After the hype and buzz in the media about the TECNO Camon C9, I was opportune to lay my hands on the device. It’s barely a week since I got the device so I will be letting you guys know what I feel about the device – what I like and what I don’t like. You can check the unboxing of the device here.
Tecno Camon C9 back camera is designed to align with the back while the front camera is noticeably huge at the front of the device. The front-facing lens has 83° wider angle selfie and can capture lots of people in a group selfie. This may be the reason the lens is very big
Since I already unboxed the device, I will only talk about the accessories that came with the device. TECNO Camon C9 is a fully accessorized device. It has all the regular accessories like a smart pouch, earphone, a 3-mouthed USB adapter charger with the USB cord, User manual and warranty card. So let’s go into the review proper.
More About Tecno Camon Series
Design
The unit with me is sandstone black. The body has a somewhat curvy and sandstone feel that makes for a sturdy hold in the hands. It’s unbelievably light in my hands despite being a 5.5-inch device with 3000mAh battery capacity. The edges around the device are metallic and are premium looking and sturdy
All pictures used in these reviews are taken with the Camon C9, except the two battery stat screenshots
The back camera is designed to align with the back of the phone while the front camera is noticeably huge at the front of the device. The front-facing lens has 83° wider angle selfie and can capture lots of people in a group selfie. This may be the reason the lens is very big.
Display and software
It has a full HD IPS screen, texts and images are crisp and very sharp. The sharpness and vividness of the display are visibly better compared to its predecessor; Camon C8. Outdoor visibility is great at maximum brightness. I could read texts and operate the device easily outside on a sunny day without having to strain my eyes.
From what I have seen on the Tecno Boom J8’s HiOS, nothing much has changed to the new version of the HiOS on the Camon C9. Except now that the HiOS is more stable with and the huge customizable themes TECNO now added to the new HiOS. The device runs HiOS version 1.1.0 on top of Android 6.0 marshmallow. Everything seems to be working fine on the new version. Apps launch time is fast and the screen responsiveness is great too.
Performance
Tecno Camon C9 comes with Mediatek6753 octa-core processor at 1.3 GHz and a Mali-T720 GPU. There is 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage which can be extended to 128GB through the MicroSD slot.
The screen is 5.5-inch full HD 1080 * 1920 –pixel IPS panel. The battery comes in at 3000mAh and the front and back camera is 13MP like I mentioned earlier. There is Irish scanner, 4G-connectivity available in both SIM1 and SIM2, Bluetooth 4.0, dual SIM standby and Wi-Fi direct
Camera
This is the part I believe many people are waiting for and I won’t let you down by jumping this area. The device comes fitted with a 13MP rear and front camera. I guess it is TECNO’s first device with such camera hardware. I will start with the front camera.
The front-facing camera shoots clear and bright selfies under a well-lit environment and the angle is honestly wide.
However, I am not impressed with the low light performance of the front camera, aside from that, the front camera shoots a great picture on a good lighting condition. It captures more people in a group selfie than most high-end devices I have used. This is one of the areas the Camon C9 clearly leads the pack.
Read Also: The Camon C7 complete review and Price in Nigeria
The rear camera is simple to use and focuses very well. What I like about the rear camera is that close-up images are very good and it attempts to blur some parts of the image in case you want it to focus on a particular area of the image. This is due to the f/2.0 aperture on the camera.
An aperture of f/1.8 can completely blur an area you don’t want to reveal on your photo. This is the type you will find on high-end professional cameras. I also noticed during my comparison with Camon C8 that colour is now more accurate and images taken with the camera are closer to reality
Selfie with the Tecno Camon C9
Photo Samples from the rear camera
Iris Scanner
Iris ScannerTecno instead of the normal fingerprint sensor tried its hands on a different security feature on the Camon C9. They called this eye print. The Iris Scanner relies on the iris to lock and unlock the device. It allows 5 maximum IDs. This is the first time TECNO device will have this type of technology but how many people will really fancy this technology? Only time will tell.
Like the fingerprint, the system requires you to register your eye print in a series of attempts for the sake of security authentication. You can also lock your apps with the eyeprint in case you don’t want people to access a particular app on the device.
In case the eyeprint doesn’t work accurately, the system gives the option to use a password to unlock. I use the password option more often because I do not have the patient to use the eyeprint scanner but it’s still cool to know you have it on your device.
Smart Cover
Another thing I like about the device is the smart cover that came with the device. The pouch is quite functional with three helpful screens; a digital clock, music player and the third has a flashlight and battery percentage.
You can access all of these features without having to open the pouch. This is a tradition TECNO has maintained over the years.
Battery
The Tecno Camon C9 is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery. On paper the battery is average but real-life usage will tell if the battery is really good
The battery charges from 0% to a 100% full charge in 2 hours 25 minutes. After I charged the device to full capacity, I woke up by 1:AM to do my social media thing.
I browsed from that time till 10:AM, the battery was still at 52% which is impressive. The phone was only idle for 1% and this is my battery stats
On moderate use, the battery of the Tecno Camon C9 lasted me from morning till the next morning and I would have to charge it in the office. Overall the battery has been impressive for a device with full HD display.
Battery saving features on the device like Ultra Power Mode, Battery Saver and Heartbeat Sync contribute to reducing unwanted consumption of juice.
Verdict
Tecno Camon C9 is a very good device. It is solidly built and the display is awesome at full HD. There many things I like about the phone –the rear camera is a beast, battery performance is great and the integration of Iris scanner makes the phone unique among its rivals.
The front camera low light performance is not a winner for me, I expect a lot more from the Camon C9. However, outdoor tests I carried out are very good and impressive. The device is rumoured to be sold at a retail price of N49, 999 across offline and online
