Technologies

TCL 40 Series Phones Will Cost Under $200 and Launch This Summer

TCL’s 2023 phone line focuses on the price-conscious market while bringing 5G to cheaper devices.

TCL will bring four under-$200 phones to the US this year, two of which will have 5G. Revealed as part of the Chinese company’s Mobile World Congress announcements Sunday in Barcelona, the four devices are part of the TCL 40 Series of phones.

The highest-end will be the TCL 40 X 5G, which is priced at $199 and set for release this June. The phone includes a triple rear camera system anchored by a 50-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, a 6.56-inch HD Plus display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor. The TCL 40 X 5G will also include a 5,000-mAh battery, 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM.

TCL is also touting the phone’s 180Hz touch sampling rate, which is a figure normally used to describe how responsive the phone would be for gaming or any other activity involving quick response. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S23 has a 240Hz touch sampling rate when in gaming mode, and the RedMagic 7 gaming phone has 720Hz.

The step-down model from the X is the TCL 40 XE 5G, priced at $169 and also set for a June release. It shares many of the same specs as the X, but will have a 13-megapixel main rear camera. The screen, processor, battery and storage options will otherwise be the same.

The TCL 40 XE 5G will cost $169 when it launches this June.

TCL

Costing $20 less than the XE, the $149 TCL 40 XL does not support 5G but has a larger 6.75-inch screen. The phone will also have a 50-megapixel main rear camera, an 8-megapixel front facing camera, a MediaTek G37 processor, 128GB of storage, 4GB of RAM and a 5,000-mAh battery. The TCL 40 XL will be released in May.

The 40 X, XE and XL are all exclusive to the US, and will be released in partnership with a US carrier that will be announced at a later date. For the prepaid market, a $119 TCL 406 phone will launch this year with a 6.6-inch HD Plus display and dual speakers.

It’s notable that TCL is squarely targeting the under-$200 phone market with the 40 Series, with TCL Chief Marketing Officer Stefan Streit noting that keeping the phones partnered up with carriers is an important part of its strategy right now.

The TCL 40 XL does not include 5G, but does come with a larger screen.

TCL

«We just started with TCL as a mobile brand three years ago, the brand is still very young,» Streit said, noting that from the company’s perspective the midpriced ($300 to $600) phone market is currently under pressure from inflation. While TCL has teased its ability to create a higher-end phone concept or a foldable phone, Streit said the company plans to focus on the entry-level market for now before choosing to step back up. TCL has a longer history in TVs and makes some of CNET’s favorites, including the 6-Series, which we think is the best TV for the money right now.

TCL also confirmed during a press briefing that the phones are all being sold exclusively in carrier partnerships. This means that while they have cheaper prices or even be offered for free by the carriers, it’s quite possible that they will be loaded up with carrier bloatware, as I found with last year’s TCL Stylus 5G.

The TCL NxtPaper 11 tablet includes stylus support and a display coating designed to feel like paper when drawing.

TCL

While we look forward to testing these phones when they arrive later this year, it’s definitely a bonus to see 5G connectivity beginning to trickle down to even cheaper devices. After years of 5G being more of a «nice to have,» these TCL phones may begin the trend of the networks being in use across all devices.

TCL also rolled out a line of affordable tablets at MWC, including the TCL NxtPaper 11 and the TCL Tab 11. Both tablets offer an 11-inch screen with 2K resolution, with the NxtPaper tablet touting stylus support with a display coating designed to feel like paper when writing or drawing. The NxtPaper 11 launches in Europe this May at $249, while the Tab 11 launches the same month with a $179 starting price.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Oct. 22, #1586

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Oct. 22, No. 1,586.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle features some letters I don’t often guess, but it’s not terribly difficult. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with S.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with T.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an action displaying spectacular skill and daring.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is STUNT.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Oct. 21, No. 1,585 was DETOX.

Recent Wordle answers

Oct. 17, No. 1,581: GROSS
Oct. 18, No. 1,582: HAVEN
Oct. 19, No. 1,583: IDEAL
Oct. 20, No. 1,584: LIMBO

Quick tips for Wordle

#1: Check our list ranking the popularity of all the letters in the alphabet and choose your starter words accordingly. (TRAIN, STERN and AUDIO are good.)

#2: Don’t forget that letters can be used more than once.

#3: Many words are similar. You don’t want to use up multiple guesses that don’t advance your cause. So if the puzzle is STA_E, don’t guess STARE, STATE and STALE. Guess something that uses that R, T and L, like TWIRL.