Tecno Spark 20 Pro+ review
HiOS 13 on top of Android 14
In a rather interesting development, the Spark 20 Pro+ isn't actually running Tecno's latest HiOS 14 like the Pova 6 Pro does. At least, that is true for our review unit at the time of writing. Instead, we get HiOS 13.6.0. Tecno advertises HiOS 14 for phones on its official website, so it is probably on the horizon soon.
On a more positive note, at least the phone is still running Google's latest Android 14, albeit with a pretty old December 1, 2023 security patch. We've already seen what HiOS 13 has to offer. You can refer to that article for more details.
Tecno doesn't make any software support promises, but we imagine that the Spark 20 Pro+ will get at least one major OS update.
Despite technically running an older HiOS version, the Spark 20 Pro+ still has some advanced features. For instance, a customizable Always On feature goes along with the AMOLED display.
There is a Game Mode here, but it doesn't seem to be as full-featured as the Game Space 4.0 we saw on the Pova 6 Pro. Smart Panel is as nifty as ever. It is a customizable side panel that is used to open apps in floating windows. Speaking of which, there is a powerful multi-window feature in HiOS called Lightning Multi-Window.
Home screen • Notification shade • Dynamic Port
As already mentioned, one of the cooler UI features on the Spark 20 Pro+ is Dynamic Port. It 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.
Setting • Settings • Dynamic port features
Tecno also boasts some new AI-powered software optimizations on the Spark 20 Pro+. The "Aurora Engine" promises to boost launch times on popular games by up to 85% and up to 95% on popular apps. The "Darwin Engine" also promises frame rate optimization by up to 8x and a reduction in average temperature.
Benchmarks and performance
A MediaTek Helio G99 chipset powers the Tecno Spark 20 Pro+. The "Ultimate" variant of said chip, to be exact, also officially denoted as the MT6789U. We aren't quite sure what the "Ultimate" branding denotes exactly since the CPU and GPU clocks are all technically the same on all of the many variants of the G99 chip. Regardless, the G99 is a fairly recent chip from 2022 made on a 6nm TSMC manufacturing process.
The CPU setup consists of two ARM Cortex-A76 cores, clocked at up to 2.2 GHz and another six Cortex-A55 ones, working at up to 2.0 GHz. The onboard GPU is a Mali-G57 MC2, clocked at 1.1 GHz. It supports OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan 1.1.
The Tecno Spark 20 Pro+ only comes in one memory variant with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of storage. As per our testing, the storage chips seem to be of the UFS 2.1 variety. Storage is expandable via a microSD card. Up to 8GB of virtual memory is also available.
Moving on to some actual benchmarks, let's kick things off with some CPU numbers and GeekBench. The Helio G99 is not a particularly powerful chip, but we must remember that the Tecno Spark 20 Pro+ is not a particularly expensive device. Not at all, in fact. Within its respective price bracket, the G99 does quite alright with what we would call "middle-of-the-road" CPU performance.
GeekBench 6
- Multi-core
- Single-core
Redmi 12 5G
Honor Magic5 Lite
Redmi Note 12 5G
Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro
Redmi Note 13
Tecno Spark 20 Pro+
Galaxy A15
You can get notably better performance out of something like the Dimensity 6080, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 or the Snapdragon 695. That said, the actual performance delta is not that big, particularly in CPU terms, and it won't translate all that much to real-world use.
AnTuTu paints a very similar picture and is even more favorable towards the Spark 20 Pro+. It has a much more robust and varied set of tests in its roster and also considers things like memory and GPU performance.
AnTuTu
- v9
- v10
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite
Tecno Pova 5 Pro
Redmi 12 5G
Honor Magic5 Lite
Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro
Tecno Spark 20 Pro+
Redmi Note 12 5G
The Spark 20 Pro+ definitely holds its own well, especially among price competitors. Again, you can get slightly better performance from the Redmi Note 13 with its Dimensity 6080 or the Redmi 12 5G with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 2, but the delta is hardly massive.
The dual-core Mali-G57 GPU setup inside the Spark 20 Pro+ is hardly a powerhouse, but just like the CPU setup, it definitely holds its own well in the price bracket.
3DMark (offscreen)
- Wild Life (1440p)
- Wild Life Extreme (2160p)
Tecno Pova 5 Pro
Redmi Note 13
Tecno Spark 20 Pro+
Galaxy A24 4G
Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro
Galaxy A15
Galaxy A15 5G
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.
In fact, we would even go as far as to say that getting better graphical performance for the money would be pretty hard. That's about as far as the budget stretches.
In more practical terms, don't expect to have a good time with any heavier games on the Spark 20 Pro+. Casual titles run perfectly fine, though. The UI also runs smoothly with no noticeable slowdowns and hiccups.
Thermal-throttling
The MediaTek Helio G99 isn't known to be a particularly hot-running chip. The Spark 20 Pro+ manages great thermal-throttling behavior and basically maintains top performance even with prolonged torture testing.
Thermal-throttling
Not only is performance stability near perfect, but the phone's surface doesn't get more than lukewarm either.
Reader comments
- Anonymous
- 15 May 2024
- CF}
Single or dual sims?
- Diana
- 03 May 2024
- rrt
Nice phone though heats up quickly on continuous use☹️
- Babalizm
- 23 Apr 2024
- KLU
This is a very good phone but rarely supported by the brand it self! As an affordable mid range TECNO / INFINIX must offer some option of customization like easy to Unlock, TWRP, GCam support and built with camera API2 enabled. that's how XI...