Last month, TECNO Mobile India launched its newest POVA smartphone – the TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G under POVA 5 Series featuring its Arc Interface design that has a multi-colored LED backlight, alongwith other highlights such as a fast 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6080 octa-core SoC, a whopping 68W fast charging, 10W reverse charging, stereo speakers, dual 5G connectivity, and more. Here’s what we have to say about the smartphone in our TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G review.
TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G Specifications & Features
- Display & Design: 6.78-inch IPS LCD Dot-in Display, Full HD+ resolution (2460 x 1080 pixels), 120 Hz refresh rate, 240 Hz touch sampling rate, 580 nits peak brightness, Arc Interface – Multi Color Backlit 3D Design
- Software: HiOS 13 UI based on the Android 13 operating system
- CPU: 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6080 octa-core SoC clocked up to 2.4 GHz speed (2x ARM Cortex-A76 & 6x ARM Cortex-A55)
- GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MC2 (2-core) Graphics
- Memory: 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM, +8 GB additional MemFusion RAM (total 16 GB RAM)
- Storage: 128 GB OR 256 UMCP internal storage, microSD card up to 1 TB
- Main Camera: Dual Cameras (50 MP f/1.6 + QVGA depth), AI-enabled camera powered by ASD mode and 3D LUT technology, dual LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 16 MP AI selfie camera, LED flash
- Connectivity & Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C, 3.5 mm port, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS (GPS, GNSS, Galileo, Beidou), NFC, Panther Game Engine 3.0, VC Liquid Cooling, Hi-Res Audio (Wired & Wireless)
- Cellular: 5G network, dual-SIM dual standby, VoLTE support
- Battery & Charging: 5,000 mAh battery, 68W fast charging, 50% charge in 15 minutes, 100% in 44 minutes
- Colors: Silver Fantasy, Dark Illusion
- Price: ₹14,999 (8 GB RAM + 128 GB Storage), ₹15,999 (8 GB RAM + 256 GB Storage)
- Availability: 22nd August 2023 onwards on Amazon India
Design, Display, & Build Quality
On the design front, the TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G flaunts its all-new Arc Interface, a multi-colored LED Backlight design with 3D texture. The smartphone has a unique LED backlight 3D textured surface covered with plastic, however, the back panel looks stunning in this segment and we really liked the overall design and looks given the price.
The Arc Interface provides an amazing experience during calls, notifications, battery charging, and music into a stunning symphony of digital emotions with the RGB backlight technology. On the back, you can see a negligible camera bump, a vertical dual camera setup, and an LED flash under the camera module.
Interestingly, we noticed TECNO making transformations to the smartphone design and bringing innovations to the smartphone industry at a cutting-edge price. TECNO Mobile India recently introduced the TECNO SPARK 10 Pro Moon Explorer Edition with its unique Black and White one-piece eco-leather design inspired by India’s recent Moon Mission – Chandrayaan 3. We also got to see its first foldable smartphone – the TECNO PHANTOM V Fold 5G featuring a foldable screen with a virtually crease-free design and is manufactured in India.
On the front side, there’s a 6.78-inch IPS LCD Dot-in Display with Full HD+ resolution (2460 x 1080 pixels), a 120 Hz refresh rate with 240 Hz touch sampling rate, and comes with 580 nits peak brightness. The display appears to be good with a fair amount of brightness and viewing angles.
Moving to the sides, the bottom side has a USB Type-C port for 68W charging, a microphone, loudspeakers (stereo), and a 3.5mm audio jack for earphones/headphones. The right side has a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner, and volume controls just above. The left side has a dual SIM tray that supports 5G SIM cards, VoLTE, and a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion (up to 1 TB). The phone offers stereo speakers (top and bottom) with support for Hi-Res Audio.
Software, User Interface, & Features
The TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G runs the latest HiOS 13.1 UI based on the Android 13 operating system. The POVA 5 Pro 5G comes with an Android security patch update of 5th June 2023. We aren’t sure how long the brand will provide Android and security updates, however, you can expect at least 1 OS upgrade and 2 years of security updates as far as we believe.
The HiOS 13.1.0 is a customized interface from TECNO with several added features on top of Android 13. The HiOS also has some traces from the XOS (Infinix Mobiles). The HiOS 13 custom UI focuses on additional features like Ella voice assistant, and UI personalization, as well as apps like Freezer which prevents apps from starting up on boot, and Phone Master which deals with the phone’s security, and privacy, acts as a utility assistant, antivirus, and performance optimizer.
The HiOS 13 is an improved version compared to its predecessors in terms of performance optimizations while there’s no major change in the UI. Due to its 120 Hz refresh rate, it has faster UI operations and the interface feels smooth. The CPU plays a major role in the UI performance, so you can expect a decent UI experience.
That said, we can still see some bloatware that can’t be removed. Some pre-installed apps that can be removed are WPS Office, XShare Mini, Welife, Spotify, Soplay, and Snapchat, while third-party apps and apps from the brand such as AHA Games, Carlcare, Ella, WOW FM, Visha Player, TECNO SPOT, Safety, Smart Scanner, Palm Store, My Health, Hi Party, Hi Browser, Hi Theme, Hi Translate, Mobile Cloner, all can’t be removed.
