Telekom T-Phone in the test: The cheap 5G cell phone is so good

TELEKOM T-PHONE

February 25, 2023 at 09:00

With the T Phone, Deutsche Telekom is launching its own mobile phone. It advertises 5G at a particularly low price. But can it convince in the test?

With the T Phone, Telekom is now offering its own cell phones again in Germany. However, the model is no longer dewy. It has been available from the US subsidiary T-Mobile under the name REVVL 6 since July 2022. The manufacturer is the Chinese contract manufacturer Wingtech.

Incidentally, this is not the telecommunications manufacturer’s first foray into the hardware business. In 20212, the group offered a mobile phone for “family managers” called Telekom Move. The new mobile phone also has a motto. It is intended to make the new 5G mobile communications standard affordable.

price and availability

Without a contract, Deutsche Telekom charges 219 dollars in this country. The model is not unrivaled cheap, Xiaomi offers similarly cheap 5G cell phones with the Redmi 10 5G and Samsung with the Galaxy A13 5G. But there is not much more choice in this price segment.

With a contract, the mobile phone is available from EUR 1 and a monthly fee of EUR 49.95. However, we consider this option to be unattractive. With these conditions, there is a significantly better equipped model in the Telekom portfolio with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G. In addition, top smartphones such as the iPhone 14 are available from 1 euro, but only with more expensive tariffs per month.

design and processing

Speaking of the iPhone: Visually, the T-Phone is strongly reminiscent of the iPhone 13 Pro from the Cupertino manufacturer, especially in the “Chalk Blue” color variant that we have. With a screen diagonal of 6.5 inches and dimensions of 166.6 x 76.4 x 8.8 millimeters, it is significantly larger. Operation with one hand is therefore difficult, which is mainly due to the fact that the cell phone is elongated due to the 20:9 aspect ratio. So the T Phone is not a compact smartphone. In addition, the cell phone is not lightweight at 194 grams and also a bit top-heavy.

Telekom T Phone in pictures

Pictures for the test report of the T Phone.

It would probably have been possible to build the smartphone more compact. Telekom uses the now old-fashioned “Notch” format for the front camera on the front. The screen is also surrounded by thick borders. A rarity nowadays too.

The processing was successful. Although the back is only made of plastic, it feels anything but “cheap”. It is matte, but unfortunately fingerprints remain visible on it. Is it important to you to have a clean look on your cell phone? So it’s better to put the T Phone in a case.

The power button and volume rocker are on the right and have a crisp pressure point. The magenta power button also acts as a fingerprint sensor and unlocks the phone reliably. With an IP52 certification, the cell phone has at least rudimentary protection against water.

Display

If you turn on the T Phone, you will be surprised. As is usual in this price range, Telekom does not install an OLED panel here, but an LCD. In contrast to many competitors, the color reproduction does not look pale and washed out, but quite powerful.

The brightness is also right. Even on a sunny day, the current soccer scores could be easily read on the screen during the test. However, it is advisable to clean the screen from time to time, since unsightly fingerprints and streaks, which cause reflections in the display, reduce readability.

The resolution of 1600×720 pixels is comparatively low, but the typeface is sharp. If you want, you can see individual pixels, but you have to get very close.

processor and memory

The MediaTek chip MT6833, better known under the name Dimensity 700, acts as the processor. It is supported by 4 gigabytes of RAM. The chipset does not grow out of trees in the benchmarks. In the test, there was still no reason for complaints. Apps started largely without delays and inputs were implemented promptly.

The pace of work should be fine for most of you. If you want to play mobile games in the highest resolution, you should look around for another device. Also because the T Phone with its 64 gigabytes of memory doesn’t offer much space for a lavish collection of games. Telekom does not offer any other storage variants, but it is possible to expand the storage later using a microSD card.

battery pack

The T Phone draws power from a 4,500 mAh battery, which proved to be quite enduring in the test. The clock showed almost 20 hours at the end of our battery test. So you can get by for up to two or even two and a half days with one battery charge. However, the mobile phone can only be charged at the socket. Provided you have a suitable power supply, because Telekom only includes a data cable with the cell phone.

Software

The T Phone is delivered with Android 12, an update to Android 13 is planned. It is still unclear what will happen after that. Security patches will be released monthly for three years and then quarterly for another year. Such long support is not a matter of course in this price range. A security patch reached us during the test period.

The installed Android version is mostly Stock Android, with a few visual adjustments. A Telekom wallpaper and various Mangeta apps were installed. But they can be uninstalled.

Camera

Deutsche Telekom installed three lenses on the back. However, only the 50-megapixel main sensor is usable for photo and video recordings. The other two sensors are assistant sensors for macro and portrait shots with a resolution of two megapixels.

Camera-Samples Telekom T Phone

These pictures were taken with the Telekom T Phone’s 50-megapixel camera.

It shoots decent pictures in daylight that don’t need to hide from the competition. In the dark and twilight, however, the image quality drops. Unfortunately, there is no ultra-wide-angle camera. You can record videos in a maximum of 2K with 30 FPS, but that is not uncommon in this price range.

We also noticed that

The T Phone is one of the few cell phones that will still have a jack in 2023. It’s located at the bottom edge of the phone.

alternatives

Does the T Phone appeal to you, but are you bothered by the small memory and the missing ultra wide-angle camera? With the T Phone Pro, Deutsche Telekom is offering a better-equipped version of its cell phone for EUR 249. You can find out how the T Phone and T Phone Pro differ in the linked comparison.

As already mentioned, Samsung and Xiaomi also have two products on offer that are very similar in price, the Galaxy A13 5G and the Redmi Note 10 5G. Both are technically similar, but offer a display that can also run at 90 Hertz.