Hands-on: I really want a tiny version of TCL’s NXTPAPER 14 Pro [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Jan 11 2024 - 5:45 am PT

TCL came to CES 2024 with the reveal of a whole bunch of Android phones, a giant TV, as well as two tablets. The TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro caught my eye on the show floor, but all I want is a tiny version of it.

TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro is a high-end Android tablet by most definitions. It has a big, 14-inch display at 2880×1800 with a 120Hz refresh rate and, most importantly, the matte coating that comes with TCL’s NXTPAPER lineup. That matte coating is etched into the glass, and both looks and feels pretty fantastic in person.

This year at CES was my first time trying out NXTPAPER and I was pretty shocked at how good it is.

The matte texture feels great under your finger, and the lack of reflections is pretty wild, especially in the somewhat harsh conditions that were the depths of the Las Vegas Convention Center. It looks far better than any matte screen protector I’ve ever tried, and just seems like a perfect fit on a tablet. TCL also uses this on phones, but I do not see the appeal there – after all, I want a screen protector on a device I’m carrying around all of the time.

The rest of the tablet’s hardware seemed good enough. I’m not big on 14-inch tablets, but this was as well executed as one could ask for, with reasonably slim bezels all around and a thin body too. The 16:10 aspect ratio looks good, and the MediaTek Dimensity 8020 under the hood gets the job done well in our very, very brief testing, likely helped by the 12GB of RAM. TCL’s Android skin is also reasonably light.

The other half of TCL NXTPAPER comes in the software, though.

The matte texture improves the experience all of the time, but it’s only when you enter “NXTPAPER Mode” that it’s fully taken advantage of. In the case of the 14 Pro, that’s done with a physical switch on the top of the tablet.

Hitting that switch converts the 14 Pro’s software into a monochrome mode that’s system-wide, including apps. It looks pretty good, though I’m not sure how it would work in some third-party apps. I worry that some may end up losing some of their design context, but because this is primarily a software tweak, odds seem strong that any issues could be worked around.

*NXTPAPER 14 Pro has a dedicated physical switch to change display modes*

The experience here, though, is really polished. I’ve been using e-ink tablets for a while and the experience isn’t bad by any means, but TCL is on to something here. I just really wish it wasn’t in a 14-inch tablet. This exact same experience – strong chip, lots of RAM, a sharp display, and the physical switch – in an 8-inch tablet would be incredible. The 10-inch version of this that was also announced this week gets close, but it’s not nearly as powerful, and lacks the physical switch for activating NXTPAPER Mode.

Admittedly, the market for smaller tablets isn’t what it once was, but I struggle to see a giant tablet whose key selling point is effectively becoming an e-reader being particularly popular.

For now, TCL says it sells the NXTPAPER 11 in the US, but its website redirects to a totally different tablet on Amazon. NXTPAPER 14 Pro and NXTPAPER Tab 10 are coming to the US later this year, but there’s no pricing yet.