Design
As a new member of the Samsung
Galaxy extended family, the Galaxy M20 brings a fresh style without leaving the
design language that has characterized this smartphone product. On the face,
this phone is different from previous Galaxy products by adopting the
infinity-V screen design. This screen design is the latest from the Samsung
Galaxy family, after being popular with Infinity Display on some middle to high
class products, and has just introduced infinity-O through the Galaxy A8s.
Meanwhile, if behind the rear
side, the characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy are quite clearly visible on
the physical M20. Samsung put a dual camera lens as the main camera of this
phone in the upper left area, along with flash lights, and a fingerprint
scanner arranged vertically with the Samsung logo in the middle area. This
arrangement is reminiscent of several products from the latest Galaxy A-series
line-up such as A9, A7, A8S and A6S.
Only, the material used by
Samsung on the M20 is polycarbonate plastic which is given a glossy finish, not
glass like some of the A-series occupants mentioned earlier. With a glossy
finish, the back of the phone remains a magnet for fingerprint stains, as well
as glass material. Even though it is priced below the price of 3 million
rupiah, Samsung has provided this phone with USB Type-C connectivity. this
phone is the cheapest Galaxy product that carries a type-C USB port.
This port is on the bottom side
with a 3.5 mm audio port, mic hole and loud speaker grill. and the right
side is the volume and the power button. And on the opposite side, there
is a SIM card tray that is able to load nano SIM with a microSD memory card.
Infinity-V
Return to the screen sector
specifically. As mentioned earlier that this phone and the Galaxy M10 are the
first Galaxy products to bring the new design to the infinity-V display. In
fact, infinity-V is a minimalist notch shaped water drop design right in the
middle area of the upper
side of the screen. Although new to the Samsung Galaxy family, this smartphone
design has actually been popularized by manufacturers such as OPPO and Vivo.
With a screen size of 6.3 inches
and an infinity-V screen design, the front side of the M20 is dominated by a
screen area with a ratio of 19.5: 9. Being the
main attraction for this mobile phone is the hearts of prospective users who
like to enjoy video content through cellphones. Moreover, this cellphone
already uses Widevine L1. Which means that this phone has been able to play
video content through streaming services, such as Google play Movies, Netflix,
HOOQ and the like in high resolution or more than 720p. as information,
Widevine is one of the digital rights management (DRM) platforms, which serves
to prevent piracy of videos in streaming services. Widevine protects video
content with 3 levels of security named L3, L2, and L1. Devices that have
streaming capabilities must be certified to meet L1 specifications in order to
enjoy HD video content on streaming services such as Netflix.
This cellphone uses PLS (plane to
Line Switching) panel which is the result of perfecting of IPS technology (In
Panel switching). This panel is manufactured by Samsung and is claimed to have
10% higher brightness, wider Viewing angle, and better image quality in a more
economical production budget compared to IPS panels.
OS and UI
By default this onsel brings an
Android system with version 8.1 (Oreo). This phone has been confirmed by
Samsung to be included in the Galaxy product list which will get an update to
the new version of Android, namely Pie (9.0) in August. Although it is quite
far from the time of launch, at least this news is quite a relief.
Oreos on this mobile are
presented with the Samsung Experience interface (UI) version 9.5. however, the
Samsung Experience presentation seems to have received special modifications to
accommodate the dewdrop notch design that this cellphone has. For example, when
a user activates face recognition (biometric) security features, then every
time he turns on the screen when the cellphone is locked, a light effect moves
on the edge of the notch or front camera area as a marker that the front camera
of this cellphone is scanning the user's face.
Likewise when using the self
timer feature to take pictures using the front camera. In addition to the
numbers counting down, an animation appears on the edge of the notch that shows
the remaining time before the photo was taken. On the other hand, another
difference from Samsung's mobile phone is that compared to higher-level Galaxy
series such as the A-Series, S-Series or Note Series, it appears in the absence
of the Bixby feature on the M20.
As usual, by default Samsung
Experience activates the distribution of Homescreen and App Drawer. But for
users who prefer to display all applications directly on the Homescreen, there
are options to do in the settings menu> Display> Home screen> Front
screen layout.
Hardware and Batteries
This smartphone has 2 choices of
memory capacity, namely 4/64GB and 3/32GB. The phone is equipped with the
Exynos 7 Series SoC (7904) which has an octacore CPU with big LITTLE
configuration, precisely 2 Cortex-A73 based 1.8 GHz speed, and 6 Cotex-A53
based 1.6 GHz speeds. With this configuration, processing on this cellphone is
fairly efficient in power consumption. This certainly makes the battery power
on this cellphone run out longer, especially if used moderately, not too often
playing heavy games.
The battery on this cellphone is
the main superior feature of this phone, because this smartphone uses a battery
with a capacity of 5000 mAh, this is very large for middle-class cellphones.
And supported by the fast charging feature, Samsung has included a charger
adapter with this feature in the sales package.
Camera
This camera on the back uses a
dual sensor, with a resolution of 13MP and 5MP, which results in a better and
wider photo, because it uses an Ultra Wide lens. To switch between these two
sensors, the user just needs to slide the switch with a pine tree, which is on
the bottom side of the viewfinder in portrait orientation.
For choice mode, Samsung provides
automatic options, stickers, Continuous shot, Live focus, beauty, Pro and
panorama. But there is something different from the Live Focus feature on this
phone. When compared to the same features in previous Galaxy products. Live
Focus, which should allow users to adjust the blur on photos before and after
photos are taken.
With this Live focus, users will
only get photos with effects that cannot be adjusted by the level of blur. that is if the main object is human. And if the object
is other than human, the information will appear "cannot apply blurry
effects. No faces detected. No faces detected ".
Switch to the front camera. This
phone uses an 8 MP sensor, with 3 modes of choice, including Selfie, Live
Focus, and Stickers. The problem with the Live Focus feature on the selfie
camera is still the same as what happened to the main camera. For business
videography, the front camera and the main camera behind both have the
capability to record video in a maximum resolution of Full HD. The camera
behind and in front can produce photos whose quality does not disappoint.
Conclusion
As a market leader who has a
great opportunity to set standards, Samsung seems to be carried away in the
current 2 million price class by following the minimalist bangs screen trend.
This can be understood, considering that Samsung also needs to strengthen the
price of the middle class, to continue to be able to maintain its position. The
price tag of this cellphone is not tempting enough, because competitors offer
hardware specifications that look more promising, for example larger memory
capacity, and higher processor speeds.
