And while TCL is best known in the US for making Roku TVs, the company didn't just start making smartphones — it's been doing so for years since 2005 when the Chinese company acquired Alcatel phones. It even tried to revive the BlackBerry brand for a few years. But in all that time, the company has only put its own logo on phones starting in 2019.
design and quality
This wasn't the first time I'd reviewed a TCL phone, but it was the first time the camera had featured prominently in the outlook that came with one. TCL has given the 20 Pro a sleek look that contrasts with its status as a mid-range device, starting with a 6.67-inch AMOLED display that acts as the optical hub.What bothers me is that it's a curved screen, and I wish phone manufacturers would stop making it because it's not inherently useful. Even if we look at it from a purely comfortable point of view, it has lost value to me personally. I say that in part because I've always felt curved screens get in the way of mobile photography with errant clicks and a looser grip when taking photos, especially in landscape mode.
Sure, it's a personal issue that's not exclusive to this phone, but it might play a role in how much you like it. It is equally unfortunate that the vividness of the screen is not matched by a higher refresh rate. The 20 Pro is stuck at 60Hz, so if you're sticking with that you'll need to look elsewhere to find it, which isn't necessarily an exclusive feature. Mid-range phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, offer (120 Hz).
The phone came with wireless charging, and even a headphone jack, if you're interested in plugging in that way. The Snapdragon 750G is a modest and reliable chipset for a phone like this, and it's nice to see 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage (expandable up to 1TB through a microSD slot). It's also a 5G-capable phone that's capable of running on North American networks, as it was built just for that purpose.
Camera Features
Now let's focus on the camera and imaging features. The 20 Pro mobile has a quad camera setup on the back, which is powered by a 48-megapixel 1/2.0-inch Quad Bayer Sony IMX582 main image sensor. It's the equivalent of a 26mm f/1.8 lens, so even though it's not quite as wide as the others, it's still a decent camera.The 16MP ultrawide has a 16mm equivalent with a 123-degree field of view, albeit somewhat restricted by a 1/3.06-inch sensor and f/2.4 aperture. With 1 micron pixels, the 20 Pro isn't quite as good as shooting in low-light conditions, but we'll get to that later.
TCL has also moved away from using the telephoto lens, instead focusing on macro photography with a 5 MP 1/5 inch (f/2.2) macro sensor working in tandem with a 2 MP 1/50 inch (f/2.4) depth sensor for group zoom full. So what you have is a camera that relies on digital zoom to get closer to more subjects, while a dedicated lens lets you get much closer to smaller things. The Depth Camera works with just about any lens or other feature you need, giving it a level of versatility.
Software Features
It's worth noting that you don't get the full pixel count from the 48MP sensor. Rather, you basically get a 12MP shot by default, unless you use the high pixel mode under the More section of the camera menu layout. This mode is the only one that shoots at full resolution, other modes generally depend on the primary sensor as well.Specialized modes include Super Macro, Light Trace, and Pano, while other modes, such as Stop Motion, Slo-Mo, and Short Video, focus on video. These modes complement the Auto, Portrait, Super Night, Pro, and Video modes available in the main menu.
Settings don't offer much customization, although a few things really stand out. I laughed when I first saw "Discovering Calories" because I struggled with the concept. Take a picture of the food and try to estimate the number of calories. I've seen this kind of technology before, at least in various stages of development, and one of the perennial problems is the lack of context when it comes to components. A vegan cupcake can look like a regular cupcake, and as expected, the 20 Pro's camera doesn't know the difference.
But this does not matter in the larger scheme. AI scene detection is all about taking the guesswork out of composition, though you'd probably be better off not using it because it just complicates things.
picture quality
main camera
The quickest way to experience the main camera is to have it indoors. Whether it's design or not, it takes better pictures in outdoor conditions mainly because of how the dynamic range is improved with natural light. Whether it's due to bright sunlight or dark clouds, results are consistently better than indoors, where colors are more muted and highlights and shadows display less detail.The High Pixel mode is more susceptible to these nuances because smaller pixels take in less light. This is best illustrated when it comes to natural light, while soft light leaves more detail out of the image when the purpose is just the opposite. The 20 Pro isn't supposed to compete as a flagship, and I reminded myself of that every time I realized one of its limitations.
