A tablet is a device that can help you do work on the go and is easy to carry anywhere, much like a laptop. But for a tablet to replace a laptop, it must have good quality and help with productivity.
Today, we're checking out the LTE variant of the TCL Tab 11. How would it fare in terms of design, specs and performance? And what does this tablet offer the user? Read on to find out.
On the front, you'll see an 11-inch screen big enough for watching videos and doing your daily tasks. The bezels around the display are very thick and clearly visible, but that's about what you can expect from most tablets in this range. Like most tablets, this one has an 8MP front camera. It's placed in the centre of the right bezel, positioned to function like a laptop webcam when the tablet is placed in a horizontal or landscape position.
TCL Tab 11 screen
8MP selfie camera in the centre in horizontal mode
The TCL Tab 11 is only available in dark grey, a standard colour for budget tablets. However, it features a matte finish that gives it a premium and elegant look. Unfortunately, the matte finish makes it easier to leave fingerprints, especially if your hands sweat easily.
Of course, you can get a cover for the tablet to avoid that. TCL does include one in the box, which is a flip cover that's decent enough. It increases the overall thickness to 6.8mm, but that's not too bad, as it's still easy to store in a laptop or messenger bag without taking up too much space.
Matte finish on the back of the tablet
8MP rear camera
Thin camera bump
The power button in the upper right corner
Audio button and SIM card slot
Two bottom speakers and a USB-C port
In addition, the back houses another 8MP camera for you to capture photos and videos. The camera bump is thin and the design of the camera island was one that we quite liked. As for the camera, we'll get back to that later.
Moving on, you will find the volume rocker and a SIM card tray on the right. There are also two microphones to help with audio or video calls here. Finally, the power button and two of four speakers can be found on top, while the bottom holds the last two speakers and the USB-C port.
Anyway, let's go back to the tablet's flip cover. While overall decent, we didn't like how it used adhesives to stick to the tablet. Couldn't TCL have done better with a clip cover? One that could protect the sides or corners of the tablet and prevent fall damage would have been preferred. Honestly, this felt like a lazy cost-cutting measure. Likewise, the T-Pen holder had to be attached to the tablet cover separately.
Everything inside the box
Tablet folding case
Tablet stand, T-Pen and T-Pen holder
T-Pen: Active button and USB-C port
Next, let's go over the specs for this tablet. The TCL Tab 11 sports a Mediatek Helio P60T chipset, which delivers enough performance to handle your daily apps. But don't expect it to run image editing apps or mobile games that well, as it's not designed to handle those smoothly. For the display, it does output in 2K resolution and produces good colours. It's nothing spectacular but should work well enough if you're just using it to watch YouTube videos. As for the storage, you don't have to worry because it supports 1TB storage via microSD card.
Moving on to the battery, the TCL Tab 11 has a massive 8000mAh capacity battery with an 18W charger, which can only charge the tablet from 0% to 17% in 30 minutes. Moreover, going to 100% took three hours and 20 minutes. As you can see, it's a snail's pace by today's standards.
The case helps you keep dust away from the screen
Also doubles as a kickstand
Although it takes a long time to fully charge, the large battery allowed us to play YouTube videos for hours. Watching for 3 hours only dropped the battery from 99% to 83%, so you can binge Netflix TV series on this tablet if you want to. It also means the tablet will last very long in productivity apps, so you can do your work on a long-haul flight without worrying about the battery that much.
As for the cameras, don't expect too much from them. Pictures taken with these cameras have a lot of noise and lack detail, especially at night. But like most tablets, the cameras on the TCL Tab 11 aren't designed for photography, so that's not a surprise. Having said that, the front camera works well enough for video calls.
Besides the above, the TCL Tab 11 has the standard USB-C port, dual microphones, and four speakers. The speakers output clear audio, plus the tablet has a sound booster feature to improve it. Overall, the speakers performed decently in videos and mobile games. But again, nothing impressive.
A stylus is a great help for hand-writing and drawing
Finally, there's a T-Pen stylus for users who want to sketch or write notes on the Jnotes app. Thanks to its sensor, the T-Pen proved rather precise and easy to use. Also, you don't need to connect the T-Pen via Bluetooth because it will do so automatically.
