Samsung Galaxy M20 review

6.3-inch Infinity V display

The Samsung Galaxy M20 is equipped with a 6.3-inch display which has a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera - hence the Infinity V branding. It shares the notch shape with the smaller 6.22-inch M10, but the larger 6.4-inch M30 is Infinity U.

The Galaxy M20's panel is the PLS variety (Samsung's take on the IPS LCD), like the M10. It's got a higher resolution, though - FullHD+, like the Galaxy M30. The M30's screen is Super AMOLED, so they're properly segmented, the M-series.

On the Galaxy M20, we measured a maximum brightness of 400nits flat, almost identical to the M10's result. The M20's blacks are slightly deeper though, resulting in superior contrast. Minimum brightness was measured at 3.1nits, perfectly okay for nighttime viewing.

There is no auto brightness boost either, and how could there be with the phone lacking an ambient light sensor. The auto toggle next to the slider is then likely location-based, remembering your preferences in different environments.

Outdoor visibility is decent for a midrange LCD, though direct sunlight is best avoided. It's right on par with the Redmi Note 7 and the Realme 3 in this respect.

The Galaxy M20 has no color modes - the colors are just those that Samsung decided for you. We didn't find the M20 to conform to any particular color space and we measured an average DeltaE of 6.6 against a set of sRGB target swatches. Whites are particularly off, however, with a DeltaE of 12 and a noticeable shift towards blue.

Samsung Galaxy M20 battery life

The Galaxy M20 has a whopping 5,000mAh battery inside - the Redmi Notes that are pitted against it have 4,000mAh power packs, while the M10 only has a 3,000mAh capacity cell. The Moto G7 Power, though, matches the M20's capacity.

In our testing, the Galaxy M20 achieved more than respectable results, with a significant edge over the M10. We clocked 13:20h on our Wi-Fi web browsing script, and 12 full hours of looping videos in airplane mode. The 3G talk time is close to 33 hours which is a lifetime of voice calls to some of us.

The overall Endurance rating then works out to 103h - we love seeing three-digit ratings.

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Samsung Galaxy M20 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.

Having said that, the Moto G7 Power can last twice as long in video playback and some 9 hours longer in web browsing - both mightily impressive feats, but you have to keep in mind that the Motorola has a 720p screen. The Redmi Note 7 isn't as spectacular, but it still manages to outlast the Galaxy by two hours in video playback and a little under an hour in web browsing.

Filling up the M20's battery from flat takes exactly 2 hours - not half bad for a 5,000mAh battery and Samsung's dated QC2.0-based Adaptive Fast Charging. The process is remarkably linear - 25% in 30 minutes, 50% in an hour, which isn't ideal if you find yourself needing to quickly pump some charge into your dead battery.

Loudspeaker

The Galaxy M20 has a single down-firing loudspeaker on the bottom - it's not the age-old back-mounted solution used on the M10. Then again the M20 turned out slightly quieter in one of our tests, ultimately placing it one notch below into 'Average', compared to the M10's 'Good' result. It's not a particularly nice sounding speaker, either, and even though we didn't experience any distortion at max volume, the max volume isn't all that loud to begin with.

Audio quality

Samsung Galaxy M20's audio output is a very close match for that of its M10 sibling. It got excellent scores in the active external amplifier part of the test and had high loudness to boot.

Headphones again degrade the stereo quality notably, but less so than on the M10, which is the only difference between the two worth mentioning. We also measured a small spike in intermodulation distortion, but the good news is the volume remained just as impressive as in the first test.

Samsung Galaxy M20 frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.