Regardless of resolution, the key was in adjusting the exposure to offset some of those limits in dynamic range. TCL has included an HDR setting that you can turn on or off or set to auto, this can help produce better results but you still have to fiddle with exposure to get the best shot. There are also 10 filters to choose from, including one for monochrome photos, if you want to get creative, although I would say that you will get the best results by editing the footage yourself later.
wide lens
This is where things get a little weird. The ultra-wide camera is perhaps the weakest link, not only because the photos are not particularly noteworthy, but also because of a strange bug that affected them at first. For reasons I can never be sure, the exposure slider won't appear after clicking to focus on a subject. I inquired with TCL about this, and did not get a definitive answer. That was in May. Fast forward to July, and a software update appears to have improved the problem, but not completely.Either way, changing the exposure won't yield much results anyway. White balance is off in ways that don't occur with the main lens. Sometimes deviating very slightly to purple, the fringe appears in shots with dramatic color variances. For example, a blue sky with white clouds may result in a purple fringe. In other cases with different color contrasts, this may not happen.
Obviously, TCL chose not to include the ultra-wide lens in Super Night mode, an omission you don't always see with other models. The company has never explained why, but if I were to risk a guess, it would be due to inconsistent production under ideal conditions.
Pro mode
There's a Pro mode, but the main shortcoming here is the RAW shooting feature, which is a confusing move considering there's no way to shoot at 48MP to take advantage of the manual features at full resolution anyway. I asked the company why it doesn't offer RAW, especially when the internal storage is as loud as it is, but didn't get a direct answer beyond the vague mention that this is a mid-range phone.At least you can shoot with all the lenses available in the . However, in good conditions, the 20 Pro can be surprisingly good at taking solid photos in this mode.
everything else
The Super Night mode is okay, but not what you would consider great. For a mid-range phone, the pictures are good, but not as good as other competitors in the same price range. The vertical position is good, with an effective level of separation between the foreground and background target. It makes use of good lighting, and works best when you're not trying to pull more exposure out of the composition.Specialized modes are more successful or skipped. Light Trace simulates long exposure shooting, as well as smoother motion. The idea is great, and we've seen it work in phones like the Vivo X60 Pro+, but it's not an apple-to-apple comparison as the 20 Pro isn't quite as good. The problem is that it is not easy to use the handheld device. Try to soften the water in a stream and the entire frame becomes camouflaged, even if the focal point is the water itself. Capturing light trails faces similar challenges. The only possible recourse is to use a tripod, although results may vary.
Super Macro mode is effective when you enter the correct range, although the interface doesn't necessarily tell you at what point. The one thing that would have helped make the focus peak is as an option so that users know what the point of contact is. This isn't on TCL alone, as no other brands really apply it to macro shots at the moment, but there are times when distance can be confusing and the focus shifts quickly as a photo shoot approaches.
There is no physical zoom on the 20 Pro, although the phone defaults to 2x zoom as an option when switching between lenses. Again, conditions determine the quality of a shot, so results can vary greatly when used.
Video Features
I haven't used video much, as it won't be a huge part of this review, but you can shoot in 4K at 30fps on this smartphone if you want to. Electronic image stabilization is turned on by default to keep things steady, and there's an anti-shake setting on the interface that you can toggle on. It applies a cropping factor to help with this, just like the motion setting next to it if you're shooting an action scene. You also have HDR and filters available to give your clips some visual treat.Short Video is a unique mode that lets you shoot with filters, music, and transitions. Clips can be up to 10 seconds long or up to 60 seconds long. You can also mute the microphone if you want the audio to be played by the music.
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