- TCL introduces its Android phone TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G
- NXTpaper technology enables a one-week battery life
- The price is impressive
I enjoy the days of battery life I get with most flagship iPhone and Android phones, but what if they offered a week of battery life and cost $199 (around £160 / AU$320)? Impossible, right? Apparently not if you're TCL. Today at CES 2025, the Chinese electronics giant best known for affordable large-screen TVs is bringing the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android phone to the US and Canada, and yes, it ticks those boxes.
This 6.8-inch active handset achieves 7 days of battery life using TCL's proprietary NXTPaper technology. TCL calls it E-Ink-like, but that's not electronic paper technology (I've seen it before on the 14-inch TCL NxTPaper 14 Pro). The FHD+ screen is still an LCD, but uses a series of layers to suppress reflectivity and remove blue light. The combination gives NXTPaper-based screens an almost matte, magazine-like look.
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So yes, they're easy on the eyes, but they're also a lot less bright. NXTPaper's technology makes it more of a power-hungry display. However, the TCL 60XE does not always run in this mode. There is a physical switch on the phone to activate the NXTPaper effect and the battery life is 7 days if you use it 24/7 in NXTPaper mode (standby would be an amazing 26 days).
Interestingly, this new phone won't even feature the latest version of TCL's NXTPaper technology. TCL told us that NXTPaper 4.0 will be released later this year, but only on the new TCL NXTPaper 11 Plus tablet, which was also announced at CES. NXTPaper 4.0 uses nano-matrix lithography, a new screen etching process, to create microstructures on the cover glass that effectively suppress reflections without compromising visual quality.
It is not clear when NXTPaper 4.0 will be available on mobile phones. The next best thing, NXTPaper 3.0, is available on the TCL 60XE, along with some other enticing features that could make it a surprise winner in the 2025 Android market.
Specifications that include a 50MP front camera, a 32MP rear camera, 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM (expandable to 16GB) would normally result in a phone that costs at least $800 (around £650 / 1,300 AU$) costs. But TCL is launching the TCL 60XE in the US and Canada for $199.
That's an unprecedented price for a phone that will last for days when you switch (depending on how often you use NXTPaper mode). As for the build quality, camera capability and overall performance, I'll know more when I get my hands on the new Android phone.