10L Smartphone

I have had the phone for a day and am pleased!! First thing is it works on Verizon! We have Verizon prepaid and since I put the micro sim in last night it's been working just fine in the Metro Atlanta area. We keep our phones on wi-fi while at home and it's functioning well also. I am not a tech nut, nor am I seeking to impress anyone with the latest gadget or phone. I have a great smile and matching conversation. ;) :D Honestly for the money, it's a really good deal, so good I ordered my wife the white one. I replaced a 2+ year old Motorolla X4 which I enjoyed. This phone is super fast, the screen is lovely. The case it comes with is cheap, order a real one. The speakers are solid, folks who want Bang Olufsen coming from a phone speaker have issues. Super thrilled the 3.5 jack is on top of the phone, makes so much sense! Thank you it already has a screen protector. Thank you it has its own music player, I disliked nothing one on the X4. The camera quality is better than what I had and will suffice taking pictures of two toddlers for the next couple of years. I considered the Pro, but was like I have an actual camera for those type of pictures. Back to the phone. For under $200 with 6gb or ram, 64 ram of internal memory and the capacity to expand up to 256 with a micro SD....... A no brainer/slam dunk. If I have time, I will come back and share in 30-60 days.

I don't usually write reviews for products but I was so satisfied with this phone that I felt as though I had to. I did an absurd amount of research after I broke my Sony Xperia 10. I did not want to break the bank but I wanted the maximum bang for my buck...and that's exactly what I got. I can not believe the quality of the device for the price. I was expecting a substantial downgrade from my Sony Xperia 10 as the TCL is substantially less expensive, however; I actually prefer the TCL 10L by a wide margin. The 6gb of ram keeps things very snappy, regardless of what you are doing. The screen looks great even though it's an LCD rather than an amoled. NXTVISION actually works. The build quality is impressive for the price and it looks more expensive than it is. The camera more than suits my needs, but I am far from an avid photographer. The screen is extremely responsive. The smart key function is very handy. The mono speaker actually sounds pretty great and gets quite loud even though it's a...well...mono speaker. Call quality and reception are flawless thus far (I am on T mobile) It feels very good in the hand. There is plenty more I could say but anyone who made it this far probably gets the point. I am writing this review mainly for people who are on the fence, to help them feel reassured in their order. For the cost, the TCL 10l is leaps and bounds better than what I had expected. My only possible regret is not spending more for the pro model, because if I am this satisfied with the 10l I probably would have absolutely loved the pro.

I have had to carry a cell phone for work for some years now and didn't want to deal with it and my own every time I went out the door, but transitioning jobs I found I needed my own. We have always favored unlocked phones to be able to provide our own a la carte provider so the TCL 10L seemed like a good option. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the phone itself. Clear picture, a battery that lasts all day without any problem even at our house with in and out cell tower range, and the TCL customized Android interface that works well. It's similar to stock with some minor improvements and you can adjust the changes back to normal if desired, one example being the lock screen where I prefer the full notifications vs their icon based view. It is a large screen that's bright and easy to read and I use it every day. Playing a few heavier processor mobile games has had no problems. My major complaint is that TCL has not fulfilled their promises at all regarding software updates to the phone. The company publicly stated that the 10L and 10 Pro would both receive at least one upgrade in Android version from 10 to 11, and security updates every 2 months for at least 2 years. To date, they did update to Android 11 in March, but failed to provide any security updates since until they finally released one in Oct 2021. This is nowhere near the promised releases and a major failing from the company in keeping their promises, and is glaring in light of the Android One program being embraced to offer 2 years of Android OS updates and 3 years of security patches by many competing vendors. This fact alone has encouraged me to look elsewhere when I ultimately replace this in the future and make me question their long term support for the device and why I would support such a vendor. So, bottom line is that it's a pretty good phone at a fair price for normal users, but you may wish to think twice about this company before you buy one of their phones unless they start keeping promises.

