Verizon picks up TCL's first US 5G tablet at a very reasonable price
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In addition to becoming the norm rather than the exception in the product portfolios of most major global vendors and US carriers, 5G-capable smartphones have gotten incredibly cheap in recent months, often costing less than $400 and even less than $300 with no minimal strings attached.
Unfortunately, we can't say the same about 5G-enabled tablets just yet, although Verizon (of all big US wireless service providers) aims to change that, starting with the TCL Tab Pro 5G.
Priced at $399.99, the 10.36-inch mid-ranger is TCL's first 5G tablet for North America, joining the even more affordable 4G LTE-only TCL Tab 8 and TCL Tab Family Edition on Big Red.
Compared to Samsung's $670 Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G or the $850 Tab S7 5G, the TCL Tab Pro 5G is unsurprisingly and undeniably humbler, packing a modest Snapdragon 480 processor and an unremarkable 4GB RAM paired with just 64 gigs of internal storage space.
Considering that something like Apple's non-5G iPad (9th Generation) typically goes for more than $450, however, this bad boy's spec sheet is certainly not bad, including a relatively large 8,000mAh battery promising up to 17 hours of endurance between charges in "mixed usage", as well as both fingerprint and facial recognition, a decent-sounding 13MP rear camera, an 8MP selfie shooter, and FHD+ screen resolution (2000 x 1200 pixels).
TCL is also hyping up things like On-The-Go reverse charging functionality, stereo speakers, and NXTVISION display technology, all of which wouldn't be very notable if the Android 11 giant didn't cost four Benjamins with support for both Verizon's "nationwide" low-band 5G signal and blazing fast Ultra Wideband (UW) 5G network.
All in all, this device proves yet again that TCL is not to be ignored when shopping for either a low-cost phone or tablet this holiday season. Especially if you're willing to buy the TCL Tab Pro 5G together with an Android handset (regardless of its brand) on Verizon, in which case you're looking at spending $100 less.
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