TCL 20S - Complete Review! By Kevin Breeze

What's going on everyone, this is Kevin here and in this video we're gonna check out the TCL 20s. So let's get started now this device was launched in june 2021, so it is a very recent release by TCL and in addition to that, full disclosure- they were kind enough to send this out to me to cover here on the channel, but all opinions expressed in this video are completely my own and in addition to that, I've been covering TCL devices here in the channel for several years now, so definitely check out all that content here in the channel as well. Now with the tcl20s, it is factory unlocked for GSM carriers. So it is really nice that you do have the ability to easily switch from carrier to carrier with this phone, and it does feature a MSRP of 249. Now to see the most up-to-date pricing for the device, as I'm sure that will change as time goes on. Take a look at the link in the video description now with this phone it is being offered in two different colors.

You can get it in Milky Way: black and north star blue now. The display here is 6.67 inches in size, and it does feature IPS LCD technology. Now the display itself is 60 hertz. It is a 1080p display, we're getting a PPI of 395, a 20 by nine aspect ratio, it's a more narrow but taller form factor here, and we're getting an 84 screen to body ratio, so in general, pretty small bezels all throughout now. You can see here.

The bottom bezel is a little on the thicker side, but the front-facing camera is situated in a hole punch now. The front-facing camera itself is 16 megapixels and stay tuned for later on in the video as I'll be showing you a variety of different photo and video samples from all the various cameras here on the phone now internally, with the TCL 20s we're getting 128 gigabytes of internal storage, and we're getting micros card expansion. So it is really nice that we are getting that much internal storage here at the phone, and, what's pretty amazing as well, is that now in 2021, the iPhone 12 base model is still only 64 gigabytes and that device is way more expensive than the tcl20s, whereas this phone has double the amount of internal storage. So I think that really does go to show how much value TCL is giving us here with the phone. Now there is no wireless charging with this device, but we do have a fingerprint sensor on the right side of the phone, and the fingerprint sensor also doubles as the power button.

But let's give that a try right now, very quick one more time. So that's a very fast, accurate and responsive fingerprint sensor with the tcl20s and in addition to having that fingerprint sensor, this phone also supports face unlock. So I do appreciate that we are getting multiple methods for getting into the phone now taking a closer look at the various cameras on the back of the phone, we are getting a quad camera setup with a 64 megapixel main camera, an 8 megapixel ultra-wide angle, camera at 118 degrees we're getting a 2 megapixel dev sensing camera, which helps with portrait mode, and we're getting a 2 megapixel macro camera. So you are able to take close-up images and still retain a lot of detail. Now.

Here's how things look with the main camera here in the phone then from here we can go over to the ultra-wide angle, camera, which allows us to fit a lot more content into the frame. This especially comes in handy when you're taking photos and videos outdoors, but also in addition to that, we have a bunch of other settings. So of course, there's video mode portrait mode. We have also a super night mode as well, which is pretty interesting, and there is even a dedicated pro mode here which gives us a bunch of different options and then going over to the more tab. We have even more features, so there's piano, stop motion, light trace super macro, so that's how you get to the macro camera so very awesome, and then we also have slo-mo high pixel and then short video, but in general, I've been impressed with the camera experience with the TCL 20s now, of course, compared to a higher end device or even a mid-range phone like the TCL 20 pro 5g.

The cameras here certainly don't take nearly as good of images. However, for a phone in this segment, I feel like the photo. Video quality is about as good as I'd expect it to be. If you're looking to just take pictures here and there and put them on social media and have them be usable and worth keeping, then this phone will be a good fit for you, but in general I didn't do anything special when I took these photos, so I'd. Definitely let the quality speak for itself, but let's now take a look at some video samples from the device what's going on everyone.

This is Kevin here coming at you with a front-facing 4k test, video from the TCL 20s. Definitely curious know what you think about both the video quality and audio quality. What's going on everyone, this is Kevin here coming at you with a 4k test video using the TCL 20s using the main rear camera. We do a pretty quick, autofocus in video mode, and here is an ultra-wide test, video using the tcl20s in 1080p. You cannot take 4k video with the ultra-wide angle, camera by the way, just want to point that out, but you can fit quite a bit more content into the frame with the ultra-wide camera now with the TCL 20s we're getting four gigabytes of ram, and we're getting the Qualcomm snapdragon 665 processors, so four gigs of ram certainly is pretty generous and then also having that processor does provide good performance here with the phone.

So for my experience of using it, everything does run nice and smoothly, certainly nowhere near as fast or as powerful as a flagship device, for example. But if you're, just looking to do basic to moderate tasks such as web browsing calls text messages some light to moderate social media use as well and watching video content, then the TCL 20s will get the job done for you. But if you're looking to do more high, demanding tasks such as high performance, mobile gaming or if you want to edit video on your phone for example, then I would say that you might want to consider going for something a bit more powerful but again for most people out there. This phone is plenty powerful. Now I did run a geek bench 5 benchmark test here with the phone, and you can see here is the score.

