Verdict

The TCL 30 SE is a evenhandedly unremarkable affordable phone that ’s chintzy , distinctive to count at ( from certain angles ) , and lasts a serious while in between charges . However , its display lacks sharpness and pop , its carrying out is poor , and its tv camera is super uncompromising .

Pros

Cons

Key Features

Introduction

TCL is n’t new to the universe of smartphones , having strike the market with the mid - range TCL 10 Pro in 2020 and the likewise price TCL 10 in 2021 . But it ’s still undoubtedly know as a TV producer first and foremost .

With the TCL 30 SE , the Chinese manufacturer is targeting the affordable earphone market . price at just £ 140 , it can count the ilk of theMoto G22and theOppo A16sas direct competition .

That ’s some eminently vincible competition right there . The question is , can the TCL 30 SE extend importantly more for that kind of money ?

Design and Screen

The adept thing I can say about the TCL 30 SE ’s pattern is that it stand out from othercheap telephone . It ’s nothing radical , but the way that its chunky matte plastic rim extends around to the back of the phone , framing a sheeny glass - upshot plastic rear cover , is just a little bit unlike .

It ’s a reassuringly solid earpiece to defy , assist by a somewhat chunky 165.2 x 75.5 x 8.9 mm body and a healthy 190 g weight .

My Space Gray model is a minute of a fingerprint magnet , but the way it shifts from night to illumination depending on the slant is pleasing . It ’s also uncommitted in Atlantic Blue and Glacial Blue .

One rather outdated constituent that ’s worth comment on is the TCL 30 SE ’s posterior - mounted fingerprint sensor . This is a design characteristic from another smartphone era , with most competitor switching to side - mounted or even in - display method . In operation , it ’s reliable enough , though unlocking the phone can take an long time due to its sluggish processor .

The headphone ’s teardrop notch and chunky bezel are similarly quondam school signifiers that mouth to a sub-£150 Mary Leontyne Price tag .

This being a cheaper phone , it ’s no surprisal to find a top - go up 3.5 mm phone Jack-tar . You also get a loud but fairly skinny mono speaker unit mounted on the phone ’s bottom edge .

The phone ’s cover is nothing to write place about , even within the context of a budget monetary value point . At 6.52 inches , it ’s not peculiarly huge , nor is it very sharp at 720 x 1600 . I ’ve said it before , but Full HD or 1080p really should be the satisfactory lower limit in today ’s large - blind phones .

TCL has go with an LCD dialog box too , so the color do n’t in particular protrude , and the true blacks ofOLEDdisplays are here supercede by muddy greys . This is n’t the sound for you if you ’re prostrate to revel richHDRvideo mental object .

Still , at least this is an IPS panel , intend that viewing angles are acceptable and the overall picture is reasonably clear .

You do n’t get any frame of sublime refresh rate , however , with the TCL 30 SE screen cohere at 60Hz . give way the speech sound ’s limited carrying out , as we ’ll go on to talk about , that ’s credibly a smart idea .

Camera

However , while it might be packed with pixels , it ’s not a peculiarly big detector at just 1/2.76″. There ’s noOISto keep things steady in those drear situations either .

Indeed , one of the most remarkable omissions here is any sort of Night mode . Taking my usual low light mental testing dead reckoning , there was no dedicated mode to be found in the Camera mount menu , while dissipate in auto merely activated the flash . The resulting depleted tripping shots are predictably cloudy and noisy .

Another illustrious omission is any form of ultra - all-inclusive television camera . Rather , the two supplementary sensing element include a 2MP macro tv camera and a 2MP depth sensor , neither of which are worth much at all .

We ’re wonted to the conjuration of cheap and even mid - range sound trim in on a high - megapixel detector in piazza of a dedicated telephotograph photographic camera , and that ’s precisely what the TCL 30 CE does here . While 2X guesswork are just about tolerable , I would n’t commend using the 4X option , as thing get very blurred indeed .

The sound ’s 8MP selfie television camera really is n’t very good at all . It seems to fight to capture a shrewd subject even in very safe natural firing , while there is stacks of noise and a generally wash out palette .

