Tecno Camon 30 Pro 5G 

I’ve had the Tecno Camon 30 Pro 5G  with me for about a week, and one thing I can tell you for sure is that Tecno did not come to play.

Tecno officially announced the Camon 30 series at Mobile World Congress, and introduced the Camon 30 Premier, the 30 Pro 5G, the 30 5G, and the regular Camon 30.

However, we’re not getting the Premier; we’ll have to wait a little longer for that one. But the 30 Pro 5G is probably the sweet spot and might just be the one to choose, as I think the only thing that separates it from the Premier is a telephoto camera and that’s a 1.5K LTPS display.

Tecno Tecno Camon 30 Pro 5G Phone Information

	🔲 12GB 🔳 Dimensity 8200 📱 6.78 1080×2436 📸 50MP 2160p 🔋 5000mAh ⚡70W
Price in Nigeria	₦538,000
👁️REVIEW	📳SPECS

Tecno Camon 30 Pro Price In Nigeria

The Camon 30 Pro 5G is currently priced at about ₦538,000, and there is only one memory configuration. I think the pricing is decent as that’s about $400 for a phone with near-flagship performance and 512GB of storage.

Tecno Camon 30 Pro 5G	Price In Nigeria
Tecno Camon 30 Pro 5G 12GB RAM + 512GB	₦538,000

Tecno Camon 30 Pro Full Specifications

Name	Tecno Camon 30 Pro
Launch Date	February 27th, 2024
DISPLAY
Type of Screen	AMOLED
Size Of Screen	6.78 inches
Resolution	1080 x 2436
DESIGN
Weight	178 g
Dimensions	164 x 74.5 x 7.7mm
Build Material	Glass front and back or silicone polymer back
PLATFORM
Software	Android 14, Running on HIOS 14
Processor	Mediatek Dimensity 8200
CAMERA
Main	50MP
Ultrawide	50MP
Depth	2MP
Selfie	50MP
Video recording	4K@60fps, 1080p@30fps, HDR
MEMORY
RAM	12GB
Internal storage	512GB
BATTERY
Capacity	5000 mAh
Type	Li-PO
OTHERS
Colors	Snowy Silver, Basaltic Dark
Fingerprint	Yes (Under Display)
SIM	Dual Nano SIM
FM Radio	Yes
3.5mm jack	No

Unboxing Experience

As I said, Tecno did not come to play. When was the last time you bought a phone and got it with a pair of Bluetooth earbuds?

I can’t think of any aside from the C19 Monrean Edition, and that was even a limited quantity. Camon 30 Pro 5G comes in a white box which contains a pair of Tecno Buds 3. You should get this package regardless of where you’re purchasing it here in Nigeria.

I’m not sure if this retail package applies to other regions. Within the Box, you are getting a protective casing which, when added to the phone, it feels like it’s part of the phone’s build. Someone else might look at it from the rear and not be able to tell there’s a case on it; it’s that kind of case you want to keep on the phone always.

There is a 17W fast charging brick; more details on the charging later. An additional accessory we get is a 10-glass screen protector. You’re buying this and you don’t have to worry about spending on any other accessories. I wish other manufacturers can take a cue from that.

Design & Build

something you might not be happy about is that Tecno has removed the headphone jack and the SD card slot for the Camon 30 Pro. But that might not be much of a problem because it looks like there’s just one memory configuration of 12 gigs of RAM and 512 gigs of storage, which is awesome.

I think that’s the most storage you can get on a mid-range phone anywhere, and the ones that usually have that much storage are way more expensive.

Moving on, design-wise, this looks solid. You should actually see the other colors with a different rear finish from the matte on the black. This one does not do justice to how nice the design actually is. Now, regardless of what color you get, thankfully none of them has a glossy finish except for the right of the camera bump.

We have a circular camera bump, a much different design direction from the previous generation. Now, the edge of the camera bump has this texture as though it’s a zoom ring like we have on professional cameras, but you can’t turn this one.

Although it feels nice to just run my fingers around it. The red dot you see next to the flash is called the action dot, and it can serve as an indicator for when recording videos, incoming calls, or when charging. On the other models of the C30 series, we have the action dots at the top left of the device.

You know what would have made a lot of sense is if we could use this action dot for app notifications and probably customized color depending on what apps. The good old days of notification LEDs, but I guess those days are gone now.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing a special edition of the Camon 30 series like we had with the last two generations. Remember the Camon 19 MRE and Edition, and then the doodle edition of the Camon 20 series? The C30 Pro 5G has a flat build; the frame is glossy, and I believe plastic.

Tecno has adopted an IR blaster. I believe this is the first Tecno phone to have one. The IR blaster allows you to control your electronic devices. There’s a quick toggle from the control panel. Between the top speaker grill and the IR blaster, you notice a Doat most branding.

That implies a better audio experience, whether on headphones or with the stereo speakers, and I can confirm that the media experience with sound is great.

Display Type, Size & Refresh Rate

As for display specifications, we are getting a vibrant AMOLED display that goes as high as 1300 nits in high brightness mode, so it is suitable for outdoor use. We also see an improvement of the refresh rate: 144 HZ, and it can switch automatically between 60, 120, and 144 when set to Auto refresh rate.

The animations are smooth, and you notice it when scrolling within the UI or launching and closing applications. Also, when using apps that support high refresh rates, the in-display fingerprint scanner works just fine to unlock the device.

Tecno mentioned a technology called Wet Hand Touch for the display. This allows the touch responsiveness of the display even when your thumb is wet.

Most phones, when you have drops of water on the screen or you have wet thumbs, you can’t really operate it well until it is wiped. This is every bit an upgrade from the C20 Pro 5G.

