TCL is a company that has been making Android phones for a while, but they rarely get the fanfare of other OEMs. It seems like the only time we talk about TCL is when they show off phones at major events. IFA 2019 is going on this week and here we are again to talk about TCL's latest phone, the TCL Plex.
You may know TCL as the company behind recent Blackberry and Alcatel phones, but the TCL Plex is the beginning of their push to establish their own name. The Plex is a solid mid-range device with triple rear cameras on the back. That and the FHD+ LCD display are the two standout features here. TCL also unveiled their latest offering of Alcatel devices.
TCL Plex
As mentioned, the headling features of the TCL Plex are the triple rear cameras and FHD+ LCD display. The main camera is a 48MP Sony sensor and it is accompanied by the 16MP wide-angle lens and a 2MP camera reserved for low-light photography. TCL says the Plex has “an industry-leading 2.9μm big pixel low-light sensor” and they also included a "Super Night Mode" for dark shots. They are clearly hoping to compete with the Pixel 3a's Night Sight.
The aforementioned display is 6.53-inches and it has a hole punch in the top left corner for the 24MP selfie camera. As a maker of TV screens, TCL talked up the Plex's display quite a bit. There is an "NXTVISION" mode that does a bunch of image processing when activated. There is a real-time SDR to HDR conversion feature, "HDR-like" video enhancements, 6-axis color enhancement, and more.
Rounding out the rest of the specs, we're looking at a Snapdragon 675 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage (expandable), and a 3,820 mAh battery. TCL did not mention what version of Android is included. The TCL Plex will be available in Black and White later this year in select markets in Europe for €329.
Alcatel 3X
The Alcatel 3X has a 6.52-inch display with 1600 x 720 and tall 20:9 aspect ratio. It has three cameras on the rear (16 + 8 + 5MP) which includes wide-angle and depth help. The 3X is powered by the Mediatek P23 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It will be sold in three colors for around $160.
Alcatel 1V
The Alcatel 1V is a very low-end device with a small 5.5-inch display with 960x480 resolution. It's powered by the Sdreadtrum SC9863A processor with 2GB of RAM and only 16GB of storage (expandable). There is one rear 8MP camera (interpolated to 13) and a 5MP selfie camera. The device comes in four colors and will be priced at about $88.
Alcatel Smart Tab 7
Lastly, we have the Alcatel Smart Tab 7, which is a 7-inch tablet with 1024 x 600 display resolution. It has 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of storage (expandable), and a 2,580 mAh battery. This is another very low-end devices. It's priced at about $88.