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Doogee N20 review: Stylish entry-level phone with four cameras
Doogee N20 Pro smartphone
pros and cons
- Entry-level pricing
- Four cameras produce great images
- Little shutter lag
- No silicone case included
- Micro USB not USB-C charging port
The Doogee N20 Pro is the nicest looking phone I have looked at for quite some time. Iridescent purple with a streamlined form and an extra-large screen, it ticks all my boxes for a low-priced consumer smartphone.
Inside the phone, there is a MediaTek Helio P60 (MT6771), 64-bit Octa-Core (4 x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A73, 4 x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53) processor with a 3-core ARM Mali-G72 MP3, 800 MHz graphics chip.
It comes with 6 GB LPDDR4X, 1600 MHz RAM, and 128 GB ROM. You can add external memory in the form of an SD card up to 512 GB in size, placed in one of the dual nano-SIM slots.
The screen size on the N20 Pro is almost bezel-less, with a 91% screen-to-body ratio. It is 6.3 inches IPS with a 1080 x 2280p display and a 19:9 aspect ratio.
This is a little longer than the Cubot X30 smartphone that I looked at in early September, but the N20 still feels nice to hold in the hand and is not too wide to be uncomfortable if your hands are tiny.
Its external dimensions are 159 x 77.1 x 8.8mm, and it weighs 175g with its 4400 mAh Lithium-Polymer battery that supports fast charging. I found that I got more than a day's use on one charge -- even when using quite resource-heavy apps
Its 16MP AI quad-camera with an F.20, six-element lens is impressive delivering a 130-degree ultra-wide field of view. If you use the AI portrait mode, the N20 Pro bokeh feature will blur the background.
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Images can be adjusted for light, color and pop, annotated, or text added. There are none of the beauty tweaks found in some consumer phones, but a functional set of controls to get the best image possible. The camera also has an optical zoom that zooms up to 3x.
The four lenses on the reverse of the camera are the 16MP AI main camera, a portrait lens with bokeh, a 4cm macro lens, and a 130-degree ultra-wide camera. There is also a rear flash LED underneath the camera array. The front-facing camera is also 16MP.
Unusually for a new release, the Doogee N20 does not have USB-C for its charge port, using micro-USB instead.
The N20 Pro runs Android 10 as standard, with a stripped-down OS with no OEM bloat-ware. For security, in addition to the PIN, the N20 Pro has face unlock, which works reasonably well, and a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone.
One thing that I feel is lacking from this package is a clear silicone case for the back of the device. The back of the phone is lovely, but I expect this will get scratched very quickly and ruin its look.
Come on Doogee, the cost of adding a simple case like this is a few cents, and a clear case will retain its good looks for a lot longer.
The Doogee N20 Pro is also available in black, green, and grey if you do not like the purple color and is offered on the Doogee store for under $180 and Banggood for under $120
All in all, the Doogee N20 Pro is a nice looking entry-level smartphone with really good cameras for a range of scenarios and little shutter lag. It is certainly one to watch if you are sticking to your IT budget.