You may know TCL from its televisions, speakers, or audio products, but it also makes smartphones. In Europe, phones under the Alcatel and BlackBerry brands are manufactured by TCL, but in Asia, the latter uses its own brand on a range of smartphones.
For the first time, TCL announced (at IFA 2019 in Berlin, Germany) that it would bring its range of phones to Europe, with the TCL Plex leading the way. And it looks pretty good.
The TCL Plex has a triple lens rear camera cluster consisting of a 48MP main camera, connected by a 16MP and 2MP sensor (supposedly angle- and depth-friendly), and a 24MP camera on the front.
A Snapdragon 675 chipset powers the phone, a pretty decent mid-range processor, and an above-average 3820 mAh battery. You also get 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is good for an affordable device.
The design of the TCL Plex is beautiful, with a glossy white or black finish and an S-shaped pattern on the back. There is almost an impression that TCL is taking a Huawei manual sheet with the back stamped.
On the front of the phone, the screen measures 6,53 inches, which is quite large and is only broken by a small "punch-hole" camera located in the upper left corner.
In all, the TCL Plex looks like an impressive smartphone, more so, which is why it should launch at € 329 (around € 360, € 295, AU 530) when it launches in Europe at the end of 2019. We don't know anything about the release dates elsewhere, or what it will cost when it launches in other regions, but we'll keep you posted.
Alcatel devices generally don't feel a bit inspired, so it's no surprise that TCL used its own name for Plex and we're intrigued to see what new phones are to come.