TCL 40XL 2023 Unlocked Cell Phone 4GB + 128GB, 6.75" Display, Smartphone Android 13, 50MP AI Camera Mobile Phone, 5000 mAh, 4G LTE, US Version, Dark Gray

So I am giving this 5 stars. There is zero doubt this is a very quality smartphone. Cameras are solid, the battery is off the chart, comes with the full charger brick and even a phone case. The audio driver is awesome. 3.5mm headphone jack is awesome, but using my JBL earbuds, even better. Video records very well, will record in HDR, you can take HDR photos, the haptics are good, not great, and finally, the OS is easy to use.Why the but in the headline? So, if you are a phone snob or to be very frank someone that is constantly buried on your phone, sniffing through multiple apps at once, that much of a photo nerd that you can probably count the pixels per photos with your own eyes, THIS IS NOT THE PHONE FOR YOU. Pay the extra, go to the Samsung, Google, or Apple models. At times due to the 4gb of RAM, scrolling is not as smooth as you would hope for. Again, if you are a phone nerd, someone that buries themselves in their phone, this is not for you.With that, if you are looking for a solid smartphone, great click and share camera photos, good video quality, an AMAZING battery, good audio, buy this thing. Not to mention the last thing.....it is TCL. As in TV's.....as in the display on this thing is solid! It does not disappoint.To be very clear.....I am moving over from an iPhone 12, and for the past 48 hours, burning it up, downloading, watching movies, YouTube, etc.....great battery to be honest.Who is this for? People who want a solid smartphone, great display, even better battery, easy camera, easy OS, and comes with a ton of stuff out of the box.Who is this NOT for? Phone nerds, people who want the top end camera, people who require solid sound out of the phone speakers rather than using earbuds, and those who use multiple apps at once.Overall.....5 stars, but would say 4.7 out of 5.Battery 5Display 4.8Call quality (I use Tello) 5Camera 4.3Video 4Accessories out of the box 5Fingerprint on the side 5***update from 7/23/2023***This is without a doubt my daily driver now.As to the scrolling lag, that is not just on this phone but one app for weather that I am not going to call out is laggy even on an iPhone 14 Pro Max....the scroll and loading rate on this for this price point is solid.Tested out a UMIDIGI 5G Max to see if I was missing something on the price point. Already sent it back. The geekbench on this vs the UMIDIGI 5G was 2:1 faster. I want to say dual core on this one was 1867 vs 1302 on the UMIDIGI. To put it in perspective, my old iPhone SE 2020 was only 2118 on geekbench so not missing a ton out.The ONLY thing I am noticing is that in low light the camera is, meh, but I can live with it.Again.....if you are a phone nerd or snob, you will probably not be the happiest with this phone. If you need a solid smartphone, that does the trick, solid camera, UNREAL battery, and great TCL screen, for 219 after a 30.00 Amazon coupon, you cannot go wrong. And again......I am moving over from an iPhone 12. So take that for what you will.

Things to know: I had a Motorola Edge+ (2020). At the time of purchase, the Motorola was a premium phone with amazing sound and picture quality, and an incredible price! The TCL 40XL does not feel like a step down, rather a horizontal shift. If you are a Verizon customer: Pop in your sim card, wait about 5 minutes, it works.The overall experience with this phone so far is Excellent.The cons:1. Verizon's Call Filter app will not work. The phone is not provisioned for that according to the error message in the app.2. Another potential hiccup is visual voice mail: It works when I use carrier data but not when I use WiFi and carrier data together. I am still trying to figure this out, YMMV.3. The phone is NOT 5G. This is not a problem for me, but it may be for you. The 4G LTE is great.4. The phone does not "show" on the My Verizon app.The pros:1. The sound quality of my voice during phone calls, according to my friends and family is 1,000 % better with the TCL 40XL as compared to the Motorola Edge+. There are no drop-outs, my voice comes thru clearly.2. The screen brightness is impressive; I keep it at 25% for normal office/indoor use. With adaptive brightness set, I am able to see the screen when it is sunny outside. It's good.3. The fingerprint reader is AWESOME! It is better than the Motorola Edge+. The fingerprint reader responds 95% or better on the first try.4. The picture quality compares favorably, IMO.The TCL 40XL's default setting for pictures is NOT high pixel. The waffle you see in the picture, is the screen room; it seems more pronounced in the TCL 40XL high pixel photo. I think the default picture setting for the TCL 40XL compares well with the Motorola Edge + for day to day pictures.1st place: Motorola Edge+ hdr2nd place: TCL 40XL default settings3rd place: TCL 40XL high pixels5. Lack of bloat ware!!! No double apps.Special Note for Verizon Customers:Verizon sells the TCL 40 SE for $99 as a prepaid. It does not compare favorably to this phone IMO. The other options for TCL have older versions of Android, smaller batteries, and less onboard memory (if you purchase the 6/256 for $~152.00 + tax). The Verizon branded phones also have Verizon bloat, which does include a working Call Filter App. So there's that.The phone screen is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. I do not use a case at home. I also did not apply a screen protector. So far it is holding up, we'll see in a few months.I purchased this [ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4K9CH14/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 ] purse/case and it works well. See the review!Overall, it seems worth the money and it works with my carrier.All in, phone and purse/case ~$175.00. tax incl.

This replaced my husband’s galaxy, and was originally going to be a temporary replacement until the new flagship model was released. 7 months later, it’s still going strong and he opted not to replace it until it dies.it has a very generic look and feel, but he doesn’t want flashy,Upsides:-price mostly!-It also supports 5G on our carrier (t mobile).- it is solid in his huge hands.- above-average battery life.- enough memory and processing power for his daily tasks.- the camera isn’t a trying to write home about, but it works for him.The downsides:-it won’t get any software updates beyond security patches and those will only be supported for 2 years.-it’s not shatter-resist. No Gorilla Glass- if you play games on your phone, this isn’t for you. Graphics are terrible.-lack of support. It’s been 7 months and apparently is already not being sold anymore!-no android updates. I know I already said this, but it’s a big deal.Still, it was a contender in this price range a,d he’s happy with it. I’m a bit more of a technophile and would have needed to upgrade soon, but it’s perfect for his needs.