For someone who considers great quality display and performance at a cost that is relatively better than others, Tecno is the perfect brand to consider in such situations.
Considering the company’s new Tecno Camon 18 Premier smartphone, which is more or less the Tecno Phantom X’s major specifications at a lower cost, and looking for good worth for their money is looking at the right device.
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier can be considered a mid-range budget phone which comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage powered by an octa-core processor. One can call it a beast of its own nation, but before we make any conclusions, let’s jump into the specifications.
This phone comes with a 64MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and an 8MP telephoto periscope lens with an f3.5 aperture and 5X optical zoom. The selfie camera is a 32MP wide lens with HDR and a dual-LED flash. The 12MP ultra-wide lens comes with an in-build gimbal OIS, which is the phone’s major highlight.
All these features and specifications are powered by a 4750 mAH non-removable battery with 33W fast charging.
With all that excitement, I will share my review and thoughts on the phone after unboxing and using it.
Before that, my Tecno Camon 18 Premier review will be based on the “vast night” colored variant.
Tecno Camon 18 Premier key specifications
- 6.7 inches 120Hz AMOLED display
- 256 GB ROM (Storage)
- 8GB RAM (memory)
- Selfie Camera: 32-megapixel
- Triple Camera: 64-megapixel (f/1.6) + 12-megapixel (gimbal OIS) + 8-megapixel (f/3.5)
- Mediatek Helio G96
- Octa-Core (Dual 2.05 GHz & Hexa 2.0 GHz )
- Android v. 11
- Li-Ion 4750 mAh, non-removable battery
- Colours: Vast Night, Polar Night
Tecno Camon 18 Premier at a glance
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier has a smooth and elegant appearance. The Vast Night colour has different looks when light hits it. The MediaTek Helio G96 chipset effectively powers the phone’s AMOLED display at 120Hz refresh rate while allowing the cameras to take perfect shots.
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier unboxed comes along with:
- TPU case
- Ejector pin
- Earphones
- USB Type C cable
- 33W fast charger
- TPU case
Tecno Camon 18 Premier hardware
Tecno does a perfect job at giving the phone a sleek feel with a scratch-resistant glass rear, plastic frame, and scratch-resistant dragon-trail protective glass in front. The Camon 18 Premier indeed has a high-end feel and look to it than a regular smartphone.
The side-placement of the fingerprint scanner works perfectly well right underneath the volume controls and power button. My preference for a rear scanner takes nothing away from this device.
The speakers and audio jack as well as the primary microphone are all at the bottom end of the frame with only the secondary microphone at the top of the phone.
The SIM tray is on the left of the phone with an SD card slot and dual nano-SIM slot as well.
Tecno Camon 18 Review: My thoughts
Display
It has a great AMOLED display, which is somewhat high in saturation. The refresh rate also is a great improvement. You can set it at 120Hz for high performance and it will work perfectly.
The display works best for games and watching videos so if you are a Netflix and chill person or a mobile gamer, you just found a good phone with a great display and an amazing 1080 x 2400 pixels resolution.
When you swipe down from the left end of the phone, you will find all your notifications. Swipe down on the right side and you will find all your control access there. You don’t need to swipe left or right to find all of it. This is an improved accessibility function by the new operating software.
Battery Life
The battery 4750 mAH is definitely a good upgrade. With the fast 33W charge, it takes 1 hour and 5 minutes for the full charge when I tested. This full charge takes you throughout the day with all functions working without a boost charge.
I will say this is an advanced upgrade as one would expect the battery to be unable to handle extended use of the phone’s full abilities. You can even go longer than a day if you reduce the refresh rate.
Performance
With MediaTek’s latest Helio G96 chip with an Octa-core CPU, the gaming experience is quite good. Both PUBG and COD Mobile play quite effortlessly and lag-free.
For the PUBG, both high and medium settings played perfectly well. However, COD Mobile allowed playing in medium settings only. It was quite a surprise, but possibly with the upgrade to Android 12, the phone may allow that.
Navigating the interface is very smooth without any lag. I will recommend the phone to anyone who loves mobile gaming. The ease of play gets a thumbs up from me, and this competes at the same level, if not better than the Tecno Phantom X.
Camera
This is the main selling point of the phone so I took my time to go deep into the abilities of all the cameras.
As stated earlier, the Tecno Camon 18 Premier packs a 64MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and an 8MP telephoto periscope lens with an f3.5 aperture and 5X optical zoom. It has no macro camera, but the main camera can have good close-up shots to that level.
The phone uses a 5x optical zoom and 12x digital zoom together; which Tecno calls a 60x hyper zoom. As this is the case, I will not advise anyone to shoot beyond 5x or 10 zooms, since it is a little blur when you go past 5x zoom.
For any smartphone photographer, this phone gives you great shots with good colour reproduction. The ultra-wide lens has more saturation compared to the rest. You don’t have to worry about perfect picture quality for the gram on any day.
The night mode is noted to be better, especially when you select the “Super moon” feature. That said, I could not get to test the “Super moon” because most of the nights were quite cloudy. However, the night mode pictures are of good quality as you will find it more illuminated than on most phones.
Good colour production with the ultra-wide having a higher saturation than the others.
Ultra-steady mode
This feature, when enabled, allows you to take pictures while moving without any distortions. I took a picture when walking, another jogging and both worked perfectly well.
The 32 MP selfie camera takes good shots even in portrait mode. It enhances the colour tone of the selfies as well with a good focus. The only thing is that you may need to use it under proper lighting conditions to get a good shot.
Video
For videos, I was able to capture and play videos in 2k. Even though the phone has 4k abilities, I was not able to shoot in 4k. Perhaps that will come with an update soon.
The downside to the video is you cannot activate the ultra-steady mode in 2k, only in 1060p. Once you switch to 2k, the ultra-steady mode does not work much.
Tecno Camon 18 Premier: Price and Availability
It is currently on pre-orders in Tecno accredited shops and dealerships, which ends on October 22nd 2021.
You can pre-order for GHS 300 and pay the full price when it arrives.
However, the price is set at GHS 2,060
The verdict
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier is more than a decent phone of the mid-range budget with great cameras with incredible functions, an impressive display and refresh rate with lag-less gaming experience all powered by a 4750mAH battery.
If you are a smartphone gamer or photographer, this mid-range “high-end” smartphone is your best bet.
Should you buy the Tecno Camon 18 Premier?
You should buy if:
- You want a device with a 120Hz refresh rate
- You need a phone with ultra-steady camera experience
- You want a smooth gaming experience
- You want a phone with a strong battery life
- You want a phone with fast charging
You should not buy if:
- You want a 5G-ready phone
- You want a Tecno Spark series price range
Let me finally end by saying this:
Every phone is a good phone, even though some are better than others. Always take note of your budget when about to make such decisions. Always choose a phone that will meet your expectations at your spending rate, knowing that some budgets cannot afford a phone within a particular expectation range. That said, get yourself the stunning Tecno Camon 18 Premier if it meets your “should I buy this” expectations.
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