LG K20 Review: LG Could Have Done Better

LG K20: At First Glance

In 2019, LG unveiled the K20 – the successor of the LG K10. According to LG, this smartphone is ideal for those on a budget.

This is no surprise since LG is known for manufacturing smartphones to suit every customer category. Surprisingly, the LG K20 seems to be more expensive than the other versions – the K20 Plus and K20 V.

It is surprising because those other versions have very similar specifications as the K20. This then pops the question of just what makes this smartphone any different from its similar versions.

Well, reading through this review would answer that question.

LG K20: Design, Dimensions and Weight

With LG announcing the K20 as a low-budget smartphone, it comes with a plastic chassis as expected. Even with its plastic body, the aurora black or moroccan blue color variants make you admire it.

This is because they’re not just mere colors but you’ll see the subtle shimmering matte finish on either color you go for. Furthermore, this matte finish makes the phone grip-friendly for your hands.

In addition to its looks and feeling friendly in the hands, this smartphone is also compact. To be exact, the LG K20 weighs 141.7g and has dimensions of 150 x 76.2 x 7.6 mm.

The LG K20 is slightly weightier than others in the series – the LG K20 Plus and LG K20 V which weigh 140g and 134g respectively.

Away from LG products, other low-budget smartphones like the Redmi 7A and the Honor 7X weigh more at 165g. While the Moto E4 Plus weighs even more at 198g.

By comparison, it is fair to say that the LG K20 is one of the lightweight low-budget smartphones out there.

When it comes to branding, there’s nothing on the front surface of this phone that tells you it’s an LG product. At the top bezel of the LG K20 is the front-facing camera.

The lower bezel is bare – no navigation bar nor a front-mounted fingerprint sensor. Speaking of bezels, both the lower and upper bezels are thick while the side bezels are narrow.

On the top edge of the phone is the audio jack while the lower edge is where you’ll find the micro USB charging port. As for the phone’s sides, there’s the power button and volume bar on the right side.

While on the left is the SIM tray and a dedicated google system button. This SIM tray consists of two nano-SIM card slots and a microSD card slot.

It’s more impressive to see that the LG K20 has a dual SIM slot, compared to the K20 Plus that has just one SIM slot.

Just in case you’re wondering what the dedicated Google system button is, it’s your shortcut to the Google Assistant. This Google Assistant helps with quick voice search rather than having to type in your search on Google.

This new dedicated button from Google began in 2019 – the same year the LG K20 was released. Also, it’s another feature you won’t find on the other K20 variants.

The back of the LG K20 doesn’t have so much to look forward to. To start with, there’s the single back camera and LED flash just below the camera lens on the left top corner of the phone’s back.

What you notice next is the LG logo on the lower end of the phone’s back. Together with the logo is the back-facing speaker.

This location of the speaker seems to be the same trend we’ve been seeing in the LG K20 Plus and K20 V. Unfortunately, there’s nothing good about having a phone with its speaker at the back.

More precisely, using earphones would give you better sound quality than using the loudspeaker.

Asides it back-facing speaker, its lightweight feature, more slots, and dedicated Google button are impressive. Such features make the design section deserving of a nine out of ten in this LG K20 review.

LG K20: Display Features

When it comes to the display, a number of features make a good display. The first is the technology behind the display.

The display of the LG K20 is made up of an IPS LCD display, HD resolution, and a screen size of 5.3″. Notably, this IPS technology is one of the leading LCD technologies in the world.

The reason for its popularity is its good color reproduction and great viewing angles. This means you can be sure that the colors displayed on the LG K20 screen will be clear and crispy.

The viewing angles also mean that when this phone is rotated, you get to see the display on screen just the way it is – without losing focus. One downside of the IPS LCD however, is its battery draining capacity which is disadvantageous as compared to its counterpart – the AMOLED display.

Regardless, we can’t expect the AMOLED display on this smartphone because it’s mostly found in more expensive smartphones.

Next is the resolution type which is the HD (1280 x 720) resolution. Notably, this is the lowest display resolution as far as smartphone displays go.

It’s disappointing to have such a resolution type on the LG K20. Especially when phones like the Honor 7X have a higher resolution of FHD+ for even lesser than the K20 price tag.

Such a resolution should tell you not to expect crispy clear images as you make use of this screen. Although, if you’re used to phones with HD resolution, it won’t make any difference.

Away from the resolution, let’s talk about screen brightness. The LG K20 has 347 nits of brightness which is how bright this screen gets.

If you think that’s impressive, it’s not. In fact, it’s lower than the average 403 nits we see on most smartphones.

The Redmi 7A for example has as many as 506 nits, and the Honor 7X hits the mark of average with its 458 nits. One major downside of the K20’s brightness is how hard it’ll be to use this screen outdoors.

To be exact, you won’t get the best view when using this phone under direct sunlight because of its low brightness. You’ll most likely have to strain your eyes or make sure to be under a shade instead of direct sunlight when outdoors.

Now on the screen size, the LG K20 is 5.3″ in screen size. This screen size is nothing different from the K20 V and K20 Plus.

