Article summary
- TECNO’s CAMON 20 Premier 5G is a mid-range smartphone that offers innovative features and is part of the CAMON 20 series, which marks the 20th edition of TECNO’s CAMON series.
- The CAMON 20 Premier 5G boasts a glass front and leather back design, a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and a MediaTek Dimensity 8050 processor.
- The device features a triple-camera setup with a 50MP wide camera, a 108MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP depth camera, as well as a 32MP front camera. It runs on Android 13 with TECNO’s HIOS 13 user interface.
Smartphone company TECNO continues to demonstrate its innovative prowess through its array of devices designed to meet the needs of the ever-demanding mobile consumers.
And the company has made a bolder statement with its CAMON series, which is now in its 20th edition. The newly introduced CAMON 20 series, a successor to the successful CAMON 19, packed some of the best features that set it apart in the mobile industry.
In this review, we shall take a look at the CAMON 20 Premier 5G, the midrange device that tops the CAMON 20 series with multiple exciting features. But before we delve into the review properly, let’s look at this device’s key features.
Key features
Network: GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G
Build: Glass front, leather back
SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Display Type: AMOLED, 120Hz
Screen Size: 6.67 inches, 107.4 cm2
Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~395 ppi density)
Operating System: Android 13, HIOS 13
Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 8050 (6 nm)
Internal Memory: 512GB ROM, 8GB RAM
Triple Camera: 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm (wide), 108 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 115˚ (ultrawide), and
2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
Camera features: Ring-LED flash, HDR, panorama
Video: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, HDR
Single front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, 24mm (wide)
Radio: FM radio
USB: USB Type-C 2.0, OTG
Sensors: Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Battery: Li-Po 5000 mAh, non-removable
Charging: 45W wired
Unboxing the TECNO CAMON 20 Premier 5G
At a time some manufacturers are trying to cut costs by removing charger from their phone pack, Tecno is one of the few device makers religiously delivering the complete package to its customers. And it was not surprising when we opened the CAMON 20 Premier 5G box and found the complete accessories well-tucked in the box.
Inside the box, aside from the phone, is a 45 Watts fast charger, a USB Type C cord, earphones and pin for SIM tray removal. Interestingly, even with the beautiful anti-scratch magic skin leather back, Tecno still adds a protective case to the pack. You also have the 12+1 months warranty card in the pack, giving you an assurance of 13 months warranty on your device.
Design and build quality
The CAMON 20 Premier has a premium design with glass on the front and leather on the back. It has a boxy design just like last year’s model. The camera cutout at the back gives the device a unique look and even though some people may see it as odd, for us, this adds to the beauty and marks the uniqueness of the CAMON 20 Premier.
If nothing else, the leather finish on the back gives the device a premium look, making it stand out among other devices. A thin frame surrounds the whole device, making it feel so cool in the hand. You will actually feel confidence and comfortable holding this device.
The CAMON 20 Premier comes in two colours: Serenity Blue and Dark Welkin. The one we have for this review is the Dark Welkin, which looks beautiful. CAMON 20 Premier is Tecno’s first device with an IP rating of IP 53 and support for dust and water resistance.
On the right side of the device are the power button and the volume up and down keys. Then at the bottom, we have the USB type C charging port, the microphone, a speaker and the dual nano-SIMS tray. It must be noted that there is no option for expandable storage on the device, which we doubt anyone would need anyway, given the 512 gigabytes of storage that comes with the device.
At the top of the device, we have another microphone and another speaker. And at the back of the device we have a three-camera setup. It has a 50-megapixel camera with sensor-shift technology and a GW Pro for the main camera. Then a 108-megapixel ultra-wide camera that can also take super macro shots and a two-megapixel camera. Completing the camera setup is a ring flashlight. There is also a laser focus sensor that can improve the focusing speed at night and it is also helpful for macro photography.
Display
The CAMON 20 Premier comes with a 6.67 inches AMOLED display with 120-hertz high refresh rate and a touch sampling rate of 360 Hertz. It supports 100% With three color gamut and up to 700 nits of peak brightness and 395 pixels per inch density. The display uses a punch-hole style that houses a two-megapixel selfie camera. The display is sharp, the colors are nice everything appears different and contrasting enough. Being outdoors is not an issue because you can see clearly even in harsh lighting conditions.
