Teclast T45HD review The bargain tablet with dual SIM support and a slim metal case

The Chinese manufacturer Teclast offers lots of tablets spread out over three different series in total. Aside from an affordable price, they also boast extensive features. The Teclast TD45HD is no exception to this. For well under US$200, you get a 10.5 inch tablet with Android 13 and a 1,920 x 1,200 pixel IPS display.

Moreover, the Teclast T45HD has 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage with fast UFS 2.0 speeds, which you don't see often in this price range. The Teclast tablet's communication is just as solid, as aside from WiFi 5, it also features dual SIM support. This means you can surf the web on the go using 4G speeds and if needed, you can also make calls.

In contrast, the SoC's performance is a little on the slower side. The Teclast T45HD is clad in a solid metal case and its colorway Space Gray is clearly inspired by Apple. A dark plastic strip along the full width of the top of the back cover brings a different color into the mix. This strip houses the cellular module's antenna.

Its weight of 505 grams isn't particularly lightweight or heavy—the T45HD feels nice to hold and makes quite a high quality and stable impression. If you try to, you can elicit some cracking noises from the Teclast when you twist it. The tablet isn't IP certified. The T45HD's display is surrounded by a 9 millimeter wide frame.

These bezels aren't terribly slim but they do allow you to hold the tablet comfortably in your hands without accidentally activating the touchscreen. Compared to other similarly priced tablets, the Teclast T45HD is well equipped with its 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB UFS 2.0 storage. Its storage can be further expanded by using a microSD card up to 1 TB in size.

The tablet's USB C port runs at USB 2.0 speeds and supports USB OTG, meaning it can be used to connect peripheral devices such as USB sticks. Further physical ports include a 3.5 mm audio jack and a SIM slot which can either accommodate two nano SIM cards or one nano SIM and one microSD card. In our copying test using the Angelbird AV Pro V60 as a reference router, the Teclast T45HD's microSD card slot achieved an average transfer rate of 20.1 MB/s.

This isn't fast but most of the similarly configured comparison devices didn't manage anything better. We noted good maximum sequential read rates of 80.9 MB/s and sequential write rates of 45.5 MB/s. Stock Android runs on the Teclast T45HD. It doesn't come with any sponsored apps or bloatware preinstalled, meaning we still had 117 GB of storage free to use from its initial 128 GB.

Thanks to its DRM Widevine L1 support, the tablet can also stream content in HD quality. At the time of testing (beginning January 2024), the latest Android security patch was from 5th September 2023—not very up to date. Upon asking how long the device will be supplied with updates, Teclast didn't give us a concrete answer.

You can safely expect Android security updates for about 2 to 3 years. On the other hand, it remains unclear whether the T45HD will receive an upgrade to Android 14 in the future. The Teclast T45HD masters WLAN with WiFi 5 speeds. Connected to our reference router, the Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000, we noted class typical performance with peak values of up to 363 MBit/s.

Its data transfers were quite stable when it came to sending as well as receiving. On the go, the Teclast tablet can connect to the 4G network to access the Internet. Compatible with 11 4G bands, its frequency cover could do with being a little better, but its frequency repertoire does also include the LTE bands 7, 8 and 20—allowing you to travel throughout the EU with no issues.

The Teclast T45HD also supports Bluetooth 5.0. However, it doesn't feature an NFC module. The Teclast T45HD determines your current location via the satellite navigation systems GPS (L1), Glonass (L1), Galileo (E1) and Beidou (B1C)—all in single band mode. Inside, the tablet takes its time and can only locate with an accuracy of 15 meters.

Outdoors, its satellite location services work quite a bit quicker with an improved accuracy of 3 meters. Even so, our practical test didn't cast a positive light onto the tablet. On our small bike trip, on which we took the fitness smartwatch Garmin Venu 2 with us to compare, the tablet quite frequently got our location wrong and it struggled to record our route in more populated areas in particular.

