• expired

TCL Plex 128GB/6GB (Obsidian Black) $349.01 + $4.99 Delivery @ JB Hi-Fi

180

Not as good as the previous half price sale of $249, but I doubt if it'll ever come back. This phone is still of reasonably good value at this price point, although you'll probably look elsewhere if you aren't in the budget bracket of $350.

Delivery only (from $4.99), and the white colour is more expensive at $399.

Key Features

6.53" Full HD+ Dotch display HDR display (IPS, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio, ~395 ppi density)
Qualcomm SDM675 Snapdragon 675 (11 nm), (2x2.0 GHz Kryo 460 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 460 Silver), Adreno 612
6GB RAM
128GB storage, UFS 2.1
microSD card slot (up to 256GB)
Rear cameras: 48 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/2", 0.8µm, PDAF; 16 MP, f/2.4, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/3.1", 1.0µm; 2 MP, f/1.8
Front camera: 24 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8", 0.9μm
3820mAh battery
Bluetooth 5.0
Quickcharge 3.0
Fringerprint sensor

Related Stores

JB Hi-Fi
JB Hi-Fi

closed Comments

  • Using this phone right now - AMA.

    • Worth $350 or na?

      • +3

        350 is borderline (I'll get it if my old phone is dying or really old, not if I want a shiny new toy). It's got all the necessities including a headphone jack. No lag, good screen, decent camera, good battery life - really no complaints from me.

        • Any other phone you would get in that price range?

          • +1

            @alwayslooking: That's a good q. Honestly nothing comes to mind… Tho I may check out the one plus nord when it comes out. It will be a bit more expensive tho..

            • +1

              @Jacko3000: The Nord is likely to be twice the price of this.

          • @alwayslooking: Moto g8 is worth considering.

          • @alwayslooking: have checked out oppo a52??? quite a decent one too

            • @thomalfa: Yes, had a look at that. Looks like a decent phone. Good battery too. For some reason I am leaning towards the Umidigi s5 pro.

              • @alwayslooking: it seems to be a very strong contestant as well… but where to buy??? import phone??? local warranty???

    • What's the software like ? How close is it to stock android ?

      • The software is quite light, no problem on security - currently on may 2020 patch.

        Even has a dedicated semi programmable button which is quite nice.

        Only complaint I can think of is the rejig in setting names, makes it harder to find stuff given this phone is not common.

    • Does it receive security updates?

      • +2

        Yes it does. Surprisingly often - currently on may 2020 patch.

    • is the Australian variant a dual SIM version ?

      • That's a good q, never tested. I know the sim tray has 2 slots, but unclear if it'll allow dual sim.

        • D'oh. From what I read it either comes in dual SIM (shared with micro sd) or single SIM and microsd.

          • +3

            @chriaj2689: Using the same phone (from previous deal), can confirm it is hybrid dual SIM. If you use SIM 2, you lose the microSD slot.

    • +2

      AMA

      Are you a dog or cat person?

      • +1

        Dog for sure!

  • -5

    I'll get it at this price only if its 5g.

    • +2

      Guess you're not getting it then

  • +1

    It was a great $249 phone. Borderline $349 phone. Overpriced $499 phone. At this current price, I'd be looking elsewhere.

    • What else would you look at for $349?

      • +2

        This is a tricky price point because it's getting close to mid range. If you're gonna spend $350 on the plex, I'd hold out for better offers.

        Over the past month, locally, we have seen the Realme 6 for $370 at Allphones & Oneplus 6T for $399 at Kogan.

        If it were me, I'd spend $250 and grab the Oppo A52 for a budget phone or put in a few extra $$ and get a premium midrange, like the Nova 5T, Mi Mix 3, LG G8, etc which have all been less than $500 recently.

        • I've been looking at the Umidigi S5 Pro recently (shorturl.at/yACV9), but still not 100% sure.

          I did have the Umidigi F1 Play for about 18 months until the screen cracked. The phone was pretty good for the price (approx $280), although the camera was crap.

      • +3

        Keep your eye peeled for the $0 jb hi fi Huawei p30 deal if it pops up again. $5 aldi Sim, transfer then cancel for a total of $395 ($390 for phone, $5 the throwaway Sim)

        • The P30 plan was a while ago and they would of made a major loss on it, especially when people were getting away with cancelling their plan for $0.

        • Aldi definitely ok for the jb deal since they share the Telstra network?

          • @tunzafun001: Yeah worked last time zero problems. Just need to see if JB do any decent deals again though

            • @Preferred Username: I grabbed the P30 deal from JB and didn't have to port in, they just gave me a new number, if it happens again just ask before you muck around activating sims..

  • +4

    Got this phone last time. Good solid updates Inc security updates.
    Camera is very good.
    Light bloat free Android 10.

    Generally phone runs well sometimes slows down but closing all apps brings it back.

