TCL 20 SE - Complete Review! By Kevin Breeze

What's going on everyone, this is Kevin here and in this video we're going to be checking out the tcl20 SE. So let's get started now. The TCL 20se was launched in june 2021, and it is one of three new devices in the TCL 20 series. Now I have already covered those other two phones here in the channel as well, but essentially out of that trio. This is the most affordable option now for full disclosure. TCL did send this phone 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 have covered a variety of their devices here in the channel already in the past.

So if you do want to learn more about TCL as a brand, then definitely check out that content, but essentially with this phone and then the TCL 20s and then TCL 20 pro 5g TCL is giving us a variety of different features that we'd expect to get with really expensive smartphones, while still delivering a bunch of value. Here now the TCL 20se does feature a MSRP of 189, and it is factory. Unlocked for GSM carriers, so you can use this with ATM t, T-Mobile and all the other various carriers that use them as the main carrier, but to see the most up-to-date pricing for the device. I have linked to it in the video description because I'm sure, as time goes on, the price likely will go down as various promotions are offered so definitely make sure to check and see now with the TCL 20se we're getting a very large display at 6.82 inches and in addition to that, the display itself is IPS LCD at 60 hertz. It is a 720p display, we're getting a PPI of 263, a 20 and a half by nine aspects.

Ratio, see more narrow, but taller form factor here, and we're getting an 83.2 percent screen to body ratio, so in general, pretty slim bezels, but we do have a little of a thicker bezel on the bottom and then up top here we do have a water drop notch for the front-facing camera. Now, that's not something that I'm necessarily as big of a fan of, especially when the tc-l20s has a hole punch for the front-facing camera instead. But, on the other hand, as you'll see later on in the video, this phone does take pretty decent pictures, especially considering its budget price point. Another cool, surprise too, with the tcl20se is that we're getting 128 gigabytes of internal storage and in addition to that, we're also getting micros card expansion. I really can't think of too many other devices in this segment.

This phone does compete against. That gives us that much internal storage, in fact, what's amazing as well, is that we're now in 2021 and the base model iPhone 12 still only gives us 64 gigabytes of internal storage, so essentially with this phone, which is a fraction of the price of the iPhone 12, we're getting double the amount of internal storage here, so I think that's one way to show how much value we really are getting with the tcl20 SE. Now there is no wireless charging with the phone, which is unfortunate, but we do get a fingerprint sensor on the back. So let's give that a try right now. That was very quick, we'll try that one more time and yeah very fast here with the fingerprint sensor and in addition to having the fingerprint sensor, we're also getting face unlock with the phone too.

Now with the tcl20 SE, we are getting a quad camera setup on the back, so we're getting a 48 megapixel main camera, a 5 megapixel ultra-wide angle, camera that can take images at up to 113 degrees, we're getting a 2, megapixel depth, sensing camera and a 2 megapixel macro camera for close-up images, and then, of course, we're getting portrait mode for both the rear and front cameras with this phone, which is really nice to have as well. Now, despite this being a budget device, as I mentioned a second ago, we're getting a bunch of different camera hardware features, especially by having all those different cameras, but also within the camera, app there are tons of different options as well. So here's how things look with the standard camera then from here we can switch over to the ultra-wide angle camera. So we can fit a lot more content into the frame. We can also, then switch over to portrait mode, so we get those nice blurred out backgrounds with both the rear and front cameras as well.

We also get portrait mode, so we get those nice blurred out backgrounds for both the rear and front cameras which is really nice as well. Furthermore, we can even switch over to the standard camera 2 for the front facing camera, then going over to the more tab gives us access to super macro, so you can take close-up detailed images with the macro camera, and we have some other awesome features as well, such as piano stop motion, light trace, slo-mo and high pixel. Furthermore, we can also go over to the pro mode where we have the ability to adjust the ISO white balance and other things here as well. Now, in general, I've been happy with the photos and videos that I was able to take with the tcl20 SE. Now my expectations definitely weren't too high with this phone.

As far as the camera quality goes considering that it is a very budget option so when compared to a higher end iPhone or the galaxy s21, for example from Samsung. I don't expect the quality to be anywhere near that, but what's nice about the TCL 20se, is that you're at least able to take photos and videos that are good enough, that you'll be wanting to keep them and also put them on social media as well, so I would say for most people out there, it definitely does a decent job doing the bare minimum. But if you do want to get the more advanced features and abilities that you'd find with a flagship, smartphone then definitely be prepared to spend quite a bit more but again for a phone in the segment I feel like the photo quality is perfectly fine, obviously I'll. Let you be the judge for that. You can see the samples right here and then, let's now take a look at some video samples as well.

What's going on everyone, this is Kevin here coming at you with a 1080p front facing test video from the tcl20. Se. Definitely curious know what you think about both the video and audio quality. Here's the 1080p test, video using the main rear camera on the TCL 20 SE, nice, quick, autofocus and video mode. Again fast focus definitely very appreciated there, and here is the 1080p ultra-wide angle, video in the TCL 20se now with the tcl20 SC we're getting four gigabytes of ram and the Qualcomm snapdragon 460 processors.

So four gigs of ram is certainly pretty generous for a budget device and then the Qualcomm snapdragon 460 is kind of a newer, lower end chipset from Qualcomm, but I did run a geek bench 5 benchmark test here with the phone, and you can see here are the scores. So I got a single core score of 255 and a multi-core score of 1192. 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 tcl20 SC would be a performance upgrade for you. But from my experience the phone definitely does run nicely and smoothly.

