Disclaimer: I was sent this TCL 20R 5G budget smartphone to review free of charge, but words and pictures are mine. This post contains affiliate links, see more information here. If you’re looking for the best cheap 5G smartphone for teens or kids, the TCL 10R 5G phone phone could be a great buy! See what we thought…
After a small smashing incident involving my Samsung Galaxy Note 10, I’ve been using a borrowed Samsung phone (an A70, which currently retails for £230ish) for a while now. When offered a chance to try out the TCL 20 R budget smartphone, which retails for around £120-£170, I thought it was a good opportunity to see what was out there before laying down an eyewatering sum for the latest model. At the very least, it’s potentially a contender for the best cheap 5G smartphone for teens and kids.
What’s in the TCL 20R 5G box?
Inside the box is a phone, plug, USB-C charging/data cable, instructions and a pin for opening up the sim card slot. The phone is unlocked so a sim from any mobile operator will work in it; I’m on Three (wouldn’t necessarily recommend!) but any sim card will work whether you’re on a sim-only plan or a pay-as-you-go contact.
Technical spec
Despite being cheap for a 5G smartphone, size and weight-wise the TCL20R smart phone is really not very different to the Samsung A70; a little thicker but not noticeably. You’d be really hard pressed to tell the difference at a glance. The screen is 6.52 inches and it weighs just shy of 350 grams.
It has a 90Hz Display and 4mb of RAM, and 64GB of storage with a MicroSD Card Slot so you can expand it up to 1tb.
It has a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition to unlock the phone and apps, NFC for GooglePay etc.
The screen is fine – it’s not perhaps as vibrant as the higher spec AMOLED screens on modern phones but it definitely does the job and is streets ahead of the touchscreens used in much cheaper budget phones. It’s certainly not noticeably different from other phones unless you have the two side to side.
Note that there was nothing about whether the phone is waterproof – so I’m guessing it probably isn’t. Although it’s a decent cheap smartphone for teens they need to make sure it stays dry!
Ease of data transfer
Having moved my data once between Samsung phones using the special app, I was actually pleasantly surprised that Google could do it too onto any android phone, and this time it was quicker. It is really easy to restore apps and data from an old phone using the prompts. Within five minutes the phone was ready to use, and downloading my apps in the background.
Using the TCL 20R 5G
To be quite honest, it’s no different to any other Android phone to use; that’s the beauty of Android I guess! The layout is very similar, the buttons all work in the same way and all the apps are the same.
For usability it scores exactly the same as a top of the range Samsung, or a budget Android phone. The touchscreen works perfectly, and the battery holds its charge well.
It can connect easily to bluetooth such as your car or headphones, and has 3.5mm jack for corded headphones. It plays podcasts and music very clearly.
Can the TCL 20R 5G play Pokemon Go?
Not something that is necessarily important in a smartphone for teens but maybe for kids, and adults like me – A very important question for many and the answer is yes, you can play Pokemon Go on the TCL 20R 5G smartphone! Although if you switch to another app, it will close and you’ll have to restart it. But as a Pokemon Go machine, yes it works. Hurrah!
This goes for other apps too. It has lower memory and a slower processor than some phones so may not be as speedy as a top of the range model, but I haven’t yet found an app that it doesn’t work with. Specialist graphics apps and high definition games might cause more issues but as I don’t use these it isn’t something I can comment on.
What is the camera on the TCL 20R 5G smart phone like?
It has a triple lens (13 + 2 + 2) Megapixel rear camera which allows you to take normal photos, portrait photos and videos, and 8 Megapixel selfie camera.
Being very picky (as I work as a blogger and photos are important!), they aren’t quite as good as other more expensive phone cameras, wiping out some details as can be seen below:
This is literally the only place that I felt it fell down, in comparison with the more expensive smartphone.
The pictures in good lighting are OK and if I didn’t happen to be a blogger who need them for work I might not care at all.
I would say that it does the job OK, but it’s very noticeable the poorer the lighting is.
Parental controls
This budget phone isn’t designed specifically for children or teens, and as such has access to everything – apps and internet content – that a normal phone can access. However, if you are buying this phone for a child or teenager, you can download Google Family Link in order to monitor and limit your child’s phone usage easily.
Last words
Compared to a much cheaper model, like the £40 IMO Q2 reviewed here, the TCL 20R 5g smartphone does a really good job particularly if you can get it for under £120. It would make a great phone for anyone that isn’t too bothered about using their photographs in high quality and is among the best cheap 5G smartphones for teens and children for its price, as most wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this phone and a much more expensive model.
You can purchase the TCL 20R 5g smartphone online from Amazon here.