Yesterday we saw TCL announce the TCL 10 Series of phones. Today they have added to that announcement with a few new smart connected products. The new products include a 5G CPE, true wireless headphones, wireless heart rate monitoring sport headphones and a 4G connected smartwatch designed for kids.
TCL LINKHUB 5G CPE
The TCL LINKHUB 5G CPE is a lightweight, portable router obviously designed to use 5G networks. It supports dual band Wi-Fi with 4×4 MU-MIMO technology to extend its coverage and supports more than 1,000 simultaneous connections.
Inside the LINKHUB 5G CPE apcks the Snapdragon X55 5G modem with support for 5G connectivity up to 2.8Gbps and supports Wi-Fi 6 technology. It also allows users to connect it easily to their mesh router system, and supports both Bluetooth and ZigBee. It will be available in Australia in July this year — pricing yet to be announced.
True Wireless earphones
TCL have released two wireless earphones, the SOCL500TWS and the ACTV500TWS (quite a mouthful right?). They both leverage the inner ear for support rather than just the ear canal — you must really have to stuff them all the way in. The ACTV version is IPX7 certified so is completely water and sweat resistant while the SOCL is just IPX4 rated to be water repellent.
With a play time of up to 33 hours both have great battery life — 6.5 hours in the earbuds and the extra in the portable charging case. Both sets of headphones have wireless charging capabilities with a quick charge feature than can give you an hour of play time with just 15 minutes of charging.
The SOCL is available in Blue Ocean, Sunset Violet, Sunrise Orange, and Phantom Black, while the ACTV500TWS is available in two colours, Copper Dust and Copper Ash. At this stage there is no word on pricing or availability with in Australia.
Heart rate monitoring sports headphones
The ACTV200BT headphones offer high accuracy heart rate monitoring in a Bluetooth wireless headphone. With a multi-sensor built into the acoustic tube of the right earpiece it can provide real time heart rate monitoring.
Being sports headphones they are IPX4 certified (sweat and water resistant) and when combined with the heart rate monitor they are perfect for any workout. The Bluetooth 5 connection allows for 14 hours of playback and with the fast charging you can get another two hours of playback with just 15 minutes of charging.
The ACTV200BT comes in two colours, Copper Dust and Copper Ash. Australian pricing and availability are yet to be announced.
MOVETIME Kids Watch MT43K
We have seen quite a few of these watches designed for child safety over the past year or two. TCL are throwing their hat into the ring with the MOVETIME Kids Watch MT43K.
The watch is designed to be fun and easy to use for kids with parents able to monitor their child’s location, receive notifications when the child exits a preset safe zone or push the SOS button and establish contact with its 4G two-way calling and voice messaging features.
It’s not all about the parent though with kids able to monitor their steps (which for some reason they love to do), calorie burnt (not important for a child IMO) and distance walked (or run). There is also a School Mode where the parent can control the times with which the watch can be interacted with.
A big issue many have (and rightly so) with this type of device is the privacy and security features. the MOVETIME watch is Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant giving you piece of mind over the security of the child’s data and privacy.
The MOVETIME watch comes with a 1.4-inch AMOLED touch display that is water and dust resistant, as well as a voice-activated assistant to call contacts or open applications. The watch comes with a long-lasting battery that has a standby time of up to four days or usage time of up to two days and comes with multiple replacement bands.
Australian availability and pricing is also unknown for this device at this stage.
TCL are moving their products into Australia in a big way and with now the phones and these smart connected products they are becoming an even bigger player in our marketplace. It is good to see another company offering great value for money, after all in the end the consumer wins.
