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7.0 / 10
SCORE TCL 60 XE NxtPaper 5G $250 at Amazon Pros Quality display for the price
E-reader mode extends already-solid battery life
NxtPaper Color Ink mode is perfect for night owls Cons Grainy picture quality on main camera
Slight delay when multitasking
Gets uncomfortably hot when gaming
The TCL 60 XE NxtPaper 5G is an impressive budget phone that meets or exceeds the specs of its 50 series predecessors -- and in many ways outperforms the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G at a similar price.
The shiny bonus features are the eponymous NxtPaper digital ink and e-reader modes and cloud-based TCL AI. You might not use these features regularly -- the NxtPaper digital ink was great for night-time reading but I'd rather write my own emails than use the AI assistant -- but they're solid value adds to a $250 phone.
This phone hits top marks for everyday use. Its screen is large, the 120Hz refresh rate is buttery smooth and the battery lasted me throughout the entire day, even with frequent use. If you take a lot of selfies, you'll enjoy a big 32-megapixel upgrade to the front-facing camera, though the camera system is otherwise similar to TCL's 50 series phones.
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