TCL Note A1 NxtPaper is a Kindle Scribe Colorsoft rival with an Helio G100 SoC and a $549 price tag
After an initial reveal about a week ago, TCL has now officially launched its new tablet, the TCL Note A1 NxtPaper. The tablet-like device is positioned as an alternative to E Ink tablets such as Amazon's Kindle Scribe and the reMarkable Paper Pro, but rather than an E Ink display, it features TCL's proprietary NxtPaper Pure Display.
While TCL has a handful of tablets equipped with its NxtPaper display technology, the TCL Note A1 NxtPaper is different, not only in its design, but its function which is mainly for productive tasks such as taking down meeting notes, drawing, writing, and reading.
According to the spec sheet, the TCL Note A1 NxtPaper has an 11.5-inch Canvas Color display with a 2200 × 1440 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The screen is capable of displaying 16.7 million colors, has a typical brightness of 300 nits, and has support for 10-point multitouch and stylus input. It is protected by 3A crystal shield glass and is TÜV-certified for eye comfort.
TCL says the Note A1 NxtPaper is a better alternative to devices with E Ink displays, which also provide a paper-like experience, but suffer from lags, ghosting, and insufficient eye protection.
Powering the TCL Note A1 NxtPaper is a MediaTek Helio G100 processor, and it is paired with 8GB of RAM. It also has 256GB of storage, four times that of the 2025 Kindle Scribe (available on Amazon for $549.99). The TCL Note A1 NxtPaper doesn't have a microSD card slot, but it has support for cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.
There's a single 13MP autofocus camera on the back of the tablet, which should come in handy for scanning documents. TCL says it has equipped the Note A1 NxtPaper with dual speakers and eight microphones, so users can record with studio-like clarity. It also has a fingerprint scanner buried under the power button, Bluetooth 5.3, a Type-C port, and POGO pins for attaching to an optional keyboard. The TCL Note A1 NxtPaper packs an 8,000mAh battery capacity in a body that is 5.5mm thick and supports 33W fast wired charging.
While TCL doesn't say if its device runs on Android, it does highlight some of its software features. The TCL Note A1 NxtPaper has support for split-screen multitasking and wireless screen casting. It comes with a ton of AI features such as AI meeting transcription, AI real-time translation, AI summary. There's also Help Me Write, AI Rewrite, Handwriting-to-text conversion, formula recognition, and an infinite canvas for artists and designers.
The manufacturer's website says pricing for the TCL Note A1 NxtPaper starts at $419, and it will launch on Kickstarter soon. However, GSMArena reports that it costs $549, and it will launch in Europe, North America, and in parts of Asia, with shipping to begin at the end of February 2026. There's a likelihood GSMArena has reported its final retail price. Nevertheless, the TCL Note A1 NxtPaper is still cheaper than the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, which costs $629.99 for the 32GB version and $679.99 for the 64GB version.
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