It seems like every major mobile maker is making earphones, and now you can add TCL to that bunch, as well as other gadgets, too.
There’s a lot of stuff happening over at this whole virtual IFA thing, and we’re excited: it’s been over six months since the last technology show, and while we can’t be in Germany in person, the European mid-year tech show is still going on, though most of it is online.
Even some of the executives we’ve spoken to who, like us, would like to be there, can’t.
But that doesn’t mean the technology isn’t coming, because while journalists and company spokespeople might not be able to leave the countries they’re in, the technology still can. It gets built, boxed, and shipped, ready for folks to get their hands on it and have a good play.
And for TCL this year, that will include a segment you’ve probably not seen the company dabble in before.
While TCL has been in TVs for some time, and last year jumped into mobiles locally, we’re now seeing tablets as part of its 2020 push, with two of them set to arrive, an 8 inch “TabMid” and a 10 inch “TabMax”, just to make things a little easier.
For TCL and Alcatel, the tablet range has gone quite well, with TCL Australia’s Vice President and Managing Director, Sam Skontos, telling Pickr that the tablets do very well at carriers such as Telstra, and for students, too.
“The education sector has absolute exploded,” he told Pickr at a briefing, [and] “we’ve already locked away some of our range for early next year with carriers”.
Tablets might be a good way to expand, but it’s not the only way. While phones started TCL’s mobility push in Australia, providing a mid-range approach alongside the Alcatel brand more found in budget phones, and wearables joined not long after, there’s also another category TCL plans to try this year: portable sound.
Yep, TCL is joining the world of personal audio, launching the “Move” brand it normally connects with wearables for audio, as well. Wearables fall under “Movetime” (and there’s a new variant of one of those this year), while earphones will be a TCL “Moveaudio” brand, and will start with one model, the S200, which looks like another take on Apple’s AirPods, complete with the stalk that comes down from the ears.
The TCL Moveaudio S200 are like other truly wireless earphones in that they’re cordless and wireless, but include some feature made to stand out and keep them premium, including four microphones using beam-forming tech to help keep the spoken word heard, IP54 water and dust resistance, and support for the assistants, using either Google Assistant on Android or Siri on iOS. They’ll also come with up to 3.5 hours of battery life, and can be charged with up to 23 hours in the case, which also looks a reasonable amount like the AirPods case, because that’s the design.
And it looks like they’ll be coming to Australia, alongside those tablets, though pricing and availability hasn’t quite been announced yet. TCL has offered a couple of products recently with the TCL 10L and the TCL 10 Pro, so we doubt the company is done for the year, and imagine these new models of tablet and earphones will see release by November.
