TCL Fills Out 30 Series Lineup At MWC; Oppo Raises Stakes in Battery Life Race

TCL unveiled 30 Series smartphones for the Europe and Asia markets at Mobile World Congress Sunday, with four models under $225 and a 5G model at about $280. Availability for the U.S. market is to be announced, it said. In January, TCL announced the TCL 30 XE 5G and TCL 30 V 5G as exclusives for the U.S. The 30 XE became the first 5G smartphone on T-Mobile when it began shipping Friday at $198 and Metro by T-Mobile at $199.

Camera features figure prominently in the 30 Series, including a 50-megapixel AI triple camera for the top models and a dual camera with a 50-megapixel main lens. The 30 5G and TCL 30+ have an ultra-wide front camera for group selfies. Steady Snap clearly captures subjects in motion, said the company. AI features balance HDR in low light and detect up to 22 different scenes, adjust exposure on videos, and provide different image types from one picture, it said. TCL also launched the 10 HD 4G tablet, available in Europe for $200; a 5G version, 10s, began shipping in Europe at $391.

Among future concepts, TCL Chief Marketing Officer Stefan Streit showed on a pre-brief webinar last week smartphone form factors with a “fold ‘n’ roll” design and a 360-degree foldable design. It’s showing the devices as prototypes at MWC this week, said Streit. A device that needs to fold and roll is exceptionally complex and “quite challenging to do,” said Streit: Dust and dirt have to be kept away from the phone display, which also has to be protected from scratches.

TCL's 360-degree Ultra Flex foldable phone has a hinge that can close completely and open to 360 degrees, Streit said. The hinge has to have a very short radius for closing but to be able to stretch “quite a lot” for the outer band. The design's benefit is a single display and supporting components, he said: “You don’t need to have two separate displays.” When open fully, the device has a smartphone form factor with a 6.7-inch screen; it can also open to a mini-tablet size 8.8 inches or close completely for protection. The design will be applicable to other small device form factors “once we have the hinge and the display movements resolved,” he said. No timetable was given for production.

Elsewhere at MWC, Oppo showed new battery technology, including 150-watt Supervooc flash charge with the company’s new Battery Health Engine that’s said to keep a phone’s battery performing at 80% of its original capacity after as many as 1,600 charge cycles, doubling the current industry standard of 800 cycles. Based on direct charging technology with charge pumps, 150W Supervooc flash charge can charge a 4500 mAh battery to 50% in five minutes and deliver a 100% charge in 15 minutes, it said. The 240-watt version fully charges a 4500mAh battery in nine minutes, the company said.

Holoride and HTC Vive announced a partnership Friday combining Holoride’s VR platform with Vive Flow immersive glasses. Vehicle passengers will be able to view VR and traditional video content on the glasses, which are due to be integrated in cars in second-half 2022. Holoride merges XR content with real-time motion, location and navigational data from the car and its environment to create “hyper-immersive experiences,” the companies said. Users navigate through virtual worlds with intuitive gestures; they also can view 2D content on a virtual, motion-synchronized cinema screen.