20S Smartphone

I switched from an iPhone 7 Plus to this TCL 20S. The transition from IOS to Andriod was a bit rough, but after a few weeks of use and watching lots of "How to" videos, I feel confident using Android now. The TCL 20S has been a really great phone. It's got a big, crystal clear screen, super long life battery, is very responsive, has great audio quality and in general works extremely well. I don't think you can buy a better phone for the price (got mine for $190 / Cyber Monday). My only complaint is the Google Assistant wont respond when the screen is locked. I read that TCL disabled that feature in their flavor of Android. Not sure why, but other than that I highly recommend this phone. You won't find a better Android phone at this price point! I know, because I spent lots of time looking for one.

This phone operates very well with the minor issue of apps sometimes closing out unexpectedly. Also, when trying to completely close out an app, when swiping up, it doesn't always register that you are swiping up and makes the app half of the screen instead. I also purchased this phone for my husband and children and they all seem to have the same issues so it's not just the one I purchased. Other than those couple of issues, the phone is awesome. Photos are great, reception is great (my last phone had crap reception with the same provider), speakers are good, and there is plenty of storage for anyone that needs it.

Let me start out and say that so far this phone has impressed me beyond belief. It's slick, big and with snapdragon can stand next to all other phones. There are several likes that I can point out but here's my LIKES: Camera....On Point. Great Pics and Video to include Slow Mo Storage....Extended memory up to 1TB...truly impressive Lock Screens.....You're preference and I've tried Face and Fingerprint reader, I'm old school and security is important so remember, With a PIN, You'll WIN Battery Life....On Point Love It. The Slick design will set this phone apart. It has a rubber case that comes with the phone to protect the back, I suggest purchasing the top piece along with protective glass. Get the phone and Enjoy

