TCL Communications has announced a multiscreen software platform, called Multi-Screen Collaboration, for the TCL 20 Pro 5G smartphone, which will arrive as an update for the recently announced device in the near future. It opens up the ability for the phone to integrate with a compatible television, tablet, or computer. Think of the functionality as being similar to Huawei’s Huawei Share, Samsung’s DeX, and even Google’s Chromecast.
Pair the TCL 20 Pro 5G to a TCL television using DLNA or Miracast, and the system makes it easy to display the photos stored in the gallery. What makes it different from Chromecast is being able to navigate using your phone’s screen and annotate images too, ready to take a screenshot and then share in a document. It’s an interesting collaborative twist on the basic functionality we may have first expected. Music and video can be streamed directly to the TV from the phone too.
Connect to a computer — it’s compatible with Windows 10 on computers with an Intel i3 chip or above — and the phone’s screen is mirrored allowing you to drag and drop files and images, copy text and send it to the phone, and then share it through messages. Connected to a tablet — only the TCL 10Tab Max is compatible at the moment, unfortunately — it’s also possible to answer calls and texts directly.
Wide availability across different devices from other manufacturers is usually the issue with this type of collaborative, multiscreen feature. To use Huawei Share, for example, you need a Huawei phone and laptop. It seems to be the same for TCL’s version for now, although the company did state it supports open standards and systems like Apple’s HomeKit, but did not elaborate on how this will operate. TCL does sell its very popular television range in the U.S. though.
The software will first arrive as an update for the TCL 20 Pro 5G smartphone, and it’s expected soon. The TCL Pro 5G has been released in the U.K. and several other regions, and is set to be released in the U.S. during the summer. It costs 549 euros, which is around $655. The new multiscreen feature may also be available on other phones in TCL’s range in the future, but TCL couldn’t provide details on which models, or when the update may be sent out.