TCL 20 SE Unboxing, Quick Review: Display at the Forefront

TCL 20 SE Unboxing, Quick Review: Display at the Forefront

Initial Verdict: Our TCL S20 SE unboxing shows that a famed TV brand like TCL is laser-focused in making great displays for its phones.  We’ve seen TCL do it in their previous devices — such as the TCL 10 5G — and now we’re getting a taste of the NXTVision tech in the sub-10K price segment. If you find yourself going down the YouTube rabbit hole or endlessly scrolling through TikTok, this could be a great option for you to check out.

Pros

  • Massive Screen with Enhanced Visuals
  • Hi-Res Audio for those with compatible headsets

Cons

  • Not the optimal SoC for gaming at this price point

Display Greatness. That is what’s written on the box of the TCL phones that we’ve been lucky enough to try out. The brand has really been pushing their mobile devices here in the Philippines and, just like their TVs, the aim is to give consumers the best experience with the displays of their smartphones. The question is: How does their key messaging translate to their sub-10k smartphone — the TCL 20 SE?

TCL 20 SE Unboxing and Packaging Contents

Those who’ve seen the packaging for the TCL 10 5G should be familiar with the box of its more affordable sibling. It has the image of the device up in front with the model name on the sides and, as I mentioned, “Display Greatness” written up on top. You also have illustrations of its key specs on the back.

Inside the box, you have the device itself and ours came in the Aurora Green color variant. It comes with a jelly case and a screen protector. Aside from that, you have the usual set of documents, the SIM ejector pin, a pair of earphones, the USB-C cable, and a 10W charging brick.

Design

The first thing you should know about this device is that it is absolutely massive. It’s one of the biggest phones in its price range. It’s not the easiest phone hold due to its dimension but TCL did try to improve the overall ergonomics of this device by slightly curving the edges. It’s definitely a two-hander even for someone like me who has pretty big mitts for hands.

The TCL 20 SE is primarily made out of polycarbonate plastic, just like most (if not all) of its peers in the price range, it feels incredibly solid but it’s also deceptively light at 206 grams. You are getting a glossy finish for its back panel, which means that you should prepare to wipe it down often if you’re planning to rock it without a case.

For the button and ports, you have the volume rocker and power button on the right side.

Access to the SIM tray on the left and dedicated Google Assistant button.

You have a mic and the headphone jack up on top.

Lastly, on the bottom is where you’ll find the USB-C port, which is flanked by a speaker and a microphone.

Display

As mentioned, this device is really all about the display and you’re getting a massive 6.82-inch screen with the TCL 20 SE. We still have to confirm what panel they used with this device but the resolution is at HD+ resolution and their site says you have a screen-to-body ratio of 90%. It does have a rather noticeable chin though.

Just like the TCL 10 5G you’re also getting the company’s NXTvision enhancements to the display to make watching videos on this phone more enjoyable.

The speaker on the bottom gets plenty loud but the box says that it does support hi-res audio, which we are curious to check out.

Cameras

For its shooters, the TCL 20 SE has a quad-camera setup on the back. Leading the charge is a 16-megapixel shooter with PDAF and you also have a 5-megapixel ultra-wide, 2-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

The front camera is at 8-megapixels and has an aperture of f/2.0.

Performance

At the heart of the TCL 20 SE is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 processor that’s paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. We’ve seen this setup in multiple devices before and it is a very power-efficient processor that can handle day-to-day tasks. It can game as well but we’ll run more tests on it so we can show you guys more data.

For the battery, you’re getting one at 5000mAh so it should last a pretty long time but charging may take a while since you’re only getting a 10w brick out of the box.

On the software side of things, the 20 SE is running on Android 11 with TCL UI on top of it.

Early Verdict

It’s easy to see why TCL would stick to their guns and really push out devices that put its display at the forefront. Our TCL S20 SE unboxing showed that the phone is most likely going to be a good pick for those who do find themselves watching more videos on their smartphone than playing games, thanks to its DNA. We’ll see if everything lines up for this device in our full review though so make sure you check back in a few days.

TCL S20 SE unboxing Price Philippines

The TCL 20 SE is priced at Php 8,990 and is available via their flagship store on Lazada. As of writing this article, they are running a promo on it though and you should be able a Php 1500 voucher to bring down the price to Php 7490.

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