Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
- I found the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G phone on the show floor at CES, because I didn’t want to leave Vegas without seeing it.
- Switch from a color screen to a grayscale in seconds.
- It won TechRadar’s Best Mobile Phone of CES 2025.
In between hands-on time with SonyThe Xyn headset prototype and get a remote drive around Las Vegas, I went TCLextravagant stand of CES 2025. For what? Well, the answer lies in the GIF below, which shows a smartphone switching from a color display to a grayscale display that quickly extends battery life.
This is the TCL 60XE NXTpaper 5G Android smartphonewhich, thanks to custom display technology, can transform from an FHD + to one that looks like a matte gray scale that is similar to a newspaper. However, it is a fully functional Android phone with TCL’s user interface, although you are limited to using seven apps in this mode. The good news is that you can choose those, and it only takes a few seconds for the screen to transform.
I cannot stress enough how clean and intuitive this easy switch is and the benefits that are supposedly associated with it, seeing that other TCL NXTpaper devices have a long battery life, which is a feature with this upcoming smartphone. In my short test on the sample plan at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Showalthough it is clearly in a black and white mode, the animations are still rendered smooth, and it was quite responsive to my touch inputs.
Aside from the shock and wow of the display transformation, the real neat factor is TCL pushing its NXTpaper into new formsand potential battery life wins here. TCL says it can last for a full week, seven full days of constant use, or 26 days on standby. It’s quite impressive, and remember, this is still an LCD screen with some extra layers that allow you to switch from color to this less energy-intensive mode.
It’s a decent-sized phone, with a 6.8-inch screen that includes a front-facing selfie camera and a rear stack with a 50-megapixel unit on the back. It also supports wireless charging and has a USB-C port on the bottom. The TCL 60XE NXTpaper felt pretty good in my hand, and even for a larger smartphone, it was pretty easy to handle.
We cover all the latest CES news from the show as it happens. Stick with us for great stories on everything 8K Foldable TVs and screens to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.
And don’t forget follow us on TikTok for the latest from the CES show floor!
I also appreciated that the switch was easy to find in the bottom right hand side to switch between the two types of display. I flipped it back and forth several times with no problem, and viewing it on a bright show floor was easy.
Between the potential for an ultra-long runtime and two display options from a single screen, there’s a lot to like here on the 60XE NXTpaper and it’ll be interesting to see if it comes to future TCL phones as well. Not to mention, it also won our best phone of CES 2025. Check out our 24 other picks here.
