[TCL 10 5G Guides, News, & Discussion] Scratchling:
Hi folks,

As this phone is pretty niche/doesn't have much of a community yet (and may never) I've decided to put a few of my thoughts together in one thread. XDA is my go to for new phones so having an empty device sub makes me sad. None of this may be useful or some of it may be, you tell me.

Purchase:

Bought December 2020. Total cost: €160

This is notable as the market price for these is €400+ SIM Free so this was a bit of a steal for the 765G

Network:

Three Ireland, locked

Root?

See bootloader

Bootloader

Is locked down tighter than fort knox. There IS a developer option to allow unlocking but it seems to do nothing. This is common with Alcatel/TCL. Hopefully it's broken, I'm not holding my breath though.

C:\Users\Administrator>fastboot oem device-info
(bootloader) Verity mode: true
(bootloader) Device unlocked: false
(bootloader) Device critical unlocked: false
(bootloader) Charger screen enabled: false
OKAY [ 0.005s]
Finished. Total time: 0.008s

Current software?

Build: QKQ1.200329.002 release-keys
Radio: PAN_GEN_PACK-1.303751.1.304885.8
4.19.81
Patch Level: Aug 2020

Branded splash?

Yes, cannot be removed without root

Quick note on physical build:

Normally I'd always say go on, go bigger. This time I'm finding it a little awkward reaching some stuff. I'm a tall man with reasonably large hands so could get away with anything slightly smaller and reach the whole display. Aspect plays a part here.

The Google button(thank Christ its not Bixby) on the left is super helpful and also super annoying. Find it really easy to accidentally press when holding it in my left hand which is my default.

The power button on the far side is equally easy to press fine. The problem is double press is camera but triple press is EMERGENCY. I do not want emergency. FFS TCL. Seems like no way to disable it.

The gradient on the back is nice but maaaan is it slippy.

Brightness:

Autobrightness is woeful. Like far too aggressive. Blinds you half the time then dimms down to unreadable. Not a fan. Turned it off.

Battery:

The usual chinese affair, kill everything running for more than 6 seconds. Get amazing battery life but prevent apps doing anything useful. Play the usual game of protecting half the apps on your phone and remember to do it with new apps. Problem solved, battery life more normal.

That said the 4500mAh paired with the 765G is pretty sweet.

De-Bloating:

Okay. So we can't root. Sh1t. But all is not lost. ADB gives us some control.

This isnt unique to TCL, sample guide here -> https://www.xda-developers.com/uninstall-carrier-oem-bloatware-without-root-access/

Once you've got an active adb shell:

pm list packages

That gives us all the installed apps. I'll include that list in post #2

We can "remove" them with the below

pm uninstall -k --user 0 $package

eg

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.ebay.carrier

Here's most or all of what I removed

com.ebay.carrier
com.amazon.appmanager
ie.three.threeplus
ie.three.my3
com.amazon.mShop.android.shopping
com.tct.smart.account
com.ebay.mobile
com.tct.smart.community
com.facebook.appmanager
com.facebook.system
com.facebook.katana
com.tct.smart.community
com.netflix.mediaclient
com.netflix.partner.activation
com.spectreit.three
com.amazon.avod.thirdpartyclient
com.tcl.usercare
com.facebook.services
com.netflix.partner.activation
com.spectreit.three
com.tcl.usercare
com.tct.smart.notes

I've removed a few at a time in case it causes the system to crash etc. So far so good but do so at your own risk.

Install Youtube Vanced works via normal sideload. IMO really worth doing.

DPI/Scaling:

Defaults to 360

Somewhere around 400-420 is better IMO

Network unlocking:

So far nobody has been able to offer network codes for 272-05 but other networks in the same country are apparently available. Hopefully soon.

More notes, tidbits & complaints as I get them

- Scratchling