Its been a while since I have done a review so here is one for the TCL 30+
TCL 30 + Review
Having reviewed the TCL 20 range last year I was looking forward to seeing how the next iteration, the TCL 30 compares to it.
The first thing that strikes you about the TCL 30 + is its large screen size, measuring in at 6.7 inches its a big display but it the phone doesnt feel too wide to hold in the hand
In the box you get a Travel Charger (18w), transparent TPU case, Quick Guide, SIM card pin, USB Type-C cable.
Again it's great that TCL has thought to include a case as it’s the first thing most of us buy when we get a new phone, it is a pity more phone manufacturers don't do the same.
Design:-
TCL have changed the design of the phone from last years TCL 20 Range by changing the arrangement of the rear cameras .The rear is made with super light fiberglass the surface is smooth and avoids fingerprints but does offer some grip. The camera array is raised slightly from the rear surface. It measures 164.54 x 75.24 x 7.74mm and weighs in at 184g.
The headphone jack has been moved to the bottom of the phone alongside the main microphone and the USB-C port and one of the speakers
One the right side of the phone you have the volume rocker and power button with integrated fingerprint scanner I Iike the arrangement of the fingerprint scanner on the power button as it allows for quick unlock. ( Face Unlock is also supported ) On the left side of the phone is the hybrid dual sim card/sim or Microsd card, (which you can use the provided tool to open).
The top has the second of the speakers and microphones, I like the brighter material used in the edging of the phone.
Screen:-
The Screen on the TCL 30 + is a large 6.7" FHD+ AMOLED display, and offers a display ratio of 20:9 and a 2400 x 1080 resolution with 395PPI. TCL brings their TV expertise to their mobile display with their NXTVISION technology.I didnt mind the notch, and in the display settings you can select how much of the screen real estate you want to use.
You can tweak the display in the Settings with Image enhancement mode gives options to automatically adjust the displayed image to make it clearer and sharper and improve its brightness, Video & Gamer enhancement that uplifts a SDR video to HDR. You can also tweak the Screen Colour & temperature as well with modes (Vivid, Natural, Standard or Advanced)
I found the screen was sharp and provided a very good colour representation while viewing videos from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime .Brightness is very good at 900 nits which can be reduced down to 1 nit for low light conditions.
The Screen uses 30% Less Blue Light when The Reading mode is enabled as it changes the display to be more like an e-reader so the display is easier on your eyes, a good option with the Reading mode is that you can enable it automatically if you goto a certain app i.e. Kindle and it turns off when you leave the app. You can also enable Eye comfort mode which filters out blue light by turning the screen an orange colour, and also modify its intensity and schedule it to be enabled at a certain time of the day so when going to bed at night, it will automatically switch on for you.
As the screen is OLED you can enable it to be always on and setup how the screen will be configured when you enable it.
Camera:-
The Camera on the TCL 30 + is a decent spec for the price you get a triple camera setup,it's setup like
- 50MP: aperture F1.85, sensor size 1/2.76", pixel size 0.64μm, field of view 74.4°
- 2MP Depth Camera , Fixed Focus ,sensor size 1/5", pixel size 1.75μm, aperture F2.4, field of view 85°,
- 2MP Macro Camera, Fixed Focus, sensor size 1/5", pixel size 1.75μm, aperture F2.4, field of view 88.8°
The Camera does a good job when there is plenty of natural light but pictures arent as bright or detailed as they could be. When taking pictures with a lot of bright colors that can be a bit washed and lack some details at times.
Outdoor Samples
Outdoor Sample with 4x Zoom
The TCL camera app is nice and simple to use it has quick access modes such as Portrait, Pro ( which allows you to manually set levels ), Panorama , High Pixel, Stop Motion, Light Trace, Movie Mode, Super Macro, Art effects (12 filters that you can select)
Modes available , and screen with Art Effects
Super Macro Mode Sample
And as the Macro camera is only 2Mega Pixel, there isnt huge detail.
Video is captured at 1080P, 16:9 @ 30 Fps , again the colours arent as bright as they could be and some detail isnt captured.
Front Camera
The TCL 30+ is equipped with a 13MP Ultrawide front camera:
Fixed Focus, sensor size 1/3", pixel size 1.12μm, aperture F2.3, field of view 96°,
Video capture 1080P@30fps
Features included Face Beautification, Auto Capture,Touch To Capture. Again there is a loss of detail in the front camera , but overall for the money it does a good job of capturing selfies, its has a good field of view so you could take good group selfies.
Front Camera Selfie Camera Sample
Audio:-
The TCL 30 + supports Stereo Surround with its two speakers, TCL have improved their speaker setup from a main and mini to (1 speaker on the top of phone and the other one at the bottom) do a very good job especially at loud volumes, when I tried different music types they sounded well through the speakers.
At the bottom of the phone (near USB-C connection) there is a 3.5mm headphone jack as well that supports LRGM headsets
The bottom of the phone where one the two speakers are located.
Phone Performance and UI Tweaks:-
As the TCL 30 + only has 4GB RAM and is powered by the MediaTek Helio G37 and it's not the fastest phone out there, so you wouldnt be playing too many CPU heavy games on it. Performance is fine, once you stay in one app, when you switch between the phone lags a bit
You can quickly clean up memory by using the include Smart Manager
I like the options of floating window or splitscreen that your able to use. i.e scroll through your photos and watch you tube at the same time.
TCL have again included other features, their Edge bar which gives you a quick way to select shortcuts,or Smart App recommend which would trigger an action when you connect a device to your phone, and One handed mode which shrinks down the phone screen so you can reduce the amount of screen space
There is 128GB onboard storage which can be increased if by using a microsd in the hybrid Dual Sim/Microsd tray.
TCL havent included too much bloatware which is good, and what is included can be deleted.
Gamemode is now added so you can select which games can activate it.
I played the include Modern Combat Rebel Guns and it ran very smoothly. In Gamemode you have options about how you want to deal with notifications while your playing games, or to the use TCL’s NXTVISION gaming enhancement.
If you find the game lagging you could enable the Game Turbo which will increase performance but will also increase battery use or you could enable/disable Cleaning up background apps so your games can use as much memory as available.
Connectivity is covered with 2G/3G/4G, (so no 5G) and WiFi is only 2.4GHz supported i.e 802.11b/g/n , Bluetooth v5.0 and NFC.
The phone is running Android 12 and updates are promised until the end of 2023.
When you Long press on the Power button, you get the above screen which again you can configure shortcuts on.
Battery :-
Onboard is a large 5010mah capacity battery but if your watching a lot of content or having apps that do heavy processing it will get used up during the course of the day. Wireless charging isnt included and it takes around 2 hours to fully charge the phone using the supplied 18W charger via fast charging.
You can also change the phone's performance to increase the battery life, by enabling the Super Saving Mode.
TCL also has intelligent Charging which learns your charging habits so during the night time it will pause when it reaches a certain percentage and then charge up to 100% before you wake up, doing this increases the lifespan of batteries which is a good thing as we all keep our phones for longer now.
If your looking for a big phone to watch plenty of videos with a big battery and dont want to break the bank the TCL 30 + is definitely a contender.
More Info TCL 30+ - Phones | TCL Ireland
