First Look at the TCL Nxtpaper 12 PRO Android Tablet
TCL is gearing up to release the Nxtpaper 11 tablet, which should be available in North America next month. This device has Nxtpaper 2.0, which is easy on the eyes due to a combination of hardware and software tweaks. On the other end of the spectrum is the TCL Nxtpaper 12 Pro, a high-end Android tablet with a few software eye-care tweaks. The big selling points behind this device are the giant 12.2-inch size gives plenty of space for note taking and drawing, while the 2K resolution ensures everything is sharp.
The TCL Nxtpaper 12 Pro has a 12.2-inch screen with a resolution of 2160 x 1440 with 213 PPI. The screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. The screen is backlit, so the light shines into your eyes like any Android tablet not using an e-paper. It has 360 nits of peak brightness and 60 frames per second refresh rate. The back plate is blue, and it is blue along the sides of the bezel. On the front panel is piano black around the bezels, surrounding the screen, it is black to add contrast.
Underneath the hood is a Octa-core MT877 2.4 GHZ processor, a staggering 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. If this is not enough storage for your media, games, PDF files, ebooks or anything else, an SD card can house an additional 512GB of storage. There are four speakers, two on either side of the screen, similar to how the iPad Pro positions them; two microphones are available for voice communication apps, such as Whatsapp, Discord, Team Speak, Zoom or anything else. Dual-band WIFI will allow you to surf the internet or use apps. Android 12 is the operating system of choice, and there is a preinstalled Google Play and Google Play Services so you can download anything from the Play Store. Bluetooth 5.0. will allow you to connect wireless accessories or headphones, and USB-C will give you to charge or transfer data to the tablet via PC or Mac. It has a giant 8000mAh battery, which should last a week or two, depending on usage. There are a few cameras. The front-facing one is 8MP, and the rear is 13MP, along with LED flashes.
TCL is shipping this unit out with the E-Pen, an electromagnetic one with 8000 degrees of pressure sensitivity, allowing artists to flex. Everyone else can freehand draw, edit PDF files or to-do lists. One thing I like about the pen is that it has tilt recognition, similar to the Remarkable 2 and has 3ms latency when drawing on the screen.
There are some fancy software features that TCL includes. The first is NXTVISION, which can activate the “optimization” mode for images, videos and games. The optimization comes down to increasing the contrast and changing some parameters related to colour rendering. The second prominent feature is Reading Mode, which turns the screen output into a grayscale mode, which is excellent for reading ebooks.
There is no estimated date when this will start shipping or be available in North America or Europe. It has been available in Russia as an exclusive and can still be found on the Yandex Market. I believe it will hit North American online shelves in the next month or two, but the priority for TCL is their Nxtpaper 11 tablet.
Michael Kozlowski has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
