Tecno has always focused on developing cell phones for young people and mobile gamers. You’ve certainly heard of their previous Pova and Camon, which come in a variety of models and versions.
Let’s take a look at what’s inside the box and what you can anticipate from the hardware:
Tecno’s latest offering is the Tecno Pova 2 in Power Blue colorway. The contents of the box are rather standard. The item comes with a Type C to Type A USB cable, an 18W charger, warranty, and a manual.
| Model | Tecno Pova 2 |
| Dimensions | 173.3 x 78.8 x 9.6 mm |
| Chipset | Helio G85 |
| Display | 6.9” FHD+ |
| Connectivity | Wifi, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Memory | 6GB RAM + 128GB Internal Storage |
| Battery | 7000mAh |
| Android Version | Android 11 |
| SIM Card | Nano SIM (2x) |
| Camera | 8MP Front | 48MP + 2MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Network | 4G LTE |
The Tecno Pova 2 has a huge 6.9-inch IPS LCD display with 1080 x 2460 resolution. It has a pixel density of 389 and 480 nits of brightness. It may not be the brightest in the lot, but icons, images, and text appear crisp and the level of color saturation is on point.
The smartphone looks elegant despite its humongous size. The phone is made with a plastic frame and back. This clearly is not made for people who wish to easily be able to hold the phone with one hand. It is, however, meant to be used for gaming – similar to how gamers hold gaming controllers.
In terms of buttons and peripheral ports, the phone has a sleep/wake button on the right side that doubles as a fingerprint sensor; above it are volume up and down buttons. The SIM slot is located on the left side, while the microphone, Type C port, and headphone jack are at the bottom of the device. The device does not seem to have a secondary microphone for noise-cancellation purposes.
If you’re curious about the specifications of this phone, it’s powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core processor with Mali-G52 MC2 GPU. The octa-core processor is made up of two cores of 2.0 GHz Cortex A75 and six cores of 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55.
What I’ve got has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Specs-wise, it can go toe to toe with other smartphone brands, albeit having a slightly higher price-point. The Pova 2 is decently priced at PhP7,990, but the prices of phones from Infinix and Huawei have already caught up with it.
Performance-wise, however, despite having similar 6GB RAM like the one on Infinix Hot 10s, it seems that Tecno Pova 2’s performance can marginally outwit it. It’s quite a wonder how Tecno Managed to – somehow – outperform another smartphone with relatively similar specifications.
In terms of the performance of games and productivity, Tecno Pova 2 was able to match our standards especially for games that run high frame rate modes like Mobile Legends, Wild Rift and PUBG. While the smartphone does not have a refresh rate beyond 60Hz, its display performance is compensated with a 180Hz touch response rate, which improves the overall responsiveness of display. This feature plays a vital role when you’re playing high-performance mobile eSports titles.
The Tecno Pova 2 includes a 48MP primary camera with an f/1.9 aperture on the back. Three additional 2MP rear cameras are included. It also has an 8MP front camera.
The quality of the photographs I shot is impressive. There are a variety of shooting modes to choose from, and you may experiment with them to see what works best for you. The level of saturation is acceptable, while the default contrast and brightness levels using AI mode are a little blown out. This is something that Tecno may want to improve in their next software update iterations.
Macro mode works like magic and 100% authentic (unlike other brands that just simply say it’s “macro” for marketing purposes). You can show slow-motion videos up to 240fps. You can also capture videos up to 2K resolution.
If you want to break away from automatic or AI mode, you will be disappointed to know that its default camera application – for both photo and video – does not have a manual mode. This means that you’ll need to download a separate application via Google PlayStore in order for you to enjoy shooting photos or videos with manual settings.
If you like selfies, this phone boasts an 8MP front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The quality of selfies is impressive albeit not having native ultrawide or wide selfie. Fortunately, Tecno’s camera software has this ultrawide selfie mode, which is similar to taking a panorama picture.
Finally, this smartphone is powered by a 7000mAh battery! In a world where Samsung, Realme, and realme all have high-capacity battery smartphones, this device helps Tecno stay competitive in the industry. Our battery test revealed that it was able to stay on for 18 hours with 20% remaining charge.
Verdict
The Tecno Pova 2 is a marvel in its own right. Its performance matches its performance despite being pricier versus other smartphones with the same price point. Being a budget gaming smartphone is a fitting description for this device, and it may still be the case for 3 to 4 months. If Tecno reprices this to PhP5,990 or lower, I believe that even realme and Infinix wouldn’t have the chance to outsell it.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Is this something you’d like to give a shot? Or would you want to go with something else? Please share your thoughts in the comments box below
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
