So I finally got the TCL 10 Pro today from Amazon. I'm not going to waste time doing a full review or anything. There are plenty of YouTube reviews out there for that. I'm simply going to give the reasons why I'm sending it back to Amazon.
First, the cameras are REALLY average. And that's probably being generous. They lack so much detail and take such soft pictures that it looks like a watercolor. I took some pictures of bricks on my fireplace with this phone and they appeared almost completely smooth and without texture. I took a number of pictures, with AI on and off, with the 64MP mode as well as auto and pro mode. I should back up a bit to say that I have used a LOT of phones and I actually own quite a few because I like to switch them out. I have flagships like the Samsung Note 10, the OnePlus 7 Pro, and the Google Pixel 3, so I know what good pictures can look like. BUT, I also own a number of midrange and budget phones. Recently my daily driver has been a Xiaomi Note 9S. A $250 phone with better specs than this $450 TCL 10 Pro (except for the screen which is LCD instead of Amoled). The Note 9S takes AMAZING pictures compared to this phone! It's crazy how night and day they are. The Note 9S has better colors, much more detail, better dynamic range, etc. And it's $200 cheaper. I take a lot of pictures and selfies and so that's the MAIN reason I'm sending this one back. I DID actually install a few different versions of GCAM, and even with GCAM installed the pictures were not much better than the default camera app. So that was also a little disappointing.
Also, the NXT Vision feature is maddening. If you have it turned on, it is constantly messing with the screen brightness, and saturation, and color. If you take a picture and go to gallery it messes with the color on your pictures AFTER you have taken them. The only way to see what your picture REALLY looks like is to just turn it off, which is what I did. But then you don't get the enhancements to videos that you are watching unless you go back in and turn it back on again.
So anyway, the phone looks and feels and is built like a flagship. And if you don't care about photos or the camera, then go for it. But as I said, you can get more phone for the money that takes better pictures. I know the Xiaomi Note 9S may not have 100% LTE band coverage in the USA (I'm in NJ), but I do get LTE coverage, and I use T-Mobile. I would take the Note 9S any day of the week over the TCL 10 Pro. It's $200 bucks cheaper, and has a SD 730, and takes better pics. I'm not saying that you should buy one, or trying to talk you into one, I'm simply saying you can get better phones for the money if you shop around. Heck you can get last years flagships for less money and they have way better specs and take better photos.
I realize I only used the phone for a day, but as I said, I know phones and have plenty to compare them to. Happy to answer any questions.
First, the cameras are REALLY average. And that's probably being generous. They lack so much detail and take such soft pictures that it looks like a watercolor. I took some pictures of bricks on my fireplace with this phone and they appeared almost completely smooth and without texture. I took a number of pictures, with AI on and off, with the 64MP mode as well as auto and pro mode. I should back up a bit to say that I have used a LOT of phones and I actually own quite a few because I like to switch them out. I have flagships like the Samsung Note 10, the OnePlus 7 Pro, and the Google Pixel 3, so I know what good pictures can look like. BUT, I also own a number of midrange and budget phones. Recently my daily driver has been a Xiaomi Note 9S. A $250 phone with better specs than this $450 TCL 10 Pro (except for the screen which is LCD instead of Amoled). The Note 9S takes AMAZING pictures compared to this phone! It's crazy how night and day they are. The Note 9S has better colors, much more detail, better dynamic range, etc. And it's $200 cheaper. I take a lot of pictures and selfies and so that's the MAIN reason I'm sending this one back. I DID actually install a few different versions of GCAM, and even with GCAM installed the pictures were not much better than the default camera app. So that was also a little disappointing.
Also, the NXT Vision feature is maddening. If you have it turned on, it is constantly messing with the screen brightness, and saturation, and color. If you take a picture and go to gallery it messes with the color on your pictures AFTER you have taken them. The only way to see what your picture REALLY looks like is to just turn it off, which is what I did. But then you don't get the enhancements to videos that you are watching unless you go back in and turn it back on again.
So anyway, the phone looks and feels and is built like a flagship. And if you don't care about photos or the camera, then go for it. But as I said, you can get more phone for the money that takes better pictures. I know the Xiaomi Note 9S may not have 100% LTE band coverage in the USA (I'm in NJ), but I do get LTE coverage, and I use T-Mobile. I would take the Note 9S any day of the week over the TCL 10 Pro. It's $200 bucks cheaper, and has a SD 730, and takes better pics. I'm not saying that you should buy one, or trying to talk you into one, I'm simply saying you can get better phones for the money if you shop around. Heck you can get last years flagships for less money and they have way better specs and take better photos.
I realize I only used the phone for a day, but as I said, I know phones and have plenty to compare them to. Happy to answer any questions.
Last edited:
