TCL 10 Pro, 10 5G and 10L hands-on review

TCL 10 Pro hands-on

The TCL 10 Pro may not have the best chipset among the three 10-series phones, but it undoubtedly feels the nicest.

On the rear its glass has a frosty, matte finish, which both helps alleviate fingerprints and feels more pleasant to touch.

We handled both the Grey and the Green model, and you can see how the Green is more of a blue-green, while the grey can show shades of light blue.

A subtle but appreciated element of the TCL 10 Pro is that the camera island on the rear is flush with the surface of the panel - most other phones, and the TCL 10 Pro's counterparts, have a metal frame around their cameras and especially pronounced when they're this many.

TCL 10 Pro

Speaking of the cameras, the TCL 10 Pro and the TCL 10 5G and 10L all have twin LED flashes - a flash each on either side of their cameras.

The didn't get to snap photos to take back to the office and share with you, but we did give the cameras a look-over nonetheless. Switching between cameras on the TCL 10 Pro is quick. The ultrawide is one of the widest around at 13mm, but it lacks autofocus.

Interestingly, the low-light video camera has a more saturated look than the other cameras.

The other key feature of the TCL 10 Pro, especially over its counterparts, is the AMOLED display. It's lovely to look at, not least thanks to its vivid colors.

It gets very bright - uncomfortably so at max brightness in the well-lit hands-on area we were handling it in.

The sides of the screen are curved, which creates the impression that the screen has no side bezels - you'll either love this or not. The top and bottom bezel are very thin, despite the camera notch on the top.

The TCL 10 Pro is tangibly lighter than the TCL 10 5G. It's also shorter too.

TCL 10 5G and 10L hands-on

The TCL 10 5G, the one in the middle, is the biggest of the three, and also the flashiest. Hidden under its glossy rear glass surface is a color pattern that comes alive under certain lighting conditions - TCL calls it Chrome Blue.

It's a nice finish, that manages to distinguish the phone from the TCL 10L, which otherwise looks very similar to it.

Both have the square fingerprint sensor cutout in the middle of the rear panel, and both have seemingly identical camera arrays. They're not, however, as we established in page 1 - the TCL 10 Pro has a 64MP main camera to the 10L's 48MP, and a 5MP macro to the 10L's 2MP macro.

The TCL 10L and 10 5G share the same 6.53-inch IPS LCD with an embedded selfie camera. It's a good panel but nowhere near as nice as the AMOLED on the TCL 10 Pro - it lacks the incredible contrast and its colors don't pop nearly as much.

TCL 10L

We can't fault the build quality of either TCL 10-series device. They're all nicely made, all feel sturdy, and all have 3.5mm audio jacks and reversible USB-C connectors.

TCL 10L

They're also affordable, and once the TCL 10 5G becomes available, it will be one of the cheapest entry points into 5G connectivity. Currently, most 5G-enabled devices command a much heavier asking price.

The TCL 10 Pro will come out in Q2 of this year and will cost USD450/EUR450/GBP400.

The TCL 10 5G will cost EUR400/GBP400, but the release date hasn’t been revealed yet.

The TCL 10L is expected in Q2 at a price of USD250/EUR250/GBP200.