Introducing the Samsung Galaxy A20E
I recently decided to upgrade my mobile smart phone to the new on the scene Samsung Galaxy A20E as I wanted one with a fingerprint scanner, my previous handsets android operating system was about 8 years old and just wasn’t cutting it anymore – facebook crashing, slow typing, poor battery life – you know the score. I came across the a20e whilst looking at latest offers and I liked it so much I thought a complete review was in order to try and help you make a decision about whether or not this phone is for you and whether it will meet your needs.
Having looked around at other reviews and a series of phones, I noticed they didn’t really show what I thought people would want to see so i’ve included photos and video for you to contemplate. In addition to this, I found some of the A20E information out there quite inaccurate and along with this, there were plenty of experts talking utter rubbish as usual.
The Best Budget Samsung Phone on Great Deals – the A20E – Budget or Premium Phone?
To be honest, I don’t really like using the word budget for the Korean made Samsung A20E – there are cheaper galaxy devices and other phones out there, but the best thing is this one cost me about $220 or £180 UK pounds which helps me – so I prefer to say that this is one heck of a superb mobile phone for a relatively low price and even more brilliant with good deals coming along. But it seems people are calling it a budget phone instead of a premium phone in various reviews – don’t let this put you off – in my opinion there is nothing budget about it and it does what I want with speed and ease. In my opinion this is a great premium phone and nothing about it says otherwise, I can also use it for my company. Also consider its launch date of early 2019 – an affordable and modern android version 9 based phone with the latest interface features is therefore available and ready to compare with other models of the same price range.
Quick Galaxy Design Specifications of the Samsung A20E Mobile – not just the average Samsung seen in other device reviews.
Lets get the quick list of common design specifications out of the way first – as this information is often useful when comparing to other devices on various reviews around the net.
Before I do – please note that this information is derived from the actual galaxy packaging which the A20E is boxed in – so it doesn’t get much more accurate than this, I have added a note where appropriate. There was no device technical specifications data with the delivery at all, only a warranty card, quick start guide for the user, sim card slot pin and a pair of headphones.
Review of main features
- Infinity-V Display
- Mobile broadband via home wifi
- Dual Camera
- Two Sim slots
- Fast Charging
- Great resolution
- Fingerprint scanner
- Low prices
- Long lasting battery
- Slot for storage card
- Night mode
- Video recording and video playback
- 4G LTE
- Bluetooth
- Octa Core Processor
- 5.8 Inches full rectangle (fantastic for TV shows and Films)
- 32GB Memory and 3GB of RAM
- Wi fi of course.
- Android 10
Scroll down to the bottom to see the Samsung A20E full spec.
A20E Smartphone Performance
I like to talk about smartphone performance in terms of how I feel when running apps. It’s all very well reading technical specifications – but for me – at the end of the day it all boils down to whether I am satisfied with how my apps run, it doesn’t really concern me “that much” whether the screen is 2 millimetres smaller than I thought it was if you get my drift, but I am fussy about speed.
So the apps I tend to use are Chrome, Amazon, Facebook, Play Music and the odd word puzzle game – this has stayed consistent on all my Samsung phones. Let me say this – they are all lightning fast, when I purchased this I was certain it would be faster than my old phone, but the difference is amazing – there is virtually zero waiting for anything. One notable point as well is the keyboard – you press a key and it’s in, whereas on other mobiles I’ve used there has been a delay before the letter appeared.
I run the apps from the phones own storage, so they are optimal, but for certain apps it can save memory on budget handsets if you place them on the memory card. Some phones don’t have a slot for your own memory card which I think is a huge disappointment – I mean – who wants to pay a fortune more just for the same phone with extra built in memory when a card of 32GB is just a few quid???? The Samsung A20E has a memory card slot – massive kudos to Samsung for that, in my view this feature alone leaves other makes of mobile behind. (The slot for those interested is next to the SIMM slot – so you can load the card as you do the SIMM).
