TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Very pretty, but not special
Our Verdict
Despite an awesome display, the TCL 20 Pro is a lackluster phone. Information technology's a pretty device, but it fails to stand out against the likes of the Pixel 4a 5G or Galaxy A52 5G, both of which price the aforementioned as the TCL 20 Pro 5G.
For
- Beautiful display
- Prissy design
Against
- Below average battery life
- So-then operation
- Only ii years of updates
Tom's Guide Verdict
Despite an crawly display, the TCL 20 Pro is a lackluster phone. It'south a pretty device, but information technology fails to stand out confronting the likes of the Pixel 4a 5G or Milky way A52 5G, both of which price the same as the TCL 20 Pro 5G.
Pros
- +
Beautiful display
- +
Nice design
Cons
- -
Below average battery life
- -
So-so functioning
- -
Merely two years of updates
TCL 20 Pro 5G: Specs
Bone: Android eleven / TCL UI 3.0
Brandish: half-dozen.67-inch AMOLED (2400 x 1080)
Refresh rate: 60Hz
CPU: Snapdragon 750G
RAM: 6GB
Storage / Expandable: 256GB / Yeah
Rear cameras: 48MP (f/ane.viii), 16MP (f/ii.4) ultrawide, 2MP (f/ii.ii) macro, 2MP (f/2.4) depth
Front photographic camera: 32MP (f/2.5)
Video: Up to 4K at xxx fps
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Charging: 18W wired, 15W wireless
Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 8:30
Size: 6.46 x 2.87 ten 0.35 inches
Weight: 6.seven ounces
The TCL twenty Pro 5G is the company's latest attempt to make a splash with phones bearing its own name, after years of building handsets for other brands. And this $499 phone is quite the looker, with a beautiful blueprint and an immersive brandish..
As strong as those features are, the TCL xx Pro 5G ultimately disappoints in practically every other regard. From cameras that failed to capture proficient video to below average battery life,this mid-range phone fails to print beyond its pretty veneer.
Equally yous'll run into in our TCL 20 Pro 5G review, the phone wants to do so much more, but it can't quite live upwardly to its similarly-priced (or fifty-fifty cheaper) rivals.
TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Price and availability
The TCL twenty Pro 5G is available correct now for $499, which you can option up from Amazon in either Marine Blue or Moondust Grayness. In that location'south only ane configuration available with 256GB of storage and 6GB of RAM.
This is a $50 cost hike over last year's TCL 10 Pro. Part of the increase comes downward to 5G on the new phone — yous get sub-6Ghz support, but no mmWave — and the improvements to the display tech. Overall, on paper, the TCL 20 Pro is a compelling device for $500. It does, however, face competition from the likes of the $399 iPhone SE (2020), $499 Pixel 4a 5G, and $499 Milky way A52 5G.
TCL twenty Pro 5G review: Design
Hands down, the TCL 20 Pro 5G is the best looking phone at this price. Put TCL's phone side-by-side with more expensive devices such as the OnePlus nine Pro or iPhone 12 Pro, and the TCL twenty Pro 5G feels right at dwelling. TCL deserves commendation for edifice a device that looks and feels slap-up.
The huge 6.67-inch display on the TCL xx Pro is surrounded past minimal bezels — the screen even curves with adjustable palm rejection settings to brand it work well for you. The front-facing photographic camera sits in a hole punch cutout in the middle of the display's upper border, giving the TCL 20 Pro a Samsung-esque look at first.
The back of the phone also impresses, with the cameras stacked vertically along the left border. My review unit is the Moondust Grey model, which looks quite unassuming. The other bachelor color — Marine Blue — is quite stunning.
Along the elevation of the telephone, y'all'll discover a headphone jack and an IR blaster. The accompanying IR remote app lets you attempt to connect to a wide diverseness of TVs, but I didn't have luck with my quondam Toshiba role Goggle box. If you own a TCL Telly or anything from the last few years, y'all'll probably exist able to prepare upwards the remote office.
TCL twenty Pro 5G review: Brandish
The star of the show with the TCL 20 Pro 5G is the telephone's display — a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel, locked at 60Hz. TCL's panel features first-class color scale, staying dainty and bright.
Yous also get several great options for enhancing viewing experiences on the TCL twenty Pro. You tin can choose between ii calibrations: Brilliant and Natural. There's also an option for image enhancement, including videos and games, that boosts dissimilarity, sharpness, and provides HDR where applicative.
My go-to matter to scout on phones is the scene in the later parts of Blade Runner 2049 where everything is orangish. On the TCL 20 Pro 5G, this scene looked fantastic. From the stark contrast to the action-packed sequences, I really enjoyed watching the whole section on this telephone. For $500, the TCL 20 Pro 5G has an awesome display, great for movies and games.
