TCL goals to strike a stability with its distinctive NXTPAPER know-how. It’s not an E Ink show the likes of which you see on eReaders, neither is it the identical as commonplace OLED or LCD panels we’ve come to know on cell gadgets. Whereas the underlying display screen is an LCD, TCL’s tackle it is likely one of the extra distinctive makes an attempt to alter up what a show could be.
Its matte end is particularly designed to imitate paper, and whereas initially designed to assist scale back eye pressure from publicity to blue gentle, its distinctive look makes for an fascinating various. With the NXTPAPER 11 Plus pill standing out as TCL’s signature machine below its NXTPAPER lineup in 2025, the idea behind this tech is exhibiting indicators of maturity.
Bringing paper to display screen
Contemplating the creeping stagnation seen in what Samsung, Google, and Apple proceed to deliver to market, NXTPAPER looks like a contemporary strategy, even when it’s not completely disparate from current display screen applied sciences. It’s nonetheless an LCD panel, solely with a blue gentle filter and nano-matrix lithography to provide the paper-like impact. It makes the matte display screen look extra textured, partly resulting from perceived distinction, but in addition due to the subtle backlight emanating from the show.
That explains why the general display screen brightness isn’t as excessive in comparison with different frequent display screen sorts. Nonetheless, it is uncommon to see an LCD display screen emulate E Ink — each in monochrome and shade — making TCL’s NXTPAPER gadgets essentially the most snug ones (other than eReaders) to learn ebooks. There are three modes: Ink Paper desaturates all the show of shade, Colour Paper provides restricted shade, and Common mode runs the entire shade gamut.
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Nonetheless, two main challenges pop up. First is the decrease brightness, which makes the display screen more durable to see in brighter settings. Though the matte end reduces glare, larger peak brightness is required to see every thing on display screen in brighter daylight, posing an issue for these gadgets open air.
The opposite is a type of two-pronged limitation, which is that every thing onscreen gained’t be as sharp as high-resolution LCD or OLED panels, regardless of TCL attempting to ramp up distinction. Nor can it utterly block blue gentle, so your eyes will nonetheless be prone to pressure; it simply takes longer for the consequences to be noticeable.
Merely put, NXTPAPER can’t match the vibrancy of an OLED panel with good HDR (excessive dynamic vary), a discrepancy that’s additionally extra obvious primarily based on the content material you’re taking a look at. A present or film on Netflix gained’t look as crisp on a NXTPAPER show, although a comic book e book or graphic novel is much simpler on the eyes through TCL’s know-how.
Whereas not a 100% substitute for E Ink shows, ebooks do look nice on these shows as properly. Visible artwork seems extra impactful, primarily as a result of a comic book e book, graphic novel, lithograph — principally, any medium with a historical past in paper — seems extra genuine due to it.
Colour and accuracy
May that increase to content material we take without any consideration on cell gadgets? Is there a bonus in viewing pictures, artwork, and different photographs on a NXTPAPER show?
TCL thinks so, particularly now that it claims NXTPAPER 4.0 reproduces colours precisely sufficient to compete with LCD and OLED panels. The key phrase there may be “compete,” but it surely applies considerably loosely below the circumstances. Whereas extra vibrant than earlier than, particularly with gradations, NXTPAPER gained’t match the distinction ratio and vibrancy of LCD or OLED panels.
Regardless of that, TCL says it has lastly achieved 100% sRGB shade accuracy in NXTPAPER 4.0 (up from 70-80% in 3.0), placing it proper consistent with the 95-100% protection generally seen in LCD and OLED screens. Not a lot with DCI-P3, a shade gamut set for movie and TV present manufacturing, the place assist is commonplace for telephones, tablets, TVs, and screens, however not essentially for NXTPAPER gadgets.
Brightness additionally stays a giant hurdle, the place a rise to a peak of 450 nits in NXTPAPER 4.0 nonetheless falls properly behind the 500-1,000 or extra nits you possibly can count on from these different panels. TCL positions its matte end and blue gentle filtering as an equalizer, because it’s supposed to make it simpler to see in each vivid and darkish circumstances with out straining.
Personalised Eye Consolation Mode adjusts shade, brightness, and distinction to suit with your personal preferences.
That may rely on stated circumstances, which is why TCL is attempting its hand at injecting AI into the combination. Newer options like Sensible Eye Consolation Mode will modify display screen settings it doesn’t matter what’s onscreen, addressing each content material consumption and creation. In tandem with that, Personalised Eye Consolation Mode adjusts shade, brightness, and distinction to suit with your personal preferences.
The thought is that your viewing expertise could differ from another person utilizing the identical machine, however that’s exhausting to inform with out correctly testing the most recent model.
An evolving course of
After I noticed the brand new NXTPAPER gadgets at CES in Las Vegas and Cell World Congress in Barcelona, TCL reps offered different adjustments engineers made to the underlying tech.
The place earlier generations have chemical etching, the newest model makes use of a extra superior nano-matrix lithography etching course of to provide a crisper and clearer picture for textual content, photographs, and video. It’s exhausting to gauge that below temporary demos, however some before-and-after examples of textual content and pictures recommend there’s advantage to the declare.
This may clarify why TCL markets the NXTPAPER 11 Plus as a productiveness machine as properly. Not like earlier variations, the place the main focus lay extra on consumption as an e-reader various, enhancing shade and brightness is meant to lend extra credibility to this newest iteration, being greater than that.
TCL sees the potential for artwork, portray, drawing, sketching, and photograph modifying this time round.
It’s simply not completely clear what which means but. The restricted shade gamut in earlier fashions didn’t all the time translate to the most effective accuracy throughout all visible mediums. TCL sees the potential for artwork, portray, drawing, sketching, and photograph modifying this time round, all indicated by the truth that the 11 Plus comes with a stylus. Furthermore, the brand new TCL 60 XE NXTPAPER telephone can even showcase the newest model, so we’ll see the way it all seems on a smaller show as properly.
The factor is, neither of those new gadgets is a flagship pill or smartphone competitor. TCL’s display screen know-how continues to be decidedly mid-range, possible as a method to maintain prices down and show NXTPAPER’s viability in an in any other case tight market dominated by incumbents.
Time will inform the way it seems, however for now, this distinctive display screen know-how is exhibiting indicators of significant progress. But, if it doesn’t acquire extra traction, might TCL license the know-how to others, particularly because it owns patents particular to eye safety? Maybe, however that appears unlikely within the quick time period.
Very like TCL performs a affected person recreation inside the TV and residential theater class, it could very properly be taking part in the lengthy recreation within the cell area, too.
