as shown in our sample gallery via Flickr.
\nThe same held for low-light video captures. Despite being relatively great in standard lighting on both fronts.
\nMoreover, and perhaps worse, the camera couldn\u2019t quite seem to settle when it came to the processing side of things. Photos often took longer than expected to finish and then didn\u2019t seem to want to hold in terms of brightness and color accuracy. That appears to be a software-related issue. And TCL will likely fix that in a future update. But it is disconcerting, as of this writing.
\nConversely, the shots captured in good or moderately good lighting are great. Color accuracy is high and detail is too. But zooming in doesn\u2019t work out so well either and color accuracy takes a hit again when zoomed all the way out to 0.6x zoom.
\nWhat this phone lacks in those areas though, it makes up for with a great selfie camera and loads of features, as shown in the image above.
\nThe front-facing camera is a 16-megapixel sensor, just for starters. And that comes packed with HDR support, which seems to work very well.
\nTaking pictures with either set of cameras, indoors at least, shows that the phone handles heavy backlighting fairly well. Maintaining detail and color accuracy, up to a point.
\nAt the end of the day, whether or not a phone offers a great camera experience comes down to one thing. That\u2019s how well the software and hardware join up to handle everyday photography.
\nUnfortunately, TCL 20S cameras just weren\u2019t great under my review. In mid-level to good lighting, they are much more than just serviceable. But they don\u2019t maintain that quality across the broad swath of circumstances and environmental factors I would expect to use my smartphone as a camera for.
\nTCL shines on software and so does the TCL 20S
\nSoftware is one area where TCL\u2019s phones \u2014 budget or otherwise \u2014 do exceptionally well
\nNow, as time goes on, smartphones are more and more likely to perform and look like flagships. But that doesn\u2019t mean they all offer software experiences to match. Fortunately, TCL is among the best on this front and its TCL 20S is no exception. We\u2019ve already covered performance, of course. But one thing we\u2019ve yet to discuss in any depth, beyond a smooth experience, is just what it\u2019s like to interact with the company\u2019s software.
\nIn actuality, there\u2019s very little to actually discuss on the software front. Aside from the usual utilities, Google apps, and a smart device manager, TCL doesn\u2019t really force any software down users\u2019 throats. The few extras that are installed, including Facebook, the Booking.com app, Gameloft\u2019s Modern Combat: Rebel Guns, and Netflix, can be uninstalled.
\nThat leaves just a few topics to discuss here, looking past the previously-discussed NXTVISION app. A few of the extras included by TCL, such as Game Box, are useful. With Game Box, for example, users can hide away any installed games rather than showing them in the app drawer. That\u2019s in a single app that also helps optimize performance. The same kind of usefulness is present in the included Support Center app, as well as the Switch Phone and File Share app. And each of these experiences works as well as would be expected.
\nDigging a little deeper under the hood, TCL also packs in plenty of system-level features. For instance, users can select which hand they\u2019ll use predominantly, during setup, and that will alter how the bottom-row navigation is displayed. They can also set the phone up to work using Google\u2019s standards for app drawers, or to function without an app drawer.
\nOf course, using the app drawer is recommendable with TCL phones. Especially since that app drawer is fully customizable, down to the automatic management of sorting. With the apps automatically assigned to folder-like sections in the app drawer and custom segments made possible via TCL. Or using a more traditional sorting method.
\nAnd all of that, including switching between sorting methods, is smooth and fast. There\u2019s no jitter to speak of in any of the system-level settings or pre-installed software. It all just feels like a flagship experience. And that\u2019s not going away anytime soon either since TCL shipped this phone with Android 11 and a promise of two years worth of security and OS updates.
\nAudio from this phone is great, particularly for 3.5mm wired headphones
\n3.5mm is here to stay if TCL has anything to do with it
\nAs noted in the connectivity segment below, Bluetooth 5.0 is built-in with this device. And, under review, that gave TCL 20S a great way to wirelessly listen to near-lossless audio. In fact, that performed \u2014 unsurprisingly \u2014 almost exactly as I\u2019d expect from a much more expensive handset.
