TCL phones 2020 Review

For many consumers, the acronym TCL is associated with TVs, which is justified. Last year, this Chinese giant ranked second behind Samsung in sales of LED LCD TVs. For more than five years, TCL TVs have been consistently included in the bestseller lists in the segments of budget and mid-budget TVs on the American market. For example, TCL 6-Series Roku TV with the Quantum Dot Technology display and proprietary Contrast Control Zones technology became the sensation of 2018. A year later, the company announced the next innovative breakthrough, introducing TCL 8-Series Roku TV with mini-LED Quantum Contrast backlight technology. At CES 2020, TCL announced the next-generation Vidrian “Glass on LED” technology. In addition, this year the company unveiled excellent QLED 4K C715 and C815, and announced three new series, including, C8 Zhizhen QLED, P9 Hollywood Theater and V8 full scene AI.

But besides TVs, the company is actively developing alternative directions, including the development and production of smartphones. As known, TCL produces mobile devices under the brands Alcatel, BlackBerry and Palm. But in recent years, the company has increasingly used its own brand. In addition, TCL designs and manufactures front camera hole IPS screens, and flexible, flat and curved AMOLED displays.

Expansion of Alcatel TCL 10 series and new concepts

This year, company expanded premium TCL 10 series in the price segment up to $ 500 and introduced two revolutionary concept, including trifold foldable and rollable display phones.

The actual 10 series now includes TCL 10 Pro, 10L, TCL 10 5G, 10 Plus and 10 SE. Like Samsung and LG, TCL manufactures its own phone displays, which have a high reputation for consistently high quality. Given the excellent TCL TVs reputation, this is quite natural. Therefore, great displays are a traditional feature of TCL smartphones.

Of course, the 10 Plus and 10 SE use TCL’s NXTVISION visual technology for image optimization.

Company has developed this technology to optimized visuals in real-time by enhancing colors in 6 axes, clarity 2D edge, and auto-adjusting contrast depending on ambient lighting. According to the unanimous opinion of experts, it significantly improves image quality, providing a razor-sharp display with great contrast. This technology helped TCL smartphones obtain Netflix certification for HDR10 video streaming, which of course increased their competitiveness.

Two revolutionary concepts, including trifold foldable and rollable display phones, have generated intense debate among users and experts. Trifold foldable implements a phone-tablet hybrid that folds in the letter Z shape.

In fact, this concept develops the realized ideas in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and Huawei Mate X. To fold / unfold it uses TCL’s DragonHinge and ButterflyHinge.

Dragon Hinge really looks like a dragon’s tail.

The Rollable concept offers a hidden screen that slides out using an rollable display mechanism, expanding the 6.75″ screen to a 7.8″ tablet at just 9mm thick.

TCL 10 Plus and TCL 10 SE

TCL 10 Plus

Model uses:

– Android 10.0 + TCL UI;

– 6.47-inch AMOLED screen with FHD+ (1080 x 2340) resolution and 398 ppi;

– Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 (SM6125) 8-core (4 x 2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold + 4 x 1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver) chipset and GPU Adreno 610;

– 6/8 GB RAM, 64/128/256 GB internal storage;

– quad-camera, including 48 MP (wide) + 8 MP (ultrawide) + 2 MP (macro) + 2 MP (depth) with Dual-LED flash, HDR, and panorama, and 16 MP (wide) selfie camera;

– non-removable Li-Po 4500 mAh battery + Quick Charge 3.

Its cost is $ 450. High quality display, good equipment and excellent brand reputation provide it with good competitive prospects.

TCL 10 SE

Model uses:

– Android 10.0 + TCL UI;

– 6.52-inch IPS LCD screen with HD (720 x 1600) resolution and 269 ppi;

– Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 8-core (4 x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 + 4 x 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53) chipset and GPU PowerVR GE8320 650 МГц;

– 4 GB RAM, 128 GB internal storage;

– rear-camera, including 48 MP (wide) + 5 MP (ultrawide) + 2 MP (depth) with Dual-LED flash, HDR, and panorama, and 8 MP (wide) selfie camera;

– non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery + Fast charging 15W.

In India, it’s offered for ₹ 11,999 (Indian rupee), which is roughly $ 160. With such a price, the model is doomed to be popular even with average specs.

Conclusion

Following a leadership tradition, TCL has expanded its premium range with the competitive enough TCL 10 Plus and TCL 10 SE.

Moreover, its revolutionary concepts claim to innovation leadership in the smartphone segment. Probably, the company’s managers are not confused by eminent competitors in this direction.

The trifold foldable and rollable display phones are unlikely to be available anytime soon. Moreover, the skepticism of many experts about their prospects, including factors of price, reliability, soft, power supply, etc is quite justified. On the other hand, in 1885 in Mannheim, many were ironic about Karl Benz’s first “Benz Patent-Motorwagen” car, making many fair arguments about its futility. But in the end, the brave experimenters were right. Maybe not all ideas of Chinese developers will be implemented in real devices. But modern progress is based on innovative concepts, regardless of their implementation complexity.

This video announces the working prototype of TCL’s triple-screen foldable new phone that transforms into a 10-inch tablet.

P.S.

As usual, TCL has expanded its range of smartphones this year. Probably, TCL 20A 5G is one of the most interesting new products of this year in the budget segment. At under $ 250, it offers:

– Platform – Android 11 OS + octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G;

– Display – 6.52-inch touchscreen LCD display, 395 ppi density, HD + (720 x 1600) resolution;

– Camera – 16 + 5 + 2 MP (autofocus) & 13 MP;

– RAM – 4GB;

– Memory – 64GB;

– Sensors – accelerometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, fingerprint sensor;

– dual-SIM (GSM);

– Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth v5.00, USB Type-C, 3G, and 4G;

– Battery – 4500 mAh Li-Po (proprietary fast charging).

In addition, at a technology congress in China, TCL announced a prototype of the Fold’n Roll screen. It’s one device with two different ways to extend the display. In fact, it can transform into a 6.87-inch smartphone, 8.5-inch phablet or 10-inch tablet.

The TCL Fold ‘n Roll design is an outward folder (the screen – on the outside). Its rollable mechanism extends the unfolded screen. In fact, the developers combined next-gen hinges and mechanics, expanding their functionality.

According to device specs, the company plans to implement in this model:

– 5,120 x 1,440 resolution;

– 1,000 nits peak brightness;

– screen’s refresh rates from 48Hz to 240Hz.

If successful, this model will be able to compete with Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 clam-shell form factor.