TCL Nxtpaper 11 review

Simply as most mobiles are sometimes sleepily comparable, differing solely in efficiency, high quality and value, the identical might be stated of tablets. Right here’s one pill that tries, the Nxtpaper 11 from TV producer TCL, which additionally makes mobiles and sure, tablets, and which lately has broadened its vary exterior its dwelling nation of China.

The predecessor Nxtpaper 10 has been in shops for simply over a yr, and now it’s time for the sequel. However 10 and 11 don’t stand for the technology of Nxtpaper, they’re the primary two fashions. As a substitute, it signifies the display measurement. Nxtpaper 11 was launched final winter however has now lastly discovered its strategy to retail cabinets.

Low value and a blended impression

If you happen to simply have a look at the specs, it’s a typical low cost pill, and it additionally prices accordingly at simply €249 ($270/£215 transformed). It’s listed on the TCL UK website however not with a value. Try our chart of one of the best funds tablets to see extra choices together with the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8.

An previous and half-tired part, a six-year-old Mediatek Helio P60T, with eight cores, none of that are greater than half-fast, 4GB of RAM to work with, and 128GB of flash reminiscence of the small seg kind for storage, Wi-Fi 5 connection as a substitute of 6 or 6E, and no different options equivalent to safety towards water and shock, fingerprint scanner or docking choices.

Maybe the display has higher options than you possibly can ask for at that value, a pointy 2,000 x 1,2000 pixel IPS panel with as much as 500 nits in brightness when the total automated mode is turned on. It additionally has automated and AI-controlled color temperature adjustment. I’m not completely charmed by it.

If I set the display to Pure color mode, I get pink spots, and if I set it to Vibrant, the white stability is a bit too chilly. It’s not a catastrophe and colors are completely viable for on a regular basis use, however don’t anticipate perfection.

TCL does an excellent job of delivering luxurious in design and construct regardless of the low price ticket. It’s a properly smooth slab with a stable aluminium chassis and top quality really feel to it.

At first look, it seems to be like several clearly costlier Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, besides with a small plastic border across the display as a substitute of a extra seamless transition from aluminium. However then I’m very choosy. That is fashionable and feels lavish to carry.

A bit like paper, however not e-paper

What stands out about Nxtpaper is its matt, paper-like display floor. It’s not e-paper, it’s a daily IPS display with a floor therapy to make it extra snug to take a look at and provides a paper-like really feel to your fingers. Most significantly, it prevents ugly fingerprints on the display floor from fixed use, and eliminates display reflections.

I additionally like the sensation of pointing and tapping on the sleek floor, which by no means hinders contact response and precision. Nonetheless, it’s actually a case of style over substance, and a good friend I lent the pill to commented that it gave him “the identical uncomfortable feeling” because the black chalkboard in school. Open buy is beneficial when you resolve to go for it, so you possibly can see when you prefer it.

With “paper” actually within the title, I had hoped that it could be higher at imitating paper. Visually and in moderately shiny gentle, it really works effectively, the sensation with an e-book app and a monochrome mode you possibly can set the display in is extra like a Kindle than an iPad.

However the matt end solely spreads reflections over a bigger space, so out of doors solar rays will cowl your complete display. In accordance with the specs, the pill is meant to have stylus assist however no third-party pens I’ve out there work, and the “T-Pen” it’s purported to work with just isn’t included.

Mattias Inghe

Sluggish and troublesome to manage

Efficiency is on the decrease finish, each for the processor and the connection, which collectively make internet looking an typically frustratingly gradual expertise, with uneven scrolling, gradual loading and rendering of pages the place web page parts bounce round whereas photographs are loaded, and your complete display can generally freeze randomly for as much as half a second. It’s a giant minus that looking on a pill is meant to be troublesome.

