The budget phone. For some it is necessary and for some, it’s all they need or want. I will admit, having an armful of flagship phones at my disposal makes it very difficult to go back to a budget phone for a daily driver. The NUU N20 is an extreme budget friendly smartphone that actually gives users some decent features, even at the sub one-hundred fifty dollar price point.
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Before I dive too deep into this review, there needs to be a few notes about this review and this device. I’ve used many budget devices in the past, and I’ve lost count of how many midrange devices I’ve used. The NUU N20 is easily the most budget smartphone I’ve laid my hands on, and it showed. I admit, I had to take some time to get out of my flagship mentality and focus on who and why this phone exists.
That said, if you’re considering this phone and are coming from a midrange device, move on and find something else. You will be let down because this is an honest to goodness budget phone. If you’re coming from another budget phone, then you’re probably going to be thrilled with the NUU N20. Let’s get into this review.
The Quick Take
I’m not going to mince words here. The NUU N20 is an extreme budget phone, and if you’re coming from anything midrange or flagship quality, look elsewhere. But, I know there are plenty of users out there who aren’t needing the phones I use on the daily and for them, they’re used to this level of quality and performance. That’s not meant to be a knock, it’s just the truth. So, for budget phone shoppers, I think the NUU N20 would make a solid choice. Though, I do think NUU makes other models that are better for a few bucks more.
Score and Bottom Line
NUU N20
$129
Nailed it
- Nice looking design
- Vanilla Android with no bloatware
- Very good battery life and large 5,000mAh battery
- You can’t argue with the price too much
Needs work
- Lots of glare and bad viewing angles on the display
- Fingerprint sensor and Face Unlock are buggy and don’t always work
Overall, the NUU N20 makes for a decent budget smartphone. It has its issues, but those are observations from someone who is used to flagship phones. The display is not as vibrant as I would have liked, the viewing angles are not good, the face unlock is hit or miss, and the cameras are just meh. But it does have a 90Hz refresh rate, it does have a microSD card slot for expanded storage, and it has dual SIM capability. I’ve said it several times, but I do believe the buyer of this smartphone will love it. But if you’re moving from anything higher end than this, you should think twice.
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NUU N20 Specifications
The NUU N20 has the following features and specifications:
- Operating System: Android 14
- Camera:
- Rear Camera: 16MP + 8MP wide-angle with LED flash
- Front Camera: 5MP
- Processor: 1.6GHz Octa-Core
- Display:
- 6.6″ HD+ 1600 x 720
- 90Hz Refresh Rate
- Battery: 5000mAh
- Memory: RAM: 6GB RAM + 6GB Extended RAM
- Storage: 128GB
- External Storage: microSD (up to 128GB)
- Dimensions: H 6.48 in x W 2.97 in x L 0.35 in
- Networks
- 4G B2/4/5/12/25/26/41/66/71
- 3G B2/4/5
- 2G 850/900/1800/1900
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz / 5GHz)
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS with A-GPS Support
- USB Type-C 2.0
- Dual SIM Dual Standby
- 3.5mm Headset Jack
- Sensor Type
- Accelerometer
- Ambient Light
- Compass
- Fingerprint ID
- Proximity
- Enterprise Capability: Android Enterprise with Zero Touch Enrollment
What’s In The Box
- NUU N20
- TPU Smoked Case
- Installed Screen Protector
- Charging Brick
- Charging Cable
- Manuals and Documentation
Design
The NUU N20 comes with a decent smoke colored TPU case that will provide decent protection for your device. There’s also a screen protector preinstalled on this device. Both of those additions are nice to have. The build quality of the N20 is decent, the frame does seem like it is metal, the back is plastic, and the front is, of course, glass.
The NUU N20 is available in various colors, our unit came in a neat looking flat green color. The phone also comes in Purple, Blue, and Pink. There are no options for black, white, or gray. This is a colorful line of smartphones.
The back of NUU N20 has the NUU logo, two cameras, and a flash. Otherwise, it is pretty plain and simple. Along the left rail is the SIM and microSD card tray. Along the top rail of the phone is a speaker and headphone jack. Along the bottom rail is the USB-C charging port along with a speaker. Along the right rail is your power/fingerprint button/sensor, and volume rocker. Antenna bands are visible on all sides of this phone, normal for any phone.
