TCL 10 Pro Smartphone: A phone with great promise

Fantastic performance. Nice screen and quality construction. Basics like 3.5mm headphone jack, NFC for contactless payment, Micro SD slot. Solid battery. Decent photos in good lighting and good in low light. This is how it could be briefly described a new smartphone TCL 10. This one comes from the hands of a manufacturer that is best known in our country for televisions, but the fact that it has actually been producing phones for many years under different brands that it either owns or has licensed (Alcatel, BlackBerry) is certainly surprising. . But the new TCL 10 Pro (its price will be around 400 euros) is the first smartphone under the umbrella name.

The competition between "budget" phones, i.e. phones in the lower price range (under 500 euros) is now particularly fierce - here are the new iPhone SE, Google Pixel 3A and the upcoming Google Pixel 4A, which we expect in the summer. But TCL just managed to make its way onto a shelf full of big name phones, and that's a very promising start!

TCL launched two different phones: TCL 10 Pro and TCL 10L

Despite sharing much of the name, you have little in common. Both have a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Micro SD slot, and their screens are also the same resolution, 2340×1080. However, both have a different type of display, a different camera system, and different guts.

TCL 10 Pro for around 400 euros, there is a nicer and better "rounded" phone. It is powered by a processor Snapdragon 675, has decent four camera system, 6.47-inch OLED screen, which is bright enough to be read even in the sun, a fingerprint reader under the screen and 4,500 mAh battery, which should last all day even with increased use of the phone. With frosted glass on the back, curved edges on the front and a metal frame, it gives the feeling of a premium device. In addition, you get 128 GB of internal memory.

If your "budget" is more limited, then it is TCL 10L for around 200 euros, a perfectly good purchase. With your processor Snapdragon 665 it's just bouncy enough, and like the Pro model, it's 10L four camera system, except that, unlike the Pro, it doesn't take the best photos in low light. It boasts of 6.53-inch LED screen and 4,000 mAh battery, which can last up to two days. The fingerprint reader is here on the back of the phone. The basic model has 64 GB of internal memory, but a 128GB model is also available.

Camera system

Whenever a new player enters the market, the camera is often a weak point. It usually takes several years of development and "tweaking" of a camera system to really improve things. Well, TCL surprises here.

The TCL 10 Pro has a main camera with 64MP, ultrawide s 16MP, macro s 5MP, and the fourth camera is intended for shooting videos in low light. The front camera (selfie camera) has 24MP. The TCL 10L has a main camera with 48MP, ultrawide with 8MP, macro with 2MP, depth camera with 2MP, and this is joined by the front camera s 16MP. The quality of portrait mode in good lighting, especially on the 10L (considering the specs), is impressive. The macro lenses do a decent job at close-ups, and the ultra-wide lenses are also quite solid. The TCL 10 Pro shines when shooting in the dark. The resulting photos are detailed and definitely less gloomy than some of its competitors.

Speed is everything

What makes the two TCL phones special in the crowd of cheaper Android phones? Speed and smoothness of processes. In benchmark tests, the TCL 10 Pro smoothly outclassed peers like the Galaxy A51 and Google Pixel 3A, and the 10L outclassed the Motorola G Stylus and G Power.

However, it is true that both models lose a bit when it comes to the operating system. TCL has its own version of "skinned" Android, which is otherwise quite light and not even so "poor". But you'll have to spend a few minutes on the settings if you want things to be more transparent and pleasant. The fact that TCL has, for example, is also certainly pleasing an additional button on the side that can be configured to our liking, that is, we specify three applications or tools of our choice that will be launched when the button is pressed. So, for example, one tap can open the Google Assistant, double-tap the flash, and long-press can take a screenshot.

Phone unfortunately they are not waterproof, but think about it, are you really going to throw it in the water?

Gallery: TCL 10 Pro and TCL 10L