Blackview A20

Blackview A20 3G Phablet with Android Go OS

The Blackview A20 awaits us with an interesting Ultra-Low Buget phone. As one of the first smartphones on the market, the phone is equipped with Android 8.0 Go Edition. This is an Android version designed specifically for low-power phones. This allows the Blackview A20 to be priced at only $59 and still bring it to a streamlined Android system. At least the theory. What else awaits us at the Blackview A20, you will learn in the following announcement.

Due to the low price, it is not surprising that the Blackview A20 is set in a plastic housing. However, this is not bad, because even a plastic phone can delight with good build quality. With dimensions of 146 x 70.7 x 9.6 mm, the phone is on average large and the one-handed operation works well depending on the size of the hand. At 170g, the Blackview A20 is also very lightweight for a 5.5 inch phone. The display is 5.5 inches tall and has a current 18: 9 format. Thus, the Blackview gets despite the older hardware at least a current look. There is no fingerprint sensor and operation is via on-screen buttons. Of course, there is a Power button and the volume control on the side. The back of the smartphone can be removed. Underneath, the user expects a replaceable battery. Whether the smartphone can accommodate two SIM cards and a micro-SD at the same time, is not clear from the manufacturer’s information.

With a display resolution of 480 x 960 pixels, however, you only get an extremely low resolution, in which individual pixels will still be clearly visible. Multimedia fans will not get their money’s worth and the display is also designed for simple tasks. Presumably, there will be only a two-point touchscreen, so typing for high-speed writers is not necessarily enjoyable.

The Blackview A20 works with a Mediatek MT6580 processor. The quad-core CPU is now getting a bit old and is more suitable for simple apps like Facebook and Whatsapp. However, these run relatively smoothly with good system optimization – which was recently proven by the Cubot KingKong . The memory modules of the Blackview A20 are also very limited with 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM . Multitasking is not really possible on the device, and running applications often need to be closed in the background. Even large amounts of data can not be saved, unless you expand the memory with a micro-SD.

We are looking forward to the new Android Go , which will be used on the Blackview A20. The system is designed to run smoothly and quickly even on low power devices. The apps and background processes have been reduced in size and functionality. In principle, Android Go is unlikely to expect the Blackview A20 to be lightning fast with its low-end hardware. Nevertheless, a relatively fast mobile phone with a low purchase price could satisfy us – especially since the Blackview A20 was designed especially for users with low demands.

Blackview proves with the A20 that the Chinese manufacturers really have to put a fake dual camera into every smartphone. Thus, the cell phone on the back next to the 5 megapixel main sensor has a second sensor with 0.3 megapixels – allegedly. In fact, the second sensor will only be a dummy without function. Even from the 5 megapixel main camera, one should expect no miracles. Maybe it will be enough for an occasional snapshot – but nothing more.

On the front there is a 2 megapixel camera . Due to the low resolution, the camera is sufficient for video telephony. You should not expect nice selfies.

The Blackview A20 supports all important 3G frequencies in Germany. LTE is not supported. But you can operate two Nano-SIM cards simultaneously in the phone. Furthermore, there is Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and b / g / n Wifi. On sensors, the A20 only offers a proximity sensor. Automatic brightness control or even an e-compass or a gyroscope does not exist. The battery is 3000mAh and should last a day with frequent use. How good the battery life is in practice also depends on the software optimization and the energy efficiency of the Android Go system. We will only be able to judge this in the detailed test report.

The Blackview A20 is very cheap. Whether the mobile can convince in practice, depends on whether the manufacturer does not allow bad luck. It will also be exciting to see how much performance Android Go brings to the low-power hardware. In any case, we would not recommend buying a smartphone with 1GB RAM – but let us surprise you.

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