TCL’s wide range of consumer-grade appliances has pretty much expanded well beyond home entertainment systems, with the company building up a sizeable portfolio of smartphones and tablets. Speaking of the latter, TCL more recently brought over the TCL TAB A1 Plus NXTPAPER for buyers in the United States, priced at just $399.99.
The tablet also comes just in time with the school season just on the horizon, which makes it ideal for folks who are after a tablet that doesn’t necessarily cost and arm and leg, but doesn’t sacrifice features either.
The A1 Plus NXTPAPER comes with a large 12.2-inch screen, which is pretty sharp with its 2.4K resolution along with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. TCL says that it’s used a combination of its proprietary NXTPAPER technology, Nano Crystal Shield Glass, the OmniSoft Light System, and TÜV-certified hardware-level DC dimming for a more eye-friendly, glare-reduced viewing experience.
Photo: TCL
Users can switch between display modes thanks to a physical hardware button called the “NXTPAPER Key,” which cycles through Ink Paper, Color Paper, and Standard modes. There’s also an upgraded 3-in-1 VersaView feature which allows for app-level display customization, so users can keep specific apps in standard color mode while applying paper-like settings to the rest of the screen.
That said, part of why the tablet is affordable is due to its internal hardware—inside you’ll find a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chip, which is often used for more affordable smart devices. On the other hand, you do get up to 16GB of RAM (using a RAM expansion feature) and 256GB of onboard storage, with support for up to 2TB storage using memory cards. It runs on the fairly-recent Android version 16 as well, so it should be able to work with pretty much all updated apps on the Play Store.
The tablet also comes with TCL’s own custom interface, in addition to built-in AI tools including Google Gemini, Circle to Search, Writing Assist, Text Assist, Smart Translator, and Smart Voice Memo. Finally, there’s a massive 10,000mAh battery (twice the size found on most phones) that should be enough to last more than a day with moderate use.