TCL 605

The TCL 605 has a straightforward, non-folding design measuring 165.6 mm tall, 76.2 mm wide, and 8.3 mm thick, with a total volume of approximately 104.74 cm³ and a weight of 190 g. It carries an IP54 rating, meaning it offers basic resistance to dust and water splashes, though it is not rated for full water immersion and does not feature a rugged build.

The TCL 605 uses a 6.7-inch IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels and a pixel density of 262 ppi, paired with a 90Hz refresh rate for moderately smooth on-screen motion. The display does not support HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision, and there is no Always-On Display mode or secondary screen. It also lacks branded damage-resistant glass.

The TCL 605 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G81 Ultra chipset, built on a 12nm process with 5,500 million transistors and an 8-thread CPU configuration using big.LITTLE technology, clocked at 2 x 2 GHz and 6 x 1.8 GHz with a turbo speed of 2 GHz and a TDP of 5W. Graphics are handled by the Mali G52 MP2 with 2 execution units, 32 shading units, and a GPU turbo clock of 950 MHz, supporting DirectX 12, OpenGL 3.2, OpenGL ES 3.2, and OpenCL 2. The device comes with 8GB of DDR4 RAM running at 1800 MHz across 2 memory channels, a maximum memory bandwidth of 13.41 GB/s, along with 256GB of eMMC 5.1 internal storage, 0.3 MB of L2 cache, and 1 MB of L3 cache. It supports 64-bit processing, ARM TrustZone security, and has integrated LTE and integrated graphics on the SoC, with Geekbench 6 scores of 420 single-core and 1,391 multi-core.

The TCL 605 features a single rear camera with a 50MP CMOS sensor and an f/1.8 aperture, a pixel size of 0.7 µm, and no optical image stabilization or optical zoom. It supports phase-detection autofocus, touch autofocus, and continuous autofocus during video recording, along with a range of manual controls including exposure, ISO, focus, and white balance, though manual shutter speed is not available. The main camera can record video at 1080p at 30fps, with additional modes for slow-motion, timelapse, burst shooting, panorama, and HDR, while HDR10 and Dolby Vision recording are not supported. A single LED flash is present at the rear, with no dual-tone or RGB flash option. On the front, there is a 5MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture, no LED flash, and a single-lens setup that is not positioned under the display.

The TCL 605 runs on Android 15, a free and open-source platform that supports multiple user accounts, split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, widgets, dynamic and manual theme customization, dark mode, and an extra dim display mode. Privacy is addressed through clipboard warnings, location privacy options, camera and microphone access controls, and the ability to block app tracking, though cross-site tracking blocking and Mail Privacy Protection are not included. The OS also offers customizable notifications, a media picker, full-page screenshots, Live Text, sharing intents, a child lock, device tracking, battery health monitoring, and the ability to play games while they download. On-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, and voice commands are supported, while app offloading helps manage storage. Features not present include Wi-Fi password sharing, focus modes, Quick Start, and the ability to use the device as a PC, and OS updates are not delivered directly from the vendor.

The TCL 605 is equipped with a 5200 mAh rechargeable, non-removable battery that supports 18W fast charging, giving it a relatively quick wired top-up option. Wireless charging is not available. A battery level indicator is present, allowing users to monitor charge status at a glance.

The TCL 605 includes a 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo speakers for versatile audio output. On the wireless audio side, none of the advanced Bluetooth codec standards are supported — aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LDAC are all absent. There is also no built-in radio.

The TCL 605 supports 4G cellular connectivity — there is no 5G — with maximum download and upload speeds of 300 Mbits/s and 100 Mbits/s respectively, and accommodates two SIM cards. Wireless connectivity covers Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) alongside Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC, while DLNA certification and ANT+ are absent. The device connects via a USB Type-C port running USB 2.0 and includes an external memory slot for expandable storage. Location is handled through GPS with Galileo support, though there is no compass, gyroscope, barometer, or motion tracking. For biometric security, a fingerprint scanner is present, but 3D facial recognition and an iris scanner are not. The sensor suite includes an accelerometer, while infrared, heart rate monitoring, crash detection, satellite SOS, HDMI output, and a built-in projector are all absent.

The TCL 605 includes a video light to assist with recording in low-light conditions. The display is flat rather than curved, uses no sapphire glass, and is not an e-paper screen.