A week ago we reviewed the Tecno Camon 19 Pro and we were quite impressed at what Tecno had delivered for its customers. The phone is a power-horse with good specs and features, and the cameras do give goods photos and videos, not the best you would see from high-end smartphones but a phone under its category. Tecno has described the phone as a premium smartphone that combines style and performance.
The Pro version of the Camon 19 was launched along with three other variants, the Camon 19, Camon 19 Neo, and Camon 19 Pro 5G —which according to Techno have been designed ‘for young fashionistas’ targeting fashionistas including photographers and probably filmmakers overcoming the traditional challenges associated with photography in nighttime and low-light conditions.
Having had the Camon 19 Pro for hands-on review, well we have to say it is a good smartphone that we can recommend to buy or upgrade to. But it is not a perfect phone either —we were disappointed with Tecno on some matters. So, let us look at what we liked and what we didn’t.
What we liked:
The Design
Tecno Camon 19 won the 2022 Design Award because of its outstanding design. The company had something different for its customers, changing the design of the phone from a thin body to a thick body, a huge circular camera design one housing two cameras the 50MP telephoto and 2MP depth. The company paid great attention to detail and this delivers some value to the phone, hence an impression to like and look at.
The Cameras
Tecno always does its best to deliver a smartphone with good cameras considering that they are always targeting young fashionistas including photographers and filmmakers. The company is always trying to overcome the traditional challenges associated with photography in nighttime and low-light conditions.
The 32MP front camera and the trio-rear camera, 64MP (wide) primary camera, 50MP telephoto, and 2MP depth, produce great photos and videos that can be shared with or without editing. So, they are good enough. Tecno did put a good effort in this and probably in their next set of handsets, they will do much better. However, the Camon 19 Pro remains a phone that we could as a handset with good cameras.
Talk about the Fast Charging
Yes, fast charging is an impressive feature. The Camon 19 Pro supports fast 33W charging. The feature is able to fully charge the phone within 65 minutes cutting down the time one has to wait for their phone to fully charge. With the test performance done, it did a commendable job across all test scenarios including; video playback, calls, and web browsing, and demonstrated long-lasting standby performance.
A phone that comes with fast charging capabilities gives consumers a piece of mind, the fact that you don’t have to worry much about your phone taking longer to charge. With 65 minutes or less, it is better than waiting for over 2+ hours.
Expandable Memory
The Camon 19 Pro comes with 8GB RAM —that already is impressive but what is more impressive is the memory (RAM) fusion technology that allows you to expand the memory to 11GB, that’s 3GB more. The phone is able to support up to 11GB of extended RAM increasing the number of background cached applications and improving the average launch time of applications by 10%-50%.
Memory Fusion Technology takes up the unused internal storage and channels them for RAM operations. More RAM, enhances the phone’s multi-tasking capacity, allowing seamless switching between apps that are running concurrently in the background, and stabilizes the phone’s systems for more sustainable performance and longer battery life.
Honorable Mentions:
- The 6.8-inch FHD+ display with a 1080p resolution provides a comfortable viewing experience.
- The onboard storage is enough.
What we didn’t like:
The Processor
For clarity, we don’t necessarily mean we don’t like the processor. However, Tecno used the same processor as the one used for the predecessor. Now processors are expensive and we could understand if the company was trying to cut costs, hence keeping the same processor as used in the predecessor. It does do a good job, but Tecno could have upgraded the processor of all things.
The Helio G96 chipset by MediaTek is still perfect for the phone for its price and runs apps smoothly and gaming as well.
The Cut-out Microphone Grill on Top
I don’t about what others think about this new design from Tecno of having a cut-out microphone grill on top but honestly, I don’t think it was a good idea. Probably Tecno was trying something new but I don’t think it was good enough.
Screen Brightness
The brightness comes way short of perfect legibility in sunny conditions. You will strain your eyes while using the phone under sunny conditions if you don’t get shade. Thus, the display outdoors isn’t that great.
Honorable Mentions:
- No HDR support.
- Plenty of in-house and third-party apps that keep hitting you with various notifications.
The Camon 19 Pro doesn’t have much to dislike —the phone is a well-rounded mid-ranger with a solid chipset, great battery life, and good cameras especially the telephoto zoom lens, for a competitive price. Overall, the phone is a decent phone but not a clear winner.
