TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G review: a step towards success

I guess that by now, the name TECNO isn’t something you look at for the first time – and for a good reason I might add. The Chinese company is one of the biggest surprises of the year, after launching several impressive smartphones one after the other. Recently the company unveiled their TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G model, featuring several new imaging features. As you may have guessed by now, we have it for review.

The phone comes with a stylish design, pure aesthetics but also affordable price for what it’s offering and is considered by the manufacturer as one of their biggest hits of the year. We had it in our hands for a couple of days so here’s a really… corny review of it.

TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G – Main features

You can find more info about the device here

Design and Display

It’s an impressive mid-range phone, available Serenity Blue (the color option I had) and Dark Welkin color variants. According to TECNO, the phone features the company’s puzzle deconstructionist design inspired by the relevant genre of postmodern architecture. It’s worth noting also that its unique design claimed the Muse Design Award for 2023.

The TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G is made from glass (front) and plastic (everywhere else) but still feels like more luxurious than you’d think. On the right side you can find the volume rock and power button, while the fingerprint scanner is located underneath the screen. On the bottom frame there’s the speaker, USB Type-C port etc. It features a 6.67-inch full HD plus AMOLED true color display with high color Gamut, that comes with 120Hz refresh rate support and has an impressive peak brightness.

The device has the TUV Rheinland eye protection certification, ensuring it is easy on your eyes, and the bezels are reduced by around 47%. It also has very slim bezels, flat-screen, sharp edges, and it’s about 7.8mm thick.

Chipset and Performance

This phone is surely not for gamers, nor for the business aficionados. It’s a mid-range device with impeccable design, that packs the MediaTek Dimensity 8050 chipset. It comes with 8GB of RAM that can be expanded by a further 8GB using expandable RAM. Featuring an octa-core CPU with four performance Arm Cortex-A78 processors with peak speeds of 3GHz, and powerful nine core GPU, the chip offers supreme gaming with reliable, fast FPS in top titles. This processing power is fueled by ultra-fast quad-channel memory and dual-channel UFS 3.1 storage. Obviously don’t expect it to let you play graphic-intensive games. However, it can let you play PUBG and call of Duty, reducing the graphics settings and dropping the frame rates.

Using the phone for extended periods made it heat up too soon, affecting somewhat its performance. In any case this didn’t affect our experience with it, so here are some of the benchmark tests we made.

Photography is king

According to Tecno, all its Camon phone lineup is made for shooting photos and videos. One of the main attractions of the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G is its camera system. On the back we find a main 50MP lens packing the company’s innovative technology of RGBW. By replacing the “green” array solution in the traditional RGGB color filter with a “white” one, the RGBW sensor allows more light to be captured.

While 1G+6P lens increase the light intake by replacing one of the plastic lens by a glass one in the process when light reaching the main sensor. The main sensor on TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G is also increased from 1/1.73 to 1/1.56. The single pixel size from 0.8μm to 1.0μm. With 56.25% larger light-sensitive area to ensure images are as close to real-life scenes as possible. With greater light transmission, TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G lets users capture the crystal-clear night portrait in stunning definition. Never losing a detail in the dark.

More is merrier

Besides its 50MP main camera, CAMON 20 Premier 5G’s camera module also comprises a 108MP Ultra Definition camera. Which enables users capture ultra-wide horizons and super macro close-ups all in stunning detail.  The 9-in-1 Adaptive Pixel technology which merges 9 small pixels into a single 1.92um ultra-large one. And improves the light sensitivity by up to 9 times according to pixel size by using.  The 32MP Ultra Clear AI Shining Selfie camera helps users to elevate their selfie. The series also features TECNO’s AI-powered “Portrait Master” beauty algorithm, which uses 319-dot face-positioning to generate precise beauty analytics including culture, skin tone, physical environment and more to develop a personalized beautification plan. Based on TECNO’s Big Data Platform, the technology empowers users through more inclusive technology. Both the 50MP main and 108MP wide-angle cameras also support 4K and HDR video, while the rear and front cameras support dual portrait video.

I really liked its quad light flash that offers impressive brightness during night photos. But that’s not all: there’s also Night Mode and Super Night Mode for Selfies and impressive nightlife photos.

For the first time, the Laser AF function works like a charm, as the phone can focus on objects in 0.1 seconds along with the 2 bokeh lens that can deliver impressive portraits in no time. There are a lot of pre-installed features in the Camera app (impressive backgrounds, selfie effects, AI Scenes, Night Mode and Super Night Mode settings etc).

The videos are not bad at all. The Camon 20 Premier 5G comes with an OIS feature and a gyro-EIS feature that helps to stabilize photos and videos, while the shooting can get up to 4K of resolution!

Android and memory options

CAMON 20 Premier 5G comes with 8GB RAM + 512GB of internal storage, but there’s also microSD slot support that can beef up your storage if you wish. It also packs Android’s latest memory fusion (virtual memory extension) gimmick that can increase its memory up to extra 8GB of RAM – taking space from the storage.

It runs on HIOS based on Android 13 out of the box, with some bloatware inside like AHA Games, BoomPlay, Hi Browser, Phone Master etc. There’s also Ella (!) – TECNO’s virtual assistant inside, that can help you navigate the device and interact better with it. The good thing is that Tecno promises one year of major software updates and two years of monthly security patches for this phone. This means a lot!

Tecno also promises to upgrade the CAMON 20 Premier 5G to Android 14 when available, but we don’t recommend buying anything awaiting the promise of a software upgrade.

TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G: Battery and Charging

It’s always nice to see a budget friendly phone packing a large battery (5000 mAh) with support for 45W fast charging speed. This means that it can fully charge the device in just under 50 minutes – impressive time for the category. I had about 5-6 hours SOT of continuous heavy usage, but it could reach up to 8 hours if you use the phone modestly.

I didn’t notice any overheating issues when charging, or any sudden drops of battery percentage. Very nice work TECNO, well done.

The Tecno Camon 20 Pro 5G: The Budget Alternative

For those who love the features of the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G but are on a tighter budget, there’s the Tecno Camon 20 Pro 5G, retailing for around $300. I must admit, this is a great alternative. The Camon 20 Pro 5G packs a 64-megapixel primary camera and is powered by the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset. It features 8GB of RAM (expandable by a further 8GB) and has up to 256GB of storage, expandable via microSD. Not bad for a mid-range model!

You can find more info about the Tecno Camon 20 Pro 5G here

So, whether you go for the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G or the Tecno Camon 20 Pro 5G, rest assured, you are getting a great deal at a competitive price.

Conclusion

So, who should buy it, and who should avoid buying this phone? If you value cameras (photography and videography) more than performance, then the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G is for you. But, if you value performance over cameras (that is you, love, playing games), then you might want to look the way of other phones with better performance.

There are so many good things about the Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G as there is also some room for improvements. It features a fast refresh rate, good battery life, good cameras, a beautiful design, and is very comfortable to hold. But, it’s relatively filled with bloatware, has an average chipset, and is not ideal for gaming.

TECNO provides two color options namely Dark Welkin and Serenity Blue for its CAMON 20 Premier 5G, CAMON 20 Pro 5G and CAMON 20 Pro. And one new color namely Glacier Glow Glass for CAMON 20. All these models will be available across global regions. Including Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Southern Asia. Pricing varies by region.

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