Software, UI

For those wanting flagship-level processor, better cameras, much better software experience, now let’s actually talk about how much HiOS has improved with their latest version, HiOS 14. It is not as ad-ridden as Highway of the old days; you don’t get random popups from pre-installed apps. The bloatware is minimal and can always be uninstalled.

But these are changes that have been since previous HiOS versions, so what exactly makes this one more improved? Well, for starters, you can now get the UI to change colors based on your wallpaper. That is like proper Material U integration, and it’s not just with Google apps; you can see it in the control panel too. Previously, it was just in blue.

The Smart Panel now comes up just by a single swipe instead of swiping and hold, giving you easy access to floating windows. Also, there’s a Smart Hub that works like an advanced clipboard; you simply store files, text, or images temporarily to use later or in a different application. All you need to do is tap and hold an image or file, then drag to place it in the Smart Hub.

For text, you can just highlight it and drag it to the hub; you can then access it from any app with a simple drag and drop, handy for multitasking and productivity. We also have some AI integration here, and it’s not just with the voice assistant, which by the way is highly improved and you can use it for research.

You could be surfing through a webpage on any browser, say Chrome, and you just highlight a body of text, an option “Ask AI” comes up, and you can have it summarize selected text or research more on the topic, and it works really well.

Also, anywhere within the UI, once you tap and hold with two fingers, text recognition comes up; it reads the content on the screen and extracts whatever text it can identify, be it from images or within any app.

Tecno also mentioned being able to use object eraser while editing photos, but I can’t seem to find it here, probably because this is pre-released software, hopefully it’s present in the final retail version. We also now get lock screen customization.

There’s actually plenty more which if I decide to cover will make this video longer than necessary, so if you like exploring, HiOS has plenty in store.

Tecno has notified any changes as far as software updates are concerned, so we can expect the usual three years of support, that is two major OS upgrades and an extra year of security updates. This is running Android 14, so 16 should be guaranteed.

Processor, Performace, Gaming

I read that the Dimensity 8200 is actually a rebranded Dimensity 9000. Now, I’ve not confirmed this, but at the very least it is really close, telling from the benchmark scores. This is probably the highest you can get on any mid-range phone right now if I’m correct.

For comparison, the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus is powered by Dimensity 7200, Galaxy A55 uses an Exynos 1480; these phones score lower in benchmark scores than the Camon 30 Pro 5G. Compared to a Snapdragon processor, you can call it a Snapdragon 888 equivalent, but how optimized is the Camon 30 Pro for all that power? Benchmark scores are only one side of the story.

Well, gaming is not a problem here. The first game I decided to try was the new Warzone Mobile, which has caused problems for even flagship phones. While you don’t get the high graphics option here, you can play it on mid graphics with a steady frame rate.

Graphics fidelity is still not quite there, but the gameplay is consistently smooth as long as you have the right network conditions, and I had no problems with overheating.

Onto other games, you can play Call of Duty Mobile at very high graphics and max frame rate or go on ultra frame rate with the graphics quality set to low; the game looks really good at very high settings. What about PUBG?

They get as high as Ultra HDR graphics option, also up to extreme frame rate if you drop the graphics quality to HDR. That is some flagship-level gaming performance you can get from the Camon 30 Pro 5G.

Battery, Charging

The Camon 30 Pro 5G has a 5,000 mAh battery which lasts at least a full day of standard use in my experience. It supports 70-watt fast charging, and Tecno uses the software to offer three optimized charging modes depending on how you prefer to charge. There are those that feel at ease with slower charging as that might ensure a longer battery lifespan.

Smart charging is the default, and you can choose high power for the fastest 70 watts charging or low-temperature mode for slower charging. T

he smart option charges the phone at 45 watts. You can also enable AI charge protection where it studies your charging habits and automatically stops the phone’s charging at 80% if it detects that you have a habit of leaving your phone on the charger for very long, maybe overnight. Nice features to ensure your battery lifespan is protected.

Also, it is best to use a recommended charger that comes in the box. No guarantee you get these charging options on a third-party charger.

Camera & Video Recording

Tecno is making a big fuss about their partnership with Sony and the use of that IMX 890 sensor. And aside from getting 50-megapixel main, ultra-wide, and selfie cameras, how well does it process images? Well, it’s easy to just say since the Phantom V4, this offers the best image processing from the rear cameras on any Tecno phone I’ve used, and it makes me even more anxious for the Camon 30 Premier, which has a telephoto camera.

I took a couple of photos in different lighting conditions, and I was satisfied with the results. The selfie camera high bar could use some consistency, but for the most part, it does a good job. There are more impressing in its video performance, and it’s not just for the fact that it can shoot 4K 60 FPS, and then you can get slow down cinematic videos like this, but that it also does well in low light. You can get videos with much less noise than you’d expect for a $400 phone.

This one is capable of shooting videos at up to 4K 60 FPS from both the selfie and the rear cameras, which is actually quite interesting because most phones actually do not shoot 4K 60 FPS, most midrange phones that is, much more even doing it from the selfie camera. I find that quite interesting.

And it is also able to use Ultra Steady mode even at 4K 30 FPS. There are not many phones that can use ultra Steady mode at 4K resolution, usually, scale it down to 1080p, but the Camon 30 Pro 5G can do that.

SEE ALSO:

• Tecno Camon 30 Premier

Verdict

What exactly does this phone not do well? Surely it can’t be Flawless. I’m yet to see something to complain about that isn’t this, speaking okay, I got one two years of upgrades is the bare minimum. How about we try for three? It’s not too early to start demanding that, right?

Also, Highway still needs to be lighter, but they’ve come a long way with optimization and all the air integration. Selfie camera could be better, but it still does great. Tecno did a good job with this one, and compared to other phones in his price category, it stands out.