TCL 40 X 5G Review: Not Much More Than a Black Friday Deal

5.5/ 10
SCORE

TCL 40 X 5G

Pros

• Decent camera for the price
• Light Android skin
• Matte design

Cons

• No major Android updates
• Sluggish performance
• Two years of security updates

The $180 TCL 40 X 5G would be one of my favorite budget phones in 2023 if it only was set to receive any software upgrades. I enjoyed my two weeks using the phone, and its Black Friday price of $126 might make it a good deal for someone who just wants a phone for a year or two. But that's also its biggest problem.

The TCL 40 X 5G won't receive any major software updates, so when Google updates its Android operating system, this phone will stay on an otherwise functional version of Android 13. It will get two years of security updates, which will keep it protected from vulnerabilities. This is especially notable when compared with the two years of software updates and five years of security updates offered for the $200 Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, which the TCL 40 X 5G otherwise matches up to in many areas.

But if you're OK with this phone's short lifespan, there's a lot to like about using the TCL 40 X 5G. Its 50-megapixel main camera takes nice photos in a variety of light conditions for the price, whether it was on Manhattan streets or inside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its 6.5-inch 720-pixel screen runs at a 90Hz refresh rate making animations and scrolling look smooth. It also includes TCL's NxtVision HDR feature, which offers a slight color boost when viewing videos or playing games. Its 5,000-mAh battery typically lasts me about a day and a half with typical use. And while its 4GB of memory and sluggish Mediatek Dimensity 700 don't enable much multitasking, it's otherwise handled my texting, video calls, music playing, news reading and games.

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All told, it could be a good option if you need a phone right now -- but that doesn't justify the limited software support when comparably priced phones promise more. The TCL 40 X 5G is only available in the US market, but similar TCL 40 series phones are available internationally. The 40 X's price converts roughly to £145 or AU$275.

TCL 40 X 5G design, performance

The TCL 40 X 5G comes in starlight black, which is a matte finish, with a noticeable line pattern on the back of the phone. It gives a businesslike look to the handset, even though the phone's body is otherwise made from plastic. The phone uses a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for unlocking and has a headphone jack. There's a single audio speaker on the bottom, which was loud when I played music, but it sounded tinny. 

While headphones helped improve that sound quality, the screen is generally muted in terms of color depth. I understand having a lower-resolution 720p display at this price, but since TCL touts its NxtVision feature for better colors, I expected slightly more pop when I swapped from reading an article to watching videos. 

When watching Netflix's Surviving Paradise for instance, the colors of the show's villa decor and ocean views looked lost on the TCL 40 X's screen even when I had NxtVision turned on. The feature is supposed to help differentiate color temperature like when I'm reading versus watching a TV show, but it didn't make any miracles happen on the 720p display.

The phone includes 64GB of storage -- which might feel small depending on how much you use the camera -- though it can be expanded up to 1TB with a microSD card. The 4GB of memory feels inadequate, though the phone tries to make the most of it by showing you how much is available on the multitasking menu. It was able to handle my usual multitasking regiment of listening to music while reading the news and texting. But if I threw a game or Duolingo into that mix, my web browser app needed to reload whatever I was reading.

The TCL 40 X 5G's Mediatek Dimensity 700 processor is the same one found in the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G and can handle most simple tasks -- albeit with some sluggishness. I never felt like I was waiting for the TCL phone to load an app, and its 5G compatibility allowed me to download a game during my commute within minutes. 

The phone supports an 18-watt wired charging speed. In my 30-minute charging test, the TCL 40 X 5G was recharged from 15% to 45%. That's enough to get through a day, as a 100% charge would typically took me about a day and a half to run down to 20%.

TCL 40 X 5G cameras

The TCL 40 X 5G's 50-megapixel main camera is accompanied by a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The camera, especially for a $180 phone, performs well enough, though it lacks any telephoto or ultrawide capability. I took it on a day trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I took some nice street photos alongside some exhibits indoors. None of the photos are particularly detail-rich, but even in crowded settings motion blur was minimal.

To test out the TCL 40 X 5G in a darker setting, I took it to Vers in New York's Hell's Kitchen, and while the camera didn't brighten up especially dark areas it still illuminated the setting and my horchata cocktail.

There's also a 50-megapixel camera mode, which multiplies the file size of the photo to accommodate. My comparison shots during a nighttime walk in Tampa are below. While I can see some of the more enhanced details, I don't think the difference is quite worth the file size increase -- in this case a 9.3MB photo versus a 3.8MB photo, especially when there's only 64GB of onboard storage.

I do find the TCL's photos to capture roughly the same quality as the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G. This includes selfies, with both phones taking fuzzy front-facing camera photos. The TCL phone has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera while the Galaxy A14 5G has a 13-megapixel camera.

The TCL phone's video quality is OK, recording at 1,080p resolution at 30 frames a second. Like the photos, it's not particularly detail-rich but it's functional for capturing a scene.

TCL 40 X 5G bottom line

The $180 TCL 40 X 5G is a capable phone that largely stands up to my favorite current pick under $200, the $200 Samsung Galaxy A14 5G. When looking at the phones at their full retail price, the $20 difference does buy a lot of meaningful benefits. Samsung's phone includes contactless payment support, two years of software updates and five years of security updates.

However, at TCL's $126 Black Friday price, I could see the phone being a tempting deal as long as you understand that it won't be viable to use after security support ends in two years. You'll also be missing out on Android 14, which is already arriving to phones that are receiving major software updates.

So if you go with the deal, just know that this isn't a phone you should be holding onto for a long time. But if the TCL 40 X isn't drastically discounted, I would consider similar phones that will get more years of support like the Galaxy A14 5G.

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How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET's reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone's features, play games, and take photos. We examine the display to see if it's bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water-resistance. We push the processor's performance to the extremes, using standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark as well as our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions, from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using the phone daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features, like support for 5G; satellite connectivity; fingerprint and face sensors; stylus support; fast charging speeds; and foldable displays, among others that can be useful. And we balance all this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value. Though these tests may not always be reflected in CNET's initial review, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.