Buzz
Usually, I'm accustomed to handling smartphones with glossy screens, but this is the first time I've held a phone with an anti-glare screen, covered with a matte layer of glass. What's even more remarkable is that it comes this way out of the box, meaning the anti-glare feature is default: the TCL 40 Nxtpaper Phone. Fundamentally, it still boasts an LCD panel rather than E Ink like e-readers.
The TCL 40 Nxtpaper Phone has only been on the market for about a month; I don't have information on its availability in Vietnam or its pricing yet. Regarding its design, the 40 Nxtpaper Phone is a square, flat, and elongated device with a 20.5:9 aspect ratio screen. With its 6.78' display coupled with such a ratio, the 40 Nxtpaper Phone is inevitably large and elongated. Personally, I believe reading books on such a tall and narrow screen would require more scrolling.
Nxtpaper presents a comprehensive solution by TCL, enhancing reading experience and eye protection across their products. Take the 40 Nxtpaper Phone for instance. Even the packaging stands out, with TCL decorating it like layers of colored and black-and-white paper, placing the phone and accessories in separate compartments, unfolding like turning pages.The first component of this Nxtpaper solution is the matte, anti-glare screen. It's akin to buying paperlike screen protectors for smartphones and tablets, but TCL has it pre-applied, fixed, and non-removable. Only the front camera cutout is polished. Running your fingers on this screen feels smooth and comfortable, with no fingerprint smudges. Its strength lies in its non-reflective nature, even under strong lighting. Reading on glossy screens, even with a small light reflecting on it, can be discomforting, especially at night with a dark theme. All these issues are addressed with the 40 Nxtpaper Phone. Its weakness lies in reducing screen brightness and contrast, as well as less accurate colors compared to glossy smartphone screens.
Devices featuring Nxtpaper will also come equipped with technologies such as blue light reduction and various display modes. TCL mentions they use filters to reduce blue light, making the screen warmer and easier on the eyes for prolonged use. It resembles TrueTone on iPhones but doesn't automatically adapt to the environment; users can toggle it as needed. Next are two display modes: paper color and ink paper. The paper color mode turns the phone screen into a colored display with low saturation, gentle, and non-vibrant. To visualize, think of colored newspapers, still having color but more muted. This mode would be suitable for those who don't require overly vivid screens or are sensitive to colors and light. On the other hand, ink paper mode renders the screen entirely in black and white, only switching to color in certain apps like Photos, reverting to black and white upon exiting.
Comparing it with the iPhone 15 Pro. The glossy screen easily reflects ambient light.
Direct viewing allows you to see the difference in color, contrast of the two devices. I set the brightness to the highest. Assessing the vibrancy, color accuracy, contrast, and brightness, it's about 70-80% compared to the glossy screen.
Tilting it slightly doesn't cause any glare.
Try placing it directly under a lamp.
When viewed from an angle, the contrast will decrease slightly.
The entire screen is glare-resistant, except for the camera cutout.
Quite lightweight, holding it with one hand for reading doesn't cause fatigue.
Reading with a black background is very pleasing; the text extends to the camera area, almost filling the entire screen 😁
The screen is in color paper mode.
Colors in this mode will appear muted, less saturated. Subtle.
And here's the ink paper mode, entirely black and white.
When accessing Photos and exiting, any apps that support color display will look like this. This mode is quite intelligent; it switches to color when viewing photos is needed.
The 50MP AI camera, but I didn't try taking photos; I only used this device for reading.
Because of the anti-glare screen, the light and contrast are slightly lower, not glaring.
Both devices are set to dark mode. Text on the iPhone will appear brighter and more contrasted, but the screen of the 40 Nxtpaper Phone doesn't suffer from light reflections.
