Full Color E Paper Tablet?! TCL NXTPAPER 11 Review

I recently mentioned TCL’s NXTPAPER technology in my CES video, and I got a few questions from folks about what is NXTPAPER and the devices that it’s built into.

While we wait for TCL’s newest NXTPAPER 3.0 tablets to reach the US market, we have the NXTPAPER 11, their 11” 2023 release that features their color electronic paper display. Technically, this tablet has an LCD display with a nano chemical material coating on top that give it this matte finish, and makes it feel like an e-reader. So you get a lot less blue light emission, and a matte display that is easier to see in direct sunlight or without glare. NXTPAPER 2.0 also offers “eye care” for increased prevention of eye strain.

This tablet also has NXTVision built in too, which gives you brighter colors and vibrant videos.

As a tablet that only cost $230 MSRP straight from TCL’s site, I wanted to see if it stood out for more reasons than just the screen.

It’s available in two colors - Dark grey or digital lavender. And weighs right at about a pound. The size is perfect for holding in one hand - at 10.12 in x 6.36 in x .27 in. - and comfortable for entertainment. It’s casing is made out of aluminum for durability.

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This has a 2k display at 2000x1200 pixels and it hits 500 nits peak brightness. The cool part is this paper like feel, so fingerprints and marks aren’t glaringly obvious. It’s such an interesting display to look at. I’ve had plenty of e-readers through the years, and this feels the same, but it’s in color. So it’s like having a color e-reader but it works like a tablet - much faster display changes, a higher refresh rate at 60 hz, it’s a lot more responsive to touches. AND it’s Stylus compatible. So I have this Amazon stylus that I’ve been using - it’s a real nice stylus - the size kinda makes it feel like a regular pencil or pen - and it’s really nice to use a stylus on this tablet. It gives you that same kind of feel you’d get writing on paper, so if you use this for drawing or taking notes, it’s a really comfortable experience.

Visibility isn’t amazingly crisp for video and photos, I’m guessing because of this paper-like overlay - it makes everything look a little softer - but it is excellent for reading.

This Android 13 tablet falls in line at a really great sub $300 price, so internally in packs in a Mediatek Helio P60T CPU, ARM Cortex chipset, and 6GB ram. It comes in one size - 256 GB storage, but it also has an SD card port for 1TB additional storage space. I know there’s a lot of folks in my audience who really keep an eye out for SD card support in Android phones and tablets and this is one of the few that still has that feature. I think 6GB RAM is plenty for this tablet’s use case. It’s not going to be the device I’m editing 4k videos on or playing highly graphical games. Heck, I would even consider putting this thing in a heavy duty case and letting a younger person watch their entertainment on it or play educational games since it’s better for eye protection than a normal Android tablet - if you don’t let your kids touch mobile connected devices that’s fine too - I ain’t tellin you how to raise your kids ok. For entertainment, the 4 speakers output to both sides creating a dual speaker effect.

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It uses facial unlock or a pin code. It’s pretty good at recognizing my face when using it in a well lit area. If you close your eyes it doesn’t unlock, which I appreciate for security.

Your Wifi in this tablet is up to AC (and slightly slower than wifi 6 or 7), and it includes Bluetooth 5.0. There is no 5g or NFC so you won’t be able to connect while out and about, and if you use a Yubikey for 2FA, you’ll need to plug it in via USB C to unlock accounts.

The battery is a big 8000mAh size, giving you up to 13 hours of video playback. That’s a big plus. Charging takes 4 hours with the included adapter though, which is very slow with that big battery, so it’s gonna take a long time to get it full to 100%. Even though it includes 18W fast wired charging, a 5W charger is included in the box. There is no wireless charging but you can reverse charge other devices via usb C.

There are cameras on here, but please lets not hold up tablets to take photos - video calling - fine, but don’t bring these things to concerts and hold them up to take a picture. Your phone will take better photos. Both the rear and front facing lenses are 8 MP, with a 100 degree field of view. Video tops out at 1080p 30. These are fine for video calls but that’s about it. Photos are pretty grainy and you lose quite a bit of detail, and the shutter speed is pretty slow. But to be honest, if I’m using a tablet, I’m not using it to take photos unless I’m setting the thing up as a security camera.

I think for less than $300 this is a solid deal. At that price point, you can’t expect this to compete with tablets that are $600-800. Even the Pixel Tablet is over $200 more than this one. So if you want just a basic Android tablet with no fancy bells or whistles but a display that can give you a more comfortable reading or comic book experience, then this is a good buy.

Do you want me to review the TCL tablets that will ship later this year with updated NXTPaper displays? Let me know - I can always get ‘em in for review when available. Big thanks for watching til the end, these are good videos too!