Tecno Camon 20 Premier Review: A Flagship Phone with a Lot to Offer

Tecno is a brand that has been making waves in the smartphone market, especially in Africa and other developing regions. The Camon series is its flagship line that offers large screens, big batteries, good cameras, and decent performance at affordable prices. The Camon 20 Premier 5G is the latest and best model in the series, and it comes with some impressive features that make it stand out from the crowd. In this review, we will take a closer look at the Camon 20 Premier 5G and see how it fares against its competitors.

Design and Display

The Camon 20 Premier 5G is a sleek and stylish phone that looks and feels premium. It has a glass front and a leather back that gives it a nice texture and grip. It comes in two colors: Misty Blue and Frost Silver. We have the Misty Blue variant, which has a bluish tint on the back and the frame. The phone measures 161.9 x 74.3 x 7.8 mm and weighs 203 grams, which makes it comfortable to hold and use with one hand.

The phone has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a 20:9 aspect ratio. It has a pixel density of 395 ppi, which means it is sharp and clear. The display also supports a fast refresh rate of 120Hz, which makes everything look smooth and fluid. The display has good brightness, contrast, colors, and viewing angles. It also has an always-on display feature that shows the time, date, battery level, and notifications when the screen is off.

The phone has an under-display fingerprint reader that works well and unlocks the phone quickly. It also has a punch-hole cutout on the top left corner for the selfie camera. The bezels around the display are thin and color-coordinated with the back of the phone, which is a nice touch.

Performance and Software

The Camon 20 Premier 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8050 chipset, which is a mid-range processor with an octa-core CPU (1×3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) and a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU. The chipset supports 5G connectivity, which is one of the selling points of this phone. The phone also has 8GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, which is generous for this price range.

The phone performs well in daily tasks such as browsing, social media, messaging, streaming, etc. It can handle multitasking and switching between apps smoothly. It can also run most games at medium to high settings without much lag or stuttering. However, it is not the best choice for hardcore gamers who want to play demanding games at high frame rates or graphics settings.

The phone runs on Android 13 with Tecno’s custom skin called HIOS 13 on top. The software experience is decent, but not very impressive. The user interface is colorful and easy to use, but it also has some bloatware and ads that can be annoying. The software also has some useful features such as gesture navigation, dark mode, smart panel, game mode, etc. The phone also gets regular security updates from Tecno.

Battery and Charging

The Camon 20 Premier 5G has a large 5000mAh battery that can last for a full day or more with moderate to heavy usage. It can handle tasks such as web browsing, video streaming, gaming, etc., without draining too much power. It also supports power saving modes that can extend the battery life further.

The phone supports fast charging with a 45W charger that is included in the box. It can charge the phone from zero to 50% in about 30 minutes and from zero to 100% in about an hour and a half. This is impressive for a phone with such a big battery.

Camera

The Camon 20 Premier 5G has a triple camera setup on the back, consisting of a 50MP main camera, a 108MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP depth camera. The main camera has an f/1.8 aperture, a 23mm focal length, a 1/1.56″ sensor size, a 1.0µm pixel size, phase detection autofocus, laser autofocus, and sensor-shift optical image stabilization. The ultrawide camera has an f/2.2 aperture, a 13mm focal length, a 115-degree field of view, phase detection autofocus, and can also be used as a macro camera. The depth camera has an f/2.4 aperture and helps with portrait mode.

The camera app is simple and easy to use, with modes such as photo, video, portrait, night, pro, panorama, slow motion, etc. It also has some AI features such as scene detection, beauty mode, HDR, etc.

The photo quality of the main camera is good in daylight conditions, with plenty of details, accurate colors, and good dynamic range. The camera can also capture 50MP shots by using pixel binning technology that combines four pixels into one. The ultrawide camera also takes good photos in daylight, with a wide-angle perspective and decent details. The macro mode is also impressive, as it can capture close-up shots with good clarity and focus. The depth camera does a good job of creating a natural bokeh effect in portrait mode.

The low-light performance of the main camera is decent, but not great. The photos have some noise and loss of details, but they are still usable. The night mode can improve the brightness and sharpness of the photos, but it also introduces some artifacts and oversaturation. The ultrawide camera struggles in low-light conditions, as it produces noisy and blurry photos. The night mode does not help much either.

The video quality of the main camera is good in daylight conditions, as it can record 4K videos at 30fps or 1080p videos at 30fps with HDR support. The videos have good details, colors, and stability, thanks to the OIS and EIS features. The ultrawide camera can also record 4K videos at 30fps or 1080p videos at 30fps, but without HDR or stabilization. The videos have a wide-angle view and decent quality, but they are not as smooth or sharp as the main camera’s videos.

The low-light performance of the main camera is average in video mode, as it produces noisy and grainy videos. The night mode can improve the brightness and contrast of the videos, but it also reduces the frame rate and introduces some flickering. The ultrawide camera is not very good in video mode in low-light conditions, as it produces dark and blurry videos.

The selfie camera is a 32MP sensor with an f/2.5 aperture, a 24mm focal length, a 1/2.8″ sensor size, and a 0.8µm pixel size. It also has a dual LED flash on the front for low-light selfies. The selfie camera takes good photos in daylight conditions, with clear details, natural skin tones, and good exposure. It can also capture portrait mode selfies with a decent bokeh effect. The low-light performance of the selfie camera is fair, but not great. The photos have some noise and softness, but they are still acceptable. The flash can help to illuminate the face better.

The selfie camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps with decent quality and stability. It can also record portrait mode videos with a blurred background effect.

Conclusion

The Tecno Camon 20 Premier 5G is a flagship phone that offers a lot of features for its price range. It has a fast refresh rate display, a good battery life with fast charging support, a good main camera with OIS and laser autofocus, an impressive ultrawide camera with macro mode, a large storage capacity with expandable option, and a decent performance with 5G connectivity.

However, it also has some drawbacks that might make you think twice before buying it. It has an average chipset performance that is not ideal for gaming or heavy multitasking. It has a mediocre low-light camera performance that could be improved with better software optimization. It has a relatively high price tag compared to other phones in the same category that offer better value for money.

Therefore, we recommend this phone to those who are looking for a flagship phone with a lot of features and don’t mind paying extra for them. However, if you are looking for a more affordable phone that offers similar or better performance and features than this phone does not offer much advantage over them.