Tecno Camon 16 Premier review

Competition

Tecno is not particularly well-known on the international scene, nor in the Western smartphone market. The company has mainly focused its business efforts on Africa, successfully carving-out a decent share and establishing a good local presence. The latter, apparently, was no easy task and required a lot of specific customization and tailoring efforts on Tecno's part. Heavy ad-support, for the sake of subsidizing phones like the Tecno Camon 16 Premier is an unfortunate part of that equation. It is what helps deliver such a good value proposition. And is apparently an approach that has local market success, especially in conjuncture with an after-sales support network.

All of this essentially makes the Tecno Camon 16 Premier a local release, with limited availability and frankly, limited appeal, outside of its key markets. With an MSRP of around EUR 230, it is very much a budget offer and one offering good value. However, it is not alone in this market niche. If nothing else, its nearly-identical Infinix Zero 8 is there to potentially steal away some of its stoplight, while even costing marginally less.

There are plenty of other options, though. Plus, we were never going to recommend actually importing a Tecno or Infinix device, if they are not available for you locally for a myriad of reasons. Starting with Samsung, we have a few viable device choices in the ever-growing Galaxy A and Galaxy M families. The Galaxy A51 packs a similar hardware to the Infinix Zero 8, including a four-camera setup, with a Quad-Bayer main snapper. Plus, a major draw here is the Super AMOLED panel. It's not a fast one, and only does 60Hz, but the benefits in color and contrast are obvious. You won't be getting quite as potent of a battery and charging setup, though. And the Galaxy A51 could be pushing the limits of our budget.

Keeping that in mind, if you can get your hands on a Galaxy M31s, it seems to offer even better value for money, rocking the same overall internals, but with a higher-res 64MP main camera and a bigger 6,000 mAh battery, with faster 25W charging. That one seems only to be selling in India at the moment, though.

Samsung Galaxy A51 • Xiaomi Redmi K30 Ultra • Xiaomi Poco X3 NFC • Realme 7 Pro

Xiaomi has more than a few devices to offer. If you can get your hands on a Redmi K30 Ultra, it seems to offer the best, all-round value, including things like an AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate, a quad-camera setup with a 64MP Quad-Bayer and a dedicated telephoto and a 4,500 mAh battery, with 33W charging, just like the Infinix Zero 8. Sadly, it is also somewhat limited in availability and pushing the budget a little.

The Redmi Note 9 Pro might be easier to acquire, but it does come with quite a few sacrifices, the OLED panel, 5G and the telephoto. However, the recently-released Poco X3 NFC seems to be a better bet than it, comparatively. For just a few bucks more than a Redmi Note 9 Pro you are getting 120Hz refresh rate, stereo speakers, an IP53 splash-proof rating, a slightly bigger battery and slightly-faster 44W charging. Not a bad deal at all. For even more savings, you can consider the slightly-older Redmi Note 9, or the even better-value Redmi Note 8 Pro.

Navigating Realme's lineup is hardly any easier. The Realme 6 stands out as a very close match to the Infinix Zero 8. It also has a 90Hz IPS panel, the MediaTek G90T chipset, a quad-camera setup, including a 64MP main snapper and an 8MP ultrawide, a similarly-sized 4,300 mAh battery, with 30W charging and very solid battery endurance. It also has the benefit of being internationally available and easily attainable.

In contrast, the much more-recent Realme 7 and Realme 7 Pro are still hard to find outside India. If, you can get your hands on one, however, we would definitely recommend going for the Pro for its AMOLED panel, stereo speakers, very potent quad-camera setup and 65W charging. The Realme 7 is not too dissimilar either, swapping that OLED for an IPS and cutting-down on cost a bit. Its panel is 90Hz, though. We are hoping both or at least one of the Realme 7 phones will arrive, in some capacity, on the international market shortly.

Honorable mentions on the competitors list include the Nokia 5.3 and the vivo Y20.

The verdict

Tecno is not a common name around our parts. Just like Infinix and Transsion brands and products, in general, both availability and appeal are strictly limited to local markets. In the case of Tecno, mostly in Africa.

The Camon 16 Premier turned out to be a very-intriguing device, much like its Infinix Zero 8 sibling. In many ways, the pair come very close. Both manage to deliver a surprisingly-good value proposition and a distinct software experience, specifically tailored to the needs of local markets. This includes things like system-level WhatsApp integration, various support and service apps for after-sales care, and a slew of alternative app markets and game launchers baked-in. All, likely, reflecting the needs and preferences of local users.

The unfortunate flip side of this 'market tuning' is the unusually high volume of ads and sponsored content, pre-loaded as part of HiOS 7. A practice that has become mostly unacceptable to Western and global audiences in the last few years, but is still a perfectly valid way of bringing costs down and additionally subsidizing the cost of any handset.

This strategy is clearly working, on a local level, for Transsion and its sub-brands. Just like the Infinix Zero 8, the Camon 16 Premier is a whole lot of phone, at a very tempting price. For better or worse, these two siblings turned out different-enough in quite a few respects. Enough to require careful consideration from prospective buyers. For instance, we found that the Infinix Zero 8 generally manages to make better use of its quad-camera setup, especially the ultrawide snapper. On the flip side, the IPS panel on the Camon 16 Premier was noticeably-sharper, making its 90Hz refresh rate more enjoyable and useful. The former could get address with software updates, while the latter is likely a permanent disparity. And that's just one example of the subtle choices prospective buyers might have to mage, while choosing between the Camon 16 Premier and the Infinix Zero 8, in particular.

At the end of the day, though, the choice between a Tecno and an Infinix remains a very specific one. The way the Camon 16 Premier is created, customized, and even marketed appears pretty specific and almost foreign from a global viewpoint. As such, we find it hard to really outright recommend it. Getting it outside of its designated markets won't really be worth the hassle. If, however, it is available in a store near you, with all of its local customization, warranty, and after-sales care, it is definitely worth looking into.

Pros

• Sturdy plastic build and eye-catching, yet restrained design and color options.
• Snappy fingerprint reader, 3.5mm jack, two SIM slots and a microSD one.
• Optimal performance is extracted from the MediaTek Helio G90T chipset. Does not heat up nearly as much as the Infinix Zero 8.
• Excellent battery life even in 90Hz mode. Impressively fast charging.
• Once cleaned up, HiOS 7 becomes pleasant to use and we enjoyed its unique features.
• Autofocus on the ultrawide camera is a nice surprise.
• Night mode and 64MP capture work surprisingly well.
• Impressive selfies from the 48MP camera. Feature-rich beauty mode.
• Top-notch EIS stabilization for every camera. Great vlogging experience, thanks to the surprisingly sharp video capture from the selfie cameras at up to 4K.

Cons

• Slow-pixel response time, but still noticeably better and sharper at 90Hz than the Infinix Zero 8. Low max brightness level and sub-par color accuracy, both worse than the Infinix Zero 8.
• The single loudspeaker is unimpressive in both loudness and quality.
• Huge amount of pre-loaded apps generate a lot of notifications and ruin the out-of-the-box user experience.
• Largely unimpressive camera performance, especially in low-light. A pervasive yellow tint and autofocus issues, especially on the ultrawide, are quite problematic mono audio capture.