Furthermore, this screen size should be just enough for your viewing pleasure. It’s neither too big nor too small.

Having laid all the cards on the table, it’s fair to say that the LG K20 features average display specifications. Such average features make this display section deserving of a seven in this LG K20 review.

LG K20: Camera Features

The camera features of the LG K20 are the least reasons to consider this smartphone. There’s an 8 MP rear-facing camera with ƒ/2.0 aperture and a front-facing camera of 5 MP with a ƒ/2.2 aperture.

For clarity, the “ƒ” symbol means Aperture (ƒ.stop) which is how wide the camera lens opens when taking a picture. This in turn determines how light passes through the camera. 

Aperture is very important in understanding how much picture quality to expect from a camera. Surprisingly, the lower the figure, the better the aperture – which in turn means better quality pictures.

In addition to the rear-facing camera is a LED flash. The aim of this flash is to enhance picture quality in low-light conditions.

Notably, at a time when dual, triple, and quad-cameras are getting famous in smartphones, LG still decided to go with a single camera. Even if LG wanted to go with a single camera, it would have been better to have a better aperture and megapixel (MP).

Starting with the rear-facing camera, it takes somewhat decent pictures in good light conditions. This means you should not expect to get decent pictures in poor lighting conditions.

As for the selfie camera, it is a no-no! This camera takes very grainy and noisy pictures without depth and sharpness.

In brief, the camera features of the LG K20 are not mind-blowing. With that said, I will be rating the camera features a six in this LG K20 review.

LG K20: Battery Life and Talk Time

The battery capacity of the LG K20 is a 2880mAH removable battery. Additionally, this battery has an average talk time of up to 14 hours.

Even with the small battery size, having a removable battery is definitely an advantage. Especially at a time when non-removable batteries are becoming more popular in smartphones.

The main advantage of a removable battery is the fact that you can replace it yourself. Furthermore, it means you can have an additional battery on the side and replace it with this 2880mAH battery when the need arises.

As for battery life, this battery lasts 11 hours 14 minutes on consistent web browsing. In comparison, the Moto E5 Play lasts shorter at 6 hours 36 minutes while the Redmi 7A lasts more than both at 14 hours 21 minutes.

Having said that, it’s realistic to say that the LG K20 is sufficient for whole-day use. However, this smartphone does not have a fast charging feature.

It actually takes over two hours to get a full charge on the LG K20.

In summary, even with the absence of a fast-charging feature, being a removable battery makes up for the low battery size of the LG K20. Such a feature makes this battery section deserving of an eight in this LG K20 review.

LG K20: Storage Options and Performance

The LG K20 comes with a low storage size of 16GB. I referred to this as low because it’s below the usual 32GB we often see in smartphones.

Nevertheless, 16GB on here is far better than the 8GB storage of the Nokia 2.1. On an impressive side of things, LG made up for the low storage by offering a microSD card expansion slot that can take up to 2TB.

This means that you can have a microSD of up to 2TB in the LG K20. Such a large expansion capacity is a lot more impressive than the usual 256GB maximum we see in most smartphones.

It’s also worth noting that this microSD card will have to be purchased separately, meaning it doesn’t come with the phone. Without a doubt, you can’t run out of storage space on the LG K20.

All in all, LG made up for its poor storage size by increasing the storage expansion capacity. For that reason, the storage section deserves a nine in this LG K20 review.

LG K20: Security Features and Sensors

Sensors are important features of a smartphone that increases the user experience. The common sensors in smartphones are the accelerometer, ambient light, gyroscope, compass, fingerprint, and proximity sensors

Out of all these sensors, the LG K20 has only two – the accelerometer and proximity sensors. It’s quite limiting to have only two sensors on a smartphone.

All the same, I’ll still discuss these two and just what they can do. First, the accelerometer sensor is responsible for how a phone rotates in the direction you tilt it to.

There’s nothing really impressive about the accelerometer after all it’s important to have such a sensor in a touchscreen smartphone anyway!

The second is the proximity sensor, this is another common sensor. It works as a regulator of the screen’s display.

More precisely, this proximity sensor turns off the screen light when the screen comes in contact with your face or ear. This commonly happens when you’re on a phone call.

As for security features, there is no fingerprint sensor on the LG K20. This means you’ll be left with the only choice of using a PIN or pattern to unlock this device.

Overall, there’s nothing impressive about the security and sensors features of the LG K20. This leaves the sensors section with a rating of six in this LG K20 review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Since the time of its release, the LG K20 has been considered to be one of the cheapest smartphones from LG. This device is meant for people who are used to budget smartphones or want to make a switch to one.

Unfortunately, this phone comes with rather low specifications even for its price point. With that said, you can get this phone for a young child who needs to get used to a smartphone or for you, if you need a phone with such specs.

However, if you need an affordable smartphone with more impressive features at a similar price as the K20, there’s the Moto E4 Plus and the Honor 7X. Even the other versions (K20 V and K20 Plus) are also cheaper alternatives to consider.

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