Here’s our review of the realme narzo 20.
The realme narzo 20 is now official in the Philippines. The new smartphone will bring it all, offering a balance between price, performance and battery life.
Chief among its spec sheet is the MediaTek Helio G85 to bring in the performance, and a 6,000mAh battery to keep up with the phone.
Lets see if it can deliver on its promises.
Price
The realme narzo 20 checks affordability off its list with a price tag of Php 7,990, which is quite good, given what the phone offers. It is initially available on Lazada as part of the 11.11 sale event with a Php 500 discount.
Here’s a quick tip — you can get an additional Php 400 discount via voucher if you use your Lazada Wallet for payment.
In our realme narzo 20 review, its price plays a big role in our wrap up.
Design and Display
The narzo 20 features what realme calls the Victory design. As the name implies, it has a v-shaped pattern with light grooves etched at the matte back panel. Both it and the frame have a plastic construction.
Our review unit in Silver Sword color is okay. Its a budget phone, so don’t expect too much. But given the price, its something I can live with.
Despite the plastic body, the phone has a solid build with a bit of weight. It doesn’t hide the fact that its huge, measuring in at 164.5 x 75.9 x 9.8 mm and weighing 208 g. Its body, though, is slimmer compared to past designs, with curvier backs that make it more ergonomic.
Just like other realme phones, this one features a large 6.5-inch HD+ display with a waterdrop selfie camera notch and a pre-installed screen protector. Despite the 720p resolution, the screen looks pretty good. It has good contrast and punchy colors with up to 480 nits of brightness for good sunlight legibility.
You’ll find the triple slot SIM tray on the left. While on the right hand side, you have the power button and volume controls. And as always, the headphone jack, microphone, USB-C port, and mono speaker are at the bottom.
The rear cameras are packed in a square shaped camera module. realme managed to control the camera bump. Its not totally flat, but its not huge either.
In the box:
- realme narzo 20
- USB-C Cable
- Charger
- SIM Eject Tool
- Pre-installed Screen Protector
- Documentation
Performance and Benchmarks
One of the narzo 20’s main highlights is the MediaTek Helio G85. The gaming chip has eight CPU cores in total — two ARM Cortex-A75 performance cores with up to 2 GHz, and six small ARM Cortex-A55 efficiency cores with up to 1.8 GHz. It is paired with a 1GHz ARM Mali G52 MC2 GPU, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage. You also get realme UI based on Android 10.
For the most part, the narzo 20 is smooth and snappy. Basic operation is fast and apps load quickly.
Games like Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty Mobile look good and run quite well in moderate settings. It can play some games in high graphics, but expect to see some lags and jitters. If you want more power, there’s Game Space. You can set it to Competition Mode, which allocates more resources to games.
Here are the benchmark scores for those who care about this things.
Cameras
The narzo 20 has a three cameras at the back — a 48MP main, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP macro — and one, an 8MP shooter, in front for selfies.
In good light, photo quality is acceptable. This isn’t a flagship phone, so we’re not expecting flagship quality. Still, its reasonably good. Colors for the most part are good. Details and dynamic range are okay.
Low light is another matter. Its useable, but colors and contrast are muted. Details are muddy and there are noise issues. Quality gets better if you use Night Mode. Exposure is more controlled.
Selfies are okay as well. In good light, skin tone is pleasant. There are instances of oversaturation which affect skin tones. Its more noticeable if shooting in harsh lighting. Turning off HDR helps.
Battery Life
We have another one of the narzo 20 selling points, the huge 6,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging. It certainly lives up to the hype. I got almost two days with moderate use that includes a sprinkling of games and YouTube videos. Its not impossible to stretch it some more if you’re a light user.
As for charging, it took more than two hours to reach 100 percent. Its actually a good number, given the monstrous capacity. One thing I noticed was that charging becomes slower once you reach 70 percent. I guess that’s one of the measures they have in place to help preserve the battery itself.
Wrap Up
Well, what can I say. The realme narzo 20 is quickly shaping up to become another hit. The budget device is easy to recommend. For Php 7,990, you get a decent smartphone that offers good mileage when it comes to battery life. Cameras are for the most part good. And performance will satisfy most people.
Like many things, its not a perfect device. The display, while good, is HD and the speaker is tinny.
Still, I find the positives easily outweigh the negatives, and those looking for capable budget phone should keep an eye out for the narzo 20.
And that ends our realme narzo 20 review. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
realme narzo 20 specs
- Display: 6.5-inch HD+ Mini-drop Fullscreen Display
- Processor: 2.0GHz Octa-core MediaTek Helio G85
- GPU: ARM Mali G52 MC2
- RAM: 4GB RAM
- Storage: 64GB Storage
- Rear Camera: 48MP Main + 8MP Ultra-wide + 2MP Macro, Triple Cameras
- Front Camera: 8MP Selfie Camera
- Network: 4G LTE, Triple Slot
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, GPS
- Others: Fingerprint Scanner (Rear), USB-C,
- OS: realme UI, Android 10
- Colors: Silver Sword, Blue Blade
- Battery: 6,000mAh Battery, 18W Fast Charging
