THE CRUNCH
TCL's P80 Ultra is the company's first Nxtpaper phone with an OLED screen, and after a couple of weeks with it, The Verge's reviewer reckons the matte display is by far the best thing about an otherwise unexceptional midrange Android phone. The screen has also, oddly, raised expectations for a very different device: the iPhone Duo and its matte inner display.
The reviewer describes the P80 Ultra as otherwise unexceptional, a midrange Android phone whose standout feature is that matte OLED screen. Nxtpaper is not simply a matte coating: it also adds a paperlike feel and low-power monochrome modes that mimic an E Ink screen, and TCL first put matte displays on tablets in 2021 before the Nxtpaper 40 brought them to its phones in 2023. Even so, the reviewer says the matte effect has always been the biggest draw.
The knock-on effect is anticipation elsewhere: the experience has, in the reviewer's words, made them more excited for the iPhone Duo and its matte inner display.