Tecno Pova 5 Pro review

120Hz LCD panel on a budget

Even though the Pova 5 Pro is a lower mid-range device, it offers an impressive display for its class. The device is built around a 6.78-inch IPS LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Resolution is pretty standard - 1080 x 2460px, and there are no HDR certifications, not that we expected any. They are not standard in this price range.

Tecno advertises 580 nits of peak brightness, and we managed to measure up to 509 nits, which is pretty close to the advertised peak brightness. There's no brightness boost, so those nits would have to do. And in our experience, outdoor usage is somewhat uncomfortable on a bright sunny day.

Color accuracy isn't the best out of the box. The average dE2000 is 8.4, which is a lot. Colors are a bit oversaturated, which is fine, but the whites and grays appear straight-up blue. You can adjust the display's color temperature to a warmer hue, but entire presets are unavailable.

HRR control

Leaving the refresh rate in Automatic Switch mode would probably save you some battery as the display would default to 60Hz when not in use and when watching videos. The software tends to go for 120Hz in most scenarios, but we found that Google Chrome, among other Google apps, for example, is limited to 60Hz. Forcing the apps with the 120Hz mode helps, but you lose the auto switch to 60Hz.

Battery life

The device runs on a 5,000 mAh battery, and one would expect that when coupled with the energy-efficient Dimensity 6080 SoC, battery life will be nothing short of great. However, the overall score is somewhat disappointing. The screen-on runtimes are also not great. Web browsing is fine but the video playback is quite shorter than on a device with an OLED screen.

There are barely any phones in this price bracket scoring under 100 hours of endurance rating.

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.

Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.

Charging speed

Charging is where the Pova 5 Pro shines. The device is unmatched in its class when it comes to charging speed. The 5,000 mAh battery can take up to 68W with the provided proprietary charger and cable. The smartphone blows everyone out of the water and posts impressive charging times. In just 30 minutes, you get 70% of the charge back. Only a few competitors get close to that. A full charge takes only 50 minutes.

Speakers

The Pova 5 Pro runs a pair of stereo speakers, but it's a hybrid setup, meaning the left channel (usually the top speaker) doubles as an earpiece as well. A small grille on the top side of the frame lets the sound come out freely.

Loudness-wise, the speakers are "Very Good", scoring -25.6 LUFS. We also noticed that the right channel (the bottom speaker) is noticeably louder than the other one. And the setup leaves more to be desired when it comes to quality. They sound a bit flat and distorted at higher volume with virtually no bass. Notably, this is a budget speaker setup, so it's expected.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.