The battery boasts the same features on both terminals, 4. 500 mAh with Quick Charge 3.0 support up to 18 W with the supplied adapter, and both devices support Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, Wi-Fi ac and integrate the 3.5mm audio jack along the body. There is also the fingerprint sensor, under the glass of the device, with the Plus model which is slightly thinner and lighter: 8.9mm against the 9.2mm of the Pro, and 172 grams versus i 177 grams of the model immediately higher in the range.

Both smartphones, however, share the precision in the assembly, the flush camera on the back of the body, and a decidedly refined aesthetic. Up TCL 10 Plus the shell is polycarbonate, not glass like on the Pro, but the difference is barely seen and to the touch it is in our opinion imperceptible. The ergonomics are also excellent, also thanks to the not excessive weight, with TCL that has certainly done an excellent job also on this terminal.

Software ed user experience

On the software side we do not find many differences: since the first start we have the TCL UI, a stock version of Android on steroids, with the screen on the far left of the Home that welcomes Google Discover, just like the stock , while scrolling from bottom to top leads to the so-called app drawer which leads to the icons of all the apps installed. Here they can be divided by name, label, use, installation or even by icon color or category.

In the Settings you can find typically TCL additions: in the Display screen, for example, we have access to Dark Mode and Healthy Eyes Mode (the translation of the menus is not the strength of the smartphone); but it is in the NXTVISION screen that there are more succulent news than the stock. Here we find the following settings:

• Visual enhancement : Automatically adjusts the contrast, sharpness and saturation to make the image clearer, with richer depth of detail and an improved brightness level for dark scenes when viewing photos or playing videos and used video games. Only works in Vivid Screen color mode
  • SDR to HDR : It only activates with Visual Enhancement enabled. Enhance the color, contrast and detail depth of video streaming from any source to provide HDR quality display.
• Reading mode : Optimizes the screen display to make the reading experience comfortable, as if you were reading from an e-book reader.

The three features allow you to get the most out of the display even when the source video is not qualitatively impeccable or is compressed in SDR. The results are obviously more impactful, but they depart from the director’s original idea: purists will likely keep everything disabled. And, just for purists, on the software side it is possible to set three “True Color” modes for the display.

Standard and Delicate are in no way customizable by the user: the first is based on DCI-P3 gamut, fully supported by the device; the second instead on the less extensive sRGB standard in terms of color saturation. We then have Vivid , which can be set with Adaptive or manual hue: the first configures the white balance dynamically based on ambient light, the second allows you to shift the white temperature with a horizontal slider.

Among the software functions the most evident is the Edge Bar , accessible with a swipe from top to bottom on the right or left side (the position is at the user’s discretion) of the device. Allows access to a list of applications or functions chosen by the user. TCL’s additions also include the Smart Manager , which allows you to manage and optimize various aspects of the device, and various apps for the use of multimedia content. The Pro’s customizable Smart Key here is replaced with a key to activate Google Assistant. Useful, but definitely anonymous since it cannot be configured by the user in any way.

Technical analysis

TCL 10 Plus implements a mid-range SoC, not the latest, but offering performance not so different from those proposed by the Pro. The smartphone performs well especially when it is not under stress: the navigation in the apps and in the UI of the operating system is fluid, and the general reactivity is excellent in most cases. When power is required, however, the differences with the top of the range are felt a little, especially with the heavier Play Store games.

Benchmark

Below are the benchmarks we performed with the terminal.

Display

Display Analysis

The smartphone is faithful to TCL’s Display Greatness motto as regards the screen, which is identical to that of the Pro model, as our measurements attest . We recorded the values ​​of maximum luminance in manual mode, even with HDR content, and over d / m² in automatic mode in both SDR and HDR. All with the very high contrast ratio typical of AMOLED panels, here in the version with double curve on the sides. Three modes that can be set via software:

• Vivid – the default mode. Allows for a white balance calibration and enabling of NXTVISION effects, such as Visual Enhancement and SDR to HDR. It takes the DCI-P3 gamut as a chromatic reference. Allows the enabling of Adaptive Hue, which automatically adjusts the color temperature according to the ambient light.
• Delicate – the mode that takes the sRGB gamut as a reference, less extended than P3.
• Standard – takes the DCI-P3 standard as a reference, but with a more precise color calibration than Vivido. It is not in any way customizable by the user.