As a result, the T45HD only seems fit for navigation purposes when you aren't relying on accurate locating. A 13 MP camera with an LED flash is situated on the back cover of the Teclast T45HD. Although it seems to have two lenses at first glance, the lens further on the inside is actually used as a depth sensor and it only has a resolution of 0.3 MP.

It collects additional data for blurred camera effects. Photos taken on the 13 MP camera have quite a hefty blue tint—as a result, our test photo in the snow appears a few degrees colder. Furthermore, photos are missing some dynamics as well as detail, and their color depiction is a little unnatural at times.

The camera captures dark surroundings with a lot of noise and as a result, can be barely used in low light conditions. The 13 MP camera's performance is definitely good enough for snapshots, as its sharpness isn't even all too bad. Videos have a similar quality compared to photos—they can be recorded at a maximum of 1080p and 30fps.

Further supported resolutions include 720p at 30fps and 480p at 30fps. The selfie camera has an 8 MP resolution and even in good lighting conditions, photos taken using this lens look a bit pale. Their sharpness and details are fine as long as you don't set your expectations all too high. You can record video on the selfie camera at a maximum of 1080p and 30fps.

In our test lab, we checked how well the 13 MP camera can depict the ColorChecker card's reference colors as well as our test chart. This showed that even under optimum lighting conditions, the camera suffers from color deviations. Even in full studio lighting, the test chart was depicted as blurry and patchy.

In 1 lux lighting, you can practically see none of the test chart anymore. The Teclast T45HD's scope of delivery includes a USB cable (Type A to Type C), a 10 watt power supply (5V/2A), a SIM tool and a short instruction booklet. The manufacturer offers an optional folio case on its website which acts as a protective case as well as a stand for the tablet.

The T45HD comes with a 12 month warranty. The Teclast T45HD's touchscreen reacts quickly and precisely to inputs. The IPS display operates at a touch sampling rate of 120 Hz and has a class typical refresh rate of 60 Hz. The tablet doesn't feature a fingerprint sensor, however, you can unlock the device via a biometric 2D facial scan.

It sometimes takes a second to activate, but then it recognizes users reliably. Moreover, you can select a pattern, PIN or password to unlock the tablet. The Teclast T45HD's 10.5 inch IPS panel has a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels and it is in good company, as the comparison devices all feature similar resolutions.

If you relate the screen's diagonal length to its resolution, you get a pixel density of 218 PPI, which is nice and sharp. With an average brightness of 298 cd/m², the Teclast tablet is, again, class average. When taking measurements with evenly distributed light and dark surfaces (APL18), we even managed to elicit 362 cd/m² from the T45HD.

This brightness is easily enough for indoor use. Outside, things look a little different. We didn't note any PWM flickering on the IPS panel. This makes the Teclast T45HD suitable for users who react sensitively to pulse width modulation. Users hardly have any control over the tablet's color depiction.

You can only activate a blue light filter and set color and contrast at three different levels each. In total, its color depiction is a tad too cool and as a result of its contrast ratio of only 850:1, it doesn't appear terribly lively, either. At the same time, the IPS panel doesn't match colors very accurately as well, but this shouldn't be too noticeable in everyday use.

The Teclast tablet is only partially suited for outdoor use—its combination of few brightness reserves and a reflective display make it difficult to use outside. In shaded areas, content remains more legible. During the graphically demanding tests, we noted the same results as in the synthetic benchmarks.

The Teclast T45HD's rather weak ARM Mali G57 MP1 already struggled to depict smooth content during simple graphics tests such as the T Rex benchmark from GFXBench. As a result, our test device came far behind all the other comparison devices. Surfing the web is fun on the Teclast tablet; pages load quickly and are available in no time.

Sometimes, you might have to wait a moment or two for some images to load but in total, surfing on the T45HD feels nice and smooth. Thanks to its UFS 2.0 storage, the T45HD benefits from short loading times and a high data throughput when compared to similarly priced tablets' performance levels.

