Tecno Pova 6 Pro review

Android 14-based HiOS 14

The new Pova 6 Pro runs on the latest HiOS 14 proprietary software, based on Android 14. Unfortunately, Tecno doesn't guarantee future updates, but we would guess that at least one major software update will hit the Pova 6 Pro.

So what's new in HiOS 14? Well, most of what we saw in HiOS 13 is present here as well with minor changes and a couple of new features.

For instance, the handset now offers Always-on display, since it has an OLED panel this year, updated icons, updated Game Space 4.0 with various gaming-related customizations and options, smarter gallery search (you can search for images using descriptive words) and introduces Dynamic Port 2.0. The latter acts like the iPhone's Dynamic Island by giving contextual info and interactive pop-ups around the front-facing camera. It's actually one of the better Android iterations of the feature.

Home screen • Notification shade • Dynamic Port 2.0

Last but not least, the Pova 6 Pro has an IR port this year, which allows you to control certain appliances in your home.

Settings menu • Dynamic light effect

Benchmarks and sustained performance

The MediaTek Dimensity 6080 driving the Pova 6 Pro is a well-known chipset by now so we have a good idea of what to expect. It's also the same chip inside last year's Tecno Pova 5 Pro.

The chipset is part of the mid-range Dimensity 6000 series of SoCs and slots in between the Dimensity 6020 and 6100+. It's based on the 6nm N6 manufacturing process from TSMC and features an octa-core CPU and a Mali-G57 GPU running at 950 MHz.

The CPU consists of 2x Cortex-A76 cores running at 2.4 GHz and 6x Cortex-A55 cores ticking at 2.0 GHz for not-so-demanding tasks. The device we reviewed pairs the Dimensity 6080 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but there's a lower-tier version with 8GB of RAM.

We've discontinued GFXBench graphics benchmarking as the app is often banned/blacklisted on the phones we receive for review. The graphics performance ranking in 3D Mark is just as meaningful, so we suggest you refer to that one instead.

The Dimensity 6080 inside the Tecno Pova 6 Pro performs as expected and performs well in the given price range. Moreover, it's able to outperform the Dimensity 8100+ and Dimensity 7020 in certain scenarios - combined and GPU-heavy workloads.

Sustained performance

Just like its predecessor, the Pova 6 Pro offers a passive cooling system, but supposedly upgraded. Not that it needed an upgrade, given that the Pova 5 Pro handled the Dimensity 6080 under heavy loads perfectly.

The new SuperCooled System 1.0 incorporates a 27,342 mm2 total cooling area that consists of a 10-layer structure, including a graphite layer.

CPU throttle test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test

We were surprised to see even better results than before. The Pova 6 Pro maintained the CPU's maximum clock speeds and the software didn't detect any thermal throttling at all.

Sure, the Dimensity 6080 SoC isn't all that demanding, but it's impressive to maintain the maximum clock speeds for an hour at 100% CPU load, nonetheless.