Tecno’s newest entrant into the Kenyan market is the Camon 20 Pro which was launched on May 19, this year.
It is a continuation of cutting-edge mobile technology, the latest being a skin-friendly back that’s easier to maintain.
Dubbed the “Magic-Skin” the innovative material will also be available on other devices from Tecno Mobility.
Our review unit was the Predawn Black colour, one of two colours the device comes in. The other is Serenity Blue.
The Tecno Camon 20 Pro comes with some other items in its packaging. We will look at those before we get into the device’s features and functionality.
Out of the box
The Camon 20 Pro’s packaging is Tecno-esque for non-flagship devices. Tecno pulls out all the stops to give that feeling of extra exclusivity for its premium devices.
With the Camon 20 Pro, however, the device comes in your standard white cardboard box. It has blue highlights at the front with the name and series of the device printed in bold. Some specifications are printed on the front, back and bottom of the box as well.
Inside you’ll find the device in a plastic sleeve, a compartment that contains the protective case, and a warranty card.
The packaging also includes headphones with a 3.5mm jack, a USB Type-C charging cable, and a 33 Watt fast-charging power brick. The small box within the main packaging that carries the headphones and charging cable has a SIM attached to it.
Exterior and Dimensions
The Tecno Camon 20 Pro comes in your standard uni-body build with polished aluminium acting as the chassis. The glass front and the “Magic-Skin” back are mounted onto this chassis and which gives the device a sturdy structure.
The screen is a monolithic glass front with a small lateral slit at the top for the earpiece. It also has a punch-hole for the 32 Megapixel selfie camera.
The top edge has a stereo speaker offset slightly to the left of the centre line. On the right edge, there are three buttons – two to change media playback volume and one for power. The power button also locks the phone.
The split volume buttons layout is a departure from the more conventional single rocker button. It does, however, provide better durability for the buttons by isolating the range of movement.
The left edge has the SIM tray which can hold two Nano-SIM cards with both on standby.
The bottom edge of the Camon 20 has a 3.5mm port, microphone, USB Type-C charging port and stereo speaker running from left to right.
The back of the Camon 20 has two camera bumps one for the 64-Megapixel main shooter with the second housing the remaining two lenses. Next to the two is a ring LED flash.
The back does not have a slick finish so it is neither slippery nor is it a fingerprint magnet.
The device measures 6.43 inches in length, 3.02 inches in width and 0.32 inches thick.
Screen and Camera
The screen is an AMOLED 6.67-inch display capable of a 120Hz refresh rate. Browsing, media playback and even gaming benefit greatly from the high refresh rate.
It has 1080 by 2400 pixels resolution with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a density of 395 pixels per inch.
The Camon 20 Pro has 4 cameras in total. The front-facing camera is 32 Megapixels. It is wide-angled and has dual LED flashes for illumination. It is capable of recording videos at 1080p at 30 frames per second.
The rear-facing cluster of three cameras has a 64-megapixel lens at the top bump and a pair of 2 Megapixel lenses. This camera too shoots video in 1080p at 30 frames per second.
The camera modes include video, AI Photos, Portrait and Panorama for a wide array of photography styles and outcomes.
The High Dynamic Range of the camera is especially a stand-out feature allowing great photos in low-light situations.
Performance, Storage and Battery
The Camon 20 Pro promises great performance with its hardware-software pairing. It comes pre-installed with Android 13 and its custom HIOS 13 skin.
To facilitate the smooth running of the operating system, the device is fitted with a MediaTek MT8781 Helio G99. This has plenty of speed for basic to complex functions on the device.
An octa-core central processing unit that has a pair of Cortex-A76 processors running at 2.2GHz and six Cortex-A55 running at 2.0GHz gives the Camon 20 that extra performance boost. The Mali G57 MC2 graphics card gives a clear relay of images on the device’s screen.
To store all your media, applications and documents, the Camon 20 Pro comes with 256GB of internal storage. The device’s base random access memory is 8GB but is expandable by a further 8GB using universal flash storage (UFS) technology. This allows free ROM storage to be converted to RAM for optimal performance, especially during gaming.
A non-removable Li-Po 5000mAh battery powers the device. It comes paired with a 33 Watt fast-charging brick for its USB Type-C charging system.
Communication, Connectivity and Sensors
The Tecno Camon 20 Pro can connect to cellular networks and the internet through a range of 2G, 3G and 4G bands.
It additionally has Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, Near Field Communication, FM Radio and USB Type-C 2.0 for data transfer from a personal computer.
It has an optical fingerprint sensor fitted under its display that we found to be adequately responsive at every instance of use.
Other available sensors include an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and a compass for geo-based tracking.
Our verdict
The Tecno Camon 20 is priced at Ksh. 30,999 and in our assessment, is good value for money. It has a great camera for photos and videos, a highly responsive screen and great connection speeds when it comes to the internet.
It charges quickly when one needs a power boost in a short time. It is also not slippery in hand and the dimensions make it a great device to have in hand.