realme narzo 20 Unboxing and Full Review

The Power is finally here! realme Philippines has just launched a new device from an entirely new line-up that is sure to delight Filipinos - the realme narzo 20. This will be the first device launched from realme’s sub-brand narzo here in the Philippines.

The realme narzo 20 is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G85 processor paired with ARM Mali-G52 GPU, 6.5-inch mini-drop IPS display, 6,000mAh battery with 18W quick-charge technology and a 48MP AI Triple Camera.

I was able to get my hands on a unit and I’d like to share my unboxing experience as well as the full review of the device. So, let's start first with the unboxing.

Unboxing the realme narzo 20

The packaging of the realme narzo 20 doesn’t have much difference from the previous released realme products. As expected, the packaging comes in realme's typical yellow colored box with clean look design.

The front portion indicates the Narzo 20 branding, while the brand details, like model number, IMEI number, device variant, color and the summary of the four important features of the Narzo 20 --- 6000mAh Mega Battery, 48MP AI Triple Camera, Helio G85 Gaming Processor and 18W Type-C Quick Charge, are imprinted on the back side of the box.

You can also find the realme narzo 20 brand both on the left and right side. While on top indicates the lone realme logo, there is nothing to look at the bottom portion.

Inside the Box and Accessories

After removing the plastic and opening the lid of the box, you are greeted with these pleasing lines -- Hey, welcome to realme Family.

The pack contained SIM Card Ejector Tool, Quick Guide and Important Information Guide with Warranty Card.

Underneath the pack is the realme narzo 20 smartphone wrapped in a white matte plastic. I will set aside the device for now and review it extensively later. Let's see what else we get in the box.

Beneath is the 18W Fast Charger and USB Type-C to USB-A Charging Cable. realme nazo 20 doesn’t come with headphones – you’ll have to provide your own.

Here's a closer look of the 18W Fast Charger information.

After unboxing, let us take a look at the physical overview and proceed with the full review of the device.

Design and Walk Around

realme narzo 20's design is inspired by the Victory gesture and uses special texturing techniques to achieve a premium touch and feel on the back of the phone. The visual effect on the brushed finished back cover can be seen when the lighting strikes from different angles. We’re liking this kind of texture for it repels fingerprint smudges. As for the color, the realme narzo 20 comes in two color variants, namely: Silver Sword and Blue Blade. My unit comes in Blue Blade color.

Even though the realme narzo 20 uses polycarbonate plastic for the frame and back panel, the phone feels solidly built, sturdy and has a hefty weight when gripped, maybe due to the 6,000mAh mega battery.

On the front, realme narzo 20 contains the large 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with the pre-installed screen protector. At the top, there’s a mini-drop design notch which houses the front-facing camera and the earpiece. Like most smartphones in this segment, the side bezels are relatively slim but with a pretty thick chin.

On the back is a square shaped “Matrix Design” camera module with the triple camera set-up along with the single LED flash, the fingerprint sensor and the new ”narzo designed by realme” logo at the bottom end.

Found on the left side is the card tray with 3-card slot --- two Nano SIM cards and the dedicated slot for microSD card.

On the right is your standard volume rocker button while the power button is located below it.

The top is clean with the secondary noise-canceling microphone missing.

While at the bottom you can find the USB Type-C charging port, a single downward-firing speaker, primary microphone and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Display and Multimedia

realme narzo 20 is equipped with a 6.5-inch large screen. The display uses an IPS LCD 20:9 screen panel with 1600x720 HD+ resolution and there’s no glass type protection mentioned.

The internal structure of realme narzo 20's screen adopts a newly-upgraded stack process, which is based on guaranteeing functions that creatively draws the parts and components closer to each other. This is to reduce the area of droplets (by 30.9% compared with normal dewdrop) and bring the screen ratio up to 88.7%, allowing users to have less visual disturbance while enjoying the comforts brought by the 6.5-inch display.

The IPS display panel produces great colors, viewing angles are also decent and the screen can get really bright at 562 nits (peak brightness) so you can still use it outdoors comfortably. At 270ppi, the display looks sharp even though the display comes with a HD+ resolution.

As for the loudspeaker, audio quality is like your typical smartphone which is good for an entry-level gaming device. It can get loud, enough to fill the room but no bass. There’s also some distortion when you max the volume. I recommend using headphones or an external speaker for better audio quality.

Camera

Rear Cameras
realme narzo 20 boasts a triple camera set-up composed of a 48MP F1.8 main camera with a Samsung sensor, 8MP 119° F2.3 ultra wide-angle, 2MP macro lens with a 4cm shooting distance. This setup is handy and versatile as it has ultrawide and macro cameras, perfect not only for gaming but for photography as well.

realme narzo’s 20’s main camera deploys Quad Bayer’s 4-in-1 pixel binning mechanism that combines four adjacent pixels into a large pixel, enhancing the resolution and quality of images taken even in low-light settings. realme narzo 20 also comes with Nightscape Mode.

Quality from the rear cameras performs well under daylight conditions. The colors are okay, but the details are not that sharp and exposures not that good.

For low light, it can make a difference with the Nightscape Mode feature turned on in certain situations, but without it turned on, the sensor struggles and it’s generally a poor performer in low light.

Front Selfie Camera
On the front, the realme narzo 20 uses an 8MP selfie camera with 5P lens. The camera supports AI beautification function, HDR mode, portrait mode, Timelapse and a Panoselfie feature that can help users take wider selfies.

For selfies, it produces good photos especially in bright conditions. Background blurring for portrait selfie isn’t that perfect but good enough.

