This new Ultra phone promises zero reflections, e-ink-style experience

TCL launched its NXTPAPER phones a few years ago, offering matte displays to reduce glare compared to conventional phone screens. The company launched a tablet with NXTPAPER 4.0 earlier this year, and it’s now offering the first phone with this upgraded screen tech.

The NXTPAPER 60 Ultra indeed offers a 7.2-inch NXTPAPER 4.0 screen, and TCL says the display reduces glare by 97%. It even claims that there are no reflections as a result, but we’ll have to actually verify this with a real-world device.

The company adds that it uses DC dimming to reduce flickering, offers a minimum brightness of two nits, and has a “circadian screen comfort” feature to change color temperature throughout the day.

The NXTPaper key seen on recent phones also returns here, and tapping this button enables Max Ink Mode. This is effectively a monochrome reading mode akin to e-readers.

What else to know about NXTPAPER 60 Ultra?

The NXTPAPER 60 Ultra also offers an “AI Podcast” feature to read your books out aloud. That could be handy if you don’t want to splash out on audiobooks, although I imagine it might be very hit-and-miss depending on the content.

These phones have typically offered budget-tier cameras, but the NXTPAPER 60 Ultra ups the ante in a big way. Expect a 50MP 3x periscope camera with optical image stabilization (OIS). This camera also enables 6x shots at lossless resolution, so you should expect a big boost for zoomed images. This is accompanied by a 50MP main camera with OIS (1/1.55-inch sensor) and an 8MP ultrawide lens. Otherwise, a 32MP camera with a wide field-of-view is available up front.

Other notable specs include a budget-tier Dimensity 7400 chipset, 12GB of RAM, a 5,200mAh battery, 33W wired charging speeds, an IP68 rating, a side fingerprint scanner, Bluetooth 5.4, and Wi-Fi 6.

The TCL NXTPAPER 60 Ultra starts at €449 (~$523) for the 256GB model and €499 (~$581) for the 512GB model. That’s a pretty sizeable price hike compared to other NXTPAPER phones. But you are indeed getting a couple of notable extras here, like the periscope camera and IP68 rating.

This isn’t the only TCL phone revealed today, as the company has also announced the NXTPAPER 5G Junior. This is clearly a step down from the Ultra phone, featuring a 6.7-inch 120Hz NXTPAPER display (there’s no word on the NXTPAPER version), a Dimensity 6300 chipset, a 50MP+5MP rear camera setup, and an 8MP selfie camera. TCL’s Junior phone also offers a 5,200mAh battery with 18W wired charging, a side fingerprint scanner, a microSD card slot, and a 3.5mm port.

The Junior phone costs €249 (~$290) for the 8GB/256GB model and goes on sale next month. This price tag includes bundled accessories like a ring stand case.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on an update policy for these phones. TCL’s track record suggests that you shouldn’t get your hopes up for a comprehensive commitment.