Zipping between apps is a breeze, the screen is pin sharp and extremely responsive and Android 9 does the business in organising the icons and allowing you to change all your usual settings (rings, vibration, volume, brightness etc).
Boot up time is around 30 seconds (at the time of purchase) so no complaints there, good battery life too.
The base holds the headphone socket, the power charging port and the speaker – basically everything I need.
Samsung A20E Popular Features and Equipment
The Samsung A20E phone is packed with great features such as the user interface and popular fingerprint and face recognition security, you don’t need to use these, the standard patterns are still available. Theres a great HD camera (there is a camera at the front and the back) and a video recorder with options to adjust the tone of the picture and also take panoramic shots. I’ve put a couple of samples of what the phone can produce here in the review.
It also comes with headphones which are connected via the headphone jack plug at the top of the phone, but if you have blue tooth speakers these can be used as blue tooth is supported – I tested this by connecting the phone to a receiver in my car and it works flawlessly.
Night mode is of use to prevent the glare from the hd screen when reading in the dark.
The 4g is as fast as can be expected (great for me) and when in range of a wifi signal you can surf the net or access your games over your home broadband network (for example) which costs you no money in terms of depleting your data allowance on either contract or pay as you go.
Aesthetically the A20E is beautiful, the screen is smooth and shiny and the the back cover is also gloss, quite unusual I thought. With its large screen you can view text and images clearly, but don’t let the size be anything to worry about – the phone is light in weight and far easier to hold than any tablet I have ever used, whilst just as functional.
Lots of phones have the physical buttons at the bottom of the screen, personally I do like these, but I am rapidly getting used to the software buttons on the A20E. Having no hardware buttons means that Samsung have been able to use the entire front of the phone for the display of your data – and boy have they done a fantastic job of that. The front camera at the top of the device takes up a pinhole of space granted, but the designers at Samsung have actually wrapped the display around it – squeezing every last bit of space out, right upto the top.
The battery charge time is fast at 15w fast charging to full battery capacity, but I’m a bit reluctant to try and explain how long the charge lasts exactly, because this is down to what I run on the phone throughout the day. The most I can say on this is that it tends to drop by about 60% to 80% during the entire day as I use it, mainly on facebook and google over wifi. I am totally impressed I have to say.
In terms of connecting to my existing accounts including the play store, all the features are there to enable me to carry on using android as though I hadn’t even changed my phone. Naturally I had to download the apps I wanted, but take music for example, by logging on with my google account, I was able to download my entire library and carry on where my old device left off. Seamless.
Oh – I had to add – there’s a snooze feature on the alarm clock! The GPS is fast at connecting as I can compare this to older smartphones and it takes seconds rather than 10’s of seconds. Various sensors interact with software such as a proximity sensor or accelerometer which is ideal for gaming in particular.
Reviewing the A20E Camera Hardware for Photographs and Video
I wanted to take a moment to show a couple of photographs and videos I shot with Samsungs A20E. I’ve had to crop these for the review whilst keeping the aspect ratio and the camera has a good field of view, but if you click the images they will expand and can then be further expanded by clicking the magnifier icon (depending on your screens hardware display resolution this may not be required). I think they are vivid and sharp to the human eye, enough for my needs. Here’s two close ups and a more (but not using the panoramic setting) panoramic photograph of an object at distance. I wish the sun had been shining, these were taken in relatively dull lighting conditions. For selfies, the teardrop notch at the top reveals the cameras lens. Just watch your storage space, as with any camera, memory is used up rapidly by long videos and camera apps. You can help yourself though with the internal microsd card slot. (Note the USB type for this when connecting to a PC is the oval shaped one as opposed to the standard microsd format).
For a couple of videos which will enable you to see the same as what I photographed above, I have uploaded some to youtube for this Galaxy a20e review. I don’t think there is image stabilisation through the lens on the camera, which I personally am not worried about, as if I was really shaky I could always edit the video later.
