Hands on Review
HELIO S20
This is the second coming for the Helio brand under the Edison Group, the same company that brings us Symphony. But the Helio line is a separate premium range of devices even though the products are offered on the same web site.
First impressions:
Monochrome packaging is the go-to option for attaining the premium badging. The light gray box with subtle silver lettering looks inviting. Pop the lid and the subtlety theme follows. The device itself is a full metal slab. The gold version has a white bezel on top while the preferable gunmetal gray version has a black bezel. It looks and feels solidly built although the home button/fingerprint scanner has a loose, jiggly, floaty sensation.
Boot it up:
It all looks good but then you boot it up and the opening intro animation almost spoils it. It is a little too colourful and slightly choppy for something that is a flagship model for a brand. But once you get past that, things look up again. The 5.5 inch FHD AMOLED display with 400ppi is excellent. Set the colour temperature according to your preference and it becomes a perfect viewing screen for movies and fine text.
Power :
Power comes from a 64bit Cortex-A53 1.95GHz octa-core processor. It's a very capable processor supporting very smooth multi-tasking between large apps. It's backed up by 4GM of RAM and Android 6.0, a rare for such products. Another welcoming feature they have added is actually the lack of particular features: bloatware. There is very, very little.
Graphics is provided by Mali-T860MP2. Gaming performance is adequate for playing pretty much all the games available now on the play store.
Battery:
The 3000mAh coupled with the new OS means power consumption is fully optimised. Well, it must be because the phone easily lasted beyond a day despite heavy regular usage. I have used it for over a week now and it has been running without a hiccup.
Camera:
The main camera is a 16MP unit with f1.8 aperture apparently. It works very well in low light conditions. You can check the sample shots online where you can see the differences in varying lighting conditions ranging from dusk to bright studio lighting. The pros are vibrant colours, good detail at the centre of focus and a quick shutter and autofocus. You can flip out your phone, fire up the camera, aim and shoot to expect decent shots.
Cons happen to be a little over-sharpening of the images especially around the edges. It is noticeable only when you zoom in giving details a bit of a fuzzy edge.
The front is an 8MP unit with similar properties albeit the sharpening is a little more ramped up. Video recording is 1080p at only 30fps.
Special features:
As mentioned earlier, comes with a fingerprint sensor situated up front where I prefer. It's just as fast as the best out there. You press and the screen unlocks.
Does it pocket?
Slips in and out of pocket very easily. And the edges provide enough tactile feel so that you don't drop it easily.
AnTuTU scores: 50011
CPU: 17024
RAM 4497
3D: 7815
SPECS
Display: 5.5 inches,1920 x 1080 pixels (400 ppi)
CPU: Octa-core 1.95 GHz (64-bit)
GPU: Mali-T860 MP2
OS: Android Marshmallow v6.0
RAM: 4 GB
ROM: 64 GB
Camera:16 MP + 8 MP
Battery: 3000 mAh
Connectivity & feature: 4G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & Fingerprint sensor
Price: Tk. 25,990/-
VERDICT:
The second device for the brand is a well-rounded one. It has an excellent power pack paired to a very good screen. The speaker is loud and clear without distortion. Battery lasts well over a day with a quick charge feature that should give you ample juice for a few minutes of downtime. Best of all, they kept the interface clean to provide a premium experience. It does have a few minor quibbles like that jiggly home button but nothing that is a deal killer. They have done a great job on this and now I am curious to see what comes next.
Words & Photos: Ehsanur Raza Ronny