Review: TCL Tab A1 Plus Tablet
Tablets have never quite become must-haves. While I know some people manage to work on iPads or other premium tablets, for most of us, tablets are a second device that’s nice to have but ultimately not necessary.
This is why I like TCL’s new Tab A1 Plus. It’s a budget tablet that doesn’t feel low-rent. TCL wisely recognizes that the most important part of a tablet is the screen, and it has delivered an impressive display at an equally impressive budget price. The company kept the price down by cutting corners on things that don’t matter as much to most tablet users, such as the onboard cameras and the less-than-cutting-edge chip.
Keep It Simple
The Tab A1 Plus is built around a very nice 12.2-inch, 2400 x 1600 pixel LCD panel. It’s not an OLED, but it’s sharp, colorful, and bright. The 12.2-inch is a nice size too: not so big that it’s hard to hold but not so small that you feel cramped working in split-screen mode. Like the OnePlus Pad 3, the A1 Plus has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which makes it feel a bit bigger when in split-screen mode. Everything you do is nice and buttery smooth, too, thanks to the 120-Hz screen refresh rate.
The 2.4K resolution at this size works out to a pixel density of 236 ppi. For comparison, the base model iPad screen is 2360 × 1640 pixels at 264 ppi. Side by side, the two are very close in terms of resolution. Color is somewhat subjective, but I prefer the slightly more vibrant Tab A1 Plus screen to an iPad. If the iPad is too apples-to-oranges of a comparison for you, consider the similarly priced Samsung Tab 11, which offers a mere 1080p screen with a 90-Hz refresh rate that lacks the visual punch and smooth UI of the Tab A1 Plus.
The Tab A1 Plus screen also carries a certification for emitting very low amounts of blue light, which is great if you’re planning to use it in the evenings or before bed (though it’s an open question how much blue light actually affects sleep).
Whether I was watching Red Sox games in the MLB app, reading through my RSS feeds, or getting work done, I never felt as if I were using a budget screen with the A1 Tab Plus. In fact, everything about holding this thing feels very much like holding an iPad. The aluminum unibody design is very thin (6.7 mm) and lightweight at just over 1 pound (542 grams). It’s solid enough that you can hold the corner without worrying about it flexing, and it’s light enough that you can actually hold it that way for a while. The A1 Plus is rated IP54, which means it’ll be safe against dust and splashes.
Corners Were Cut
Basic economics demands that a tablet this cheap—which rivals the iPad in screen size and quality, and currently costs almost $200 less—has some downsides. Which is to say corners had to be cut to hit this price point. The camera isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not as premium as the screen and body. The 8-MP rear camera is fine for scanning documents and snapping a quick photo for reference purposes (think: receipts you need to file), but it’s not something you’d want to use for vacation photos. We would hope most people aren’t doing that with a tablet anyway (if you are, consider upgrading your travel camera). The front camera is 5 MP and, again, serviceable for video calls but nothing to rave about.
The second major corner cut here is the processor, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chip dating back to 2023. Performance is, correspondingly, not flagship level. That said, it’s not as slow as an Amazon Fire tablet. It’s actually plenty fast enough for ordinary tasks, like browsing the web with a dozen tabs open, listening to music, and multitasking—all of the typical tablet workloads were fine. And the UI feels snappy thanks to the 120-Hz refresh rate, which makes everything more fluid. I had no trouble playing back 4K video, nor did it falter when live-streaming baseball games (provided the bandwidth was sufficient). Where this tablet falls apart is if you want to game. It’s capable of what I would call casual gaming, but if you really want a tablet for gaming, this is not it.
Neither the camera nor the mid-tier performance is a deal-breaker for those looking at a tablet as a secondary, nice-to-have device. Those who want to go tablet-only are probably better off with a flagship option like the OnePlus Pad 3 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.
One thing that might make some people reconsider is that the A1 Plus ships with Android 16, and TCL is guaranteeing updates only up to Android 17, which has already been released (while Android doesn’t have a release-support policy, releases are typically supported for about three years). TCL’s website says that it will provide security updates for “at least two years after the first shipment of a certain device model.” That’s among the shortest support cycles you’ll find in an Android tablet.
Working on the Tab A1 Plus
While I think the Tab A1 Plus is best suited as a secondary tablet, that doesn’t mean you can’t get work done on it. TCL’s UI offers a few multitasking tools, like the ability to work in split-screen mode (drag an app out of the taskbar and drop it anywhere on screen, and it’ll open in split-screen mode).
TCL also offers what it calls Magic Hub, a kind of side drawer where you can stash clips of text or photos for later use. Magic Hub lives in a sidebar on the right side of the screen, and while I’ve used it a little on TCL’s phones before, it’s much more useful here, especially when used with a split-screen view. I frequently need to clip a bit of text from one tab to another, and while I can do this manually, it’s easier and faster using Magic Hub.
To further extend the usability, TCL supports what it calls extend mode, which lets you use the Tab A1 Plus as a second monitor for your laptop or PC. There’s also mirror mode, which mirrors your main screen, though I’ve never had much use for it.
There are quite a few AI-based tools baked into the A1 Plus if that’s your thing, including Gemini, Writing Assist, and Smart Translator. They work on-device (offline), so while they offer more privacy and are fine for basic requests, their usefulness is limited compared with cloud-based AI tools.
The battery life is quite good, lasting through a full day of pretty heavy use—browsing the web, working, listening to music, and streaming a baseball game or two. It’s a fast recharge as well, taking just under 3 hours to reach 100 percent. Standby mode does a good job conserving battery when you’re not using the tablet for a while.
Should You Buy It?
If you’re looking for a budget Android tablet, this is currently the best I’ve tested. While the performance can’t compete with flagship products, it’s adequate for most people’s tablet use. The main competition here is the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus, which also packs a 2.5K screen but lacks the 120-Hz refresh rate, and the colors looked dimmer to me, giving the TCL the edge. However, the Lenovo does enjoy a longer support life for Android updates. The big name in budget tablets is the Samsung Tab 11, but its 1080p screen pales next to the TCL Tab A1 Plus. If you want an entry-level Android tablet that’s very close to the base-model iPad, the Tab A1 Plus is the one to get.