This looks to be a very decent phone with fairly good hardware for the price. SO much so if it becomes available in Canada I could see myself picking one up. It will depend on reviews though on how good or bad the phone is.
Good grief, that is a great price. The only compromise I can see is the Snapdragon 6xx rather than an 8xx chip (entirely expected at this price point), but otherwise it's got everything you actually need in a smartphone--so long as it has NFC as well. This is definitely promising.
Indeed. When I see this kind of thing (6 series SoC in a decent phone) I do always remember the HTC M7 which did the same. They got away with a more mid range SoC in a flagship as it was seriously well optimised and, from my point of view, was not distinguishable in use from the high end chips. Having seen this, I have hope that someone may release a phone I might actually want to buy. I'm sick of headphone jacks running away, low capacity batteries with fudged capacity figures and finishes designed to break with the slightest drop. How often do you drop everyday items? I do it a lot. I'm usually drunk.
So the only thing that really gets to me about this is the materials look fragile but that's the style at the moment and it's not changing for a new entry.
NFC for me is a nice to have. It's useful when you have things like hotel access cards which run on RFID tags. Because we all have a collection of hotel RFID cards to play with.... right? I like wireless charging as it reduces the use of the USB connection which I've had go wobbly a few times or the cable snap off and so on. It also works well for me at night - I first had it on the Palm Pre and it works well for that, can work well in a car but otherwise it's not a biggie for me.
One last thing I want to see from this (may have been covered and missed) is an unlocked bootloader and a general openness to hacking. If I buy, I want to buy and be able to play. When it reaches end of life I want to be able to latch it to my bike and make it do things it wasn't meant to do. This is always a good move for a new entry company as it is unlikely the huddled sheep will want to buy an unknown brand, regardless of features. The nerds are the ones who are going to be curious and excited and we also like to hack our posessions. Therefore, if you are the only people out there encouraging people to hack your product, you're going to get all the nerds flocking to check you out and it'll build your brand. Plus, they hack, improve and then will publish what they did and how so you can improve your product. Hell, if it was me I'd have a button in the developer options page that says "The Shit List" which is a list of people who hacked the product and made part of it better than the manufacturer could.
In regards to NFC, I use it for card payments via my banking app. There are so many other use cases as well though, e.g. I can use it to check my bus card balance, and pair with my headphones.
NFC tags are super useful though, have one for guest Wi-Fi, so I can still have a password too complex for most to type in, way easier than memorizing and if someone gets that close into my house, I don't care about the wifi password.
Agree that this is an interesting phone, it checks a lot of boxes, and the price would be attractive if they bring it stateside. I look forward to a review, especially curious about the video from the low light camera. Sadly, even "flagship" phones often fall flat here. As for the SoC, the two A76 cores should serve my needs fine, as I am not much of a mobile gamer.
I'm a bit surprised at the name Plex from a company best known for its TVs, seeing as how Plex is already widely known as a media server system. I think a fair number of people will be initial confused when they hear "TCL Plex" and think it's talking about HTPC stuff.
Any chance they'll stuff a motion interpolation ASIC in there some day?
I know, I know, but personally, I think the "soap opera effect" is just a meme perpetuated by stuffy, oldschool film guys and bad implementations from a decade ago. Samsung seemingly has the best tech for something like that, but I don't see them thinking outside the box like that until someone else does it first.
I don't care for speed higher then enough. I don't mind using a TAB A with an 420 chip. I want a big battery, a great camera and a nice display which doesn't crack on a loaf of bread. I want a HTC One X reboot actually.
McAlister’s Deli Feedback Survey sees how urgent superb client care is to the fate of their business and your eating experience. <a href="https://surveyinfo370041980.wordpress.com/2020/06/... Kishori Shakti Kendra Yojana </a>
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
20 Comments
Back to Article
rocky12345 - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link
This looks to be a very decent phone with fairly good hardware for the price. SO much so if it becomes available in Canada I could see myself picking one up. It will depend on reviews though on how good or bad the phone is.peevee - Thursday, September 12, 2019 - link
Careful - it's not a global phone. No bands 4/17 - almost useless for Rogers for example (only short-range B7 available).SigmundEXactos - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link
I'm so excited about Tempow (not Tempo) -- finally streaming bluetooth to more than one device without a special separate transmitter.nicolaim - Thursday, September 5, 2019 - link
Glad to see a serious new entrant in the smartphone market. The price is awesome.I'm surprised this article hasn't garnered more comments.