Competitors such as the Lenovo Tab M10 Gen 3 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 LTE 2022 , which both cost almost the same as our test sample, are quite a bit slower at times. The T45HD is by no means a gaming machine. In order for games to run smoothly, you will definitely have to reduce their details by quite a lot.

In more demanding games like PUBG Mobile or Genshin Impact , you will barely see frame rates above 30fps. At this point, we would have liked to deliver concrete frame rates. However, the Teclast tablet refused to cooperate with our test tool Gamebench which determines fps rates. During use, the Teclast T45HD doesn't even get warm to the touch.

Even after running our one hour stress test with the Burnout benchmark, we measured a maximum surface temperature of only 29.5 °C. At no point did the tablet break out in a sweat during any of the other stress tests. Even after 20 runs of the Wild Life benchmark from 3DMark, the SoC's performance remained consistently high.

Its low value of 82.7 per cent during 3DMark Wild Life masks its actual stability. As higher point numbers were achieved during quite a few runs compared to the beginning of the test, this results in a negative deviation from the target value. In turn, this negatively impacts the total score. The Teclast T45HD is fitted with stereo speakers.

At up to 75.2 dB(A), they can't get particularly loud and at maximum volume, they start to sound a bit booming. Voices are transmitted very well by the speakers, however, since they are missing any bass whatsoever, their sound lacks volume and music sounds quite flat. You can connect external audio devices via the device's 3.5 mm jack or Bluetooth 5.0.

Bluetooth codecs supported by the T45HD include AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC and SBC. We ran our battery life tests using an adjusted screen brightness of 150 cd/m². The Teclast T45HD achieved good runtimes of 14:06 hours (simulated web surfing) and 15:24 (playing a looped HD video)—about on the same level as the comparison devices.

Because the IPS panel's lowest brightness setting shows 20.6 cd/m² and content can still be recognized without any issues, its simulated maximum runtime is comparatively poor. The Teclast T40HD sister model achieves slightly longer runtimes due to its better energy balance. For its MRSP of below US$200, the Teclast T45HD offers a large number of features and in our test, it proved to be a good surfing and multimedia tablet with an aspect ratio of 16:10.

The 10.5 inch T45HD's case hardly gives away the tablet's price. The metal case is slim, built well and as a result of its slightly wider bezels, it feels comfortable to hold. If you try hard, you can elicit a subtle cracking noise from the case when you twist it—but the 505 gram tablet is definitely robust enough for everyday use.

With its metal case, dual SIM support and fast storage, the Teclast T45HD offers a lot for its price range, proving to be a good surfing and multimedia tablet. HD streaming is no problem thanks to the device's DRM Widevine L1 support and as it is dual SIM enabled, you can surf the web on the go.

At the same time, its runtimes are good enough to let yourself be entertained by the tablet all day long. Games can be run smoothly on the T45HD, however, you will likely have to lower the picture details by quite a bit. Further advantages of the T45HD that aren't a given for this price range include its UFS 2.0 storage, bloatware free Android 13, 3.5 mm headphone jack as well as its solid IPS panel that does without PWM.

As expected given its price, there are also quite a few negatives about the Teclast T45HD. Its IPS panel, which isn't particularly bright, quickly reaches its limits outside. On the other hand, it is totally bright enough for indoor use. Its cameras only really offer snapshot quality, its GPS module isn't very accurate and you'll need a bit of patience when charging the device using its 10 watt power supply.

it also isn't very clear how long the tablet will receive updates. One alternative to the Teclast T45HD could be the Teclast M50 Pro which offers slightly more performance for a similar price. You can get even better performance out of the Xiaomi Redmi Pad . Plus, if you place a lot of importance on update delivery, then you might find your match with the Telekom T Tablet —it even offers 5G.

Currently, the Teclast T45HD can be found on Amazon for a promotional price of US$127.99..