Vivid Mode (DCI-P3)

Gamut

White Balance

Gamma curve

Color Fidelity (DCI-P3)

Standard Mode (DCI-P3)

Gamut

White Balance

Gamma curve

Color Fidelity (DCI-P3)

Delicate Mode (sRGB)

HDR Playback

Most likely the integrated display on TCL 10 Plus is the same as that of the Pro, since the colorimeter analysis reports very similar values ​​between the two models, with the exception of the maximum luminance measured which on the Pro is slightly higher. TCL 10 Plus still offers 776 nit (approx. 490 in mode manual) and an unmeasurable contrast ratio due to the extremely deep blacks typical of OLEDs. Excellent viewing angles, while we have verified a slight shyness in red tones on all modes, a factor that makes the image slightly colder than the reference. All modes also feature a slightly more boosted gamma curve than sRGB and DCI-P3 references, resulting in a slightly more contrasted image than the original source. The chromatic extension of the Vivid and Standard modes (according to the DCI-P3 standard) is very good, with the latter boasting a slightly better color fidelity thanks to a more faithful calibration. The Vivid mode, active by default, serves more than anything else to amaze, but it is also particularly precise. The Delicate mode instead refers to the sRGB standard, which is followed without particular smudges with an excellent extension in terms of saturation and good color fidelity. The TCL panel 10 Plus result less precise with HDR content , but in any case the reproduction is extremely enjoyable. In short, that of TCL 10 Pro it is an excellent display, also in consideration of the various image enhancement modes that allow you to take advantage of high definition even with traditional content. Below are the average DeltaE values ​​with the various methods:

• Vivid DeltaE (DCI-P3) = 3.3
• Standard DeltaE (DCI-P3) = 3.0
• Delicate DeltaE (sRGB) = 3.7
• HDR (DCI- P3 SMPTE 2084 HDR) = 5.3

Autonomy

They are few the differences between the two smartphones, but one of these is in autonomy by virtue of the different processors. TCL’s 10 Pro, the Snapdragon 675, it is slightly more powerful but – according to our test – consumes more resources than the Snapdragon 665 by TCL 10 Plus. Nothing transcendental, however, with the difference between the two being less than 10% in terms of autonomy. Considering that the differences in performance are difficult to distinguish in everyday use, this aspect makes the Plus preferable over the Pro, at least in purely numerical terms.

Just like the Pro model, also TCL 10 Plus supports fast charging from 18 W. It clearly pales in speed when compared to technologies from 30, 45 or even 65 W that we have seen on other smartphones, but it does its duty in charging the smartphone without – in theory – damaging the battery too prematurely and in times certainly not biblical.

Camera

In addition to autonomy, one of the expected differences on the Plus model compared to the Pro is from the camera. Here we find a main module from 48 MP with an ultra wide angle on less refined paper due to the less defined sensor. The remaining modules, macro and low brightness, are an excellent marketing strategy to increase the number of cameras without offering real added value to the user. Video side we have the possibility to record videos also in 4K Ultra HD, even if only at 30 fps (more expensive devices allow you to do it also at 31 fps).