    Worth 249 but 349 I would probably go Xiaomi at the price point.

    The biggest pain is that there are absolutely no cases available for the phone and the one that comes with it has buttons that fall off.
    All the cases on eBay are crappy universal ones and screen protectors all don't have the front camera cut out.

    • Basically this.

      I've also struggled to find a case without paying ~$20 for a clear piece of plastic. I guess just not enough units in the wild to be worth anyone's time.

  • +1

    I bought last time 2 phones, they are fast and it does charge phone in 30 to 40 mins and love the camera as well, for $250 was a good bargain, at this price there are not much stock available for options.

    • Good point I missed in my reply.
      The fast charging is excellent and works with generic chargers like blitz wolf

  • Don't get this phone, please.
    No accessories.
    Screen protectors don't protect the edges. I would know as I cracked my screen from the bottom.
    Handsfree is weak.

  • +2

    Bought one for my dad from the last deal and he loves it. Great display (for an LCD) - great colours and plenty bright. Performance and GPS is great and battery life gets him around 3 days.

    Original screen protector is still installed (goes to the edges of the LCD - not the glass as with all curved phones).

    Camera is also good for the price. Overall a very good phone - not crazy value at $350 but good.

  • I got this phone. Been happy with it. Downside is I found the volume not loud enough. Anyone else find that, too?
    Got my case from AliExpress, one of those flip cover with "Luxury" leather for $5. Arrived just in time, after the plastic case buttons that came with the phone broke.

    • +1

      Have you got a link to the case you don't mind sharing mate?

    • I'd like to know, too. I bought this for my daughter (came with free BT headphones which she uses for everything audio now) and have been looking for a case.

  • hotspotting is best of any phone. i leave it hotspot mode all day and only slight battery drain
    Dual sim works as any other.
    only negative is getting case for it. it does come with case which i broke the little plastic tab button.
    Been looking one but cant find. Does anyone else found a good gel case for it ?

    • Agree the hotspot seems to drain no battery.
      My case has broken exactly the same.
      I looked everywhere for cases even contacted Alibaba sellers to make some.

      You can buy the same case from the Australian support company that does warranty for $45 but I'll pass lol

      • Amazon does have a case for the new TCL 10L by Tudia which is basically the same size as the Plex.

        https://www.amazon.com.au/TCL-10L-10-Lite-Transparent/dp/B08…
        or
        https://www.amazon.com.au/TUDIA-Merge-Designed-Rugged-Protec…

        The rugged comes in black, grey, pink and blue.

        I have the rugged case on my phone and this is my experience.

        The power button, volume up and volume down are perfectly placed as is the fingerprint sensor and USB hole. The camera cut out is slightly lower than the Plex, but it doesn't block the cameras at all, they just don't sit centered.

        What doesn't work so well - the Google assistant button is lower on the Plex than the 10L so it doesn't work (might work better on the transparent one because it's the hard plastic shell that stops me pushing in the side on the rugged case. Also, the headphone jack is on the top left on the 10L and the top right on the Plex. Again, I use bluetooth, so doesn't bother me that much.

        Anyway, just thought that I would share in case people were looking for something other than one of those flip cases.

        • Yes there seems to be more products out there for the 10L. Too bad it's similar not not exactly the same.

  • My experience with this phone is that when I use the non-stock camera app (such as with IG/Whatsapp) the front facing camera quality is very poor.

    This suggests a poor camera2api implementation. Not sure if anyone else experiences this? I am tempted to try and factory reset it to see if it's a software issue, because the difference is light and day.

    Apart from this the phone is pretty good. Recently I am started to get some app freezes/crashes, but not sure if it's related to the phone or other apps.

    • Same problem for me WhatsApp camera sux so it's no point resetting.
      I do get some freezes from time to time but not frequent

      • Good to know. I suspect it's a software issue as hardware wise, it's pretty good!

  • How does it compare to A70?

  • Got it for my daughter when it was $26X delivered, nice phone, nice screen, nice camera ect for the price. Not sure about $349 around 6 months later though, there could've more option out there at this price range.

  • +2

    Got this as a temporary phone while I repaired my old S5, within a week I decided to move everything over and stuck the S5 in a drawer. For $250 it was an absolute no-brainer. For $350, it depends on how much you need a phone - if you aren't desperate, then wait and either this will get cheaper, or something else will be available that's even better value. If you need a phone today and $350 is the upper end of your budget, it's still a pretty solid recommendation - there's not a lot under RRP$400 in my experience that can match it, so if you absolutely need something now you can't really afford to wait around in the hope that something else will be discounted. And let's say in a few months there's a phone with twice the performance etc that you see discounted to $4-$500 during Black Friday and you wish you'd waited, it's still only $350 and it got you through four months with a fairly decent phone. Stick it on a shelf and you have a great backup in case you ever need it.

Login or Join to leave a comment