TCL Stylus

Good looking but typical TCL design ; Stylus is sturdy and robust ; Vibrant LCD display with NXT Vision ; Android 12 and TCL skin are good ; Performs well, but would have liked a faster refresh rate display ; Speakers sound decent and are stereo ;...

Carrier locked to T-Mobile Metro PCS ; Stylus is basic, no connection to smartphone ; Plastic build and no weatherproofing ; No wireless charging ; No 120Hz refresh rate

The TCL STYLUS 5G is an excellent alternative to the S22 Ultra if you’re looking to save money and are okay with many features the S22 has that this will not. It’s not a direct competitor to the S22 Ultra, but it gets you a stylus, a decent big...

Very well designed stylus ; All day+ battery ; Easy to grip with its textured sides ; Thoughtful stylus-forward features

Software is buggy and laggy ; Just 4GB of ram ; Mediocre camera quality

Probably not . If you’re in the market for a phone with a stylus, you’re probably only looking at the S22 Ultra or the Moto G Stylus lineup. Even in the sub-$300 bracket, it's harder to justify a 4G phone provided you plan to use it for a few years....

Great performance ; TCL UI 4.0 is beautiful ; All-day-long battery life ; Good main camera ; Included Nebo software works very well

Passive stylus is hard to write with ; Some app incompatibilities ; UI isn't very customizable

Folks looking for a cheap Galaxy Note competitor will be disappointed with the TCL Stylus 5G's passive stylus, which can't recognize the difference between a hand and a stylus while writing. If you just need a great overall phone for $250 that performs...

There aren't many budget stylus smartphones on the market, so TCL could successfully cater to those who enjoy note-taking handsets but don't want to or can't spend much money. That said, whether we'll recommend the TCL Stylus 5G will come down to...