TCL Ion X Smartphone Review – TCL smartphones come with exciting deals in the affordable price segment. Usually, they provide amazing perks that appeal to budget and mid-range segment users. Recently, the company unveiled the TCL Ion X smartphone in January 2023, exclusive in the US. The device will provide robust features with impressive performance and battery life.
Besides this, the phone can be purchased through metro by T mobile at a pretty decent price point. Since it’s an entry-level phone, you will get an average display with a single color variant. However, you won’t receive 5G connectivity, instead, the phone will give 4G connectivity. With that said, let’s head toward the TCL Ion X review to find out more details about this phone.
Table of Contents
TCL Ion X Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The device brings a standard 6.0-inches IPS LCD panel with 720p resolution.
- As for the software design, you are getting the Android 12 firmware based on the TCL UI.
- In terms of the hardware, the phone will deliver decent performance with the Helio G25 chipset.
- A Single 13MP primary camera appears on the back panel and a 5MP selfie lens at the front.
- In terms of the battery, you are getting a removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery with 10W charging support.
Design and Display
At first impression, the TCL Ion X device looks pretty standard with a square camera module. The company offers a single Black color variant with additional texture on the back panel, which gives grippy handling. On the other hand, the device doesn’t have any protective coating on the back panel. However, it’s good to see that the company is providing something new and unique.
As for the overall build, the back panel offers a lightweight body that got 177 grams weight. It does look quite immersive with an 8.9 mm side panel. Although, you won’t receive a fingerprint scanner option on the side panel or the display. But it’s good to see that company is providing a 6.0 inches IPS LCD panel.
On the other hand, the phone will grant decent colors with an impressive viewing experience. Even though the screen got a 720p resolution cap, you can still watch content in HD quality in some streaming apps. Despite that, the brightness levels are below average, and the 60Hz refresh rate only gives a traditional touch response. Overall, the front panel’s bezels are quite thick
Memory and Internal
The performance aspect of the TCL Ion X is pretty standard, as you will obtain the 12nm Mediatek MT6762G Helio G25 chipset under the hood. Overall, the processing power is sufficient enough to support regular activities such as social media usage, content streaming, and casual gaming to some extent. Aside from this, the phone equips the PowerVR GE8320 GPU, which gives average visuals and graphics.
Although, we recommend you do not expect higher performance because of the processing cores limits. The phone’s processing speed can only go up to 4×2.0GHz cloaking speed, which is considered average in the Android ecosystem. Hopefully, the TCL user interface comes with stock android features and offers a wide range of customization attributes from which the users can easily create a dedicated interface that fulfills their needs.
On top of that, you are getting different email platform support, which includes Apple Mail, Microsft Exchange, Yahoo, Gmail, and so on. As far as storage is concerned, you are getting 32GB eMMC 5.1 internal storage that will accompany 3GB RAM support and offers dedicated secondary storage that will push the storage expansion up to 512GB space. It will allow users to store their multimedia data externally.
Camera
Speaking of the camera aspect, the TCL Ion X will provide a decent 13MP primary lens that will appear on the back panel. It will render decent colors and contrast that will boost the overall photography and videography aspect to a certain extent. It will also allow users to capture their precious life memories without much hassle.
Besides this, you can also rely on the software end to capture more details in each shot. Alongside this, it will provide an impressive native camera app with diverse features, modes, and filter options. Aside from this, the daylight photos are also looking quite great with robust clarity. Although, the lowlight images do feel downgraded from the current standards of photography.
Anyway, it’s good to see that the company will render a 5MP selfie lens at the front. It will allow users to push the limits to some level and grant immersive colors. However, there’s no denying that two out of ten images would give presentable results. Hopefully, it’s possible to record up to 1080p videos from both cameras.
Battery and Others
The battery configuration is worth noting about TCL Ion X phones. Unlike nowadays smartphones, this phone will bring a removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh Ion battery inside the cover, which you can replace anytime. On top of that, you will obtain more than four hours’ worth of screen time to perform your daily activities in a hassle-free way.
Inside the box, you will find a 10W charger with a Type C cable to refuel the battery cell of this phone. Generally, it will up to an hour to fill the 100% battery life, which is pretty good. Following this, the company also added a 3.5 mm jack port to connect the headphone easily. Lastly, the phone will arrive at $108 (Rs 8,990 in India) approx for the starting variant.
TCL Ion X Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the TCL Ion X smartphone.
| Specifications | TCL Ion X |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Announced | January 2023 |
| SIM | Nano-SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.16 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches |
| Weight | 177.4 g |
| Size | 6.0 inches |
| Display | IPS LCD 18:9 ratio ~268 PPI density |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | 720 x 1440 pixels |
| OS | Android 12, TCL UI |
| Chipset | 12nm – Mediatek MT6762G Helio G25 |
| CPU | Octa-core 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 4×1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | PowerVR GE8320 |
| Card slot | microSDXC (dedicated slot) |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Internal | 32GB eMMC 5.1 |
| Camera | 13 MP (wide) PDAF LED flash Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Selfie | 5 MP (wide) Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band |
| Bluetooth | 5.1, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | Yes |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0 |
| Sensors | Accelerometer Virtual proximity sensing |
| Battery | Li-Ion 3000 mAh 10W wired |
| Colors | Black |
| Expected Price | $108 (Rs 8,990 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The TCL Ion X smartphone delivers an average set of features and specs that are pretty decent according to the price point respectively. As an entry-level phone, you will notice several flaws, but if you are only looking for a phone for calling and normal social media usage, then it might be a great deal for you. However, it only offers 4G connectivity, which might be a big concern for many people.
Anyway, you can choose other alternatives device that will provide ample value. Even now, the Tecno Spark 9T can be considered a wonderful deal that you can look at in the meantime. We only recommend you purchase this phone if you are getting some sort of discount deal. Finally, choose the phone according to your needs.