Review of the UI and a Few Apps Running on the Samsung A20E
One of the most important things about a nice new mobile is the speed at which the apps run alongside the UI. Users of your typical apps such as google play, facebook, chrome etc will find this quick video review useful in that it will help show you how apps which are actually running appear on the A20E. Notice the video isn’t very clear – this is because it was taken not with the phone, but with an older cam I have which is not as good as the Samsung smartphones. The actual screen display is pin sharp!
Note that I have used this to do QR codes for mailing, worked with both cameras front and rear, sent email, powered it up to full charge, compared it with the latest phones and I am more than contented with it and glad I didn’t buy a less popular brand. There are a also a few specific Galaxy apps on there which need reviewing at some point.
Popular Software and Accessories
The software as we have said is Android which is very popular for mobile devices which are not Apple based. It arrived with accessories such headphones and a charger along with cable. Also included was the small pin which enables memory and sim card access.
A20E Review Summary and Verdict.
I love the A20E, in summary I simply cannot find a fault with it as I can with other brands. I was sceptical at first (prior to buying it) because there weren’t that many reviews around and some of them were just hopeless in how the writer felt about it. Fine, they mostly provided the camera spec and the screen dimensions etc – but what use is that if there is no actual opinion? My verdict is that I highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy A20E mobile phone, I can’t get enough of it due to its slick speed, sharp display and ease of use. For anyone looking for a highly functional device which gives a great user experience at a fraction of the cost of the likes of Apple, then I very much doubt you’ll have any regrets. You can see our ratings at the end of the page. I just need to get one of those glass protection screens on the market now to protect it as I don’t feel comfortable without protection. A major selling point is that there are often fantastic deals available – certain reviews will include these and they can sometimes be seen in mobile magazine type sites. Look out for great mobile phone deals online and in the shops.
More Technical Specifications for screen, battery life, display specs (as published by the Manufacturer Samsung).
Processor
CPU Speed1.6GHz, 1.35GHz
CPU TypeOcta-Core
Display
Resolution (Main Display) 720 x 1560 (HD+)
Technology (Main Display) PLS TFT LCD
Color Depth (Main Display) 16M
Rear Camera
Resolution (Multiple) 13.0 MP + 5.0 MP
F Number (Multiple) F1.9 , F2.2
Auto FocusYes
OIS No
ZoomDigital Zoom up to 4x
Front Camera
Resolution 8.0 MP
F Number F2.0
Auto Focus No
OIS No
Flash Yes
Flash No
Video Recording Resolution FHD (1920 x 1080)@60fps (note this is great recording – but NOT related to slow motion playback)
Memory
RAM_Size (GB) 3
ROM Size (GB) 32
Available Memory (GB)*21.5
External Memory SupportMicroSD (Up to 512GB)
SensorsAccelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Proximity Sensor
Physical specification
Dimension (HxWxD, mm) 147.4 x 69.7 x 8.4
Weight (g)141
Battery
Internet Usage Time(3G) (Hours) Up to 13
Internet Usage Time(LTE) (Hours) Up to 15
Internet Usage Time(Wi-Fi) (Hours) Up to 15
Video Playback Time (Hours) Up to 14
Battery Capacity (mAh, Typical) 3000
Removable No
Audio Playback Time (Hours) Up to 61
Talk Time (3G WCDMA) (Hours) Up to 19
Audio and Video
Stereo Support No
Video Playing FormatMP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
Video Playing ResolutionFHD (1920 x 1080)@60fps
Audio Playing FormatMP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA
Services and Applications
Gear SupportGalaxy Watch, Gear Circle (Manager Support), Gear Fit, Gear Fit2, Gear Fit2 Pro, Gear Sport, Gear1, Gear2, Gear2 Neo, Gear S, Gear S2, Gear S3, Gear IconX, Gear IconX (2018)
Samsung DeX Support No
Mobile TV No
Samsung Galaxy A20E Mobile Phone
Pros
- - 32GB Storage
- - 3GB Memory
- - Great Size for reading and graphics
- - Super fast
- - Lovely styling