Hardware

Published on October 28th, 2020 | by Andrew Bistak

TCL 10 Pro Review

TCL (Fun Fact: Telephone Communication Limited) recently launched their midrange smartphone, the TCL 10 Pro that comes with a wealth of features to help future proof your investment in this affordably mid-range device. The standout features for us was its high quality build, its 6.47″ FHD+NXTVISION curved AMOLED display with 1080 x 2340 resolution, NXTVISION 64MP AI quad camera system (64M+ 2M 2.9µm night shoot + 5M AF Marco+16M super wide), 4500mAh battery that is powered by a 675 Snapdragon Processor with 6GB RAM and a 128GB of storage. If you need more storage, it is expandable up to 256GB thanks to its MicroSD card slot.

Needless to say, it’s quite a powerful device with a retail of $750AUD (October 2020) and if you’re looking for a smartphone with some good photographic capabilities, the TCL 10 Pro could very well be that device. However there are a couple of caveats to be aware of, this smartphone from TCL does not support wireless charging nor is the phone waterproof. Nonetheless, the lack of these two features is not a real deal-breaker.

The Snapdragon CPU (Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Kryo 460 Gold & 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 460 Silver) is complemented by an Adreno 612 GPU that with the RAM really make it a gaming device as well. However it is not the fastest smartphone on the market but still keeps up with the rest. It also has a fingerprint reader underneath the front glass plus facial recognition or a traditional pin can be used to unlock the device. Setting up the device is super-easy and like any other Android device which even includes porting information from an old phone. As it’s quite a powerful device, the O/S flies so no matter what you’re doing on it, it will always be a speedy device.

Unboxing Photos

The first thing that we noticed about this new smartphone was its design. Wow, it’s stylish and aesthetically looks amazing which leaves some its similar priced competitors left behind. Given that, this is not some cheap smartphone but one of sophistication that measures at 158.5 x 72.4 x 9.2 mm (6.24 x 2.85 x 0.36 in) with a weight of just 177 grams. While it has a glass front and back, it is supported by an aluminum frame. Oh, it comes with a case which is definitely a must have accessory for smartphones. The NXTVISION technology also transforms SDR to HDR in real-time and in general, it creates more natural colours with some great depth. As a result, the screen is super sharp, vibrant with colours that pop!

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Setting up the device is just like any modern Android 10 smartphone that supports a wizard to help with the process, including porting information from another phone. This includes linking it to a Google account and of course, setting it up to your Wi-Fi. The whole setup process is just a few minutes and while our unit was brand new, the battery was almost at 100%. Another thing we noticed was the high quality screen that boasted vibrant and rich colours, including super clear text. The speaker produced good audio for music, games and movies, although a little low. No issues with phone audio quality either and it even supports a 3.5mm audio jack!

Benchmarks

One of the best benchmarks is 3DMARK which highlights the power of the device from a gamers perspective. While the device scored quite high in Slingshot and was 73% more powerful than all devices on the market, on the new power hungry Wild Life test, it didn’t score that well as it’s a cross-platform test that mimics real-world rendering. Nonetheless, games like Call of Duty, Need for Speed and Final Fantasy all worked fine, albeit a little chugging if the detail was too high.

Another app we tested was Geekbench with the TCL 10 Pro scoring 501 for single-core and 1,589 for multi-core that mirrors a midrange smartphone.

Camera(s)

For its price, we had no qualms with the camera system with it capturing some impressive images in a wide assortment of categories, particularly in good ligting. Colours were great, including depth at times and the only drawback was some images slightly became muted when we used its native zoom capabilities, even at times without and it does struggle in low-light. Furthermore, blacks were dark and macro worked well. Here is a breakdown of the camera system on the TCL 10 Pro;

Main Camera

• Quad 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.72″, 0.8µm, PDAF
• 16 MP, f/2.4, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/3.1″, 1.0µm
• 5 MP, f/2.2, (macro)
• 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
  Features Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama
  Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@960fps, gyro-EIS

Front Camera (Selfie)

• Single 24 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.9µm
  Video 1080p@30fps

Camera Photography Samples

Final Thoughts?

The TCL 10 Pro provides some strong mid to high-end features in this affordable smartphone. The operating system is super fast and the screen is brilliant. While photos were good, this was probably a let down of the phone as we’ve seen better images from other cameras at this range, even with the TCL 10 Pro powerful camera system. Of course, the colours are more natural on the TCL 10 Pro but at the end of the day, if you’re looking for an all-round smartphone, this model might be that camera plus its battery is indeed an all-day battery.

TCL 10 Pro Specifications

About the Author

Andrew Bistak When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.

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