TCL 30 SE a low cost smartphone to evaluate? YES
Nowadays we are inundated with dozens of low cost smartphones, products for those who do not have great needs and expectations from their phone. In this jungle of offers it is obviously not easy to extricate yourself, especially for the less experienced. And it is at this point that we intervene with our point of view on those we have the opportunity to try. Today is the turn of a new branded product TCL, 30 SE. It stands as you are in the middle of a series of cell phones that have recently been launched by the Chinese house, let's see how it goes.
PACKAGING TCL 30 SE
We can say that the first positive aspect starts from the product equipment, in fact we find in the package:
- Smartphone
- Transparent silicone case
- 10W charger
- USB - Type C charging cables
- Headphones
- Start Guides
- General info booklet (Italian language present)
- Clip to open the SIM / Micro SD door
AESTHETICS AND DIMENSIONS TCL 30 SE
From an aesthetic point of view, we say that it does not stand out either for the materials or for the size. It is totally made of polycarbonate (plastic), glossy on the back, be prepared for fingerprints, and matte on the frame. The dimensions are 165.2 x 75.5 x 8.9 mm for a weight of 190Gr. The width did not convince me very much, in my opinion above 74mm it is difficult to use one hand, which is why we tend to make them longer and narrower. On the other hand, what helps us to hold it firmly in our hand is the weight that is all in all contained, thanks also to the “non-noble” construction materials. In fact, as soon as you pick it up, you have a feeling of lightness (I'm used to a smartphone with a 200g + 20g cover) but at the same time we immediately realize that the product is a bit "cheap".
On the left side we find the SIM trolley with triple housing (2 Nano SIMs + MicroSD), on the right one the volume rocker and the on / off button while under 2 grids that would make you think of a stereo audio that is not ... in fact we find only one speaker and the microphone and the Type C OTG socket for recharging . Above we have the Jack da 3.5 mm, this is certainly a good thing that becomes very good since many users do not want to abandon their classic, and sometimes very expensive, "old generation" earphones!
On the back we have the camera module (which are 3) and the biometric sensor for fingerprint detection. It was a long time since I used it in this position and I must say that compared to those on the display or on the power button they are really uncomfortable. A little that I'm no longer used to it, a little the position a little the low difference in height from the body but I preferred not to use it, since the unlocking with the face is also available (obviously not 3D).
PROCESSOR AND PERFORMANCES TCL 30 SE
As a CPU, the choice fell on the MediaTek Helio G25, 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 + 4x 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53, a not-so-new processor supported by a PowerVR GE8320 GPU, 4Gb of RAM (lpddr4x) and 64 / 128Gb of memory ROM (eMMC). What does all this bring us ..? Well, I'd be bad to say anything good .. but we definitely shouldn't expect amazing performances. If from a gaming point of view it is better to abandon the most demanding titles, or play them accepting good frame losses, I expected at least a better reactivity in everyday use. Instead, I noticed some lag even in basic operations, in opening a social network, in the address book, in multitasking. We also assume that I come from OnePlus top-of-the-range years, so my comparison term is naturally off the charts. Surely for the average user this small wait between the command and the execution of the same could also be normal.
Overall I feel I can give enough to this sector even if honestly I expected something better. The Android version is the 12 with customization TCLUI 4.0, so these lags could be due to the lack of optimization of this new version of android and we can always hope that with future updates the situation will improve by becoming more fluid.
DISPLAY
The display is an IPS panel from 6.52", resolution 720 x 1600p, 269 ppi, refresh rate 60Hz, ∼82.3% screen-to-body ratio. The maximum brightness is around 400nits which makes it fairly readable even in direct sunlight. Even here we should not expect "big things", the blacks are from a medium-class IPS panel (therefore a lot tending to dark gray) but otherwise I have seen much worse. Overall I feel like going beyond the sufficiency for this sector, also considering the good viewing angle that we often do not find on products of this target.
The selfie cam is teardrop-shaped in the center of the display.
CAMERA
The camera compartment is composed as follows:
- 50Mpx f / 1.85 main cam
- Secondary cam 2Mpx Macro f / 2.4
- Cam depth sensor 2Mpx f / 2.4
- Selfie Cam 8Mpx
Obviously, we do not find the optical stabilizer and not even a wide-angle cam. Due to the absence of the first, you will therefore need to have a good hand to take appreciable photos. From the tests carried out, I noticed a lack of good color saturation in 90% of the shots. They are almost always less saturated than the original and I don't understand why. Maybe it's the wrong white balance and strangely I found this problem more evident in the outdoor photos with natural light. In any case, with a little editing we can fix it .. what cannot be easily fixed is this feeling of out of focus photos, if cropped to 100% on a PC, which we will practically always have. This sometimes happens even with top-of-the-range smartphones, so objectively I didn't hope not to find it on our TCL 30 SE. But don't worry, if you look at them on your smartphone or publish them on social media you won't even notice!
A little disappointing the macros that must be enabled by manual setting (to understand it does not automatically switch when it detects a very close object), in my shots I noticed a really exaggerated "pastel" effect, so much so that it made me think that it would always be better to use the main cam also for photos of nearby objects. Definitely and strangely better indoor photos where normally phones of this segment suffer greatly from the lack of light. Satisfied also for night photos, always taking other low cost models as a reference, he takes really beautiful photos.
Not being a selfie lover I cannot give you an exhaustive judgment for this cam, but for our social networks I would say that they can be fine, even if it must be said that nowadays 8Mpx they turn out a little bit.
Here is a photo gallery
AUTONOMY
This is certainly one of the most interesting aspects! Thanks to the not very powerful HW and the 5.000mAh battery, from the point of view of autonomy you will be calm. With an average use you will easily cover 2 days of use, with stress use you will arrive at night with a comfortable 30%. Then the usual speech, that of the battery is very complicated and influenced by several variables (screen on, use of energy-intensive apps such as heavy games, present or poor telephone signal, etc.).
The annoying thing is the charging times. From the specifications read on very reliable sites I found that the smartphone support reaches 15W but the supplied charger is only 10W. So a full recharge is likely to be around 2.5 to 3 hours.
SOFTWARE
As already mentioned, with great surprise, you will find Android 12 with TCL UI v4.0.1. The software features some TCL “goodies” such as the NXTVISION which should confer a visual enhancement for videos, images and gameplay. Also interesting is the sidebar (edge bar) where you can insert at your leisure: applications, contacts, functions and a handy ruler. Present the gestures for navigation, application blocking via code, application cloning (FB, IG, Whatsapp, etc.)
CONNECTIVITY
Here we can't really complain, in fact we find:
- BlueTooth 5.0
- USB Type C - OTG
- Dual band Wi-Fi (2.4-5GHz)
- NFC (for our mobile payments)
- Android Auto
- 3.5mm Audio Jack
PROJECTED IMPACT
But let's come to the conclusions, after having said everything that in my opinion was most important .. is this TCL 30 SE a smartphone to buy? Of course it depends on the price! On EDWAYBUY (which we thank for sending the sample) you can find it, thanks to our coupon, at ONLY 149 € (in the 128Gb version!) with fast shipping and FREE from warehouse located in Europe (therefore no risk of incurring annoying customs taxes). Payment can be made through PayPal and you will receive the product in about 3/4 working days. It goes without saying that at this price it is a really good buy, despite the competition that offers many alternatives in this price range. But if as it is desirable to think, with the next SW releases the user experience will improve, then you can say that you have made a really good deal.
TCL 30 SE 4/128Gb Smartphone
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Coupon: 30SE00
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