TCL 50 XL 5G First Impressions: So Many Features for a $160 Phone – CNET

The $160 TCL 50 XL 5G is going on sale Thursday with a hefty feature list, especially for a phone that costs under $200. I spent a few hours with it, and so far the cheap phone seems quite capable at most tasks. While this TCL 50-series phone is not the NxtPaper model that includes a paperlike screen which is easier to see at night, it has a 120Hz refresh rate display and NFC contactless payments down to one of the lowest-priced phones that I’ve tested so far.

TCL ships the 50 XL with Android 14, 128GB of storage, a 5,010mAh battery and — in another rarity for phones in this budget price range — 1,080p resolution on its 6.78-inch display.

The camera bump

The TCL 50 XL is big, just as its name implies. However what really sticks out is the large circular camera bump, which adds a bit of styling that we typically see on OnePlus phones. There’s three lenses within it: a wide, ultrawide and a depth sensor. The main camera has a 50-megapixel sensor, the ultrawide a 5-megapixel sensor and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. On the front is an 8-megapixel selfie camera.

I took a few quick office photos, and while I’ll have test the cameras more, initial images look OK with balanced colors. But I found these early photos to struggle when it came to details.

Meanwhile the selfie photo I took in a well-lit podcast studio is noticeably blurry. However, I found that front-facing camera useful for a video call I took with my friend.