Hardware, Performance & Gaming
The TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G is powered by the 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6080 octa-core SoC clocked up to 2.4 GHz speed (2x ARM Cortex-A76 & 6x ARM Cortex-A55) paired with a Mali-G57 MC2 (2-core) GPU for gaming and graphics needs. The POVA 5 Pro 5G comes in two storage variants with 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM i.e. 128 GB or 256 GB UMCP internal storage with support for microSD card expansion up to 1 TB. The smartphone also supports +8 GB additional MemFusion RAM (a total of 16 GB RAM). Connectivity and features include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C, 3.5 mm port, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS (GPS, GNSS, Galileo, Beidou), and NFC.
The MediaTek Dimensity 6080 is a midrange SoC manufactured in a 6nm process and consists of 8x Cortex CPUs (2x Cortex-A76 and 6x Cortex-A55 processors). The two performance ARM Cortex-A76 cores are clocked at 2.4 GHz, and the six power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores are clocked at 2.0 GHz. A higher CPU frequency tends to offer more performance (2.4 GHz) while several smartphones in this range offer up to 2.2 GHz CPU.
About the performance of the CPU, the Dimensity 6080 is very much similar to the Snapdragon 695 counterpart and both appear to be identical in terms of performance. The CPU performance is above the 6nm Snapdragon 680, better than Helio G88, and closer or identical to the Snapdragon 695. You can expect a very good performance for this price in the day-to-day usage and gaming as far as the specs are concerned.
For gaming, the ARM Mali-G57 MC2 (2-core) graphics offer a decent gaming experience, users can expect games to run on medium to high graphics settings with this GPU, although below the Adreno 619 (Snapdragon 695) in terms of overall gaming performance. You get a dedicated Game Space app with Panther Game Engine 3.0 which optimizes the installed games to run smoothly and without interruptions. For cooling, there’s a VC Liquid Cooling technology to dissipate the heat.
Cameras
Moving to the cameras on the smartphone, you will see two major camera modules on the back with the primary being a 50 MP f/1.6 AI camera and aided by a depth camera whereas you get a 16 MP AI selfie camera for selfie and video calling needs. Both, the front and the back are aided by dual LED flash.
The TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G mainly relies on the 50 MP camera, some features on the phone that we liked are its Film mode which helps you shoot directly from the camera with various video effects, Sky Shop which creates different Sky effects and adds to the photos, and Dual Video for capturing from both (front & back) cameras simultaneously. Another major aspect of the camera is its video recording ability capturing up to 2K at 30 fps along with 1080p at 60fps and slow motion 720p at 240 fps which is great for this price.
Moving to the camera interface and modes, the camera app offers modes such as 50 MP, Film, AI Cam, Video, Beauty, Portrait, Super Night, AR shot, Sky Shop, Dual Video, Panorama, Documents, Short Video, Slow Motion, Pro, and Time-lapse, 2x digital zoom option (up to 10x digital zoom), and more. While many tend to smartphones offer 1080p at 30fps, this one has the more crispier 2K resolution. The slow-motion videos can be recorded for 1 second (9 seconds slow-video) in 720p at 240 fps while the 120 fps mode can be used for longer video recording.
You get some nice shots from its 50 MP camera in the daylight, we noticed some blurred shots while capturing moving objects, but overall, it takes good shots if the object is still. The 50 MP camera takes good shots in the daytime and appears to be decent for its price. Seflies turn out to be good as well. We clicked some camera samples to see how it performs, take a look at them below.
TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
The TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G equips a 5,000 mAh battery with support for a whopping 68W fast charging. One of the best features of the phone is its 68W fast charging which is also the first in the segment to provide a superfast 68W charging. The 68W charger can charge the phone 50% in just 15 minutes and 100% in 44 minutes.
From our experience, the 5,000 mAh may deliver up to 1.5 to 2 days of battery backup, so you can expect the smartphone to at least a day and longer depending on your usage. It supports a Type-C port which also supports 10W reverse charging, which means it can be used as a power bank to charge your other devices, very handy.
The POVA 5 Pro 5G also ensures SYS technology and comes with bypass charging technology that supplies the power directly to the motherboard while playing games. This gives an advantage to gamers to keep the device from overheating at the time of charging.
Verdict – TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G Review
The TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G brings some clever features to the ₹15K segment, it’s innovative Arc Interface design which has a gorgeous multi-colored LED backlight on the back. Another highlight is its 68W fast charging (also the first in its class), which is capable of charging the phone up to 50% in just 15 minutes. In addition to all these, there’s a fast 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6080 octa-core SoC for users who demand performance.
Other features that count for this segment are 10W reverse charging to charge other USB-powered devices (can be used as a power bank), stereo speakers with Hi-Res Audio support, dual 5G connectivity, and a large 256 GB storage option at a price of ₹15,999. The TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G is definitely a great choice if you have a budget under ₹16,000 and are looking for a 5G smartphone with extraordinary features.
TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G Price In India – Where To Buy
The price for the TECNO POVA 5 Pro 5G starts at ₹14,999 for its 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant and ₹15,999 for its 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant. The smartphone is available on Amazon India with a discount of ₹1,000 extra on exchange and 6 months of no-cost EMI.
