Vivo U20 launches with interesting specs & price

Vivo is on a release spree as more models are likely to debut this year end. It’s most recent is the unvieling of Vivo U20 into it’s ‘U’ series archives.

The U20 is an upgrade to the Vivo U10 released earlier in september this year(2019). This new smartphone gives users no drawbacks to worry about but certainly maintains its quality while keeping within budget.

Vivo U20 is an inexpensive smartphone and most of the models released into the series obviously are.

Major upgrades have been made from the U10 like introducing a powerful processor chipset to the creation of an upgraded main rear camera.

For users who prefer an unwavered quality, they will be disappointed as no extensive premium features is embedded. There is no in-display fingerprint sensor seen mostly in Vivo most recent releases.

Neither are the front & rear cameras up to the standard kept by premium brands.

Vivo decided to downgrade from the Funtouch 9.1 used in U10 to a 9.0 version of this custom UI skin. Note that the most updated version of the software is Funtouch 9.2 which Vivo uses in almost all of it’s recent models.

The 5000mAh battery still fast charge at 18W like the U10 but while the U20 comes in a 4GB/6GB RAM variant, the later has only a sole 3GB variant.

Highlights

Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 octacore processor
18W fast charging
5000mAh battery capacity
4GB & 6GB RAM variants
64GB internal memory
16 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP triple primary Cameras
16MP selfie camera
Rear mounted fingerprint sensor

Vivo U20 featured

Vivo U20 impressive design and display

The front of the smartphone possesses a waterdrop notch which envelopes the 8MP front camera. While the rear packs a triple camera setup which is alligned linearly vertical. A LED flash sits just behind the bottom camera.

The device’s thickness at 8.89 mm is less compared to that U10.

Vivo retains the FHD+ IPS capacitive screen on U20 with new colour variants: racing black and blaze blue made for users to choose from.

Dimensions	162.15mm x 76.47 mm x 8.89 mm
Weight	193 grams
Colours	Racing Black, Blaze Blue
Screen size	6.53 inches (16.59 cm)
Screen Resolution	1080 x 2340 pixels
Bezel-less display	Yes, with waterdrop notch
Pixel density	395 ppi
Display type	IPS LCD
Touch screen	Capacitive touchscreen, Multi-touch
Screen to Body Ratio (claimed by the brand)	90.3 %

Advantage: Has lesser thickness than the U10’s 8.92mm body thickness. The U20 also has a better screen size than it’s predecessor.

Disadvantage: –

Triple rear camera setup & 16MP front shooter

Under the linear rear camera setup there’s a 16MP Sony IMX499 primary sensor which packs a physical aperture of f/1.8 & a PDAF sensor with Night Mode, an 8MP sensor which serves a 120 super wide-angle shots and a 2MP camera for a super macro capture.

Just behind the last sensor is a LED flash which aids capturing in the dark.

Rear camera	16 MP, f/1.8, (wide), PDAF 8 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, macro camera
Physical aperture	F1.78
Flash	LED Flash
Image Resolution	4616 x 3464 Pixels
Shooting modes	Continuos Shooting, High Dynamic Range mode (HDR)
Camera features	Digital Zoom, Auto Flash, Face detection, Touch to focus
Video Recording	1920×1080 @ 60 fps
Front camera	16 MP
Physical aperture (front)	F2.0
Flash (front)	Screen flash

Advantages: A better 16MP primary and 16MP selfie camera compared to U10’s 13MP and 8MP primary and selfie cameras respectively.

Disadvantage: Despite the camera upgrades, their quality is left to be questioned with better camera specs by modern brands.

Vivo U20 performing processor and software

The steep upgrade from Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 to 675 means better processing time of the device.

A dual core kyro 460 processor clocks a 2GHz speed while the same kyro 460 having six cores this time clocks speed of 1.7GHz. This two similar processor make having dissimilar speeds and cores pairs to make up the device’s processor.

An andreno 612 GPU powers the graphics section of the smartphone ensuring smooth graphics while in use.

Both the 4GB and 6GB variants of the phone comes with a 64GB internal storage.

Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 675
Processor	Octa core (2 GHz, Dual core, Kryo 460 + 1.7 GHz, Hexa Core, Kryo 460)
Architecture	64 bit
Graphics	Adreno 612
RAM	4 GB/ 6GB
Internal storage	64 GB
Expandable memory	Yes, up to 256 GB

Advantage:

Better processor and chipset
A good GPU
Good RAM and ROM sizes

Disadvantage: –

Network support

Vivo U20 supports two nano sim cards with both ports having receptivity to various bands of 2G, 3G and 4G as listed below:

SIMs	Nano SIM Nano SIM (Hybrid)
4G Bands:	TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 900(band 8) / 850(band 5)
3G Bands:	UMTS 1900 / 2100 / 850 / 900 MHz
2G Bands:	GSM 1800 / 1900 / 850 / 900 MHz
GPRS:	Available
EDGE:	Available

Advantage: Major bands of networks supported.

Disadvantage: 5G bands not available.

Connectivity and sensors

There are no big surprises here. The fingerprint sensor is on the rear and the bluetooth version is 5.0.
Infact, the U20 continues with the connectivity options used by it’s predecessor.

3.5mm audio jack	Yes (active noise cancellation with dedicated mic)
WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth	5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX
GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
USB	microUSB 2.0, USB On-The-Go
Fingerprint sensor	Yes, rear-mounted
Other sensor	Accelerometer Face unlock Proximity Compass Gyroscope Light sensor

Advantage: –

Disadvantage: Rear mounted fingerprint sensor have been replaced by an in-display fingerprint sensor in recent modern models by reason of it being more receptive than the former.

Vivo U20 battery

Vivo U20 debuts with an excellent 5000mAh battery capacity which the company brags can last for 273 hours on standby, 21 hours of Instagram usage, 17 hours of Facebook usage and 11 hours of YouTube usage.