TCL is well known for its televisions, but the Chinese company has been making smartphones under its own name since 2020. Its products are at the lower end of the Android price range, with its 30 series of phones for 2022 all comfortable costing less than £250. This includes the TCL 30 SE, which is the second-most affordable model in the 30 series after the TCL 30 E. It costs £139.99 and comes with a long-lasting 5000mAh battery. A large 6.52in LCD display, as well as a purportedly powerful 50Mp primary camera lens. Let us read an depth review of TCL 30 SE.
What will you see here?
Design of TCL 30 SE
The TCL 30 SE is a decent enough phone in terms of low-cost Androids, but it’s not spectacular. It’s 6.52 the display has a teardrop selfie camera in the center and very small bezels on the top and sides but is somewhat thicker at the bottom.
There’s a neat camera module in the top-left back corner, in which the phone’s three rear lenses are placed in an unfussy vertical line. The phone also has a fingerprint sensor panel on the back, which contrasts with the device’s slick polycarbonate.
The frame and rear of the 30 SE are constructed of cheap plastic, but the material has a glossy shine to it, making it appear more costly than it is. The colors available – Space Gray, Atlantic Blue, and Glacial Blue – are especially appealing in their subtlety, adding character without being too loud or obnoxious.
The plastic may also make the phone less durable than glass-encased smartphones, as it will not break or break if dropped. However, because the phone lacks an official IP classification, users should exercise caution while using it near water or dust.
Screen & Speakers:
The TCL 30 SE is equipped with a 6.52-inch IPS LCD display with a size of 1600 x 720 pixels. This gives it a 20:9 aspect ratio and a pixel per inch density of 269. This isn’t particularly high but enough for reading websites and seeing images. However, while being an HD screen, the IPS LCD panel does not produce high-quality video.
For example, the edges of things in films or TV shows aren’t as smooth or well defined as those seen while watching anything on a more expensive option. Similarly, when playing games, the quality is often adequate, despite a clear difference between the 30 SE’s screen and those of more expensive phones.
The phone’s brightness is also rather impressive, with an average of 450 nits. However, putting on the adaptive brightness option does assist.
The phone has two speakers at the bottom that provide stereo sound that is more than suitable for viewing movies and TV. However, anyone wishing to listen to the music on their phone without earbuds may be disappointed because the audio quality is poor when the volume is turned up past halfway.
Performance of TCL 30 SE
The TCL 30 SE’s specifications are very modest, which is probably unsurprising for a phone that is officially priced at £140. It’s powered by a MediaTek MT6762G Helio G25, which, unlike processors that use a more efficient 7nm or 5nm production process, employs a 12 nm one. This simply implies that it can fit fewer transistors into it, which means it runs slower than more powerful computers.
The Helio G25 is a sluggish performance when combined with only 4GB of RAM. Apps and websites may take longer to load than usual, and more visually demanding video games may experience noticeable latency. The phone is absolutely suitable for more recreational and older games, but if gaming is the primary purpose of the smartphone, you should invest in something more powerful.
Storage is similarly limited, with the base edition of the 30 SE having only 64GB of internal memory. If you look around enough, you can buy it for around the same price as the 64GB version. In any case, all models of the phone include a microSD card slot, allowing customers to expand storage up to 512GB.
Cameras:
The camera of the TCL 30 SE is most likely its primary selling feature. The phone has a triple-lens back camera arrangement, with a 50Mp primary lens handling most of the work. The 2Mp depth and macro lenses add some diversity.
The lack of an ultrawide lens on the 30 SE is surprising, especially given how prevalent such lenses are. However, inexpensive smartphones seldom have great ultrawide cameras. Thus omitting this lens allows TCL to focus on providing a superior main camera experience.
Sure, the 30 SE isn’t the finest camera phone you’ll find this year, but it’s surprisingly effective for a smartphone in its price bracket. Its primary lens produces images with a strong dynamic range and color balance. As well as enough detail and clarity for most uses.
In line with the lack of an ultrawide and telephoto lens, the TCL 30 SE’s system has few supplementary functions, with optical image stabilization also lacking. However, it does have phase-detection autofocus (PDAF), which means you can typically just point the phone at your chosen target, hold it steady for a bit, and shoot away.
Battery Life & Charging:
Big batteries on low-cost phones are becoming more prevalent, and the TCL 30 SE does not disappoint in this regard. Its 5000mAh battery can easily last more than a day under heavy use. And it may even last the third day if used simply for the essentials.
Its lifespan is aided by the fact that the phone does not enable a higher refresh rate or any other features that would drain it more quickly. So you can truly get your money’s worth in terms of daily usage if you don’t abuse it.
This is a good thing because the phone’s best charging option is 15W ‘rapid charging.’ Of course, 15W is no longer quick. Also, the 30 SE took now over two hours to recharge from 10% to 100%.
Software & Apps:
The TCL 30 SE offers a user-friendly take on standard Android, with Android 12 as its core OS and TCL UI 4.0 running on top. This features a few great improvements that make navigating the phone easier. Such as the app drawer at the bottom of the screen is now organized by default by app category.
There’s also a handy sidebar that can be accessed by swiping from the right side of the screen. It allows you to save a number of important applications, contacts, and functions for easy access.
Similarly, a variety of motions may be used to do a few activities more rapidly. Such as swiping down with three fingers to take a screenshot, improving usability.
One minor disadvantage is that there isn’t much room for customization, although this may contribute to the software’s simplicity. One further inescapable disadvantage is that the program might appear relatively sluggish at times, which is mostly due to the use of a less-than-powerful CPU.
Another significant disadvantage is that TCL has only promised one core software upgrade and two years of security fixes. This is unquestionably a TCL aim.
Price & Availability
The TCL 30 SE is a low-cost Android smartphone with a strong camera and a large battery. While it’s software & design are commendable, it is let down by poor performance and update support. The TCL 30 SE is now available in the United Kingdom and Europe, with pricing beginning at £139 for the device with only 64GB of internal memory. Argos and Amazon both sell it.
Who makes the TCL phone?
TCL Communication is a completely owned subsidiary of TCL Corporation, one of the world’s major consumer electronics conglomerates. TCL Communication uses the Nokia trademark Alcatel under license.
Does TCL SE have wireless charging?
Consider the TCL 20 Pro 5G. It’s one of the best-looking and most luxurious-feeling Android phones available for $500 in the United States. It’s also nearly the only phone at this price that supports wireless charging. The TCL 20S ($250) and TCL 20 SE ($190) are two even more cheap phones.
Conclusion
The TCL 30 SE is a solid smartphone for the price. Even if it has a few flaws that keep it from being a truly fantastic budget mobile. Its camera is adequate.Its battery can last for a couple of days provided you don’t use the phone excessively. Other advantages include its clean appearance and simple, user-friendly software. However, its performance and charging speeds leave much to desire. Also, the fact that it only gives one main software update may turn some people off.