Overall, the look and feel of the phone is very nice. The materials are obviously budget, but it’s truly not a bad-looking and feeling device.
Display
The 6.6″ HD+ 1600 x 720 90Hz display looks fairly decent. Again, this is a budget device and we have to assess it as such. For a budget device, it’s not bad. This is not an OLED display, and that shows. Colors are muted and not vibrant, and blacks aren’t as deep as I’d like. The Whites are a bit mushy, but the text is at least pretty crisp.
Viewing the display directly is decent, but any off angle viewing is going to get washed out. This is an interesting display. It looks pre-2020’s and seems like the panel is under another layer of glass. The touch screen works okay but feels like you have to be more intentional with your gestures.
Overall, this display feels pretty budget and performs the same. I can’t fault it too much because (as I will say throughout this review) it is a budget device and I can’t expect flagship or midrange performance here.
Software
The NUU N20 comes with Android 14, and I was super impressed that there is ZERO bloatware on this phone. Usually, budget devices come with a ton of bloatware with some nonsense skin over top. The N20 has no bloatware and is vanilla Android, no skins. That is excellent.
I doubt that the NUU N20 will get any Android upgrades, so I suspect that you will be stuck on Android 14. Hopefully, it will at least get some security updates, but I wouldn’t count on that either.
Overall, the software is not the most current, and you might not get any more updates. But at least you get pure Android without bloatware.
Performance
NUU doesn’t say what processor brand is under the hood, but we know it is a 1.6GHz Octa-Core processor with 6GB of RAM and 6GB of extended RAM. The GPU is also not disclosed. That said. This isn’t a gaming phone. It can do some gaming, light and casual. But expect nothing blazing here.
Gestures and touch all work fine, and the 90Hz refresh rate does help with smoother visuals. What I do want to touch on is the NUU N20 fingerprint and face unlock features. I found the fingerprint sensor to be a hit-and-miss. It sometimes works, but not every time. And when it does work, it takes a couple of touches to make it work. It does not work at all with the case on the phone. That was frustrating.
Face unlock is also a hit-and-miss. When it worked, it took several attempts to make it work. So I found myself having to use my PIN about 85% of the time in using this phone. I get that this is a budget phone, but at the very least, this situation should be fixed.
Overall, the NUU N20 performs like a budget phone. There are no bells and whistles here. But you get what you pay for.
Speakers/Sound
There’s not much to say about the NUU N20 speakers. They’re thin, without much bottom end and a weak soundstage. But that’s easily fixed with a nice wired pair of headphones, and you have a headphone jack, so that’s a win!
Camera
Budget phones will produce budget photos. I wasn’t impressed with the photos here, but I have to remind myself that this is a budget phone. You can be the judge with the samples below. I will say. At least the NUU N20 has two legit cameras. Many budget phones slap two lenses on the body but only have one camera. This has a main shooter and a wide-angle shooter.
Overall, I would like the cameras to be better, but again, it’s a budget device.
NUU N20 Camera Samples
Battery Life
The NUU N20 does have a pretty competitive 5,000mAh battery, which can give you solid battery performance. Keep in mind, there is no wireless charging or fast charging here. But, you should be able to get a day and a half or even more with this device. I had no issue getting through the day and I just plugged it in overnight, so I was never down to nothing.
Price/Value
At sub-one hundred fifty dollars, I mean, you get what you pay for is the rule here. If all you have to spend on a smartphone is that, then you’re getting a good value here. But, if you can manage anything more, NUU has other options that are better.
Wrap Up
Overall, the NUU N20 makes for a decent budget smartphone. It has its issues, but those are observations from someone who is used to flagship phones. The display is not as vibrant as I would have liked, the viewing angles are not good, the face unlock is hit or miss, and the cameras are just meh. But it does have a 90Hz refresh rate, it does have a microSD card slot for expanded storage, it has a headphone jack, and it has dual SIM capability. I’ve said it several times, but I do believe the buyer of this smartphone will love it. But if you’re moving from anything higher end than this, you should think twice.
