Price: €399 TCL Nxtpaper 14 Pros: Great tablet for reading and sketching, and a good price Cons: Limited power under the hood The tablet market hasn’t really offered much that is new in recent years. Either you cover the essentials with a €200 to €300 Android model or a basic iPad, or choose a laptop-replacement such as an iPad Pro or Samsung Tab Ultra model. But TCL now has a genuinely interesting alternative.
Its Nxtpaper 14 uses a really effective anti-glare matte screen that it labels an “electronic paper display”. Aside from being impressively less reflective in sunshine or bright overhead bulbs, it could also be a lot easier on your eyes over long periods of time than any rival tablet – which makes it a potentially ideal crossover between a tablet and an e-reader. Read more I’ve been trying it out for a couple of weeks.
It has a few core strengths that I like, as well as one or two compromises compared with other tablets. The best, most interesting thing about it is what the display invites you to do. This device comes with a stylus in the box – a nice, full-size pen with a usable function button on it.
And it’s clear why. It’s hard to beat having a roomy 14-inch screen on which to structure thought bubbles Because of the particular grainy matte finish on this tablet’s 14-inch display, it’s a slightly more tactile writing experience than on most other tablets – including Apple’s iPad Pro models. I found myself using it to make notes, lists and doodle, especially because you can access a quick notes app from almost any other app, as the mood strikes.
It’s not perfect: the latency isn’t quite as good as on premium alternatives from Apple and Samsung, which could also affect things like photo-editing. Nor is there a magnet to attract it to the side of the tablet, like you can find on some rivals. Instead, there’s an adhesive patch provided in the box that can house the stylus.
The TCL Nxtpaper 14 But it’s hard to beat having a roomy 14-inch screen on which to structure some thought bubbles. And the three distinct display modes are also very nice, especially for those who want something to read, or for whom a regular display is too distracting. There’s a full colour mode, which is the tablet’s default and which is easily bright and vivid enough to watch movies and mess around with photos.
There’s a “soft” colour mode which has hints of colours and is a little gentler on the eyes. And there’s an “e-ink”, monotone mode which makes the tablet look a bit like a giant Kindle e-reader, albeit with a more advanced display. This last mode, which can handily be activated by a dedicated button on the side of the device, is great for reading and annotating long documents.
The only real disadvantage to the screen, which has a relatively high 2.4K resolution, is its modest 60hz refresh rate, which you notice when scrolling up or down. Battery life is good, especially if you use the display in its e-ink mode The other obvious limitation to TCL’s Nxtpaper 14 is its muscle power.
While there’s a healthy 8GB of Ram under the hood, the chip – as one might expect at this price point – isn’t the strongest. It’s not an issue for any of the features I mention above, but you won’t really be doing any gaming or video editing on this device. Nor will you be playing music from it much.
While there are four on-board speakers, they’re quite modest. Battery life, though, is good, especially if you use the display in its e-ink mode. I had no problem getting seven hours from it, which is decent for a tablet with a display this big.
There are two cameras, front and rear, meaning you can video-conference. And it also comes with a 33-watt USB-C charger and cable in the box – a rarity these days. Finally, if you want to use this as a laptop, you’ll struggle to find a bespoke keyboard case for this, but just about any modern Bluetooth Android keyboard will work with it.
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New ‘electronic paper’ display is making the TCL Nxtpaper 14 very easy on the eye
Price: €399