\nAnd, on that front, TCL also includes an extra feature to set this phone apart. Although it\u2019s also included in its other handsets. Dubbed Super Bluetooth, users can use this phone to connect up to four Bluetooth speakers or headphones. Then they can stream music or media to those simultaneously.
\nAs it turns out, that worked flawlessly in my review. Most handsets simply don\u2019t come with this feature or anything at all like it. So it\u2019s good to see TCL include it in a sub-$300 smartphone.
\nHowever, the premium experience on audio doesn\u2019t end there either. The company also includes dual speakers specifically designed for those who are using the phone in landscape mode. That made movies and games alike much more enjoyable during my test of the audio.
\nThe audio from those speakers, conversely, isn\u2019t great since no smartphone audio really is. There\u2019s just no real \u2018punch\u2019 in the low end. But, in the same breath, the audio was genuinely great compared to other smartphones. Each tone is well represented, if not too pounding on the bass end. And there\u2019s no sign of anything that could be called \u201ctinny.\u201d
\nInstead, TCL ensures that a balanced audio experience is easily attained. With sound coming from both the top and bottom of the phone for a more immersive experience.
\nConnectivity with TCL 20S is fantastic but not the latest tech
\nSupport for an SD card and SIM all in one with TCL 20S
\nConnectivity is an important feature on a modern smartphone and TCL 20S lived up to my expectations under review. It packs in a lot of the latest features such as NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, and advanced 4G features such as VoLTE and Voice-over-Wi-Fi (but only for T-Mobile on the latter).
\nBut it is also not a modern handset in other ways when it comes to this technology. For example, while the phone does feature support for both a SIM card and storage expansion from 128GB up to 1TB via microSD card, it only supports one SIM card. There\u2019s also no support for the latest Wi-Fi protocols \u2014 Wi-Fi 6. And, it goes without saying, no 5G networking support.
\nGiven that 5G is still rapidly expanding in terms of availability, it may be surprising that there\u2019s no 5G here. But that\u2019s only if we choose to ignore that 5G components are still considerably more expensive than their 4G counterparts. Setting aside that there are design decisions that need to change based on 5G support. Especially when it comes to antenna placement, among other things.
\nHaving said that, no 5G is a disappointment for a device that\u2019s as advanced as this phone looks and feels at this price point. In fact, it serves as just one more area where pricing this phone firmly in the budget segment has dampened how good it is or could be. Although 4G LTE is still a great networking technology and will be around for years to come.
\nWorth the cost? Yes but not quite perfect
\nTCL 20S is ready to at a moments notice, for just about any use case
\nAt the end of the day, whether or not TCL 20S is a phone that\u2019s perfect for you will depend on whether or not the caveats and benefits described in this review will suit your needs. If consistent performance and great visual management are more important than a display with a high refresh rate, TCL 20S has you covered. The same can be said if being able to easily see the screen under bright light is important to you.
\nSimilarly, if 5G, the fastest charging, and a great nighttime camera aren\u2019t too important, but great software optimization, daytime camera, updates, Bluetooth sharing, and design are important, this phone absolutely won\u2019t let you down.
\nThe only caveat here that seems unjustifiable, in fact, is the lack of any advertised IP rating. Without that information, it\u2019s impossible to tell how well TCL 20S will stand up to water and dust. And that\u2019s more likely to be a larger problem for a wider swath of users.
\nHowever, the overwhelming majority of the minor issues here are, summarily, to be expected. After all, TCL 20S is still a hard-to-beat smartphone. And that\u2019s only made more true by its relatively low price point, which appears to be the source of those caveats. So, at the very least, it\u2019s not a handset anybody shopping in the budget end of the Android landscape should ignore.
\nThe post TCL 20S Review \u2013 A Great, Good-Looking Phone Mostly Held Back By Its Price appeared first on Android Headlines.
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![](\"https:\/\/plus.maciejpiasecki.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/00-TCL-20S-review-title-DG-AH-2021.jpg\")
\nSource: ndroidheadlines.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"