In Vivid mode, the TCL 20 Pro 5G managed 184% of the sRGB spectrum and 130.iv% of the more than challenging DCI-P3 gamut. Our testing showed a Delta-E score (where 0 is perfect) of 0.28, which is a fairly standard ballpark for near phones nowadays. Compare that to the $500 Pixel 4a 5G, which netted 128.iii% of the sRGB and 91.3% of the DCI-P3 gamuts with a Delta-E score of 0.3.
The TCL 20 Pro 5G also has a sunlight viewing style, which cranks up the brightness for outdoor use. With this setting enabled, the telephone reached a max of 622 nits in our lab. That's pretty close to the Pixel 4a 5G'due south 638 nits.
TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Cameras
The TCL 20 Pro 5G has a 32MP front photographic camera and 4 rear cameras: a 48MP primary shooter with optical prototype stabilization, a 16MP ultrawide lens, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. The latter two are effectively useless, as we've seen time and time once more with other upkeep and midrange phones. In my opinion, they're included only so that TCL tin can say the phone has four cameras.
For the shootout comparisons, I used a Pixel five, which has an identical camera setup to the Pixel 4a 5G. That should make information technology a fair fight with the TCL twenty Pro 5G, just TCL's phone wasn't always upwardly to the challenge.
For this outdoor shot, the TCL 20 Pro 5G did a decent job capturing the red of the flowers and the green of the other plants. Nonetheless, the epitome appears overexposed, making for a done-out photograph and one that ultimately doesn't look all that good in comparison to the Pixel 5's. That phone kept the lighting in check while doing a nice job with the reds and greens. Despite the Pixel's tendency to favor natural colors, I think the final image has richer tones than the TCL's.
Out in direct sunlight, the TCL xx Pro 5G fared a lot better. Information technology kept pace with the Pixel 5, capturing plenty of details without blowing out the final image. Direct sunlight tin can be a challenge for camera phones, and I found myself impressed with how well the TCL performed in this scene. At that place'southward merely a tad more saturation with the TCL's image, which isn't necessarily better than the Pixel's natural colors — it just comes down to personal preference.
Within, the TCL twenty Pro 5G once again did a fine job with these flowers. While information technology managed to capture the colors pretty well, TCL's cameras bumped up the exposure a chip too much given how bright the room was already. You only actually notice this when comparing it to the Pixel five's shot, which is a bit dimmer but more accurate. The TCL's image is past no means bad, though.
The TCL 20 Pro 5G produced a decent portrait, though information technology opted for a zoomed-out look. The blur radius is acceptable. The final paradigm is a bit cooler than the Pixel 5's, which captured the warm tones of the room. The Pixel also created a amend portrait, with a stronger bokeh outcome and more emphasis on the subject area. The TCL is fine, just not every bit good.
It's hard to get up against the Pixel v'south Night Sight, but the TCL twenty Pro 5G did all correct with its Super Night fashion. The final image didn't come out as brilliant or every bit sharp equally what Google's phone produced, but we've seen worse attempts recently. The TCL's image still shows the smoker and some of the light on the other side of the contend. The Pixel's picture is brighter and has stronger details.
In this selfie, the TCL 20 Pro 5G struggled a fleck with the sunlight filtering onto my face. The terminal image came out a flake vivid and some of the finer details of my face were lost as a upshot. Compare that to the Pixel 5's selfie, which managed to compensate for the sunlight all while capturing the ruddiness of my face and darker red in my beard. It even did a improve job with my blue eyes than the TCL did.
TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Video
The TCL 20 Pro 5G supports upward to 4K video at 30 frames per second in SDR, 1080p thirty with HDR. At that place's also EIS to keep things stable and a couple of other options like better motion capture and such.
The one thing I noticed while recording my sample video was that the final footage looked overexposed, much similar the very first prototype in our still camera face-off. Colors looked washed out, and I wasn't that happy with the final result.
However, the EIS and two microphones did a good chore at producing a stable video with decent audio quality. Overall, the TCL 20 Pro 5G is a respectable video recorder.
TCL twenty Pro 5G review: Operation
The TCL xx Pro 5G uses a Snapdragon 750G paired with 6GB of RAM. This processor is newer than the Snapdragon 765G in the Pixel 4a 5G, and they're neck-and-neck in terms of performance. The 765G has the slightest advantage in some tasks and is slightly more power-efficient with its 7nm process (versus the 8nm in the 750G). But for all intents and purposes, both organization-on-chips are equal when it comes to real-earth performance.
