TCL 50 XL 5G Review: Bites Off More Than It Can Chew

The TCL 50 XL 5G immediately impressed me. TCL packed a bunch of great specs right into a $160 telephone. During my first impressions, I used to be shortly stunned by the telephone’s massive show, excessive refresh price and its inclusion of NFC for Google Pay. Toss in its comparatively clear construct of Android, 128GB of storage and 6GB of reminiscence, and the 50 XL shortly seems like an entire steal.

But there are trade-offs. For occasion, the 50 XL’s show is not shiny sufficient to be seen outdoor on a sunny day — even after I set it to 100%. It’s a difficulty that we have seen on dearer price range telephones like Google’s Pixel 6A and will be crudely handled by ready to make use of the 50 XL till you are indoors or beneath some shade.

The TCL 50 XL’s 5,010mAh battery, whereas massive, is power-hungry and drained shortly in my assessments in comparison with related telephones. During a 45-minute battery endurance take a look at, the place I put the TCL by a mixture of actions like a video name, YouTube streaming, texting and social media, the telephone acquired heat to the contact. Admittedly I had the telephone’s refresh price set to run at a continuing 120Hz, which is extra demanding than the telephone’s default “smart” mode that swaps between 60Hz and 120Hz. But that is nonetheless the primary time I managed to bodily warmth up a telephone that prices beneath $200 by regular use. 

But even this battery difficulty is manageable, as its 18-watt wired charging is a good pace for a $160 telephone within the occasion you could give it a noon recharge. That pace is quicker than the 15-watt wired charging provided by this yr’s $150 Moto G Play and slower than the 25-watt charging provided on the $200 Samsung Galaxy A15. 

If you see the sample, it is easy to be forgiving concerning the TCL 50 XL’s faults as a result of in any other case has many higher-end options at a really low worth — the bottom worth I’ve seen thus far for these options. But there are two main points that may severely restrict who ought to get the TCL 50 XL.

The greatest of those is service availability. For now, the TCL 50 XL 5G is a T-Mobile unique that is being bought by its Metro model. I used to be capable of get my T-Mobile SIM card to work, however you are clearly restricted to the magenta service if you wish to purchase this system. 

Another disadvantage is lifespan. The 50 XL lags behind in its software program and safety help. TCL guarantees one main software program replace and two years of safety updates. This matches the Moto G line for pledged software program updates, however Motorola provides its telephones three years of safety updates. It’s additionally fairly behind Samsung’s dedication of 4 years of software program updates and 5 years of safety updates for the Galaxy A15.

But if you happen to’re a T-Mobile buyer in want of an inexpensive telephone and are OK with the 2 years of software program help, the TCL 50 XL 5G is price a glance.

TCL 50 XL 5G’s display screen, options, battery life

As the “XL” within the title implies, it is a massive telephone. The 6.78-inch show dwarfs the $349 Nothing Phone 2A’s 6.7-inch show. But what’s notably distinctive concerning the 50 XL is how at $160 it features a 1080p resolution-panel with a 120Hz refresh price, which helps make Android animations and graphics in video games look clean.

The giant show was supreme after I performed video games like Dead Cells, serving to make the on-screen controls simpler to make use of. When I streamed season 6 of Netflix’s The Circle, the high-definition stream confirmed off the truth present contestants’ colourful residences. Colors are additional emphasised by TCL’s NxtVision setting, which provides extra saturation after I watch movies or play video games.

I’m not wild concerning the audio system, although. While it is seemingly a plus that there are two, my ears could not clearly select audio particulars when cranking the amount greater. I ought to be aware that almost all low cost telephones have solely a single speaker. I most popular to both join my Bluetooth headphones or make use of the three.5mm headphone jack as a substitute.

The 6GB of reminiscence is a shocking inclusion for a telephone at this worth and made it simple for me to launch a number of apps and video games and change between them with no need to reload any. By comparability, I skilled the alternative whereas testing the $200 Moto G 5G, which incorporates 4GB of reminiscence. TCL features a RAM growth setting, that is on by default and makes use of up 6GB of the telephone’s common storage to simulate a further 6GB of reminiscence, which possible gives some extra multitasking help.

The MediaTek Dimensity 6100 Plus is doing considerably greater than final yr’s TCL 40 X 5G telephone by powering a higher-resolution and higher-frame price display screen, and that may partly clarify why the telephone’s battery life takes an even bigger hit with regular use. The 50 XL 5G scored comparably to final yr’s telephone on efficiency benchmarks when working the Geekbench 6 CPU take a look at and the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme graphics take a look at.

In our YouTube streaming battery take a look at, wherein we play a 3-hour video whereas setting the telephone’s brightness to 100%, the TCL 40 X 5G’s drained from full to 76% whereas the 50 XL drained to 62%. The 40 X has a comparably sized 5,000mAh battery, however the less-powerful 720p 90Hz show possible consumes much less energy than the 50 XL’s 1080p 120Hz show. 

Despite this noticeable drain, I used to be usually capable of get by a day of use when utilizing the 50 XL, nevertheless somebody enjoying intensive video games or media ought to most likely think about setting its show to the “Smart” refresh mode or to the less-intensive 60Hz to be able to prolong battery life.