I have been using this phone heavily for the past two weeks and it works great! I took the SIM card out of my Moto G6 (that I bought 2+ years ago at a Verizon store) popped it into this phone's SIM tray, and voice and data worked right away! Text didn't though, so I hopped on the chat on the myVerizon website and after a brief wait I told them I needed CDMA-less like the phone's description said. A few minutes later all my texts came flooding in and I could send as well. This is my first non-Verizon purchased phone and I was worried, but that was mostly FUD. It is wonderful not having the Verizon bloatware (hum, NFL crap, McAfee stuff, etc) The built in Messenger program works great for SMS instead of Verizon's Message+, and I like the speed and interface better too. Voicemail was a bit confusing at first, since the separate Verizon voicemail app was not there and cannot be downloaded from the Play store, from what I can see. Turns out, it is just a tab in the 'phone' app, all the way to the right, under the dialing circle. I am also back to playing Pokemon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite after a few month hiatus since this phone is fast enough to play them comfortably. One issue though, is when Harry Potter boots the map screen will go black, so you can't see any items to pick up. This is a known and frustrating issue on some phones according to the Wizards Unite forums. The easy way around it though is not to start the game from the standard icon on the screen, open it through the play store. The shortcut for this is to hold the icon down and go to 'app info', then scroll to the bottom under STORE and click 'App Details', this brings you to the play store where you can press open and the game works as usual. Once you do this a couple of times you get used to it and honestly I like that it is an extra step to indulge in a timewaster. Also, fun fact, Google Meet and Verizon data work great; I teach a High School tech class remotely and was able to have a remote field day where I walked around a junkyard looking at all the different cars without any hiccups and using a Bluetooth headset as well. Sorry for the length; thanks for reading, and enjoy!

Coming from a broken LG G7 ThinQ (Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor), to the TCL 10L (Snapdragon 665), raw CPU performance is roughly half of the highest-end modern flagship CPUs. If you are a big mobile gamer, this phone may not fit your needs. But for my workload; checking emails, watching YouTube, listening to music, texting, using Snapchat and other social media apps, etc, I noticed NO difference in everyday use compared to my old G7 ThinQ. The 6GB of RAM is very nice, and I have never maxed it out. Pros: -Great price ($190 at time of purchase and review) -6GB of RAM is plenty for the average user -Large, bright screen. Resolution is essentially an ultra-wide 1080p. Nothing that will blow you away, but it gets the job done a lot better than I was expecting. -Android 11 operating system with little to no bloatware/preinstalled junk -Worked instantly with my carrier T-Mobile, just popped in the SIM and it worked! -Shipped very fast for me, ordered late at night, arrived at 8am the next day! -Headphone jack! -Front and rear facing cameras are decent for the price -USB C -Very fast and accurate fingerprint sensor Cons: -Snapdragon 665 processor will not satisfy enthusiasts who want the fastest of mobile processors. -No wireless charging -4G cell network compatibility, no 5G. -Volume buttons are right next to the power button; I often accidentally lock my phone when trying to adjust volume. TL;DR: Amazing value for money. Not high-end by any means, but an excellent mid-range smartphone for the average user.

UPDATE 2: TCL customer service noticed my email and reached out. I give them 8/10 stars for their customer service, even though the issue was not resolved to my satisfaction. They decided to upgrade me to the TCL 10 Pro. Unfortunately, their phones just seem to be glitchy. My callers get constant echo when I'm on the speaker phone, so I can't use my preferred way of speaking; the headset jack barely works, so I can't always plug in my boom box; and the beveled edges cause all kinds of accidents -- but TCL was done with me. They did give me another small refund, which means I'm only out $150, but now I will have to live with a crappy phone until I can afford another one. I will be staying away from their phones from now on. UPDATE 1: Three weeks since original purchase, and I had to downgrade my review from 5 stars to 3. I hope it's just temporary. The first phone started off fine, then started playing the 3-note TCL notification sound randomly through the day. It was infuriating and customer service was no help. Two factory resets and the problem was even worse, I had to keep the phone turned off altogether. Replacement arrived yesterday, so far so good. I hope to restore my original rating of 5 stars, because without the glitch it's a great phone for the price. ORIGINAL: An impressive phone within my budget (<$200). Big, bright screen, fast response time, easy transfer of files and contacts, beautiful photos. Using it on Verizon in a very rural, mountainous area, working fine, no drops, getting texts. Will update if it runs into problems, but so far this phone is a winner.

