When I first got the Tecno Phantom 5 phone I have to say that I was wowed, note I had never used a Tecno phone before. This was mostly due to the perception that Tecno phones are not all that but I have to say that with the Phantom 5 I was pleasantly surprised. As I proceed to review the phone, I would like to state that I am not a techie so don’t expect me to delve into the phone’s technical specifications but just an ordinary user’s experience.
Appearance
The Phantom 5 is a beauty with smooth edges that make it easy to handle. It has a 5.5 inch screen with an IPS capacitive touchscreen with 16,000,000 colors. The screen is Gorilla Glass 3 which is scratch resistant so you don’t need to put on those hideous screen protectors on this work of art.
Camera
If selfies are your thing, then you will love this phone with its 8MP front camera with a flash. The flash at the front of the camera means that you can take your selfies even at night something which is not common in most phones. The 8MP front camera takes up to 3264 x 2448-pixel pictures.
At the back the Phantom has a 13MP camera, with up to 4128 x 3096-pixel pictures, High Dynamic Range imaging, face and smile detection camera with dual LED flash for the perfect photo. This camera takes some of the most awesome photos.
Fingerprint Sensor
The phone comes with a fingerprint sensor at the back, just below the camera. The sensor can save upto five of your fingerprints. I have to say that it has made unlocking the phone much faster than using the standard password. I am sure it is very helpful to those who after a few drinks cannot remember the password to their phones or those who have so many pins and passwords that they usually confuse them. With the phantom you just need to place your finger on the sensor and the phone is unlocked, it actually takes 0.7 seconds for the finger print to be identified and to unlock the phone.
Sound
Tecno have used state of the art audio technology from DOLBY to deliver surround audio in the Phantom 5. This is delivered with minimal sound distortion, so if you are listening to music or even watching a video you will be sure enjoy yourself.
The phone comes with two pre-installed players, the usual player and the Boom player. The Boom player has over 200,000 audio and music videos. You can be able to stream or download the content, with some of it free and some you have to pay for. They even have 2 of Wyre’s songs up in there.
Performance
With a 3GB RAM, a 64-bit 1.5 GHz octa-core processor and a Mali-T760 MP4 GPU, the Tecno Phantom has all the requirements needed for a super-fast phone. I have to say that so far it has served me well more so when I am multi-tasking and I can’t complain. However, if you open too many apps it tends to hang so make effort to be checking on how many apps are open at a given time and close the ones not needed.
Battery
The phantom comes with a 3000mAh Li-Ion battery which is non-removable. With moderate use it can last from morning till evening and about half a day with heavy usage. I feel that a bigger battery would have been better more so for the heavy users. But if you are a moderate user like myself this phone is perfect for you.
Storage
The phone come with 32 GB internal storage although only 25GB is usable. However, you can expand the memory to 64GB with the help of a SD card. With that kind of memory, you can take all the pictures that you want without having to worry about phone memory.
Conclusion
All in all I have to say that the Tecno Phantom 5 which is retailing at Kshs 39,999 is worth every penny. Given the specs it has, I predict that it will do very well in this market