On the software program aspect, the TCL telephone runs on Android 14 that features the corporate’s TCL UI pores and skin, which provides largely ornamental touches. Then there’s the bloatware with T-Mobile itself together with undesirable software program and apps by default. While the 50 XL’s T-Mobile exclusivity possible helps the telephone hit its cheaper worth, it is distracting to see the service model itself into the Google Now feed by together with its personal T-Mobile Play feed. This difficulty nevertheless is not restricted to simply this TCL telephone, and it’s attainable to deactivate the T-Mobile Play feed by diving into the telephone’s settings menu and disabling the app. 

TCL 50 XL 5G cameras

The TCL 50 XL 5G’s giant digital camera bump homes a trio of lenses: extensive, ultrawide and one for depth. The essential digital camera has a 50-megapixel sensor, the ultrawide a 5-megapixel sensor and the depth digital camera a 2-megapixel sensor for issues like portrait mode. But the cameras aren’t a promoting level.

Photos taken by it are useful and are able to displaying a colourful scene in good lighting – as most telephones. However, I took pictures of close-up particulars or a photograph in a lower-light setting, the 50 XL’s cameras did not ship.

I took the TCL 50 XL 5G to a road competition to be able to check out the takoyaki made by Karl’s Balls, a meals vendor I observe on Instagram. Since it was a sunny day, the 50 XL did a good job. My photographs confirmed the browned exterior of the massive takoyaki balls I ordered matching the colour they regarded like in actual life. However, photographs of the creamy inside had muddy, virtually blurry particulars. Color accuracy is sweet, check out this picture I took of the fried octopus ball lower in half, however the particulars just like the shiny texture of the filling is basically nonexistent.

Here’s a wider shot of the sales space, that crisply captured the bustling crowds with none noticeable movement blur.

And this is a selfie I took on a chilly, cloudy Saturday. It’s me, sure. But the picture seems flat with me mixing in with the dreary climate within the background.

I tried to take a night picture whereas strolling to a jam session Friday evening, and, oh, it did not look good. It may have regarded a bit higher if I stood fully nonetheless, however this is not the type of telephone digital camera that can be good in most conditions.

The rear digital camera captures video at 1080p at 30 frames per second, and the standard is not significantly better than photographs. You can get a useful video for a fast share, however it’ll have a fuzzy look to it because it struggles with particulars.

It’s nonetheless price noting that for a $160 telephone, digital camera high quality is often essentially the most notable function that will get sacrificed. Compared with the $200 Moto G 5G, there’s a noticeable enchancment to how Motorola’s telephone takes photographs. In my digital camera take a look at that makes use of a grass wall in CNET’s workplace, the Moto G 5G’s picture reveals extra colour depth and element than the TCL picture.

These points aren’t essentially deal breakers for calculating whether or not a less expensive telephone is definitely worth the worth, nevertheless it’s essential to be life like that we have but to make use of a $200 telephone that takes photographs you would be dying to get printed or movies that you simply’d need to edit right into a YouTube vlog.

(*50*)

TCL 50 XL 5G backside line

TCL deserves recognition for cramming so many options from pricier units into the $160 50 XL 5G. This contains its 1080p-resolution 120Hz display screen, NFC for contactless funds, and 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM for multitasking.

It’s too unhealthy that its T-Mobile exclusivity will severely restrict its viewers. On the intense aspect, if you happen to picked up the telephone whereas shifting to Metro by T-Mobile, it is possible that the telephone can be free by the service’s signup provide. 

And whereas I’m usually not thrilled with a telephone that will get solely two years of safety updates, at this cheaper price it is simpler to abdomen so long as you realize to maneuver onto a brand new system after its safety updates finish. If you possibly can stay with the two-year lifespan, the TCL 50 XL 5G gives lots of worth. But if you happen to hope to make use of the telephone for 3 years or longer, you must test into what Motorola provides with its Moto G line or Samsung’s Galaxy A telephones, which is able to get extra years of safety updates.

How we take a look at telephones

Every telephone examined by CNET’s evaluations crew was truly utilized in the true world. We take a look at a telephone’s options, play video games and take photographs. We study the show to see if it is shiny, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and construct to see how it’s to carry and whether or not it has an IP-rating for water-resistance. We push the processor’s efficiency to the extremes, utilizing standardized benchmark instruments like GeekBench and 3DMark in addition to our personal anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution movies and enjoying graphically intense video games at excessive refresh charges.

All the cameras are examined in quite a lot of circumstances, from shiny daylight to darkish indoor scenes. We check out particular options like evening mode and portrait mode and evaluate our findings in opposition to equally priced competing telephones. We additionally take a look at the battery life by utilizing the telephone every day in addition to working a collection of battery drain assessments.

We have in mind extra options, like help for 5G; satellite tv for pc connectivity; fingerprint and face sensors; stylus help; quick charging speeds; and foldable shows, amongst others that may be helpful. And we stability all this in opposition to the value to provide the verdict on whether or not that telephone, no matter worth it’s, truly represents good worth. Though these assessments could not at all times be mirrored in CNET’s preliminary overview, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.