TCL 10 5G UW: An Affordable, Mid-Range 5G Device For Verizon

We’ve already tackled the 10L & 10 Pro smartphones from TCL and now it’s time to discuss their more powerful & faster device w/ the 10 5G UW. This retains most of what we’re already familiar w/ from TCL’s phones but adds the speed of Snapdragon’s 765 5G-capable processor. All w/o adding too much $ to the overall package. Let’s talk about how it held up as my main phone over the past few weeks.

The TCL 10 5G offers a sweet-looking body that still offers a nice look & feel for its hardware. Similar to the body on the 10 L but offering its own spin on it. You got a rounded 3D glossy glass back that stands out in the light. It’s glossy but not more slippery than any other glass hardware on high-end devices.

The 10 5G UW retains the same 6.5inch panel w/ curved AMOLED panel from other TCL phones. Like that, it offers their NXTVISION technology that beefs up SDR content to HDR via enhancing color saturation, darker blacks, & overall better contrast. Giving TCL’s high-end TV quality on your smartphone to make your content pop and look top-notch.

You got Android 10 underneath TCL’s UX that offers things like stock icons + layout, Super Bluetooth to support up to 4 headphones or speakers at once, and a Smart Manager to monitor apps, battery, RAM management, apps like Compass, File Share, Radio, & more. And you got the joys of a fast rear-facing fingerprint reader & a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Think of a better version of the TCL 10 L body w/ 5G + powered by a faster chipset inside.

6.5inch NXTVISION HDR display w/ 2340 x 1080 resolution
Snapdragon 765G CPU
6GB of RAM + 128GB of storage expandable up to 256GB via microSD
A rear triple camera setup w/ 48MP main, 8MP super-wide, & a 5MP macro sensor w/ dual LED flash
16MP selfie camera
Android 10 w/ TCL UI
rear fingerprint reader
3.5mm headphone jack
4500 mAh battery w/ Quick Charge 3.0

Now w/ the new Snapdragon 765 CPU inside, the 10 5G is now the most powerful of TCL’s smartphone offerings. Mind you, you got the same chipset inside of the Pixel 5 as well. So even if you don’t have 5G speeds in your neck of the woods, you can still benefit from it. Add this w/ 6GB of RAM + 128GB of storage, you got a very fast-performing phone that can handle multitasking several apps + gaming. After weeks of using it, zero lag or stutters and can easily handle a good hour of COD Mobile w/ ease as well – for those of you who might ask.

Now about the 4500 mAh battery inside, it handles at flagship level. From watching Netflix + YouTube content to listening to podcasts to phone calls and COD Mobile; it handles it w/ ease. I was able to get just over 6 hours of onscreen time watching content w/ heavy usage. With light-to-moderate usage, I can get closer to 36 hours on a single charge. With Quick Charge 3.0, you can get up to 50% of juice in a 37-minute charge. However, it does take about 2 and a half hours to charge completely though.

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This is the area where all the TCL smartphones could use some work in: the cameras. You got a triple rear sensor setup on the rear w/ dual LEDs consisting of an AI-powered 48MP main, an 8MP super-wide, & 5MP macro cameras. As well as a 16MP camera in the front to handle selfies. The overall results from the shooters are good in good-to-great lighting are good-to-useable photos.

Although you can get some oversaturation & over sharpening in some scenarios. Getting away from less-than-stellar lighting, you can get some inaccurate colors, obvious noise + lack of details. This applies to both their photos & videos which falls in line w/ many other budget phones. And just like on the 10L, the 5MP macro lens is surprisingly pretty good. With enough light, you can get some good up-close shots for when the situation calls for it.

The TCL 10 5G UW: great display, great battery life, good performance & 5G for only $400

TCL’s 10 5G UW is an affordable 5G Android device only available on Verizon. However, it isn’t the only budget-friendly 5G device as you have the Google Pixel 4a 5G, LG Velvet, & the Samsung A51. All are 5G devices and offer one or more things that perform better than TCL’s offering. Mind you the Velvet is a bit more expensive, the other 2 match the $400 price tag.

So we broke it all down, told you what works & what doesn’t. But who is the TCL 10 5G UW made for? Specifically, someone who is on Verizon who wants a futureproof 5G experience but at a reasonable cost. This can be that for those of you in need of such criteria. While everyone else outside of that need has a bit more options to choose from.