TCL’s debut flagship 10 series smartphones launch in Australia this month

TCL Communications is gearing up for the official arrival of the TCL 10 Pro and TCL 10L smartphones into the Australian market. From August 10, the debut flagship series from the Chinese electronics company will make a play on the hyper-competitive mid-range market with premium, feature-rich phones that have so far been noted around the world for their remarkable high-resolution displays.

TCL’s first-ever cured AMOLED display will be the star of the show here, as well as proprietary NXTVISION visual technology, an impressive looking quad rear-camera system and other features typical of a flagship in 2020.

Given TCL’s considerable reputation for screens, both phones should be stunning to look at. The company’s signature NXTVISION is said to “bring images to life” with more accurate colour, clarity and better contrast. The 10 Series also has an SDR to HDR real-time conversion feature, which should help upconverting when viewing lower quality content, enhancing it when brighter highlights, darker shadows, increased contrast and amplified colour.

TCL claim that the signature technology behind these displays generates “cutting-edge colour accuracy so users cannot see a perceivable difference between real life and the images on the screen.”

“We are thrilled to be launching both the TCL 10 Pro and 10L in Australia as part of our bigger plans for the TCL brand in smartphones,” offered Sam Skontos, VP and Regional Managing Director, South East Asia & Pacific, for TCL Mobile. “We have leveraged our extensive experience and global success in display technology to deliver two highly featured phones we believe are best in class for their price and epitomise our commitment to Display Greatness.”

Seeing as TCL already have a presence in Australia with Alcatel, the smartphones should be making the smooth transition to the local market. “We will now be working to achieve the same success for our TCL smartphones in the mid-tier market,” Skontos comments on Alcatel’s success in Australia. “We have an exciting roadmap and big plans, and believe the 10 Pro and 10L are outstanding options to announce our intentions.”

Of particular interest will be the 10 Pro, which sports a 6.47-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel, curved to help reduce bezels and complement the high screen-to-body ratio. Edge Bar shortcuts will be featured to allow users a seamless one-handed grip, while an on-display fingerprint reader promises efficient biometrics.

The display has also been Netflix-certified for HDR10+, which is a promising seal of approval.

“On-the-go” reverse charging is not often seen in the mid-range, so that will surely be a welcome feature for those who can’t justify the higher end flagships which now push over $1,000.

Photography will also be a bit focus, with AI-powered imaging said to put a great deal of emphasis on clarity and colour in low light. The 10 Pro has got a impressively specced quad-camera system led by a 64MP high-res shooter, and bother super wide-angle and macro cameras. 2.9μm video recording capable of super low light and wide-angle capture should keep content creators happy, while selfie lovers get a nice 24MP front-facing camera.

For it’s engine, the 10 Pro will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675, Octa-core CPU and be built on Android 10. A sizable 4,500 mAh battery should ideally push over a day worth of reasonable use, but we can’t confirm either way until we go hands-on with it.

The TCL Pro will retail in Australia for A$749 from JB Hi-Fi and Officeworks online, available in either an Ember Gray and Forest Mist Green colour. Stepping down a few hundred bucks will be the TCL 10L at A$499 in either a nature-inspired Arctic White or Mariana Blue finish. Both are available from August 10th.

Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.