Even though TCL is best known for its TVs, the Chinese company has been making its own brand of smartphones since 2020. Its devices are on the lower end of the price range for Android. For example, its 30 series of phones for 2022 all cost less than £250 (or €300). This includes the TCL 30 SE, which is the second-cheapest in the 30 series after the TCL 30 E and before the TCL 30, 30+, and 30 5G. At £139.99, it has a powerful 5000mAh battery, a big 6.52in LCD screen, and a 50Mp main camera lens that seems to be pretty good.
The TCL 30 SE looks different from other cheap phones, which is the best thing I can say about its design. It’s not a big deal, but the way its thick matte plastic rim wraps around the back of the phone and frames a shiny plastic back cover that looks like glass is a little bit different. It feels good in your hand, thanks to its chunky 165.2 x 75.5 x 8.9 mm body and healthy 190g weight.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]Specifications
- Display: 6.52 inch
- Storage: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM
- Chipset: Mediatek MT6762G Helio G25
- Camera: 50 MP, 2 MP, 2 MP and 8MP
- Battery: 5000mAh
Where to get TCL 30 SE Smartphone?
The TCL 30 SE has a 6.52-inch HD+ LCD screen with a resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels, up to 400 nits of brightness, and a pixel density of 269 ppi. The aspect ratio is 20:9, and the refresh rate of the screen is only 60Hz, which is pretty standard for a cheap phone but not as good as the Moto G22’s 90Hz.
The natural color reproduction makes the screen easy to see when you’re outside in the sun. This is a good display for the price, and even though it only refreshes at 60Hz, this phone will work fine when you watch YouTube or play mobile games.
The 50MP wide camera is the main camera on the TCL 30 SE. It can take photos that are very sharp and well-balanced when the lighting is good. But even though it has a lot of pixels, the 1/2.76′′ sensor is not a very big one. There’s also no OIS to help keep things steady when it’s dark.
In fact, the lack of a Night mode is one of the things that stand out the most. When I did my usual low-light test shots, I couldn’t find a low-light mode in the Camera settings menu, and shooting in auto just turned on the flash. The resulting shots taken in low light are, as expected, murky and noisy. The lack of any kind of ultra-wide camera is also surprising. The two extra sensors are actually a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor, neither of which is very useful.
Battery life is important for this phone to work well and perform at the level you expect, and TCL doesn’t let you down. It comes with a 5000mAh battery, a 15W charger, and a USB-C charging cable. If you use this phone moderately, it should last a full day without any problems. It takes 3 hours to go from 0% to 100% when it’s time to fully charge.