Description

Design & Display

Right from the text written at the back of the device – “INNOVATION DESIGNED BY TECNO”, TECNO Camon 15 is the first TECNO device launched in 2020 to embrace a new body design. Taking a tour of the back of the phone shows a beautiful glass-like design of the rear cover with tiny lines running around it which also makes it safer to hold in your palms. On the top-left corner of the rear cover are a rectangular-shaped camera bump and a fingerprint scanner beside it.

It has three buttons which include the volume rockers and power button at the right side of the device. It gives tactile feedback and it’s easy to reach. The left side is left with only the dual SIM card + micro SD card tray.

The bottom of the device houses a mono-speaker grille, micro-USB port, microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the top of the device is left empty.

Looking at the screen shows an immersive 6.6″ HD+ Dot-in display housing the 16MP selfie camera. Ditching the everlasting large top bezel, TECNO Camon 15 has its ear speaker embedded at the extreme top of the screen, followed by all the necessary sensors and a dual-LED flash. The selfie camera is placed at a perfect place you would barely notice while watching movies or playing games.

The display on this device is a 6.6″ HD+ LCD with a resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels. The display is quite bright and produces punchy colours. Altogether, the screen feels more responsive to touches and is quite good for media consumption and gaming.

Performance

The MediaTek Helio P22 chipset powering this device is a mid-range processor which shows up its capabilities in day-to-day usage. From running high processes to basic stuff, the device runs multiple processes simultaneously without having to refresh apps constantly. The performance is optimized to better suit its hardware, thereby making it feel less-likely to hang or crash apps. Thanks to the 4GB of RAM, the device can keep up to eight apps in the background before starting to close old background apps for new processes.

For your storage needs, the Camon 15 features a 64GB internal memory which is quite large if you don’t store too many files. Thanks to the dedicated microSD card slot, you can as well insert am external storage if you need more storage space.

Battery Life

While previous phones in the TECNO Camon series are stuck with 4000mAh battery at max, the TECNO Camon 15 is powered by a huge 5000mAh battery that is enough to keep the device on for a long period of time before having to charge it up again. On average usage, you can get up to 10 hours of screen time doing basic stuff like watching movies, texting, taking photos, listening to music, etc. Depending on your usage pattern, you might not get up to that, especially if you’re always playing hardcore games and using the device at high screen brightness most times. There’s also a Battery saving mode that automatically improves battery life and extends usage when activated.

Camera

The Camon series is best recognized for its strong camera capabilities. The TECNO Camon 15 series is the first phone from TECNO to ever use a large 48MP camera sensor and also a quad-camera setup. This device shows up excellent camera performance in both the rear and front cameras.

The rear camera setup is a 48MP main camera, 2MP depth sensor, 2MP macro camera, and the TAIVOS lens for better low-light photography.

The main 48MP camera captures decent photos with lots of details, colours and light. The main camera shoots at 12MP by default but you can easily toggle on the 48MP mode when you need to use it. And the 48MP captures, even more, better photos at the expense of storage.

Thanks to the dedicated 2MP depth sensor, edge detection and subject focus for the Bokeh/portrait shots are close to perfect. It perfectly separates the subject and blurs out the background while still preserving the colours and image quality.

There’s also a dedicated 2MP macro camera available if you ever need to take close-up shots. Being just 2MP, it produces through-to-life colours. You’ll get better and usable macro shots when there’s sufficient light and you’re steady enough.

And that brings us to the newly introduced TAIVOS technology for better low-light photography. Though the first attempt, from the shots coming from the Super Night mode on this device, it’s a great start. When you switch to the Super Night mode, it takes about 4 seconds to process your photo and give you a stunning result. You would never want to use the flash again after trying this feature.

The selfie-lovers will also find this device intriguing. Having a large 16MP sensor embedded in the punch-hole cutout, images shot on the selfie camera turns out beautiful and punchy. There’s also a Beauty mode which uses AI to smartly beautify your face. It can remove face acne, scars, etc., just to give you a smooth face. Though the front camera doesn’t come with a dedicated depth sensor, it uses software to generate portrait pictures and the result turns out lovely as well. There are order camera modes such as Super Night, AR Selfie, Wide Selfie, etc.

Software

The TECNO Camon 15 runs on HiOS 6 based on Android 10. While there are many custom Android skins out there, HiOS leans more to provide what the end-users need most, while still keeping the interface simple and responsive. HiOS v6 implemented most of Android 10 features and also adds exclusive features that are rare to find elsewhere. On HiOS 6, you’ll find features like Social Turbo to boost your WhatsApp experience, Micro Intelligence to control some activities with gestures, Game Mode for gaming optimization and tools, etc. There are also features like gesture navigations, Wifi Share, Dark mode, new music controls, etc.