Video
For videos, you can shoot up to 1080p @ 30fps and 60fps using the rear main camera and 1080p @ 30fps for the front selfie camera. As you can see, video stabilization isn’t present, so recordings will end up looking shaky.

realme UI, Apps and Security

realme narzo 20 runs on realme UI 1.0, based on Android 10 out of the box. It is designed and built for an enhanced and closer to stock Android experience; the realme UI is seamless, clean and pretty UI that is easy-to-navigate. It has the latest features such as System Themes, Icon Customization, Dual Mode Music Share, Focus Mode, 3-Finger Selected Screenshot, Personal Information Protection and Dark Mode, to name a few. Pre-installed are the standard Google suite of apps, as well as some bloatware apps.

realme narzo 20 does not only support a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking but also supports facial recognition. This enables the smartphone to be easily unlocked with a single click or glance. Both work pretty fast; however, the face unlock can slow down in situations where there isn’t much light.

Hardware and Performance

Mobile gaming is now becoming a platform for Filipino gamers to become superstars. Gamers use powerful devices in slaying the enemies to achieve victory in every battle. The realme narzo 20 is an entry-level gaming device that is equipped with the MediaTek Helio G85 2.0GHz octa-core processor paired with ARM Mali-G52 GPU to elevate the gaming experience of Filipino users. With 4GB of RAM, users need not worry about lagging for the device ensures smooth performance when it comes to day-to-day tasks and even in heavy-loading game engines like Asphalt 9, Call of Duty Mobile and Mobile Legends. But take note that the phone does heat up a little.

realme narzo 20 Gaming - Asphalt 9: Legends (Visual Quality in High)

realme narzo 20 is available in the Philippines in one storage variant -- 64GB storage, with 49.8GB of available storage (14.3GB used out of the box). If you need additional storage, you can further expand the storage up to 256GB via its dedicated microSD card slot.

Here are the benchmark scores for this device:

• AnTuTu v8.4.3 – 204,476
• Geekbench 5 – 345 (Single-core), 1,281 (Multi-core), 1,178 (OpenCL), 1,173 (Vulcan)
• PCMark – 8645 (Work 2.0)
• 3DMark – 1,385 (SSE – OpenGL ES 3.1) 1,382 (SSE – Vulkan)
• AndroBench – 315.15 MB/s (Seq. Read), 189.0 MB/s (Seq. Write)

6,000mAh Mega Battery, 18W Fast Charger and Connectivity

Gamers love a large-capacity battery that can complement the powerful processor of their smartphones. This is why the realme narzo 20 packs a hefty 6,000mAh battery with 18W quick-charge technology especially designed for non-stop gaming sessions.

According to the test of realme Lab, realme narzo 20 could last for 45 days in standby mode -- far better than some flagships. With its large battery capacity you can even use this as a pocket WiFi and with its special OTG reverse charge, narzo 20 can also serve as a battery life saver of other devices and gadgets. realme narzo 20 is equipped with an 18W fast charge, which allows the phone to charge up to 29% in just 30 mins and 2 and a half hours to recharge from 0 - 100%.

Deep software optimization like App Quick Freeze, Screen Battery Optimization, Sleep Standby Optimization, Power Saving Mode and Super Power Saving Mode are also available in realme narzo 20 which could make a big difference in battery life.

In a battery life test, the realme narzo 20 yielded an impressive 60 hours in Spotify playback, 10 hours while playing either Asphalt 9, Call of Duty Mobile and Mobile Legends, 24 hours scrolling through social media and 10 hours of watching YouTube. In the PCMark Work 2.0 Battery Life Test, the unit yielded a score of 15 hours and 58 minutes.

Aside from the battery and charger, the realme narzo 20 has your usual connectivity features, including 4G LTE, dual-band WiFi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, a 3.5mm audio jack and USB Type-C. It also comes with a FM radio, but you need to insert an earphone before using it.

realme narzo 20 Specifications:

6.5-inch HD+ (720 x 1600) Mini-drop IPS LCD display, 270ppi
MediaTek Helio G85 2.0GHz octa-core CPU, 12nm
ARM Mali G52 MC2 GPU
4GB LPDDR4x RAM
64GB of internal storage (eMMC 5.1)
Expandable up to 256GB via microSD card (dedicated slot)
Triple-rear cameras (48MP F1.8 main + 8MP F2.3 ultra-wide + 2MP F2.4 macro)
8MP F2.0 front camera
Dual-SIM (Nano) / 4G LTE
WiFi 802.11ac / Bluetooth 5.0
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU
USB Type-C / Fingerprint scanner (rear-mounted)
6,000mAh battery w/ 18W wired fast charging
realme UI based on Android 10
164.5 x 75.9 x 9.8mm (dimension)
208g (weight)
Colors: Silver Sword and Blue Blade

Price and Availability

For only Php7,990, the realme narzo 20 (4GB+64GB) will be exclusively available through Lazada's LazMall starting November 11, 2020.

realme fans may also snag an additional Php500 discount at Lazada 11.11 sale, lowering the device’s price to Php7,490. If a customer uses their Lazada Wallet upon checkout, a special Lazada 11.11 voucher can further bring the price down by Php400.

Verdict

The realme narzo 20 is an excellent performing smartphone with incredible features - battery life, gaming experience and versatile cameras - for its price point.

If you’re thinking of getting a new budget smartphone in this budget, we highly recommend that you get this one. The narzo 20 packs the right gears for the Filipino gamers!

Edited and with additional inputs by Michelle Villa