Benchmarks

Antutu Benchmark 9: 194,766 factors
Geekbench 6: 1,234 factors
Geekbench 6 single core: 319 factors
Geekbench 6 compute: 1,124 factors
3dmark Wild Life: 635 factors
Storage, learn: 289.7 MB/s
Storage, write: 233.9 MB/s

Another apps equivalent to YouTube, Google Maps and Google Photographs are higher, the place content material is dealt with with higher optimisation. I’ve no drawback streaming movies from both YouTube or downloaded Prime Video, and the picture appears to have each the best sharpness and good dynamics.

Colors are a extra ambiguous story, it seems to be to be sRGB class on the color gamut. Although not with any nice color accuracy. There are lots of completely different menus for making picture settings, and every appears to tilt the color temperature of the display in its personal path. Getting a impartial white tone is sort of not possible.

The Nxtpaper 11 has 4 audio system, two on every quick facet, offering highly effective stereo sound with well-rounded bass; what’s lacking for true top of the range is a bit more element within the treble, however it’s laborious to complain given the value. There’s no analogue headphone port, so if you need exterior audio, you’ll have to attach it by way of Bluetooth or the USB port. I had no drawback with both.

Easy cameras don’t shock

The pill has two 8Mp cameras, one on the again and one on the lengthy facet above the display. The standard right here is middling, in typical funds vogue, with flat and poorly detailed photographs on each the rear digicam and the selfie digicam dealing with you. It generates some noise in darker environments, and a few dragging impact when you transfer round rather a lot.

An 8,000mAh battery is respectable for an 11-inch pill, and I get acceptable runtime. It’s sufficient to stream video at excessive brightness for over ten hours, and because the display doesn’t have a frequency greater than 60Hz, looking and emailing isn’t a heavy vitality problem both, though it does take a bit extra.

Mattias Inghe

See also  Nokia C32 review

Nonetheless, charging an empty battery might be frustratingly gradual. The pill is alleged to assist 18W of charging, and the included USB charger may ship that. Does that rely as funds quick charging?

Maybe, however provided that the {hardware} manages to utilise it, and TCL appears to have issues with that. About 5 hours for a zero to 100% cost, and half an hour with the charger in offers me a 15% battery stage. That is going to be a nighttime cost.

Quite a lot of individuality within the interface

With Android 13 on the core, TCL has then added its personal interface, TCL UI 5, which provides a lot of its personal options, from its prolonged image settings to small and enormous interface customisations and pen management options (which I wasn’t capable of check), and a number of additional apps. Some helpful, just like the helpful WPS Workplace and an app for scanning paperwork with the digicam.

Others are extra what I might name bloatware, Reserving.com and a note-taking app that insists on a paid subscription are undoubtedly amongst them. There’s rather a lot TCL might strip away for a extra streamlined expertise. TCL doesn’t say when Android updates are deliberate, however don’t anticipate greater than an additional technology of Android at most. If it’s funds, it’s funds.

However is it a bit an excessive amount of funds? I believe so. With a more moderen and extra highly effective system circuit and maybe a 90 or 120 Hz display panel, TCL would have lifted this pill enormously. The thought is true and a few issues make the distinctive display nice, however on the expense of others.

This evaluate initially appeared on M3.

Specs

• System Circuit: MediaTek Helio P60T
• Processor: 4pcs Cortex-A73 2 GHz + 4pcs Cortex-A53 2 GHz
• Graphics: Creativeness PowerVR GE8320
• Reminiscence: 4 GB
• Storage: 128 GB, slot for micro sd as much as 1 TB
• Show: 10.95 inch matte ips, 2000×1200 pixels
• Cameras: 8 megapixel with led rear, 8 megapixel vast angle entrance
• Connections: Usb 2 kind c
• Communication: Wifi 5, Bluetooth 5.0
• Working system: Android 13 with TCL UI
• Different: Nxtvision video enhancement, nxtpaper 2.0 display space
• Battery: 8,000mAh, approx. 10 hrs 40 min video streaming (excessive brightness), approx. 8 hrs blended use (low brightness)
• Battery charging: As much as 18W usb, approx. 4 hrs full cost
• Dimension: 25.7 x 16.2 x 0.7cm
• Weight: 462 grams