Tecno Camon 16 Premier Review: Africa’s Top Chinese Brand Brings The Value – Forbes

Tecno Camon 16 Premier

Ben Sin

In my nearly half decade of covering Chinese phone brands, I have seen them rise from being obscure upstarts or mainly local power players to globally recognized brands with billboards in places ranging from Tokyo to Paris. But one brand that has eluded my coverage all these years is Shenzhen-based Tecno, which has taken on a decidedly opposite approach to the Vivos and Xiaomis of the world. Instead of expanding west, Tecno focused on the African market, becoming the continent’s number one brand by market share by 2017.

To succeed in Africa, Tecno sold at comparatively low prices, of course, and the Tecno Camon 16 Premier’s roughly $260 price tag when converted from its official price in Kenya and Ghana can also be considered low, but it offers quite a good value proposition.

Specs

Usually, phones under $300 do not have premium build quality of modern screens—not so here. The Camon 16 Premier features a 6.9-inch LCD panel that refreshes at 90Hz. Having a high refresh display at this price point is impressive, and would have grabbed a lot of attention were it not for the fact that Xiaomi’s recently released Poco X3 NFC offers an even better 120Hz at roughly the same price point.

6.9-inch 90Hz screen.

Ben Sin

Still, this is a bright and vibrant panel with a very modern hole-punch cutout design. This cutout houses a pair of selfie cameras, consisting of a 48-megapixel and an 8-megapixel ultrawide angle lens. They get the job done.

Tecno Camon 16 Premier camera.

Ben Sin

Around the back is a “four camera” system. I put quote marks around “four” because two of the sensors are those relatively pointless low-pixel macro and depth sensors. Budget phones shove these in there just to be able to say a phone has more cameras for marketing purposes. In reality, there are only two cameras you’d need or use here in the main system: a 64-megapixel, f/1.9 main lens and an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera. The good news is both are pretty good at this price range. The main camera, in particular produces solid dynamic range and details.

There’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, along with dual SIM support. Overall construction is good for this price point—it’s glass front and back, with an aluminum chassis. There’s even a headphone jack.

Powering the device is a Mediatek Helio G90T processor. This is a solid mid-range chip that can handle most modern apps and games without hiccups. There’s 8GB of RAM, which is adequate, but the memory seems to be the slower UFS 2.1 variety. The phone isn’t slow per se, but it isn’t necessarily fast, either.

Capping things off is a 4,500 mAh battery, which has been enough to power the phone all day.

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner and volume rockers on the right side.

Ben Sin

Performance

The G90T, as mentioned, is fine. It scored a 515 and 1,666 in single-core and multi-core respectively on GeekBench. The main camera produces sharp images, with fast auto focus. During the day, I have no complaints. At night, if you use night mode, you’ll get good shots, too. But without night mode, shots tend to either over- or under- expose.

A night mode shot.

Ben Sin

Another night shot sample.

Ben Sin

Software

The software experience on the Camon 16 Premier is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. For the most part, things run smoothly, but there’s a lot of bloatware (apps that are pre-installed into the phone) and some ads in the phone’s menu. I suppose ads are acceptable on a budget device, since even Samsung and Xiaomi’s pricier phones have been caught sending ads to users. And iPhones keep sending me notifications to sign up for Apple TV once a week.

There’s also some built-in software tricks like a WhatsApp video beautifier, which, as the name suggests, is a beauty filter that can be applied to the user during WhatsApp video calls. Overall it’s quite a heavy software skin, but I do find it visually appealing.

In Africa, it should be a hit

The Tecno Camon 16 Premier is in an interesting spot. It’s great at its $260 price point. But $260 is neither here nor there. It will likely be considered inexpensive for most readers, but not so much so that it’s an easy snap purchase. And for those who can spend just a bit more, like say $350, there are much better options from bigger brands like Xiaomi or Vivo.

However, not everyone can afford to pay another $80-$90. In countries like Ghana and Kenya, where it already has a fan base, this device should be a hit because it’s essentially a flagship quality phone by standards in developing countries, at a price that’s not extravagant.

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