TCL NXTPAPER P80 Ultra review: what other smartphones should copy

A smartphone display with the sharpness and colors of an AMOLED and the matte, low-reflection surface of an e-reader: that sounds like the ideal solution for everyone who, like me, looks at their phone for hours. TCL has been attempting this balancing act with its NXTPAPER technology for a while and, with the P80 Ultra, brings it to a 1.5K AMOLED panel for the first time.

The display: matte, sharp, and easy on the eyes

The specs read strongly:

	TCL NXTPAPER P80 Ultra
Size	6.83 inches
Resolution	1.5K
Refresh rate	120 Hz
Peak brightness	up to 3,200 nits

The special thing is the matte NXTPAPER surface on an AMOLED panel. Ceiling lights or bright sun don’t reflect but are gently diffused. That makes text look almost like print.

• Usable with polarized sunglasses, in portrait and landscape, without the screen turning black.
• Less blue light: The blue light share is reduced by over 97% in the hardware.
• Dimming: Above 80 nits, DC dimming regulates; below that, high-frequency PWM dimming down to 2 nits for use in the dark.

The matte display also feels very good: slightly roughened, and fingerprints hardly stick. I’d love it if many more manufacturers offered a display like this. It already exists on tablets, but so far not on smartphones.

The catch: If you like reflective glossy contrasts and maximum sharpness in photos, you’ll notice that the matte layer takes the last touch of brilliance away from the panel. That’s a deliberate compromise. It has nothing to do with the quality of a stick-on matte film, though; the resolution here is much better.

The NXTPAPER slider: two reading modes

There’s a slider on the side of the case. One flick is enough, and the device switches into one of two modes.

Max Ink Mode: The smartphone becomes a pure e-reader. The interface switches to a clear black-and-white layout. Apps and their notifications can be hidden and are automatically restricted when you switch into the mode. Instead of Google Discover, a swipe to the right brings up your own library of books and magazines. This isn’t a simple black-and-white filter but a reading environment built deep into the system, which also saves battery. Many people buy an e-reader specifically so they don’t end up on Instagram while reading. You can save yourself that here.

Paper Mode: It imitates book or magazine pages, not in black and white but with reduced color, with selectable color profiles and a warmer color temperature. Well suited for web articles, feeds, or comics where you like to see pictures in color.

Up to here, the P80 Ultra and P80 Pro are the same.

Camera: the periscope telephoto makes the difference

This is where the first difference between the two models lies. The Pro has wide-angle and ultrawide. The Ultra additionally gets a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilization.

That brings real sharpness at 3x and, via sensor crop, 6x magnification, undistorted facial proportions in portraits, and the blurred background that many people like.

• Main camera: 50 megapixels on both models, balanced colors and good dynamic range in daylight.
• Ultrawide: 8 megapixels on both. In the daytime that’s enough for landscapes, but at dusk it visibly falls off in edge sharpness and detail.
• Selfie camera: 32 megapixels, solid sharpness for video calls and vlogs.

Performance and AI

Both devices run the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Elite, manufactured on a 4-nanometer process, with 8 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage. Multitasking, photo editing, and operation run without delay. TCL promises that this will still be the case in five years. I find that a bold promise.

For demanding gaming at maximum settings, there are stronger chips. In return, the device stays pleasantly cool even under sustained load and hardly throttles.

For AI, TCL relies on the familiar tools from Google and Android: Circle to Search and Gemini, plus Ask AI (summarize web content or have terms explained), Smart Voice Memo, and AI Translator for transcriptions and live translations. You know that from other Android smartphones.

Battery, case, and updates

• Battery: 5,800 mAh. That gets you comfortably through a day and a half to two intensive days.
• Charging: by cable at up to 45 watts. Wireless charging is missing.
• Case: 197 g and 8.26 mm thick, sits in the hand in a balanced way despite the large display. IP68 protection.
• Updates: up to seven years of security updates and four major Android versions on the Ultra, one Android version fewer on the Pro.

Prices: P80 Ultra or P80 Pro?

Model	Storage	RRP
P80 Ultra	256 GB, 8 GB RAM	€549.99
P80 Ultra	512 GB, 8 GB RAM	€599.99
P80 Pro		€429.99

NXTPAPER technology, battery, and display are identical on both. The difference lies in the periscope telephoto, which the P80 Pro lacks. If that doesn’t bother you, you save €120.

Verdict

For me, the clear advantages are the so-far unique matte 1.5K AMOLED display, the slider with Max Ink Mode, the camera upgrade through the periscope telephoto, the 5,800 mAh battery, and seven years of security updates.

You should be aware: there is no wireless charging, the ultrawide camera falls off, and the matte display takes some shine away from photos and videos. I think it’s a pity that there apparently is no case with a stylus anymore, as with the predecessors. The large matte display practically invites note-taking.