The TECNO Camon 15 doesn’t need much introduction because of the sheer popularity of the device, it is a device that has created so much attention to both tech lovers, enthusiasts and TECNO fans around the globe.
As we all know, the Camon series has always placed focus around the camera but this time, not only did TECNO improve the camera, we saw improvement in almost every category and addition of new features as the pop-up selfie camera, a huge 64MP camera, and a much bigger and improved display.
TECNO Camon 15 Premier Review
Design and Build Quality
When it comes to the design, I must say, this is the best looking TECNO device yet. You can check out the full unboxing here. There is something to how this device feels when you hold it, apart from the fact that it feels like a premium device, it is a little dense, there is a little bit of heft, it weighs about 203g and that’s way heavier than the Camon 12, but not in a bad way, it feels like a well-tailored device.
This sense of feel connects you to it, telling you, yes this is a well-made device, the attention to every detail counts here. The color I have here is called Opal White and it looks prettier, in every measurable way. It doesn’t feel cheap at all. It’s a step above the Camon 12 when it comes to the design even though It is made out of plastic, you’d need to carefully look at it because it somehow looks like glass. It is big, it is solid and it brings that premium feel to a midrange device.
OK, on the right side of the device, we’ve got the power button and the volume rocker keys, to the left, houses a dual nano sim slot and a micro-sd card slot. At the bottom, we’ve got a headphone jack, a microphone, a micro USB charging port, and the speaker grill. While at the top, is the pop-up selfie camera.
The back houses a quad-camera setup with that sweet 64MP AI camera engraving, a quad flash, a fingerprint scanner, and the TECNO branding.
Display
So, the Camon 15 premier is the first TECNO device to incorporate a full view display without the usual notches, and it is what makes the Camon 15 premier stand out. it is a 1080 x 2340 resolution with a 395 PPI. It looks super beautiful here, the slimmer bezels and a none obstructive look make it a much appealing device.
The 6.6-inch screen with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio gives it a cinematic look when watching videos and playing games. With a bezel-less design at 84.3% screen-to-body ratio, it means you can immerse yourself in brilliant experiences and enjoy the vivid details that this display offers. It is sharp with accurate colours and it is good. It is an IPS display so viewing angles look great. Overall, the display is fantastic.
Performance and Software
The TECNO Camon 15 premier comes with a MediaTek helio P35 octa-core CPU that is clocked at 2.3GHz paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It has a 4000mAh battery and what is running the show is Android 10 layered with HiOS 6.0.
HiOS keeps on improving as new iteration comes out, my only gripe with HiOS is bloatware, it comes bundled with so many bloatware, but thankfully some can be uninstalled.
The software packs plenty of new features like gesture navigation that lets you use swipe up gestures. To get to the home screen, just swipe up, swipe up and hold to reveal recent apps, swipe from the edge to go back to your previous app and swipe up from both lower side of the screen to activate google assistant.
It brings full support for a dark mode that works effectively but some apps still need to natively support dark mode before it can take advantage of the system-wide dark theme.
The micro intelligence scores new features but my favorite is smart screen lighting, what it does is to light up the display when you pick up the device and turn it off when the device is lowered. And the game mode also has some new features as well.
The overall user interface is further improved as it feels snappy and responsive to touch. Performance is not an issue at all. Playing games, browsing the web, social media and general multitasking performs very well. Anything you throw at it just flies.
However, you might notice some occasional delays when you have too many background apps running. The inbuilt speaker sounded decent, but since it has a down-firing speaker, you can accidentally block the sound during gameplay. I will say this is a huge upgrade coming from the Camon 12.
Battery and Security features
The TECNO Camon 15 premier comes with a 4000 mah battery and it is very Ok. On basic use, it should be able to last for a day and a half if not more. When it time to juice it up, charging it with the included charger took about 2hrs 30mins to charge from 0 to 100 percent.
The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner works effectively, it is super fast and responsive, the face unlock feature is very effective too, however, it takes some seconds for it to pop out and recognize your face.
It is not something I will recommend you use most of the time because of the slight delay and to also extend the longevity of the motorized pop-up camera.
One of the safety measures TECNO added to the popup camera is the auto retract. when you accidentally drop the device while the popup camera is active it will automatically retract back inside.
Camera
It is not new that the Camon Series is known for its camera quality and the Camon 15 Premier is not different. In Fact, the TECNO Camon 15 premier steps up its games here by employing a Quad-camera setup consisting of a whopping 64MP main camera, a 5MP ultrawide camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a QVGA camera. On the front side, it offers a 32MP pop-up selfie camera.
The camera UI comes with some new features that promise to take your photography skill to a new level. There is a dedicated button for a 64MP shot, a short video mode, and a super night mode.
When it comes to how the camera performs, the TECNO Camon series continues to impress and the Camon 15 premier is not an exception, it takes pretty looking images When there’s plenty of light. you are going to get sharp and defined details with pretty accurate colors.
The high dynamic range looks good and the overall images look bright and sharp. The 64MP images retain more details than the standard 16MP images especially if you zoom in, you’re going to get more details. But keep it in mind that the file size will also increase to at least 15MB per image. I think is a worthy tradeoff for a more detailed image. Portraits shots are OK, and edge detection is OK as well. Ultrawide shots are not bad at all. Sure, they are not as detailed as the regular ones, in most cases, the image is okay as well.
Selfie, on the other hand, is quite decent as well, it is sharp with good details and the overall image quality is what you will expect from this type of device and I’m very impressed with the result. On the video aspect, it shoots video in 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second. it lacks video stabilization however; the video quality is ok.
Watch video review of the TECNO Camon 15 by FredTech Hub
Conclusion
The TECNO Camon 15 premier is a decent mid-range device that I will recommend in a heartbeat, it’s a beautiful device, it has a decent camera, it packs all the features you’d want in a decent smartphone and above all performance is great.
One of the things I wished the TECNO Camon 15 premier had is a USB type C instead of a micro USB and a super-fast charger out of the box. The TECNO Camon 15 retails for N95,000 or $250 depending on your region and current exchange rate.
Share your thoughts in the comment section below, what are the things you like about the TECNO Camon 15 premier?
