The Tecno Spark 4 was launched recently and is the successor to the Tecno Spark 3. The Spark series phones have proven to be quite popular because they bring some high-end features to a mid-range phone. I took the Spark 4 for a test drive and here are my thoughts;
Appearance
The Tecno Spark 4 just like its other siblings in the Tecno family comes with smoothed out edges that make it easy to handle. The Vacation blue color on the unit I have gives it a cool look.
The Spark 4 comes with a 6.52 inch HD LCD capacitive touchscreen with 16 M colors. The advantage of having a phone which rocks a big screen is that it makes the consumption of media say on Youtube, Instagram or Twitter all the more enjoyable. The screen is HD with 720×1600 pixels giving you some good images.
It comes with a dewdrop notch for the selfie camera and a slim top bezel that also houses the LED flash for the selfie camera and sensors for the face unlock.
Camera
The phones comes with a 8 MP front camera, which takes some pretty decent selfies. Other than the 8 MP camera, the phone also incorporates AI technology to make your selfie more vivid and flawless.
The phone has a triple camera set up at the back and it features a 13-megapixel primary sensor of an f/1.8 aperture, an 2MP ultra-wide lens of 120-degree field of view and a VGA camera. It takes some decent pictures, check them out below;
Fingerprint Sensor
Fingerprint sensors have made unlocking phones that much easier, the Spark 4 sensor is located at the back of the phone. It can save up to five fingerprints and it is fast and accurate.
Facial Recognition
Artificial Intelligence technology allows users to unlock their phones using facial recognition. The phone does this by scanning the 296 unique recognition points of their faces improving accuracy. It’s pretty fast and nifty.
Sound
The sound on the Spark 4 is actually not that bad and it is something that one can work with. The speakers are conveniently located at the bottom so you can listen to your music whichever way you place the phone. The earphones which come with the phone though not the best I have ever experienced actually produce some decent sound.
Performance
The phone comes with a 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and is powered by an MediaTek Helio A22 Processor, a quad core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU. It also comes with a Android 9.0 Pie OS. The phone handles day to day activities without any issues, however, due to its small RAM, there is some lag when multitasking or when playing games. If you are a heavy user, this phone might not do you justice but for regular day to day use, it works just fine.
Battery
The phone comes with a 4000 mAh battery which is non-removable. This is an upgrade from the 3500mAh battery which came with the Spark 4. A big battery means that you can use the phone for long periods without having to recharge. A full battery took me a day and a half on fairly heavy usage.
However, the downside is that it does not have a fast charge option and one has to wait for almost two over hours for it to charge fully.
Storage
The phone comes with 32 GB internal storage which can be expanded using a Micro SD to up to 256 GB. Having gotten used to phones with a bigger internal storage, I found the 32GB to be inadequate but the beauty is that one can always use a SD card to expand the memory.
Conclusion
For what many would consider as an entry level smartphone, the Tecno Spark 4 handles quite well. I would definitely recommend purchase if one is not a heavy user, I recently copped one for my Mum and so far, she is enjoying the experience. Also, the price point of Ksh. 11,999 is quite affordable.