sonofsanta - Friday, September 6, 2019 - link
Good grief, that is a great price. The only compromise I can see is the Snapdragon 6xx rather than an 8xx chip (entirely expected at this price point), but otherwise it's got everything you actually need in a smartphone--so long as it has NFC as well. This is definitely promising.philehidiot - Saturday, September 7, 2019 - link
Indeed. When I see this kind of thing (6 series SoC in a decent phone) I do always remember the HTC M7 which did the same. They got away with a more mid range SoC in a flagship as it was seriously well optimised and, from my point of view, was not distinguishable in use from the high end chips. Having seen this, I have hope that someone may release a phone I might actually want to buy. I'm sick of headphone jacks running away, low capacity batteries with fudged capacity figures and finishes designed to break with the slightest drop. How often do you drop everyday items? I do it a lot. I'm usually drunk.So the only thing that really gets to me about this is the materials look fragile but that's the style at the moment and it's not changing for a new entry.
NFC for me is a nice to have. It's useful when you have things like hotel access cards which run on RFID tags. Because we all have a collection of hotel RFID cards to play with.... right? I like wireless charging as it reduces the use of the USB connection which I've had go wobbly a few times or the cable snap off and so on. It also works well for me at night - I first had it on the Palm Pre and it works well for that, can work well in a car but otherwise it's not a biggie for me.
One last thing I want to see from this (may have been covered and missed) is an unlocked bootloader and a general openness to hacking. If I buy, I want to buy and be able to play. When it reaches end of life I want to be able to latch it to my bike and make it do things it wasn't meant to do. This is always a good move for a new entry company as it is unlikely the huddled sheep will want to buy an unknown brand, regardless of features. The nerds are the ones who are going to be curious and excited and we also like to hack our posessions. Therefore, if you are the only people out there encouraging people to hack your product, you're going to get all the nerds flocking to check you out and it'll build your brand. Plus, they hack, improve and then will publish what they did and how so you can improve your product. Hell, if it was me I'd have a button in the developer options page that says "The Shit List" which is a list of people who hacked the product and made part of it better than the manufacturer could.
RSAUser - Sunday, September 8, 2019 - link
In regards to NFC, I use it for card payments via my banking app. There are so many other use cases as well though, e.g. I can use it to check my bus card balance, and pair with my headphones.NFC tags are super useful though, have one for guest Wi-Fi, so I can still have a password too complex for most to type in, way easier than memorizing and if someone gets that close into my house, I don't care about the wifi password.
eastcoast_pete - Friday, September 6, 2019 - link
Agree that this is an interesting phone, it checks a lot of boxes, and the price would be attractive if they bring it stateside. I look forward to a review, especially curious about the video from the low light camera. Sadly, even "flagship" phones often fall flat here.As for the SoC, the two A76 cores should serve my needs fine, as I am not much of a mobile gamer.
Ashinjuka - Saturday, September 7, 2019 - link
I'm a bit surprised at the name Plex from a company best known for its TVs, seeing as how Plex is already widely known as a media server system. I think a fair number of people will be initial confused when they hear "TCL Plex" and think it's talking about HTPC stuff.brucethemoose - Saturday, September 7, 2019 - link
Any chance they'll stuff a motion interpolation ASIC in there some day?I know, I know, but personally, I think the "soap opera effect" is just a meme perpetuated by stuffy, oldschool film guys and bad implementations from a decade ago. Samsung seemingly has the best tech for something like that, but I don't see them thinking outside the box like that until someone else does it first.
SanX - Saturday, September 7, 2019 - link
Will Verizon work?ianmills - Monday, September 9, 2019 - link
Looks straight out of a black & science fiction movie from the 50sianmills - Monday, September 9, 2019 - link
* black and whiteFoeketijn - Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - link
I don't care for speed higher then enough. I don't mind using a TAB A with an 420 chip.I want a big battery, a great camera and a nice display which doesn't crack on a loaf of bread.
I want a HTC One X reboot actually.
0iron - Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - link
Good. Now waiting for smartphone that can shoot video with EIS like GoPro Hero 7.Arthur963 - Thursday, September 12, 2019 - link
The price is awesome. I'm surprised this article hasn't garnered more comments https://www.mcdvoice.onl/.peevee - Thursday, September 12, 2019 - link
"LTE Band support includes 1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40"Very very weak.
No 2/4/12/66/71 - not suitable for T-Mobile AT ALL for example. No 2/4/17/30 - not suitable for AT&T. etc etc.
Orisilpsil - Friday, June 26, 2020 - link
McAlister’s Deli Feedback Survey sees how urgent superb client care is to the fate of their business and your eating experience. <a href="https://surveyinfo370041980.wordpress.com/2020/06/... Kishori Shakti Kendra Yojana </a>Alikhashiba - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
First National Bank Card Activation is offered by the FNB in various methods and steps.https://cardactivationtech.com/activate-fnb-credit...