The T-Pen also has a Sleep mode that activates automatically after idling for 30 minutes. To reenable the stylus, just press the button at the bottom. As a bonus, TCL included a replacement pen tip. That's in case the one on the T-Pen gets damaged or wears off over time.
The pen was sensitive enough for writing smoothly
As mentioned, the Helio P60T isn't a powerful chipset. The TCL Tab 11 even had some problems during boot-up, taking almost a minute to get to the main interface. That could be due to the chipset, operating system, or slower UFS storage version. But we're leaning towards the first, as the tablet would have slight lags even when starting or switching between apps. Some apps would also crash while in use, so you'd need to open them again.
Despite that, our overall experience with the TCL Tab 11 was decent. The Helio P60T chipset can also perform well enough in some mobile games. PUBG Mobile and Mortal Kombat could run smoothly without noticeable hiccups. The touch screen also worked well when playing games.
3DMark benchmark
Geekbench 6 benchmark
The application deletes itself
As for audio, the four speakers on this tablet performed well enough. Voices from conference calls were crisp and clear, even at full volume. It's not as good for music due to the sub-par sound stage, but it's loud if nothing else. At the least, you won't feel like you'd immediately want to go for headphones or earphones when using its speakers.
By the way, stylus users will love the shortcut menu. You can open this menu using the T-Pen, enabling quick access to several favourite apps. This shortcut icon will appear when you play games, so you can quickly take screenshots without reaching for the power and volume down buttons (screenshot shortcut). You can also use this shortcut menu to activate the accessibility feature in the Settings section for shortcuts.
The T-Pen makes the TCL Tab 11 great for productivity, as we could do tasks like taking notes (at meetings or events). Artists might also appreciate this inexpensive tablet, but we can't confirm if apps like Clip Studio would work consistently without crashing.
PUBG Mobile - Runs smoothly
Mortal Kombat - Runs smoothly
The pencil icon gives a shortcut
Accessibility features for shortcuts
If there's one other thing we'd complain about, it would be the display. While watching YouTube, we noticed a glitch where the screen was showing coloured blocks/artefacts. It only happened for a moment a few times. But it doesn't happen in Netflix or other productivity apps, so we're unsure what caused it.
Next, let's touch on camera performance. The TCL Tab 11's camera software has the standard features anyone would expect. It works well enough, but the photos taken don't look that good. Whether taken in the day or night, you can spot noise and a lack of detail with distant objects. In that sense, it's best to snap photos without zooming in, as the results would be terrible anyway.
Available camera modes
Main camera
Main camera - 4x zoom
Main camera - Night
Main camera - Night 4x zoom
Selfie - Day | Night
For RM999, the TCL Tab 11 isn't a bad deal. It's more suitable for office work or simple entertainment like watching videos on YouTube or listening to music on Spotify. It could also be an affordable option for children to use with educational apps. One of its core strengths lies in its battery endurance. However, it does have a long full recharge time, somewhat laggy app performance, and poor photo quality.
If you want alternatives, check out the pricier realme Pad 2 (RM1299), which offers a large 11.5-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2000×1200, a 8360mAh battery and an 8MP camera. It also offers a more powerful Helio G99 chipset, up to 8GB of RAM, and Dolby Atmos quad-speakers. Another option is the HONOR Pad X9 (RM1099), also rather recently launched. This model also has good performance with its Snapdragon 685 chipset and has a keyboard+trackpad accessory included, making it useful for light office work.
Tech specs and features – Just the basics but worth the asking price
Chipset: Mediatek Helio P60T Octa-core
Display: 11-inch screen with 2K resolution (2000 x 1200 pixels)
RAM: 4GB RAM
Storage: 128GB ROM expandable up to 1TB with a microSD card
Battery: 8000mAh battery with 18W charger
Cameras: 8MP (front), 8MP (rear) 1080p/30fps
Operating System: TCL UI v5.0.JY2M
Other features: Dual microphones, 4 speakers, sound booster, T-Pen support
Colour: Dark grey
Price: RM999
Pros and cons
Pros - Relatively inexpensive, looks good enough, long battery endurance, and has a solid stylus
Cons - Long recharge time, lags when opening or switching apps, no keyboard, and poor cameras
Conclusion - It doesn't excel in any area, but can be a decent option if you want an inexpensive option that lets you write or sketch
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