The fact that Samsung is working hard to acquire both the low-end and mid-range smartphone segments is something we can see very clearly this year. Just half a year after the launch of the Galaxy A 2019 series, Samsung has continued to "bombard" the market with upgraded versions with the suffix "s", including Galaxy A20s, A30s, A50s and A70s. As the cheapest product of the Galaxy A series at the moment, Galaxy A20s is a strategic card for Samsung to conquer the budget segment.

With a price of Rs. 12,900 for the 3GB RAM / 32GB storage version, the main competitors of the A20s are Redmi Note 7/8, Vivo Y17, and Realme 5. Chinese brands have been dominating the low-end segments, so how will Samsung make the Galaxy A20s appealing to consumers?

Samsung Galaxy A20s: Display

Among Samsung's new smartphones, only the A20s no longer uses the familiar Super AMOLED panel, replaced by an IPS LCD panel. This means we will not have the Always-on Display feature, not enjoy the deep blacks typical of this panel. But is that a big deal?

The Galaxy A20s’ screen measures 6.5 inc and has HD + resolution (720 x 1560 pixels) as well as a pixel density of 264ppi. The HD+ resolution is obviously not ideal for the large screen of the A20s, but when I tried it, the detail and sharpness were completely within acceptable levels.

Initially, I was skeptical about the display quality, especially the color of the Galaxy A20s, because the Super AMOLED panel still has many outstanding advantages over the IPS LCD. However, the IPS LCD panel of the Galaxy A20s did not disappoint as it delivers bright colors, wide viewing angles. Overall, I would say it can meet daily needs, from surfing the web to watching movies.

Samsung Galaxy A20s: Performance

Instead of using the in-house Exynos chipset, the Galaxy A20s is equipped with a Snapdragon 450 chip, 3GB RAM, and 32GB of storage. Compared to competitors in the same price range from China, it is clear that the hardware configuration is not the strong point of the A20s. What matters, however, is how the Samsung phone will perform in real life.

To evaluate the performance of the Galaxy A20s, we continue to use three popular benchmark apps, including AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench 5 and GFX Bench. Dead Trigger 2 and PUBG Mobile are again our choices in this performance test and graphics settings are automatically set.

In Dead Trigger 2, the Galaxy A20s have difficulty in explosive scenes or when there are too many zombies around. At high graphics settings, the device only achieved an average of 51 fps at a 75% stability.

Similar to Dead Trigger 2, explosions are still a major obstacle for the Galaxy A20s in PUBG Mobile. The average fps the device gets is 28 at a 75% frame stability.

The results are a true reflection of the power of the Snapdragon 450 chip. In practical use, the A20s handles basic daily tasks well such as surfing the web, watching Youtube and playing light games. That is probably also what users expect in a cheap smartphone. Overall, this is not great phone if you want to play some medium to heavy-graphics games like PUBG Mobile or Free Fire. 

In terms of software, Galaxy A20s comes pre-installed with Android 9 Pie and One UI 1.1 interface instead of 1.5 like the new Samsung flagships. We still have a system-wide dark mode, which doesn't save energy like Super AMOLED smartphones but will still reduce eye strain in low light conditions. One UI's options and icons are also optimized for one-handed use.

Samsung Galaxy A20s: Battery life

Galaxy A20s is equipped with a 4,000 mAh battery, which has almost become "standard" for today's smartphones. In our regular tests, the device shows good battery life even though there is no Super AMOLED screen, partly thanks to the HD+ resolution. Using the phone everyday with basic tasks like surfing the web, watching Youtube and playing light games, I can use the A20s for more than 1.5 days before having to charge the battery.

Fast charging support is an advantage of the A20s over its sibling A20. The device is bundled with Samsung's 15W Adaptive Fast Charging fast charger, which is capable of fully charging the battery from 10% in around 2 hours.

Samsung Galaxy A20s: Camera

The Samsung Galaxy A20s carries a triple-camera lens setup at the back, including a 13MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide unit, and a 5MP portrait camera. On the front, it gets a single 8MP camera for selfies and video calls.

The default camera app is pretty easy to use, except for the HDR mode, which is normally hidden inside the settings in Galaxy smartphones. Other than that, you won’t have a hard time going through the camera app.

You can even customize the camera app, to make things easier for you. If you only need Video and Photo modes, you can hide others or change their order.

For a budget phone like the Galaxy A20s, you should not expect a good camera quality. There are some nice beauty modes and filters available for both selfies and rear cameras that can help you get better photos. 

Just like its A30s and A20 siblings, the Galaxy A20s’ cameras are not great at taking portrait shots. Landscape and portrait photos don’t have high levels of detail and noise, especially in low-light scenes.