Tecno Pova 5 Pro review: Flashy mid-range phone

As advertised, the Tecno Pova 5 Pro does well with its flashy ARC light interface and also fares well in other aspects such as performance, photography and battery life too.

Recently, Tecno Mobile launched the new mid-range phone Pova 5 Pro series in India.

The company is offering Pova 5 Pro with prices starting at Rs 14,999. I used the phone for a little over a week and here are my thoughts on Tecno Mobile's latest offering.

Design, build quality and display

The highlight of the Pova 5 Pro is its 3D-textured design language with an Arc LED Interface feature at the back.

Like the Nothing Phone series, the Pova 5 Pro also supports light-based notification capability. Actually, it goes a step forward with multi-colour support to make it a more enjoyable and flaunt-worthy feature (more on that in the performance section).

Tecno Pova Pro 5 series.

Besides the flashy light setup, the phone comes with a sturdy mid-frame. With a flat rail and curved corners, it offers a good grip for the fingers to hold onto the phone. Also, the see-through glasstic (glass-like plastic material-based) case manages to repel the fingerprint smudges to a good extent.

When viewed from a certain angle, the dust becomes visible, more prominently around the dual camera islands at the top left corner.

This may be an issue with the dark illusion (dark blue) model and I am not sure if it is the same case with the silver fantasy variant.

Tecno Pova Pro 5 series.

The phone features volume rockers on the right side, just above the wake button, which also houses the fingerprint sensor. The latter works smoothly without any issues. And, on the left side, you will find the SIM tray slot, which can accommodate two nano SIMs and a microSD card.

The phone features two single-grille speakers, one at the top, and another at the base beside the Type-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The phone's loudspeakers are really good stereo effect audio.

As far as the display is concerned, it sports a 6.78-inch full HD+(2460×1080p) LCD screen and is protected by NEG glass shield against scratches.

The display comes with a pixel density of 396 ppi (pixels per inch) and supports a 120Hz refresh rate, up to 580 nits peak brightness. It is good enough to read messages and news on the screen without any issues even outdoors. Also, the scrolling experience is very smooth thanks 120Hz refresh rate. Users also get the option to refresh rate to 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. Also, users can turn on the Auto-switch Refresh rate and let the phone dynamically change the refresh rate based on the usage type.

Overall, the display quality of the Pova 5 Pro is good and on par with other phones in the mid-range segment.

Tecno Pova Pro 5 series.

Performance

The new Techo phone is powered by a 6nm class MediaTek Dimensity 6080 octa-core processor with Mali-G57 MC2 GPU 8GB LPDDR4x RAM, 128GB / 256GB UMCP internal storage (expandable).

The Pova 5 Pro doesn't disappoint in this aspect. As advertised, it works smoothly without any issues and supports all popular games. It also supports the MemFusion feature, which allows users to expand the virtual RAM to an additional 8GB, which doubles up the RAM to 16GB. This will help the phone work faster in terms of app loading.

Also, it boasts large vapour chamber cooling technology to ensure the phone remains stable and less prone to overheating while doing heavy duty work like playing graphics gaming or recording high-resolution videos.

It runs on Android 13-based HiOS 13 OS and comes with a good number of third-party apps-- popular (Spotify, Facebook, Snapchat) and unfamiliar (Visha Player, Ella Voice Assistant and more) in addition to core Google applications.

Thankfully, the phone comes with more than 98 GB free space out of 128GB (base model), which is enough to take thousands of photos and videos and also add several applications of your choice. Also, users can have extra storage with microSD card.

Tecno Pova Pro 5 series.

The USP of the Pova 5 Pro, as noted earlier is the Arc LED interface. It is a fun and cool user interface feature to flaunt among colleagues and friends. Owners can customise the coloured flashes with simple steps. Any first-time smartphone user can set it up with ease.

Just have to go to the Settings >> Special Functions >> Backlight effect. There, he/she can set the light notifications for incoming calls, notifications, and startup animation and one can enjoy playing the LED interface the best with the Music option.

It offers several light modes that can bring breathing halo white flashes to multi-colour light effects at small parties at home. It truly lives up to the hype of delivering a good user experience.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's light notifcation feature.

As far as the battery life is concerned, it houses a 5,000mAh capacity cell. It can easily last a whole day under normal usage.

Even if you go a bit extreme with multimedia consumption too, one wouldn't need to get anxious, as it supports a 68W charger. It can charge the device from zero to 50 per cent in 15 minutes and can reach full capacity in a little over 30-40 minutes. It also supports reversing up to 10W speed.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

Photography

It features a dual-camera module--50MP(f/1.6) + secondary AI camera with dual LED flash on the back.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

The mid-range Pova Pro 5 takes pretty good photos. Initially, the native camera app acted a bit in terms of auto-focus. But, after a few minutes into the usage, the magic unfolded.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

It began working smoothly and boy, it managed to take some really good photos in the outdoors even with overcast weather in the day.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

The colours of the flowers in the photo came off as warmer and more vibrant, really good to show off on social media platforms.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

I am mighty impressed with the portrait mode picture. With flawless edge detection, it managed to get the perfect image with a natural bokeh effect in the background.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample with Portrait mode on.

Though, it lacks ultra wide-angle mode, the normal mode photos manage to accommodate a wide area of the scene.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

It can support 2X zoom with less loss of quality and beyond that, the image gets pixelated with grains.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample with 2X Zoom.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

In close-up mode, the pictures come good. The camera manages to capture minute details well.

In the night mode, the auto-focus mode gets a little slow but manages to get decent sharp photos.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

On the front, it houses a 16MP(f/2.0) with a dedicated LED flash. It works great in all light conditions.

Tecno Pova 5 Pro's camera sample.

Thanks to LED flash, the selfies come good even in the dark. It delivers the best among its peers in the sub-Rs 16,000 price range.

Final thoughts

As advertised, the Tecno Pova 5 Pro does well with its flashy ARC light interface. It succeeds in democratising the LED flash interface we see in select premium phones. It makes good use of the synchronised flashing effect when playing music. It liven up small get-together events at home and definitely gets the attention of friends, neighbours and colleagues.

As far as the performance is concerned, it is decent and works on par with any device in its class. Also, with respect to the battery life, it can deliver a full day without any concerns.

Tecno Pova Pro 5 series.

And, with respect to the camera hardware, it is really good in bright sunlight conditions but lacks an ultra-wide angle lens.

It is available in two storage options--128GB and 256GB-- for Rs 14,999 and Rs 15,999, respectively.

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