So I haven't had any issues as far as performance, but of course, if you do want to do more demanding tasks on a phone like high performance, gaming or video editing, for example, then you probably will want to get something more advanced and more capable as far as the processing power goes, but if you're looking to get a phone, that is good for phone calls, text messages, light to moderate social media usage and for occasional video watching that I feel like the tcl20 SC, certainly is adequate for most people out there. Now, as far as video recording goes, I know you saw some samples a second ago, but it is limited at 1080p, with both the rear and front cameras. So if you are looking to get a phone that can take 4k video, then you might want to look into something else now, with the TCL 20se we're getting a large 5 000 William hour internal battery, which is really nice, and I couldn't really find it anywhere, but I believe the charging speeds for this phone do max out at 10 watts, considering that we are getting a 10 watt power, adapter included here in the box, which we will take a closer look at in a second now with the TCL 20se, the software that we're getting is android 11. They have pledged to give us a variety of major android software updates going into the future, which is nice. I appreciate that and as far as the software goes we're pretty much getting a stock experience here, but TCL has added in some of their own extra features, and what's nice, is they didn't make changes to android? Just for the sake of making changes, every change they did make really does add to the user experience.

So I like that they took what's great about stock android and then took things to the next level. Now one thing that is lacking with the tcl20 set hat you can find the other two models that came out in the 20 series is that there is no NFC with this device. So if you are looking to get a phone with NFC, and you want to stick with TCL, then you will have to go for the 20s or the 20 pro 5g. But if you don't care about NFC, and you don't care about making mobile contactless payments, which are becoming more and more popular with both Google Pay for android and then Apple Pay with Apple devices, then I suppose it doesn't matter to you. But if you currently have a phone that does have NFC, and you're looking to upgrade to the TCL 20se, then you will be disappointed.

That feature is not present here with this phone now. One feature that is present- that's very nice is that we are getting stereo speakers with the tcl20se and in fact I think this is one of the most affordable phones that I've ever seen. That has stereo speakers at least anytime recently, so while the video quality is capped out at 720p for the tcl20 SE, it still does look nice, especially having such a large display. So if you don't mind having to watch content at 720p, then the phone does work well for content consumption. Now you can play content at 1080p or even higher here on the phone, but obviously since the display is limited at 720p, everything is going to be down sampled to 720p.

Now getting back to the stereo speakers again. This phone does indeed have stereo speakers. So when watching video content, for example, we get audio coming out of both the main speaker and the bottom, but then also the earpiece as well, and typically with most budget devices, you only get audio coming out of the main speaker on the bottom. So what this does are that it gives you clearer, sound and also sound. That is louder as well, and it gives you really a more immersive higher quality audio listening experience.

So I'm a big fan of stereo speakers, and I'm glad that we're getting it here with the phone now taking a closer look at the hardware of the device, despite this being an affordable phone, it really does feel nice and solid and of high quality. Now take a look on the left side of the phone, we have the slot for the micro SD card and sim card, and then we have a dedicated Google Assistant button. Now, unlike the TCL 20 pro 5g, this button is not a smart key. It is just a Google Assistant button, so I do want to make that really clear. Then taking a look on the right side of the phone, we have volume up volume down and the power button.

Then up top here we have the noise-cancelling microphone and 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and then on the bottom of the phone. We have the speaker, microphone and USB c port for charging and data transfer and then taking a look at the back of the phone. We have the camera module TCL logo, and then we have the fingerprint sensor. Now you probably noticed already, but the material on the back of the phone is a reflective material and while I think it does look very cool, especially with kind of this wavy look to it when you're moving the phone in different directions, it does pick up quite a few fingerprints. So if you're, not a fan of having fingerprints on your phone, then keep in mind that with this phone, unless you use a case at all times, you will be seeing fingerprints and then, before I finish, the video.

Let's take a quick look and see what all comes included here in the box. So you can see tcl20se right there then opening this up. We do have the wall adapters. This is a 10 watt, USB wall adapter. We also have an USB c cable for charging and data transfer we're getting a TCL, 20, SC safety and precautions and then also a quick start guide, we're getting a clear plastic case, which I definitely appreciate having included here and then.

Finally, we are getting a sim card removal tool. So we do really get everything included here in the box that we would need to get started. But in conclusion, is the TCL SC worth getting? I would say from my experience with the phone. It certainly has quite a few features and different specifications that you really can't find with too many other devices in this particular segment. For example, the first one having 128 gigabytes of internal storage, is pretty much unheard of for a phone, that's under 200 bucks.

So it is really nice that we're getting that much internal storage here with the phone and then the cameras are also a standout feature in the sense that we are getting so many of them, and they offer a variety of different abilities too. As far as the ram and processor go, I think they did make a good choice. I don't necessarily think, though, that having four gigs of ram and the snapdragon 460 is that much better than a lot of the competition but, like I said, I think it is an appropriate choice for a phone like this and then having that 5 000 million power. Internal battery is really impressive and then finally, getting stereo speakers with this phone really does set it apart from pretty much any phone in this particular segment as well, because I don't know of too many other devices that are both a budget phone and give you stereo speakers. So in general, I think the tcl20 SC does bring quite a few unique things to the table that you can't really find from the competition and certainly is worth considering.

But this is the tcl20se. I hope you enjoyed this video and if you liked it definitely give it a thumbs up. But this is Kevin here, and I will see you in the next video.

Source : Kevin Breeze