TCL Plex Review - Good Smartphone with Quad-Bluetooth and Smart Key
Comparison Devices
Bewertung | Rating Version | Datum | Modell | Gewicht | Laufwerk | Groesse | Aufloesung | Preis ab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80.2 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 01 / 2020 | TCL Plex SD 675, Adreno 612 | 192 g | 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash | 6.53" | 2340x1080 | |
| 79.8 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 04 / 2019 | Samsung Galaxy A50 Exynos 9610, Mali-G72 MP3 | 166 g | 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash | 6.40" | 2340x1080 | |
| 80.5 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 12 / 2019 | Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite SD 710, Adreno 616 | 179 g | 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash | 6.39" | 2340x1080 | |
| 79 % v7 (old) | v7 (old) | 10 / 2019 | Motorola One Zoom SD 675, Adreno 612 | 190 g | 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash | 6.40" | 2340x1080 |
Case, Equipment and Operation
The TCL Plex consists of a lot of glass as well as a solid metal frame and leaves a valuable impression due to its very good workmanship. It is available in the colours opal white and obsidian black, the latter being more reminiscent of a dark blue. There is no IP certification and the battery is firmly installed. The hybrid card slot can either accommodate two nano-SIMs or a microSD card and a SIM.
The USB 2.0 port has a Type C design and supports both audio output and OTG. An optional microSD card cannot be formatted as internal memory, but the exFAT file system is supported. There is also Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and an analogue radio receiver.
The connection to the home network is easy with the integrated ac-WLAN module, which achieves good results in the test. On the road, LTE Cat. 6 is available at best, which is below the capabilities of the SoC. The frequency equipment is okay, but the band density is too thin for world travel. The voice quality is also good, but the TCL Plex user is always accompanied by a slight background noise.
Android 9.0 Pie is used as the operating system, over which the manufacturer superimposes the in-house TCL UI. At the time of testing, the security patches are at the status of December 5th 2019 and thus still quite up-to-date. An update to Android 10 will follow. Unfortunately there is no DRM certification (DRM Widvine L3).
The touchscreen and the physical keys work perfectly. The fingerprint scanner on the back also has a high recognition rate, but should work a bit faster. It also supports gestures and can also be used to start apps. The 2D face recognition works very reliably. Additionally, there is a so-called Smart Key on the left side, which can not only be used to start the Google Assistant, but also to start other apps or system functions.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
Cameras - TCL Plex with Low Light Mode
The triple camera on the back offers, in addition to the 48 MP main camera, an additional super wide angle and a small lens, which is supposed to provide better video recordings in low light. This also works surprisingly well and ensures noticeably brighter shots, although the quality isn't dazzling and this option is limited to Full HD. UHD videos are possible at 30 FPS, but have the disadvantage of not being stabilized.
The photo quality is quite good, but TCL needs to make some improvements, especially for subjects with a high dynamic range. The selfie quality is also okay and the TCL Plex shines with a comparatively comprehensive photo app.
Display - IPS Panel of the Plex with Small Weaknesses
The TCL Plex's quite large IPS display delivers a decent performance, but doesn't show up in the test as color accurate as the manufacturer promises. The brightness is alright, but the competitors partly use much brighter panels. The luminosity is similar in the APL50 measurement (425 cd/m²) and limited to 401 cd/m² in manual mode. It is also a pity that TCL doesn't do without PWM.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 93 %
Center on Battery: 432 cd/m²
Contrast: 1005:1 (Black: 0.43 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 3.4 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.9
ΔE Greyscale 3.8 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
98.2% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.14
| TCL Plex IPS, 2340x1080, 6.5" | Samsung Galaxy A50 AMOLED, 2340x1080, 6.4" | Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite AMOLED, 2340x1080, 6.4" | Motorola One Zoom OLED, 2340x1080, 6.4" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | 23% | 31% | 29% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 56 ? | 8 ? 86% | 4 ? 93% | 8.4 ? 85% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 29.2 ? | 6 ? 79% | 2.8 ? 90% | 2.8 ? 90% |
| PWM Frequency | 2358 ? | 119 -95% | 240.4 ? -90% | 250 ? -89% |
| Screen | 17% | 48% | -35% | |
| Brightness middle | 432 | 644 49% | 618 43% | 461 7% |
| Brightness | 418 | 628 50% | 626 50% | 472 13% |
| Brightness Distribution | 93 | 91 -2% | 97 4% | 95 2% |
| Black Level * | 0.43 | |||
| Contrast | 1005 | |||
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 3.4 | 2.64 22% | 1 71% | 5.9 -74% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 6 | 9.23 -54% | 2.4 60% | 10.4 -73% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 3.8 | 2.5 34% | 1.6 58% | 6.9 -82% |
| Gamma | 2.14 103% | 2.024 109% | 2.24 98% | 2.12 104% |
| CCT | 6151 106% | 6649 98% | 6389 102% | 8167 80% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 20% /
19% | 40% /
42% | -3% /
-13% |
* ... smaller is better
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 29.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 12.8 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 16.4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 76 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 56 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 29.2 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 26.8 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 92 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM detected | 2358 Hz | ≤ 49 % brightness setting |  |
The display backlight flickers at 2358 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 49 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting. The frequency of 2358 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering. In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8684 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
Performance, Emissions and Battery life
The TCL Plex is powered by an upper mid-range Qualcomm SoC, which provides very fast system performance. The benchmarks show, however, that the multi-core CPU performance falls considerably short of expectations, which also has a negative impact on gaming with the smartphone, but this should only be noticeable on demanding titles. Nevertheless, the smartphone gets hotter than 40°C under load in places, but this is harmless.