So I got a single core score of 310 and a multi-core score of three six seven. So what I recommend doing is running this test on your current phone and then compare your scores to these scores. To get a better idea of whether the TCL 20s will be a performance upgrade for you now, of course, I already gave you a chance to take a look at some video samples from the phone, but the phone does max out at 4k video at 30fps, with the rear and then 1080p with the front. So it is nice that you can at least take 4k videos with the back camera now, as far as battery capacity goes with the tcl20s we're getting a very large battery at 5 000 William hours, and in addition to that, we're getting 18 watt fast charging. So it's nice that we're getting a battery that big, because it does provide us with quite a bit of longevity.

But in addition to that, the fact that you can recharge it very fast is certainly an added bonus. Now, as far as the software goes we're getting a pretty stock android experience here, but TCL has also taken their own twist on the software they've added a bunch of different bonus features that certainly do add to the user experience when using the phone. So I like that they took the best parts of stock android and made it even better. Now, with this device, we are getting NFC, which is perfect as well. So if you do like to make mobile contactless payments with your device using services such as Google Pay, for example, then this phone certainly will be a good fit for you and in addition to that, the phone has stereo speakers, so you're going to be getting audio coming out of both the main speaker and the earpiece as well, when you're consuming content.

Now that is a feature that you typically do find with higher end android phones, but it is pretty rare to find with the device in the same segment as the tcl20s. Video content looks perfect on the phone and the stereo speakers indeed are working. So we are getting audio from this video coming out of both the earpiece and also the main speaker, which certainly does give us a clearer, louder and more immersive audio listening experience. So, combining that with a great display for watching video content, certainly does make this phone a winner when it comes to a device that is good for consuming media. Now, taking a closer look at the hardware of the device, we already talked quite a bit about the front panel here, but essentially we're getting a nice large display, which really does come in handy for really anything on the phone.

Then we have that hole, punch the front facing camera, and then we do have a little of a thicker bottom bezel. But again in general. I do like the form factor here on the device and having that more narrow, but taller form factor with the display does make it very well optimized for the way that most people use their smartphones nowadays, especially if you're doing a lot of scrolling, whether it's on the web or when using your favorite social media, app you're, going to be doing less scrolling, which does make using the phone a bit more efficient compared to other devices that have a shorter 16 by 9 aspect ratio, for example. Then, taking a look on the left side of the device, we have the slot for the micro SD card and sim card. We also have a dedicated Google Assistant button.

Now. One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike the TCL 20 pro 5g, the button on the side here is just for Google Assistant. It is not a smart key. Unfortunately, then, on the right side of the device we have volume up volume down and then the power button, which is also the fingerprint sensor, then on the top of the device we have the 3.5, millimeter headphone jack and then also the noise-cancelling microphone and then on the bottom of the phone. We have the microphone USB c port for charging and data transfer, and we have the speaker and then on the back of the device.

We have the camera module, TCL logo and that's pretty much it. I definitely do like this material as well, because it doesn't really pick up too many fingerprints and has kind of this cool wavy. Look to it. Now, before we finish this video, I do want to show you what all comes included here in the box. So here is the box.

The phone does come in, there's a picture of the phone right there. Then, on the back of the box, we have some basic specifications which I have already gone over in this video. Then, when opening things up here, the first thing we have is this packet and in the packet we have a sim card removal tool. We also have a quick start guide and a safety and precautions guide, and we also have a clear plastic case. So it is really nice.

This is included here in the box and then finally we're getting an USB cable for charging and data transfer, and we're getting an 18 watt USB wall adapter with TCL branding. So we really do get everything included here in the box to get going. So, in conclusion, is the tcl20s worth buying. I would say this phone certainly is a competitive device from TCL and that's for a variety of different reasons. The first thing is: it's very rare: to find a phone in this particular segment that gives us both NFC and stereo speakers.

So that's perfect. The second thing is, I really appreciate how capable and how many features we get regarding the cameras on this device, the fact that we're getting a pretty robust, quad camera setup here with the phone and also a 16 megapixel front-facing camera is great to have. I also appreciate that we're getting an adequate amount of ram and a decently powerful processor, with the Qualcomm snapdragon 665 and then, finally, it's very impressive that we're getting so much internal storage here with the phone at 128 gigabytes. So, of course, you can add more to that if you want to with the micro SD card expansion, but the fact that we're getting so much internal storage just to start here with the phone really is very impressive, but this is the TCL 20s. I hope you enjoyed the video if you did like it, give it a thumbs up, and I will see you in the next video.

Source : Kevin Breeze