Initial Verdict: While the vivo Y20s G looks a lot like the brand’s own Y20i, our quick review shows that there’s more than meets the eye. The phone packs a fairly powerful Helio G80 chipset, as well as additional gaming-centric features all wrapped in a package that’s easy on the eyes. 

Pros

• Phone looks stylish even with its glasstic back
• Gaming chipset augmented with game boost features

Cons

• Outdated Micro USB port
• Looks like a vivo Y20i clone

vivo is looking to expand their budget lineup with the Y20s G. This new budget device is being marketed as an affordable gaming alternative, wrapped in an attractive shell. Should you drop money for the Y20s G when it launches or should you keep looking? Here’s our quick take:

Unboxing and Packaging contents

The box comes with the phone itself, a protective jelly case, a micro USB cable, documentation, a SIM ejector, and its charging brick. From what we can tell from the packaging alone, the “G” on Y20s G is emphasized on the box to signify that the phone is made specifically for gaming.

Design and display

There’s no doubt about it – the vivo Y20s G looks almost like a carbon copy of vivo’s Y20i. That shouldn’t be surprising considering its model name, though fans looking for visual variety might not appreciate the CTRL C + CRTL V approach to product design here.

That being said, the phone’s externals look good, despite the heavy use of glasstic on the rear. Our review device came in Obsidian Black that emanates a subtle blue hue depending on how the light hits it. The frame is metal, and like the vivo Y20i the port placement is logical and easy to reach: the power button (that doubles as a fingerprint scanner) is on the right side, along with the volume rocker. You still get a 3.5mm jack as well, something that people who own wired headphones.

The only hit that we’re giving the Y20s G is the use of the dated MicroUSB port. In our opinion no phone save for bottom-of-the-barrel devices should still be using a MicroUSB port – there is no reason that any phone shouldn’t now be rocking a Type-C connector.

As far as the display goes, the phone looks to have the same panel as the Y20i. You’re looking at a 6.51-inch HD+ display with a dew-drop notch at the top. The colors are good and are typical of what you’d expect from a mid-range device.

We’ll be diving into the phone’s camera suite in our full review in a few weeks.

Performance

The vivo Y20s G’s main difference with the Y20i is the processor. The vivo Y20s G uses MediaTek’s Helio G80 chipset, which is a fairly capable and powerful processor that’s frequently used by budget gaming smartphones.

The MediaTek Helio G80 is capable of running most popular Android games today with medium graphical settings. The MediaTek Helio G80 chipset is augmented by Multi-Turbo 3.0, vivo’s own gaming-centric software tech to help with performance.

The Y20s G also has plenty of RAM and storage to help with more demanding games like Genshin Impact and NBA 2K20, since it ships with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That’s more than enough for most people’s needs, and should keep the phone nice and responsive as you use it.

Speaking of responsiveness, the vivo Y20s G feels quick and snappy, thanks to vivo’s FunTouch 11based on Android 11.

Early verdict:

So far the vivo Y20s G’s specs alone may have what most gamers would need on a gaming phone, a powerful chipset that’s backed by features to speed up and improve their gaming experiences. If you still love the look of the vivo Y20i you’ll surely feel right at home with this new gaming variant. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will also be offered at an equally attractive price when it launches in a few weeks.

vivo Y20s G Quick Review Price Philippines

There’s no official Philippine retail price for the vivo Y20s G as of press time. Although a safe guestimate is to base it on the price of the vivo Y20i. Keep an eye out for this phone on vivo’s official Lazada store.