Updated Review: Okay so I've had the phone for several weeks and I still feel very strong about my purchase BUT! Haptic touch is not so good, and I couldn't find any setting on the phone to help increase the sensitivity. This is not an app isolated issue - it is 100% all across the entire experience. You touch - maybe there's a response. I'm not talking about the haptic vibration as a response. I'm talking about tapping and getting any response whatsoever. Tap the icon - maybe it launches. Very frustrating. Again, this is in all apps, and the "on phone" system functions as well. Seems like a read a reivew on here about this very issue. Welp, I'm here to verify. Haptic resonse can be a pain. There does not seem to be an equalizer with this phone. My previous phone did, and as such my music apps could use the equalizer to mix audio. With no built in equalizer, apps like Spotify are left wanting. This is actually a very serious issue for an audiophile like me. I got used to equalizing my music to taste a LOOOOOONG time ago. If there is an equalizer I have been unable to find it. I looked, googled, searched, asked, etc. No equalizer. The overall sound from this phone is WAY TOO LOW. Not the speakers mind you, but anything headphone related. Wired AUX and blu tooth. Dammit man I wish these manufacturers would understand us older folks been cranking music forever. My ears need more volume. I'm not hard of hearing per se, but I want LOUDER AUDIO in my ears. Second hand, after market boosters apps are all bogus and end up distorting the sound. Look. I understand people care for my poor little ears. But I am 52 years old. I think I can be relied upon to make decisions for myself. Allow us to unlock a louder level of sound. Give us a working equalizer. Something sheesh. Yall wanting us to switch over to phones as a do-it-all entertainment device. Do something about the audio. I've got $5 mp3 players that do better lol. As for cameras, meh. I'm more into audio than snapping pics and vids. My one and only attempt at using the video recorder produced less than ideal videos. The 1080 rez videos were a bit jerky, and the color was weird. This was in the full bright sunlight of a summer day. The zoom becomes worthless after a certain level, as the phone is incapaled of focusing on anything at the level, no matter what you tap or click or try. As for the weird look and color of the vids, I'm guessing there are forced algorythms "enhancing" the video quality ad lib, adding sharpness and color according to some preset notion. Meh. Meh. Meh. I never have liked that sort of thing in these modern devices. They may work well for plants and landscapes - they truly truly suck in "enhancing" the human face and color. LMAO my brother and his wife looked red and damn near deathly in the final videos I took. Nothing like they actually look. And the widescreen aspect was fairly warped, causing some weird looks as well. About the power/login button. It's still a bit of a pain though I have gotten used to it. It's actually TOO EASY to log in with fingerprint. I have to constantly be aware of how I pick up my phone because the fingerprint device is waiting there to unlock from even a fraction of my thumb. I understand this is a very difficult and delicate thing to implement. And I do love being able to pick up my phone and PURPOSEFULLY unlock the phone. But god sometimes it seems impossible to put the phone down in a locked state. I have to PURPOSEFULLY make sure to lay it done just so - so that it doesn't lay down and unlock. Sheesh. As for the other things I was going to research: blu tooth functions very well, devices show up and sync quickly, so no bad there. Wifi seems fine, I've had no issues logging into multiple servers, routers, whatever. HOWEVER! some game apps seem to be corrupting phone wifi adapters (on phone) so that the reset every so often. I understand that this more than likely the game server/app fouling the connection, but some phones handle it better than others. My previous phone became horrible with "in game" disconnects because of internal wifi resets. This TCL 20S does much better - but I still get wifi connection resets from time to time, disconnecting me from my game. As I have said, in the huge world of cell phones, some handle this sort thing better than others. TCL 20s does okay but not perfect. This review sounds harsh, I understand that. Be assured I have no intention of giving up the TCL 20s. I do like it - for the price. I still say this is a solid purchase for the $250 range. I've even promoted it to friends and families. But hopefully devs and manufacturers read reviews! There is still a lot of improvement that can be done, and some improvements seem fairly easy to attain. I wish buying a good phone wasn't such a crap shoot. There is always gonna be ups and downs, pros and cons. I think the pros outweigh the cons with this phone - for the price. Peace! ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- (original review) It's way too early for me to write this review, as I received the phone today and only recently put the SIM in for service. But I was toooo excited and happy. I haven't used all the features so this review is partial - I will update at a later date. But for starters... Big phone. I noticed immediately it was bigger than my previous MOTO G6, a phone which I clung to for 4 years lmao (I have an excellent work phone too so...) I found the resolution very passable. I knew going in that this is a bargain phone - but so far it doesn't seem like one. It felt "heavy" which is a good thing. Certainly not unwieldy, but this does not feel like a feather-weight cheap-o phone like some I've looked into buying. I expect and desire a bit of heft to my hardware. For me, the set-up was very easy. Obviously the Google thing took time, as they want to be soooo intimately involved in everything you do. Still, I shouldn't have dreaded it as much as I had, it was fairly painless. I got all my contacts easy-peasy, which were pretty much all I wanted. But also my SMS and call records got transported easily. There was an option for apps but no thank you. I do that on my own. I noticed the 4GB RAM immediately. My previous phone was 2GB and the TCL 20S is much faster and smoother. Surely a combination of more/better RAM/CPU. My fav video game ran scads better! My game is notoriously bad at crashes and disconnects all around the world, but this phone ran it like a champ. As for Wifi, I connected to my home router in seconds and so far no issues whatsoever. I'll take it around and test other situations tomorrow. I just tested and turned off my wifi to test the transfer to mobile. No dip in service (listening to Spotify). Oh and the SD card. I had an existing 64GB card with a lot of data on it. I slid it in with the SIM card and it was recognized and available right away. No data loss. Not that I really needed the card with such a large local storage capacity, but hey I already had it. Okay cons... the camera at the top center of the screen, there is a noticeable dimness around it. In fact there is a noticeable line of dimness across the entire extreme top of the screen. I am going to question TCL about this ASAP to see if it's common across all of these 20S phones - or just mine. This is definitely noticeable when on the home screen. But when using fullscreen this part of the screen is off anyway so... not a deal breaker. Another con - someone has already mentioned it. The power button is in a bad location and is very sensitive. I continuously touch it and turn my screen off. Makes it hard to pick the phone up without turning off the screen. Maybe I can train my hand to hold it but picking up is a different story. As I said, this phone has some heft to it. We need to pick it up securely, and so grabbing near the center is expected. The included case makes it a little better, and I have an even thicker case coming. We'll see how that works out. Another con - the Google Assistant button seems completely worthless. No way in hell I use any sort of assistant on any of my computers or phones. I've been using technology since the 90s. I don't need any help thank you. No SIRI. No Alexa. I have ZERO need for any of that. And... I uninstalled the Google Assistant but it's still there, waiting to be turned on. Asinine. Unwanted. Unwelcome. I took a star off for that. This phone was built for people who use the assistant - and not for those of us who don't. SORRY I BOUGHT YOUR PHONE LOL. And so, with the cons included, I feel this is easily one of the best phones you can buy for the price. No way is this million dollar phone. I don't want nor need one of those. I wanted to spend between $200 and $300 and that's what I did. I shopped around for months, even bought one that I returned within a couple days. It was cheap and the wifi disconnected constantly - and cost $50 more than the TCL 20S. If you want a better phone than this - you are definitely gonna have to spend more money. For me, as of this moment, I am pleased. (things I will discover in the coming days: battery life, blutooth, functionality with a large heavy case with screen protector) I gonna come back and update! Peace!

Never even knew TCL made phones until I started looking to replace my Google Pixel 3. The battery was not even lasting a day so needed an upgrade. Researched TCL 20S and pulled the trigger on Cyber Monday when it was discounted $50. So far I am pleased with the purchase. Good battery life, easy to use OS and quality display. Camera could be better (photos sometimes blurry, takes a few seconds to focus), does not support wireless charging or 5G (was not a deal breaker for me) and supposedly only one OS update available (have not done that yet). Some difficulty at first getting it to work on the Verizon network (was not receiving texts) but finally got the right tech support person who knew what to do. Overall I would recommend looking into TCL if you need a new Android phone but not looking to break the bank.