Performance

It should n’t shock you to take that the TCL 30 SE runs on humble hardware . This is a £ 140 speech sound , call up .

Still , the phone ’s MediaTek MT6762 G Helio G25 chip is an extremely limited component , hitting a lowly average score of 877 in the Geekbench 5 multi - core trial . That ’s even low than the Moto G22 and the Oppo A16s , neither of which on the nose blew us off in public presentation term .

It ’s around half the score of speech sound running on the low - end Snapdragon 480 like theNokia G50 .

Things do n’t improve much when you turn to think the GPU . I could n’t even get our common 3DMark Wild Life test to run on the TCL 30 SE , while the lesser Sling Shot tests are unimpressive . account of around 854 for Sling Shot and 484 for Sling Shot Extreme rake it down with the Moto G22 .

In practical terms , the TCL 30 SE does n’t palpate very fluid in the handwriting , with a unvarying state of wallowiness as you navigate through screens and between apps .

On the software front you ’re looking at a custom take on Android 12 , with TCL UI 4.0 layered on top . TCL ’s take on Android has never been the spoiled on the market , but it ’s far from the salutary .

The notification menu has been needlessly played with to the point where its various toggles replicate the function of stock Android 12 , but with none of the style or clarity . Meanwhile , there ’s a surfeit of bloatware choke off up the home screens , include a weirdly intrusive red-hot apps folder that constantly refreshes with new app recommendations . Apps such as TCL Home , a extra web web browser app , and several other apps take up a slot on the rest home screen . The app tray , meanwhile , defaults to a dumbfound category - based arrangement .

Naturally , it ’s easy enough to clean all of this aside and individualize it to your gustatory modality , at which point TCL UI 4.0 becomes perfectly comfortable to apply . Some will revalue TCL UI ’s sidebar , which provide quick accession to apps and contacts of your choice , as well as a handy Ruler .

Battery life

The TCL 30 SE ladder on a expectant 5000mAh stamp battery . As with most other low-cost sound combining humble computer hardware with a chunky cell , it ’ll last you a day easily , and quite possibly two in - between flush .

Like the Moto G22 , it has a limited 720p display , and unlike the Moto G22 , it does n’t even extend to a 90Hz refresh rate . This mean very good thing for stamina .

Unfortunately , the TCL 30 SE ’s lack of compatibility with the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark trial meant that I could n’t launch the usual intensive use trial . I did run some practical test , however , which were n’t specially encouraging .

The earphone lose 8 % of its care after an hour of video streaming , and 3 % after an hour of euphony streaming . By comparison , the Moto G22 mislay 3 % and 1 % respectively , indicate it ’s much more efficient in everyday media playing chore .

You ’re given a 15W charger in the box seat which , when used , took me 30 minute to get to a simple 19 % . Like the likewise outfit Moto G22 , it ’s going to take you well over 2 hours to commit to 100 % from empty .

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Should you buy it?

: The TCL 30 SE tries something a little unlike with its prolonged bumper , which marks it out from a lot of samey cheap phones .

Even for the money , the TCL 30 SE is a slow phone that chug through most tasks .

Final Thoughts

For the money , the TCL 30 SE is n’t a terrible bet , but nor does it really do anything to discern itself from a whole host of likewise mediocrecheap headphone .

Just like theMoto G22 , there are major reservations with the pungency and calibre of the exhibit , the distractingly torpid operation , and the gravely circumscribe camera system on go here .

On the positive side , TCL ’s design workplace is classifiable in an area of the market that typically play it secure . Meanwhile the main camera , while sorely lack a dedicated Night mode , is capable of decent upshot in good lighting . The TCL 30 SE ’s assault and battery spirit , too , is good enough to get you through a day or two of usage , though that ’s not strange at this end of the market .

Once again , however , pass £ 50 to £ 80 more will get you a lot more phone for your money . Like most phone at this terms , the TCL 30 SE is tawdry , but it is n’t capital value .

Trusted Score

FAQs

Yes , there ’s a 15w courser included with this phone and a cable .

Test Data

Full Specs

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