TCL or “Telephone Communication Limited” is a lesser known company in North America, better known for its televisions than for its cell phones. While they may have used the Blackberry brand for the production of the KEY2, TCL has recently started producing mobile phones under its own name and brand. Today we are looking at one of its latest models, the TCL 30 XE 5G, which is part of its 30 series line. Listed at $ 355 CAD, the 30 XE is more budget-oriented for the class of range users lower average. Alongside competitors like the Samsung A13 5G, can TCL bring enough to the table to make a bigger name?
Unpacking your phone is your fairly standard experience as with most phones these days. Get your phone, a USB-C charging cable with a power brick, a SIM card eject tool, and some basic documentation. No headphones or case, unfortunately. The box itself shows a photo of the phone along with the TCL brand and the notable specifications and features of the phone.
The TCL itself is made of a durable matte plastic on the sides and back with a flat glass screen. The side buttons are also made of plastic. It’s not a dealbreaker considering the price, and it should be solid enough to satisfy most users. At the top of the device is a microphone and a headphone jack, a very welcome addition to my understanding. At the bottom, you’ll find another microphone, a single speaker, and the USB-C port for charging and transferring data.
The SIM tray on the left includes a single SIM card slot and an SD card slot that supports up to a 512GB card, which I personally would like to see flagship devices continue to incorporate. On the back you will find the array of triple cameras along with an agile and accurate fingerprint reader. On the front is a teardrop-shaped notch for the individual selfie camera, the headphone speaker and the pleasantly soft 90 Hz 720p display.
“Using the TCL 30 XE 5G as a daily device lately has been an interesting experience.”
When you boot up and set up your phone for first use, you’ll get one of your first notable surprises, an almost stocked version of Android 11. TCL claims to offer two years of security and software updates, so it’ll be interesting to see if they do it with an economical device. Most of the included stock apps are created by Google, though TCL includes its own camera and music player apps, along with a few others, such as a compass app, notes, and even an app. FM tuner! That said, those who want to use the FM tuner will need to plug in a set of headphones to use it.
Using the TCL 30 XE 5G as a daily device for the last time has been an interesting experience. Coming from my current flagship Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5g, the TCL 30 XE 5G was able to comfortably adapt to my lifestyle and daily use without too much commitment. The reasonably large 64GB of onboard storage allowed me to download all my apps without any hassle. The files I needed on the go I stored on an SD card.
The 4500mAh built-in battery was able to easily make me spend a day and a half of fairly intense use with tasks of capturing various images, messaging / calls, using GPS and even some moderate gaming. I was always going to sleep with over 40% battery life and over 5 hours of screen time, all with Bluetooth and 5G antennas enabled.
“The built-in 4500 mAh battery could easily make me spend a day and a half in fairly heavy use with tasks of capturing various images, messaging / calls, using GPS and even some moderate gaming.”
All applications were launched quickly and ran smoothly, thanks in part to the 4GB of built-in RAM. This means that surfing the web and scrolling non-stop through your social media sources will generally feel perfect. The videos looked crisp and crisp despite being only a 720p screen. Watching videos on the 6.52-inch screen meant I didn’t have to look up to see what I was watching, like on smaller phones before.
The 90 Hz screen made the device feel much more premium than the competitors of this class of devices. Many other devices still only offer a 60 Hz screen. TCL’s included NXTVision software shines in this aspect as it helped improve the media you were watching. Even under bright sunlight, the screen was fully readable and clear, which will be appreciated by those who are constantly outdoors.
Charging the phone when the battery was low was done at a respectable 18 W, far from the slowest on the market, but certainly not as fast as much more expensive phones. I found that it usually took about two hours to fully recharge the phone, perfectly acceptable for those who charge the phone at night or on the desktop, not so much for the user who is on the go.
“TCL has done an excellent job overall with the TCL 30 XE 5G, they have certainly produced a phone of great value for the price.”
With all the fantastic things TCL has managed to incorporate into the TCL 30 XE 5G, there will surely be some negatives, right? Unfortunately, this is too true because it is a less expensive phone. Many times, I found myself wanting to have my Samsung for its photo quality. The included TCL rear camera array worked well in well-lit environments, but inside with less-than-optimal lighting, the images were often blurry, grainy, and did not produce an image I would want to share with others.
The same can be said of the selfie camera. With bright lighting, the images look acceptably sharp, but not too flattering. Also, while the one-shot speaker can be loud enough for a quiet room, I found it to be quite “small” at a higher volume. I also missed the stereo speakers from other flagship devices earlier than I got used to.
That said, it’s important to remember that the TCL 30 XE 5G smartphone wasn’t created to impress high-end users like me. While I would love to sit back and tell you that I would like it to have features such as wireless charging or an IP rating, it was made for the user who does not want to spend a small fortune on a device. Someone looking for a device that can do day-to-day tasks without breaking the bank, but also wants modern amenities with some of yesterday’s technologies.
I really enjoyed my time with the TCL 30 XE 5G smartphone. It really proves that you don’t need a high-end flagship to do many common tasks these days. Smartphones have come a long way in recent years, even the economic market has greatly increased their game. TCL has done an excellent job overall with the 30 XE 5G, they have certainly produced a great value phone for the price.