Samsung Galaxy A20s Review: Decent Phone Let Down By Performance

Samsung’s A-series and M series managed to make quite the headlines this year. We saw some really impressive phones from the A series in particular. Phones like A20 provided the needed refresh to Samsung’s dying line of the budget and mid-range smartphones.

Six months down the line, Samsung decided to refresh its A series and A20s is one of such new phones. Basically, it is supposed to be an improved version of the Galaxy A20. But is it? Let’s find out in our review of the Samsung Galaxy A20s.

Samsung Galaxy A20s Review

Build & Design

Starting off with design it’s quite similar to the Galaxy A20 with some changes. Now, you will find a triple camera setup on the back instead of a dual-camera setup. Furthermore, there’s a slight change in its button placement. The power key is on the right side and the volume control is on the left side. The sim-tray slot is just above the volume controls, the sim tray can house dual sim cards and a microsd slot at a time.

A20s also rock a glass finish on the back, but the back is made up of plastic. While the glastic finish gives it a premium look, it is prone to fingerprints and scratches. So, you should definitely use a case for the phone.

The fingerprint sensor is on the rear and the position feels pretty natural. The fingerprint scanner performs quite well but it’s not as fast as the ones you get on Redmi phones. You also get face-unlock on this phone which does a decent job at optimal lighting conditions.

Moving on, there’s a mono speaker on the bottom along with a USB Type-C port and a headphone jack.

Display

Samsung A20s rocks a massive 6.5 inches IPS LCD panel with a screen resolution of 720*1560 pixels. The color appears nice, it’s popping and saturated as expected. The panel is really good for video contents, it’s enjoyable.

The panel works well on direct sunlight as well. It’s not perfect but you won’t have too much trouble while using the phone outdoors.

But the disappointing thing is that Samsung A20 rocked an AMOLED panel and it would be only natural for A20s to also rock an AMOLED panel. However, Samsung proved us wrong by using the IPS panel. So, yeah, it’s a slight disappointment.

Hardware & Performance

Talking about hardware, Samsung A20s is using a Snapdragon 450 chipset which uses an octa-core processor and an Adreno 506 GPU. Along with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, this package can handle normal tasks like browsing, app switching, and light gaming but heavier games will not run as smooth.

A20s can run heavy games like Asphalt 9, COD mobile, and PUBG mobile but you will have to play at the lowest setting and the overall experience won’t be smooth.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy A20s has a triple camera setup on the rear: 13MP main sensor, 8MP ultrawide sensor, and a 5MP depth sensor. On the front, it houses an 8MP sensor for selfies.

The main sensor is quite good. The photos won’t have many details but it’s adequate for a budget phone. The images will be saturated as expected and the dynamic range is also quite good. The bright and dark areas are exposed quite well most of the time. However, the photos may seem overexposed in extreme sunlight.

Indoors, the images won’t be as good. The detail level is reduced and we can notice the noise as well. Also, the images may seem softer than usual indoors.

The 5MP ultra-wide-angle camera is average. The detail level is quite good given it’s a budget phone but the color profile seems different from the main sensor. The color appears softer than normal but it’s pretty decent on overall.

A20s can also capture portraits. The edge detection is pretty good but the background blur is not that convincing. Also, the HDR helps in controlling the highlights but sometimes the picture may seem overexposed if the background is too bright.

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There’s no night mode available in the A20s. Thus the low-light photos are not that impressive. The low-light images don’t have much details and are noisy. The inclusion of night mode would have definitely improved its low light performance.

The front camera of the A20s is good but not that impressive. Outdoors, it captures some good selfies with good details, the HDR also helps to control highlights. Indoors, the images appear softer and the detail is reduced as well.

Talking about videos, the A20s can capture videos at 1080p 30 fps. Video quality is not impressive but it will get the job done for social media. Also, there’s no stabilization option for videos in the A20s.

Speaker

The single speaker on the A20s sounds pretty decent. It’s loud but it doesn’t sound good in max volume. Plus it lacks dynamism and sounds pretty flat.

Battery

Samsung A20s has a 4000 mAh battery which provides a very good battery life. On light usage, it will last for almost two days and on general usage, it will last for more than a day. Even if you use it heavily, it will last for a full day.

In terms of charging it has 15W Fast charging which can charge up to 50% in 1 hour and it will take around 2 hours for a full charge.

Software

As it is with every other new Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy A20s comes with One UI on top of Android 9 (Pie). And well there’s nothing to criticize about the UI at all. The UI isn’t that heavy so it’s fast and smooth all the time. Everything is neat and tidy, and navigation is quite easy as well. The phone does receive updates every month or so which is why there are no problems with the UI.

Conclusion

Samsung Galaxy A20s comes in two variants: 3GB/32GB(Rs. 20,690) and 4GB/64GB(Rs. 23,990). Samsung Galaxy A20s design, camera, and the battery is good and is decent for the price. But it’s performance is it’s Achilles heel, Snapdragon 450 for a phone that costs 20k+ is not justifiable. Had its price been around 15k-17k, it would have made more sense.

So, you should look somewhere else if you want performance. But if you don’t need performance as such and want a Samsung phone then you can go for it.