TCL Tab A1 Plus Review: A Big, Bright Budget Tablet

A large screen for a small outlay is a tempting combination, and it is the one the TCL Tab A1 Plus is built around. TCL is better known for inexpensive televisions than for tablets, so the question is whether a 12.2-inch Android tablet from the same stable holds up as a portable entertainment machine, or whether the appeal stops at the spec sheet.

At first glance the Tab A1 Plus looks like an oversized smartphone, only flatter and rather more elegant. Its 12.2-inch footprint puts it among the larger tablets of its type, yet at 541 g it is surprisingly light, and the 7 mm profile reinforces that airy impression. The back is a plain matte surface with a discreetly integrated camera unit — a design that does not shout, and is all the better for it. Build quality holds up under pressure, too: in scratch testing the casing and rear panel proved remarkably resistant, which matters on a device this size that will be carried around the house and packed into bags.

The generous body is not there for its own sake; it is a stage for the tablet's real highlight. Across a 12.2-inch diagonal (31 cm) sits a sharp 2,400 x 1,600 panel in the slightly squarer 3:2 format, which suits reading, browsing and note-taking better than the long, letterbox shapes many rivals use. A 120 Hz refresh rate keeps scrolling, drawing and streaming pleasingly fluid, and the touchscreen responds precisely to input.

Measurements back up the impression. Brightness reached 444 cd/m², enough to keep content legible in bright rooms, and while the 1353:1 contrast ratio could stand to be higher, it gives photos and films a useful sense of depth. Colour reproduction is the standout: photos and video appear with almost faithful, natural and well-balanced tones. This is not premium-panel territory, but for a tablet at this end of the market the screen is a genuinely strong showing.

Underneath the elegant exterior, it becomes clear where the savings were made. Setting the pace is the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, an entry-class chip first introduced in mid-2023, which runs dependably but tends to keep up rather than press ahead. Its eight cores clock at up to 2 GHz, and the 6 GB of memory alongside them is not especially generous.

The measured results confirm what the specification suggests. Day to day the Tab A1 Plus runs reliably, but it is not a device that impresses with raw speed. Apps open after a small pause for thought, and with several programs running side by side, or anything more demanding underway, it soon begins to stutter. Input latency was comparatively high at 86 ms, and that shows up plainly when drawing a line with a finger or a stylus: the tablet cannot quite keep pace, and the stroke often appears on screen a noticeable moment later. None of this is disastrous, but it is perceptible — this is a relaxed long-distance runner rather than an eager sprinter. For streaming, browsing, video calls and office tasks the performance is entirely sufficient; anyone expecting smooth multitasking across several apps, or stutter-free play in more demanding games, will run into the limits of the hardware quickly. One further quirk: 4K video would not play in the tablet's own player, and needed an additional app such as VLC.

Stamina is not among the tablet's strengths either. In continuous use the 8000 mAh battery lasted just under 6 h. That is no endurance record, but it covers a longer flight or a few episodes of a favourite series on the sofa. Recharging is in no hurry: a full top-up took 3 h, although the battery was already 24 % full after 30 min and half full after an hour.

The cameras present a familiar budget-tablet face. For video calls, snapshots of documents or a quick photo in passing the lenses are perfectly adequate, but nobody should expect photographic flights of fancy. In good daylight the 8 MP main camera delivered surprisingly decent photos and video with usable sharpness and natural colours. As soon as the light weakened, image quality fell away noticeably: detail disappears, noise increases and shots quickly look washed out. The front camera does rather better, and suits video calls or daylight selfies nicely.

Storage is where TCL turns frugal: only 128 GB is available for apps, photos and video, though it can be expanded by up to 2 TB via microSD, which takes much of the sting out of the limitation. Face recognition is on hand for quick unlocking. The operating system is Android 16 rather than the newer Android 17 released on 16 June 2026, and TCL has committed to providing an Android 17 update, though no date has been named. Two omissions are worth noting: there is no 5G version, and the tablet connects over the older Wi-Fi 5 standard rather than a more current one.

The TCL Tab A1 Plus surprises with a large, colour-rich 12.2-inch display, a slim design and decent build quality at a modest outlay. Its low cost shows clearly in pace, battery life and cameras, and anyone who wants brisk multitasking or serious gaming should look elsewhere. But for streaming, browsing and reading — the things most large tablets actually get used for — this is a lot of tablet for the money.