Updated 10/07/2022 - I really loved this TCL 10L phone. It's performance is great, price is fair, and it does anything you need a phone to do. However, there's one major recurring issue with it that makes it a failure for anyone considering purchasing it. Between my wife and I, we've owned 7 of them. Why seven you ask??? There's an issue we've experienced with every single one we bought. And the issue is the exact same thing on every one we've owned. After a short time, ranging from 3 months to 9 months, the phone stops charging. Normally it starts slowly, fast charging stops, then it only charges if you position the cord just right. Then it eventually stops charging altogether. We kept purchasing replacements because they are terrific phones when they're working, and we kept hoping that the charging failures were simply one-offs. However after this most recent purchase, in a single day, the phone just stopped accepting a charge. Nothing I could do would get it to charge, I had to immediately purchase a new phone before the TCL 10L died and became useless. After this last issue, I decided I was done trying these phones. It became undeniably clear that this is a fundamental deficiency in this phone and any others we purchased would keep doing the same thing. I ended up buying a Samsung A32 5g for the same price, and so far it's working wonderfully. Do yourself a favor and avoid TCL phones unless they revamp the charging mechanism. Too bad that in the end, I defeated the entire purpose of buying these phones, which was to avoid paying $1,000+ for a smart phone. In the end, we spent more than that trying to save money, I should have bought a flagship phone in the very beginning. I can't go back and change my experience, but hopefully this saves at least one person from making the same mistake I did. Original Review- I was a little skeptical about buying a phone from from a company that doesn't specialize in phones (TCL is a TV manufacturer,) but boy was I pleasantly surprised by this phone! I wanted to update my dated Samsung S7 but I simply cannot justify paying for any company's flagship phones. So I gave this a try and I am loving it!! The battery life is incredible, the screen is big with a crisp, bright picture. It's super fast and has a ton of storage. I truly love it! I should also note, my phone provider is Straight talk. I first bought one off these phones for my fiance and set it up for her the lazy way (just swapping the SIM card.) It worked, except she was unable to get text messages. I played with the APN settings and still never got it to work. Then when I set mine up, I did the online Straight Talk phone transfer with keep your own number with a $0.99 bring your own phone SIM card. After a few hours the transfer was completed and my phone was fully functional, including text messages! So make sure you do the real phone transfer and everything will work like it's supposed to. Highly recommend this phone!!!

Hands down best phone I've ever owned was my Nokia Lumia windows phone which I had for five years and was exceptional in every way and only cost me $50!!! Texting, pics, ease of posting vids to social media, calendar, on and on it was exceptional and user optimal in every way. Sadly Microsoft dropped and no longer supported, so my hunt for a replacement began. Tried an iphone and hated it. Search continued. I've been a t mobile customer for ten years, but they have really declined with customer service. Got the tcl and it worked great, liked it a lot, but then all of a sudden had issues placing/receiving calls. I wrongly assumed it ewas due to lack of band 71 and contacted t -mobile for tech support, I even asked if I should insert my newer sim as my other was old, tech WRONGLY said it wouldn't make a difference. So fast forward, t mobile talks me into getting their junk promo LGK51 with three months prepaid bc 'it's a t mobile device'..HATE the lg and was having the SAME ISSUES..so I contacted t mobile and they not only refused to refund , store asst manager in Corte Madera was extremely rude, unprofessional and didn't address that I could no longer make phone calls and missed an important physician tele visit bc of it. Maybe bc of their merge with SPRINT they have now become as unprofessional and greedy as the other carriers, I am no longer a fan. Switched to RED POCKET and have great coverage as they piggyback on ATT and all other carrier towers, for just $20 per month. I like Mint mobile plans but evidently t-mobile coverage is not great where I'm located., I will not support any carrier or company who don't provide customer support. Redpocket is $20 for those who use Verizon or ATT carriers..fyi So I placed in the new sim after calling them yet again and getting a knowledgeable tech person in phillipines who attuned the newer sim, VOILA!!!! service is now working again, and I had replaced the tcl which I loved with a junk t mobile k51. T mobile is losing my customer loyalty after ten years. Their asst manager and 611 support were awful,the tech support person in phillipines was the sole redeeming person in the whole fiasco. These companies are terrible and care only about profits not customers. Coincidentally, tcl customer support for the tcl was great as well. I could get a LIVE person and they were great and even followed upwith an email. This is how a company should be. Excellent bang for buck and great customer support. TCL knocks it out of the park, and I love their televisions as well, best tv I could have purchased on Father's Day for under $250. TCL gets my customer loyalty. .Love this phone. Highly recommend. Best budget phone out there, just $250 and has most of what a high end would have, for hundreds less. I prefer it over iphone, personally, tried out an iphone and went back to my tcl and saved $500, win win