Tecno Camon 16 Premier review

Design and bill of materials

One of the bit things the Infinix Zero 8 has going for it is the distinct design. Especially around the back, with its rotated square camera module and two-tone geometric pattern. Well, the Tecno Camon 16 Premier isn't nearly as striking or memorable in the looks department. That's perfectly fine, though, since there is more than enough room on the market for both eye-catching and more classic-looking handsets.

In fairness to the Tecno design team, the back panel on the Camon 16 Premier is anything but bland, even if it has a slightly tamer look. Tecno themselves describe the surface as "metallic-like", offering a "visual cooling sense" and also liken it to "a glace of sunshine shining on the glacier".

While metal would definitely not be our first association, Tecno is on to something with that glacier analogy. The back panel has a soft color, shifting from ice-blue to soft green shades, depending on how light hits it. Thanks to clever use of layering, it also conveys a sense of depth. We actually like the look quite a bit. It even has a certain premium look to it.

Once you actually hold the Camon 16 Premier though, the task of masking its budget nature becomes significantly more difficult. In keeping with what we expect from a handset around the EUR 250 mark, the back panel is plastic, and so is the middle frame.

The glossy finish on both tends to retain a lot of smudges easily. The back panel also has a bit of flex to it, in part facilitated by the existence of a small internal gap between the 4,500 mAh battery pack and the back panel. Again, like the choice of materials, this is something fairly common in this price segment, which we will not hold against the Camon 16 Premier.

On a more positive note, the Camon 16 Premier feels sturdy and is well put together. Despite that flex in the back panel, the phone feels surprisingly and reassuringly dense. It is a bit bottom-heavy, in terms of weight distribution.

It is worth pointing out that the Tecno Camon 16 Premier is both slightly taller and wider than the Infinix Zero 8. A difference that is very, very hard to catch in person, but one that indicates that these are more than simple re-brands of the same hardware.

The front of the phone manages to pull off a rather modern look. Bezels surrounding the 6.9-inch IPS display are reasonably-sized. The bottom chin is just a bit thicker, presumably to house a more budget-friendly and easier to manufacture display driver board, that does not require some extra wrap-around setup. Even so, the Camon 16 Premier manages to punch above its price category.

The double-wide selfie camera punch hole is a bit on the bigger side. At least it is not weirdly off-center or too close to either of the edges.

More importantly, the presence of the punch hole is integrated into the UI well. The clock and the notification icons are perfectly vertically aligned. The notch is also incorporated through nifty wallpapers and animations. Most notably, switching between the main and the selfie cameras triggers a cool ring animation effect. It is all tied together really well.

Controls, connectivity and sensors

The Camon 16 Premier has two separate volume buttons, instead of a single volume rocker as we saw on the Infinix Zero 8. Also unlike the rather "mushy" volume rocker on the Infinix, the pair of buttons on the Camon 16 Premier actually feel decent, if not, amazing, in terms of tactile feedback. We will count that as an improvement.

Overall, controls on the Camon 16 Premier are straight-forward and well laid-out. You get a nice power button and capacitive fingerprint reader combo on the right-hand side. It is conveniently located height-wise and offers satisfying tactile feedback and is easy to feel-around thanks to being placed in a recessed spot.

The fingerprint reader is snappy and accurate. It is also always-on.

All the other controls are positioned on the bottom bezel. These include a trusty 3.5mm audio jack, Type-C port, with just a basic USB 2.0 interface behind it, but still, one that includes USB host support.

The single speaker on the Camon 16 Premier is also here. There is, unfortunately, no stereo setup, not even a hybrid one.

The MediaTek Helio G90T is hardly a powerhouse but is still perfectly modern in connectivity options. Our Tecno Camon 16 Premier review unit has two nano SIM slots, which can both operate in simultaneous 4G mode - dual 4G VoLTE and 4G data. Advanced network features like IMS (VoLTE\ViLTE\VoWi-Fi) are also supported.

The Helio G90T is equipped with a Cat-12 4G LTE WorldMode modem with 3x CA and 4x4 MIMO and 256QAM. Compared to the Infinix Zero 8, the Camon 16 Premier seems to offer slightly wider 3G band support. The fairly spacious SIM tray also has a dedicated slot for a microSD memory card.

For local connectivity, the Camon 16 Premier gets to enjoy Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and an FM radio receiver. GPS is also naturally on board. All basic sensors are covered too: G-sensor, e-compass, luminance sensor, proximity, and a gyroscope.