With the T Phone Pro, Telekom offers a cost-effective entry into the world of 5G smartphones. The device costs 269 euros. Can it convince in everyday life?
With its own devices, Telekom wants to make it easier to enter the world of 5G smartphones. The company has brought two devices to the German market: the T Phone for 219 euros and the T Phone Pro for 269 euros. Both cell phones are an “in-house development of Deutsche Telekom in cooperation with Google”. They come off the assembly line in China at the semi-state manufacturer Wingtech. Thanks to the cooperation with Google, buyers receive a very tidy Android smartphone that does not require any annoying software ballast.
Good basic equipment
On paper, the devices offer everything you need in everyday life – especially the 6.8-inch T Phone Pro. Inside, the Dimensity 700 is a mid-range processor from Mediatek, supported by six gigabytes of RAM. The memory size is 128 gigabytes. This can be expanded with external micro SD cards.
The device supports GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 5.1, fast WLAN and – almost as a special feature – 5G. Because at a price below 300 euros, this is not a matter of course.
Also on board: a battery with 5,000 mAh. There are also five cameras in total, four of them on the back. To unlock, there is a fingerprint sensor in magenta and the option of having the face scanned. As I said: Telekom has actually thought of everything.
Externally, the smartphone is inconspicuous. In terms of color, interested parties can choose between gray and gray – because Telekom only offers the device in one color. The feel is okay, the T Phone Pro feels neither cheap nor particularly valuable. Nothing creaks and the gap dimensions are absolutely acceptable – there is nothing more to say.
Mediocre performance with top runtime
In terms of performance, the T Phone Pro delivers just enough to handle any day-to-day task. In the Geekbench 5 performance test, the device scored 529 points in the single-core test and 1629 points in the multi-core test. That’s really not much. For comparison: The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (here in the test) achieves three times as much in both benchmarks. Complex apps should therefore quickly push the hardware to its limits. Likewise, the T Phone Pro is by no means suitable for opulent games. In the “3D Mark Wild Life Extreme” graphics test, the Telekom device only achieves 326 points and an average of 2 frames per second (FPS). The S23 Ultra is 3699 points and 22 FPS.
The T Phone Pro did well in the battery life test. With its 5000 milliampere hours and apparently quite frugal hardware, the device lasted almost 20 hours with automatic screen brightness in the “PC Mark Work 3.0 Battery Life” test – beating the Samsung by a few hours. But when the device is empty, it takes quite a long time for it to regain its strength due to the lack of a quick charge function. After all: If you want, you can charge the Pro model wirelessly.
The screen is certainly conducive to the high endurance. That’s because the T Phone Pro’s large 6.8-inch display, framed by prominent bezels, isn’t particularly bright or powerful. The refresh rate is quite sluggish at 60 Hertz and the device remains reserved even at full brightness. And again: This is not a major problem in everyday life, even in the sun, but it does smudge significantly compared to high-quality devices. The low refresh rate is rather annoying, because you quickly notice it when scrolling through websites or with hectic content.
Camera is enough for everyday use
Although the T Phone Pro has four cameras on the back, including one with an impressive 50 megapixels (MP), the results are average at best. This is certainly also due to the fact that the ultra wide-angle camera, the depth camera and the macro lens are not particularly well equipped with five or two megapixels. But: Pictures taken with the main camera in daylight are impressive. The T Phone Pro has difficulties with all special cases, i.e. darkness, zoom or extreme close-ups. A few examples where it didn’t work out so well follow.
Pictures from the 16 MP front camera are okay, either the camera or the software make the pictures look a bit smooth.
One shortcoming affects careless people in particular, because the T Phone Pro is only certified according to IP 52, i.e. dust-proof but not waterproof. The device could survive a downpour, but a short submersion would probably be final.
Conclusion: Absolutely solid entry-level device
The Telekom T Phone Pro is actually a great choice for beginners. It has everything that a smartphone has to offer in everyday life. The performance should be sufficient for most apps as long as the processor and graphics chip aren’t put under too much strain. The battery life is beyond any doubt, the only thing missing is a quick charge function.
The cameras are completely sufficient for snapshots or even pretty photos during the day, but more complex scenarios should be photographed with other devices.
Nothing can be said about the price of the T Phone Pro, but there are also exciting alternatives for 269 euros, such as the Pixel 6a (here in review), the Samsung Galaxy A33 or the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G. However, most are much smaller, which is why personal preferences ultimately decide. In any case, the devices mentioned – including the T Phone Pro – are a solid choice in this price range.
If that’s too big for you, you should take a look at the T Phone. In contrast to the Pro, it is slightly smaller at 6.5 inches, but also has one less camera, a smaller battery and half the memory. It costs 219 euros and is therefore 50 euros cheaper than the Pro – however, the savings are hardly in proportion to the limitations.