TCL 10 Plus, camera features

• Standard
  • Sensor from 48 MP
  • Lens f / 1.8
  • PDAF Autofocus
  • Focal length 26 mm equivalent
• Ultra -wide
  • 8MP sensor
  • Lens f / 2.2
  • Focal length 13 mm equivalent
• Macro
  • 2MP sensor
  • Lens f / 2.4
• Low light:
  • 2MP f / 2.4

• Video 4K Ultra HD @ 24 fps

TCL Snapshot Examples 10 Plus

TCL 10 Plus offers a good camera, with the difficult sensor to 48 MP which is well managed in all circumstances without clearly working miracles. Noise and shake are avoided in shooting in the dark, despite the absence of optical stabilization, while there is a certain predisposition to overexpose when using the flash at close distances, with several details burned. The camera is quite usable in good light conditions and in intermediate conditions (for example indoor spaces), even if the images appear a little washed out, not very incisive in colors. The level of detail is excellent in the simplest conditions, with good post-processing carried out in this area by the natively integrated software. Undertone the ultra-wide, which is much lower than the one integrated on TCL 10 Pro , as well as the main one of the Pro allows you to get more pleasing shots both in terms of colors and in terms of captured detail, in good light conditions. In the dark, however, it seemed more balanced TCL 00008 Plus, which underexposes compared to the Pro, but more effectively avoids shake and noise.

Final considerations

There are not many who talk about TCL smartphones, or who trust the new brand, however we believe that after a somewhat limping start in Italy with the Plex, and after TCL’s high prices 10 Pro, your proposal is starting to get very interesting.

Especially do po have taken a tour of the various online stores: TCL 10 Plus can be purchased at 270 ?? as of this writing, TCL 00008 Pro a 290 ?? resulting even more interesting than the first. It is clear that if you add it to the Xiaomi plate, with Mi 10 Lite 5G for example, the two TCL smartphones seem a bit overpriced, but in our opinion the two devices of the series “10 “have something from say to their advantage.

They don’t support 5G like Mi 10 Lite, but have a less invasive graphic customization and a superior display with good autonomy, net of lower performance evident only with three-dimensional video games. In short, at today’s price the new TCL series “10 “are both in our opinion very interesting competitors, even if to defeat the competition, greater attention would be needed not so much to today’s needs by users, but also and above all to the needs of tomorrow.

OS (at launch)		Android 10 with TCL UI	Android 10 with TCL UI
Processor		Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 to 11 – nm 4 x Kryo 260 @ 2.0 GHz 4 x Kryo 260 @ 1.8 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 to 11 – nm 2 x Kryo 460 @ 2, 0 GHz 6 x Kryo 399 @ 1.7 GHz
Memories		6 GB of RAM 256 GB Expandable via microSD	6 GB of RAM 128 GB Expandable via microSD
Display		6, 47 “OLED (19. 5 : 9) 2340 x 1080 px (398 PPI) HDR – DCI-P3	6, 47 “OLED (19. 5: 9) 2020 x 1080 px ( 398 PPI) HDR 10 – DCI-P3
Cameras		Back: Normal (26 mm): 48 MP f / 1.8 PDAF Ultra-wide (13 mm ): 8MP f / 2.2 Macro: 2 MP f / 2.4 Low light: 2 MP f / 2.4 Ultra HD Video @ 30 fps Front: Normal: 16 MP f / 2.2	Back : Normal (26 mm): 64 MP f / 1.8 PDAF Ultra-wide (13 mm): 16 MP f / 2.4 Macro: 5 MP f / 2.2 Low light: 2 MP f / 2.4 Ultra HD Video @ 30 fps Front: Normal: 24 MP f / 2.0
Extra		4G LTE-A Cat. 00009 (400 / 75 Mbps) Wi-Fi ac 2.4-5GHz Bluetooth 5.0 NFC Dual SIM Under glass fingerprint sensor	4G LTE-A Cat. 13 (400 / 75 Mbps) Wi-Fi ac 2.4-5GHz Bluetooth 5.0 NFC Dual SIM Under glass fingerprint sensor
Doors		USB Type-C 3.5 mm audio jack	USB Type-C 3.5 mm audio jack
Battery		4. 460 mAh Quick charge 18 W	4. 460 mAh Quick charge 18 W
Dimensions		128 x 73 x 8.9 mm	158 x 72 x 9.2 mm
Weight		172 grams	177 grams