The loudspeaker on the bottom edge is very high-pitched and delivers a useful sound. The TCL Plex's real sound highlight, however, is Super Bluetooth, which can supply up to four wireless headphones or speakers with sound. This works quite well in the test, but doesn't seem to work optimally with all output devices, so the Xiaomi TWS Earbuds in combination only stuttered the sound. The synchronization of the sound often requires several attempts, but this works much better when outputting via speakers. If several Bluetooth devices are connected to the Plex, high-res streaming is also no longer possible. Moreover, the Chinese mobile phone doesn't seem to support LDAC, at least our Sony WH-1000XM3 has only connected to aptX HD.
The battery life is good, but could well be a bit longer in view of the battery capacity. However, one day of use is possible without problems.
| PCMark for Android | |
| Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (9288 - 9522, n=3) | |
| Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value) | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (7315 - 7950, n=4) | |
| GFXBench | |
| on screen Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (8 - 8.9, n=4) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (3.6 - 166, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 Aztec Ruins Normal Tier Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (9 - 9.9, n=4) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (2.3 - 321, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| on screen Aztec Ruins High Tier Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (3.1 - 5.2, n=4) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (0.85 - 144, n=208, last 2 years) | |
| 2560x1440 Aztec Ruins High Tier Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| TCL Plex | |
| Samsung Galaxy A50 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | |
| Motorola One Zoom | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (3 - 4.8, n=4) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (0.85 - 129, n=207, last 2 years) | |
| TCL Plex | Samsung Galaxy A50 | Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite | Motorola One Zoom | Average 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -18% | 2% | -2% | -5% | 287% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 522 | 507 -3% | 421.5 -19% | 470.5 -10% | 530 ? 2% | 1882 ? 261% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 199.7 | 192.1 -4% | 252.1 26% | 256.6 28% | 212 ? 6% | 1473 ? 638% |
| Random Read 4KB | 130.8 | 98.9 -24% | 113.5 -13% | 134.5 3% | 130.6 ? 0% | 277 ? 112% |
| Random Write 4KB | 130.1 | 18.2 -86% | 116.6 -10% | 110.8 -15% | 101.2 ? -22% | 309 ? 138% |
| Sequential Read 256KB SDCard | 74.9 ? | 73.9 ? -1% | 86 ? 15% | 69.4 ? -7% | 68.3 ? -9% | |
| Sequential Write 256KB SDCard | 56.2 ? | 60.7 ? 8% | 63.9 ? 14% | 51.2 ? -9% | 53.2 ? -5% |
Temperature
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 40.9 °C / 106 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 39.5 °C / 103 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 31.7 °C / 89 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speakers
TCL Plex audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (88.7 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 28.6% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 4.2% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (5.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 9.2% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 45% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 48% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 64% of all tested devices were better, 6% similar, 30% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Motorola One Zoom audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (80 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 17.1% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (13.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 5.4% higher than median
(+) | mids are linear (5.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 5.3% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (6.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (19.6% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 26% of all tested devices in this class were better, 8% similar, 67% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 46% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 47% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Battery Life
| TCL Plex 3820 mAh | Samsung Galaxy A50 4000 mAh | Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite 4030 mAh | Motorola One Zoom 4000 mAh | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | |||||
| WiFi Websurfing | 616 | 701 14% | 734 19% | 644 5% | 1001 ? 63% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict - TCL with successful debut
TCL has so far been well known on the European market mainly through TV sets and the smartphone brands Alcatel and BlackBerry. With the Plex, however, the Chinese electronics group has achieved a successful premiere under its own flag. For not even 300 euros, a well-equipped mid-range mobile phone is offered, which is convincing with its good features.
The Plex is a successful start for TCL's own smartphone portfolio.
We still see room for improvement in the in-house display. The use of PWM is certainly a knockout criterion for some prospective buyers and it would have been nice to have a bit brighter. DRM certification should not be missing in this price range. The CPU is quite fast on the data sheet, but falls short of expectations in everyday use, which doesn't have a negative effect on the system performance, but will certainly come into play in demanding apps.
The TCL Plex certainly collects plus points with the integrated Super Bluetooth, which is currently a unique selling point on the market. The versatile Smart Key also represents practical added value in everyday use.
TCL Plex
- 01/17/2020 v7 (old)
Daniel Schmidt
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