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TCL 20 Pro 5G: A Beautiful Upgrade Up Against Strong Competition
TCL maintains the Pro-look to their flagship mid-range phone. The 20 Pro is a beautifully made smartphone no matter what price point TCL gave it. You got a curved-edge display w/ minimal bezels, aluminum frame w/ glass on the front + rear of it, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and instead of the horizon camera layout for the rear cameras; you got a vertical layout that sits flush so no camera bump.
The in-display fingerprint reader is like last year as it has mixed results. Sometimes it works well and other times it requires a longer or slightly harder press for your finger to be read. The infrared blaster to use the phone as a remote control remains as well.
The 6.6inch curved AMOLED display w/ 2400 x 1080 resolution and NXTVISION 2.0-powered display are making everything pop. This is where they convert SDR-to-HDR in real-time for more saturated colors, darker blacks, & better contrast. Basically, TCL’s take on saturated colors like Samsung utilizes on their Galaxy S and add Blue Light mode and an always-on option for your info at a glance.
The TCL 10 Pro hardware was already premium-level but they get damn-near flagship on the 20 Pro.
6.6inch NXTVISION 2.0 Curved AMOLED display w/ 2400 x 1080 resolution
Snapdragon 750G CPU
6GB RAM + 256GB of storage expandable up to 1TB via microSD
A quad rear camera setup w/ 48MP OIS main, 16MP Ultra Wide, 5MP Macro, & 2MP Depth Sensor
A 32MP selfie camera
in-screen fingerprint reader
IP52 rating
3.5mm headphone jack
infrared sensor
dual mics w/ noise cancellation
Android 11 w/ TCL UI
Bluetooth 5.1
4500 mAh battery w/ 15W wireless charging
The Snapdragon 750G CPU inside is their mid-range 5G-powered processor that handles your daily tasks like a dream. This is paired w/ their 6GB of RAM + 256GB of expandable storage to float through it all. No noticeable lag or hiccups in doing everyday things like navigating w/ multiple apps open and over an hour of gaming w/ ease. And speaking of gaming, I didn’t come across any overheating or things getting ridiculously hot either.
Now w/ a big phone you got a big battery within this. TCL put a good-sized 4500 mAh battery inside of this 20 Pro and it holds up fairly well. I was getting around 5 hours of screen time w/ this on a heavy day at work. And this is just watching YouTube and a movie or show on Netflix. Not sure if it’s the color pop of the NXTVISION display or just not the best power management. I thought it would last a lot longer than it did. Not to say that the battery is terrible, I just expected a little bit more.
TCL retains the quad rear camera setup but beefs up the sensors a bit to help capture better images/videos. You got a 40MP main sensor w/ OIS, a 16MP ultra-wide, 5MP macro, & a 2 MP depth sensor on board. On the front side, you got a 32MP selfie sensor as well. On the video side, you can get 4K video up to 30fps, HDR video, & OIS + EIS stabilization as well.
I found that if you take a second or two, you can get some good photos on the 20 Pro. This is a bit out of the norm for a Pixel user like me but great results can be had. The image rendering reduces the noticeable noise more than previously but in little-to-no light photos/videos, you’ll still see it. Their Super Night Mode still takes a few seconds to hold but produces a lot better images. The Super Macro Mode works well but you also got to take those few extra seconds to pull off a good shot. An improvement in the cameras from a point-and-shoot aspect. Videos can still come out grainy w/o the right amount of light though.
While the TCL 20 Pro 5G is a much-needed upgrade from last year’s 10 Pro, it is a really good device. However, compared to the competition out there, it would be hard to recommend this over other devices like the Pixel or Samsung A-series. These offer slightly better offerings like better cameras and longer software upgrades for a cheaper price. Now don’t get me wrong, the TCL hardware & the cameras got a lot better but not to the point to be competitive. Maybe for the TCL 30 Pro, they can find a better balance.
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