YouTube videos come out crispy and clean on the device’s screen and with accurate color balancing. The display is also very responsive to touch, all thanks to the 360-hertz touch. The device comes with an under-display fingerprint scanner which is very fast and responsive all the time.
Performance
The performance of this device is topnotch, all thanks to its six Nanometre MediaTek Dimensity 8050 processor. With 8 gigabytes of RAM that can be expanded up to 16 gigabytes and a whooping 512 gigabyte of storage with 120-hertz refresh rates, browsing, streaming and every activity on the device run smoothly without any lag. Scrolling is fast, so is opening apps.
Multitasking and overall performance is impressive. Throughout the time we used this device, there was no drop in performance as everything runs smoothly. We also put the CAMON 20 Premier to test with some heavy games and it indeed proved that the Dimensity 8050 processor was not just in the device for nothing. It was also nice to see that the CAMON 20 Premier maintained a warm temperature even when gaming for a long, it was not unusually hot.
Camera
With the 50-megapixel wide and the 108-megapixel ultra-wide cameras, Images from the CAMON 20 Premier are remarkably impressive. It has decent dynamic range, punchy colours, and accurate exposure. The CAMON series being a camera-centric device, will take the shine off many flagship devices when the pictures are compared.
We were also impressed with the portrait images especially when it comes to details and edge detection. The subject separation from the background was put on leaving the subject properly exposed. In low light, the CAMON 20 Premier did pretty well thanks to the laser-focused technology. The images looked really nice with details. Its night mode shots are also quite good, it processes the dark areas well while keeping the photos sharp.
When it comes to video, the CAMON 20 Premier is able to capture up to 60 frames per second but with no video stabilization. If you want to stabilize you have to step down to 10 ATP mode.
Let’s have a selfie shot with the 32MP camera
The 32-megapixel front camera did not disappoint. However, you might want to turn off the default beauty filters for sharper results. The results are great on both portraits and non-portrait shots even under poor lighting conditions. The selfie camera allows you to shoot selfie videos up to 2k 30 FPS. It also gets HDR video mode which attempts to give better HDR quality while recording videos.
Software
In the area of Software, the CAMON 20 Premier comes with the latest Android 13 OS and the Andr HIOS 13. The Android 13 OS runs smoothly and with lots of exciting features. The animations feel smooth and snappy when it needs to be. The multitasking features are well implemented to allow you to use the Smart panel to drag and drop apps into split-screen or proper view. We also get some multivalue integrated here not perfect, but the only consistency you might find is with icon dimming, as you would need to toggle it to take effect each time you change the wallpaper, and the icons don’t switch when you go from light to dark mode or vice versa.
However, there is still a challenge with the bloatware that comes with the HIOS. You end up having a lot of apps that are not useful, and some of them you cannot uninstall from the phone. A typical example is the Phoenix browser.
Battery
The battery capacity of the CAMON 20 Premier is 5000mAh, and thanks to the 45W charge, from 0%, the battery became fully charged in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. And our single charge lasted a whole day, even with hours of YouTube videos, games, and browsing. We did not experience any abnormal battery drain, and it has amazing standby time.
Price and value
The CAMON 20 Premier 5G was introduced to the market at a retail price of N295,500, which is more affordable compared with other products in the same category that are available in the market. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G, which comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM, currently sells around N350,000. Similarly, XIAOMI Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G with 8GB/256GB ROM is selling for around N300,000. At N295,500 and 8/512 ROM, the Tecno CAMON 20 Premier offers more value.
Conclusion
Overall, the Tecno CAMON 20 Premier surpassed expectations in many departments. From the camera quality to the big memory, the chipset and the quality design, Tecno is undoubtedly redefining the digital experience for its customers. If you are looking for a premium smartphone with a stunning display, a powerful chipset, massive storage and an amazing camera system, then the CAMON 20 Premier 5G is for you.