TCL 40 XE 5G review: All bang, few bucks

TCL 40 XE 5G review: At a glance

Should you buy the TCL 40 XE 5G?

TCL aims to deliver a feature-packed smartphone for an affordable price tag with the 40 XE 5G, and for the most part, they’ve knocked it out of the park. The phone features a few improvements over the TCL 30 XE 5G, such as a bigger battery (5,000mAh vs 4,500mAh) and twice the internal storage (128GB vs 64GB). It’s also $30 less at $169.99 MSRP, making it the most affordable 5G smartphone from TCL to date.

In terms of design, the TCL 40 XE 5G feels solid and sturdy, unlike the cheap, flimsy plastic on many budget devices. The stylish black brush metal pattern on the backside goes a long way toward the more premium look of the phone. The left side has a slot for the SIM card and a microSD card to expand the phone’s storage up to 1TB. There’s also a headphone jack at the bottom and a side-mounted fingerprint reader. While the fingerprint scanner is speedy and accurate, I wish it was placed higher, as it sits smack dab in the middle of the side, which can be cramped to reach.

The TCL 40 XE 5G runs Android 13 out of the box with a near-stock experience, aside from TCL’s suite of pre-installed productivity and security apps. There will be two years of security patches for the 40 XE, but unfortunately, no OS updates, meaning you won’t get to enjoy Android 14.

The screen is tall at 6.56 inches but has a low-resolution display maxing out at 720p. I would have liked to see 1080p for a Full HD+ display with higher brightness levels, but fortunately, the 90Hz refresh rate is fast enough for smooth scrolling. The TCL 40 XE houses the MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor, as found in the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G. It performs best for casual use but reasonably well for light gaming and consumes power efficiently without burning through the battery. Graphically demanding games like latest Honkai: Star Rail won’t run well above low graphical settings, being prone to pixelation and stuttering, and the phone will get warm.

As for the cameras, the 13MP primary shooter delivers fairly vibrant and color-rich photos when given a healthy amount of light, which I admit I wasn’t expecting. Sometimes colors are a little too saturated, but in terms of quality vs price, the TCL 40XE 5G stands among some of the best budget camera phones in bright conditions. The 2MP depth sensor helps to focus on the subject with clarity, but the macro isn’t nearly as useful. 2MP simply isn’t a big enough sensor to get sharp details indoors or in low light. You can view a gallery of sample images here.

Video recording tops out at 1080p at 30fps on both the front and back, which is in line with most budget phones, but the quality can be a little shaky. There’s only one down-firing speaker on the phone, which doesn’t sound great for music or videos. Like many other phones in this price range, it’s just a mono speaker, no stereo speakers, meaning the sound isn’t very balanced, and you get a bit of an echo.

To end on a positive, the battery life of the TCL 40 XE 5G is impressive. I could easily coast through two days of light use: social media, listening to music, and web browsing. When I used the phone more, watching videos for extended periods or playing games, I could still manage a day and a half of use (around 18 hours). There’s also support for 18W wired charging, which is slightly faster than the 10W-15W we typically see at this price. There’s a 9V2A wall charger included in the box, which takes roughly an hour and forty-five minutes to charge the phone from zero to full.

What are the best TCL 40 XE 5G alternatives?

The TCL 40 XE 5G may be cheap, but it isn’t the only new smartphone for $200. Here are some alternatives worth considering:

• Samsung Galaxy A14 5G ($199 at Amazon): Samsung’s latest budget-friendly phone shares the same processor and battery size. It costs $30 more, which gets you a Full HD+ display, a 50MP wide camera, and a generous update commitment. However, it has half the internal storage and is limited to slightly slower wired charging at 15W. There’s also an LTE-only version if you want to save more cash.
• TCL 40 X 5G: If you like the look of the TCL XE 5G but aren’t entirely sold, perhaps its bigger brother will convince you. The TCL 40 X 5G is virtually the same phone but adds a sharper 50MP primary shooter and dual stereo speakers for $50 more.
• OnePlus Nord N300 ($228 at OnePlus): This one is exclusive to T-Mobile, which might limit potential buyers. It costs $228 but has faster 33W wired charging, a solid 48MP primary camera, and the newer MediaTek 810 chipset outshines the 700 processor.
• Motorola Moto G Play ($169.99 at Amazon): If you’re a Motorola fan, the Moto G Play is the same price of $169.99. It has the same resolution display, battery size, and near-equivalent rear cameras. However, there’s no 5G, the processor isn’t as powerful, and it has less RAM and far less storage at 32GB. The charging is also snail slow at 10W.

TCL 40 XE 5G specs

TCL 40 XE 5G review: Q&A