We've seen the Snapdragon 750G before in the Milky way A52 5G and found it to be adept enough for many uses. It'due south not a gaming champ, mind you, but it tin can handle AI-specific and other intensive tasks well plenty. While using the phone, I didn't find the performance to exist lacking for the well-nigh part. The TCL 20 Pro kept step with the 765G-powered Pixel five I often employ.
In Geekbench 5, the TCL xx Pro 5G scored 1,922 in multicore. That beats the numbers nosotros got for the Pixel 4a 5G, which averaged 1,614. The TCL 20 Pro 5G, like the Pixel 4a 5G, struggled with the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited test, which measures graphics performance. The TCL managed an average of 6.7 frames per 2d — the Pixel 4a 5G similarly netted a 7 fps average.
At $500, the TCL 20 Pro 5G has pretty standard performance for Android phones in this price category. Only the $399 iPhone SE handily beats anything else under $500, then if operation is your merely consideration, and then Apple's budget-friendly iPhone is worth looking at.
TCL xx Pro 5G review: Battery life and charging
With its 4,500mAh battery, I expected the TCL xx Pro to last a skillful while, especially with a 60Hz display drawing less power than fast-refreshing screens. But our testing proved that to be simulated, much to my disappointment. While other phones with a 4,500mAh cell can last upwards of 10 hours or more than, the TCL 20 Pro 5G averaged just 8 hours and 30 minutes in the Tom'south Guide bombardment test.
Our test involves setting a phone to 150 nits of brightness and having it endlessly load webpages over a cellular connection until it kicks the bucket. All told, the TCL twenty Pro 5G's result is extremely disappointing, putting it well behind other devices like the OnePlus 9 Pro (which also has a 4,500mAh battery). For reference, the Pixel 4a 5G with its much smaller 3,885mAh battery managed eight hours and 12 minutes.
Fifty-fifty so, I'm not impressed by the TCL 20 Pro 5G'due south bombardment life, especially considering the fact that the Snapdragon 750G ought to be a power-efficient SoC. Information technology likely comes downward to software optimization — the likes of OnePlus, Samsung, and Google focus heavily on battery optimization, something not in evidence here.
For charging, the TCL twenty Pro 5G supports upward to 18W of wired fast charging and 15W Qi wireless charging. That 18W charging speed refills the battery from 0% to eighteen% in 15 minutes and 38% in xxx minutes. Compare that to the Pixel 4a 5G, which recharged to 23% in 15 minutes and 46% in 30 minutes.
TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Software and TCL UI
The TCL 20 Pro 5G comes with Android 11 out of the box with TCL UI iii.0 on top. This skin has several visual tweaks with some resemblance to Samsung'south One UI. You're presented with a lot off features to sift through, like palm rejection adjustments, a quick launch dock for frequently used apps, an adaptable smart key to which y'all can map shortcuts and a few pre-installed TCL apps like the IR remote one I mentioned earlier.
TCL UI does a decent job of staying out of the way while offering some nice options. For instance, the default launcher lets you choose between the traditional app drawer and iOS-way abode screen app layout. But I've had the UI crash a few times and fifty-fifty experienced the whole telephone crashing more than once while performing seemingly simple tasks like attempting to set upwards the IR remote or scrolling down a web page quickly.
Beyond crashing, TCL has opted to support the 20 Pro 5G for only two years of platform and security updates (perhaps longer). That means the phone will see Android 12 at some indicate, plus Android 13 after that update debuts side by side yr. Consider the fact that Samsung offers three years of support (and four years of security patches) on the Galaxy A52 5G and Google also offers three years of platform updates on the Pixel 4a 5G (and the $349 Pixel 4a). TCL's pledge seems paltry by comparison.
TCL 20 Pro 5G review: Verdict
The TCL 20 Pro 5G wants to exist then much more a mid-range alternative to more widely known phones, and it gets close in some areas. But underwhelming battery life results and cameras that don't quite live up to the Pixel 4a 5G hold it back, despite excellent marks in the display and blueprint categories. For $500, this isn't a bad phone, simply it isn't actually a standout either.
In comparing to the similarly-priced Milky way A52 5G and Pixel 4a 5G, not to mention the $399 iPhone SE, the TCL xx Pro 5G doesn't make a compelling case for itself. The Galaxy A52 has a nice display, too, and TCL banked too much on its phone'south screen winning the day.
And let'southward non forget that Google, Apple, and Samsung will support their phones for longer than TCL has promised to back up this one. In the case of the Pixel and the iPhone, updates are available practically the aforementioned mean solar day they're announced.
Considering that the TCL twenty Pro 5G doesn't take much else going for it, I find it hard to recommend it over other competing phones. Information technology's a fine device, but not adept plenty to all-time the Galaxy A52 5G, Pixel 4a 5G, and iPhone SE.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/tcl-20-pro
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