I knew a time will come when I wasn’t going to think twice before recommending a TECNO phone. Little did I know that it was going to come early? I’ve had the TECNO Spark 10 Pro for a while and in all of its glory, I will be sharing with you everything there is to know about this device in this review.
For starters, it comes with 8GB RAM that can be increased to 16GB using some storage space from the abundant 256GB storage space. A large 6.8-inch LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate and more for only a starting price of 104,500 Naira.
One underrated aspect is that TECNO is giving you all the accessories required in the box including a charger, TPU case, Earpiece, sim ejector tool, and a USB C cord. Some brands are starting to do away with these stuffs in the box on their budget phones. It doesn’t make sense.
Design & Build Quality
The TECNO Spark 10 Pro looks like an iPhone with a glance from a distance with a big camera ring at the back. This phone was made to resonate with the Gen-Z, It’s for young people. The back is made a glass with a matte finish that I like. And this is the first time we are seeing this on the Spark Series.
It’s an affordable device with a premium finish and I don’t mind using this phone without a case, but it is slippery in the hand. The phone feels a bit hefty in the hand, and it’s because of its size and weight distribution.
There are two cameras at the back and a flash light more details about that. I have the starry black color but there is a pearl white color as well. But I prefer the pearl white color it just resonates with me.
There is a side mounted fingerprint scanner and it responsive and fast. There is a headphone port at the bottom and a USB C charging port beside it. It has a loud speaker at the bottom, and it is one of those tiny areas where I think TECNO didn’t put the effort. The sounds that come out of the speaker is tiny but is still Okay for the price.
There is a second speaker at the top but it only for calls. It supports dual 4G sim cards with an SD card and the slot is by the left.
Display Aspect
Upfront it’s a 6.8-inch IPS LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a Full HD+ resolution. This is one of the features I looked forward to seeing on a TECNO phone some years ago, and on top of that there is a punch hole camera cut out that help keep the bezels minimal.
The display is bright and colourful and watching contents is pleasing as well as gaming. It has a high refresh rate that makes gaming more enjoyable. And since it’s a large display you will find enough room to enjoy stuffs when holding it horizontally.
The display is flat and I appreciate that there is no curve whatsoever on the display. Outdoors, you won’t have issues looking at the display especially if you adjust the brightness level. I couldn’t find any blemishes on the display and for the price it ticks the required boxes.
Software & Performance
The phone is running on Android 13 and we have a refined version of the HIOS with minimal changes. Software is an aspect I wish TECNO would focus more. It feels heavy on the phone and at the same time those unwanted apps are still very much present on the phone.
They push notifications to the phone unsolicited. Overall, it is still the same TECNO user interface with minimal changes and nothing extra to talk about.
I am not sure if TECNO will send a software update on this phone, but I feel it will make a lot of sense for them to do so.
It has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage but you can increase the RAM to 16GB using some storage space on the phone. There is no budget phone right now around a 100 thousand that gives you this much RAM and storage space.
The least you will spend for a storage like that is around N200,000. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio G88 and it is a gaming processor. Gaming on the phone is smooth and the refresh rate also plays a role in making the experience smoother.
It opens up apps quickly and there isn’t much lag in terms of performance. The RAM is more than enough to keep the phone running. Performance is one of the aspects of this phone that I still can’t figure out how TECNO managed to pull this up.
The Camera Quality of the Tecno Spark 10 Pro
The primary camera on the phone is 50MP and the second camera is a QVGA lens which is used for depth sensing.
The major focus of the SPARK 10 Pro is the 32MP selfie camera. It is one of the most marketed features of the phone. It delivers in terms of sharpness and as you can see it sharpened my face in this shot below. You can see every detail even when you zoom in.
There is no much difference between the portrait mode and the main AI selfie camera. The beauty mode adds color to my face and tries to smooth out everything.
It tries to kinda beautify me and remove blemishes from my face. At times it can be over processes since the phone depends on software to deliver in beauty mode.
The amount of blur in terms of portrait selfie is decent and mostly depends on where you snap them.
It has a 50MP main camera and it’s decent with colors that are true to life. The pictures are decent with enough details and sharpness.
It has a 10X zoom but its best is at 1X and 2X anything beyond that and the noise will make the photos unusable. I love how the main camera reproduces colors even though sometimes it kinda uses software to make it look better. HDR is a bit of hit-and-miss but when it works it’s okay.
There is a night mode that kinda takes time to process and improve images in the night.
Battery Life & Charging Speed
The battery is 5000mAh and it can last you a complete day on a single charge. It supports 18 watts of fast charging with the charger included in the box. The battery is an aspect I am impressed with. 5000mAh that can last for up to three days on standby. It takes around 2 hours to charge from zero to hundred and I wished it was a bit faster.
Rounding Up
For a phone that has an 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, a large 6.8-inch LCD display with 90Hz refresh rate, a gaming processor, and costs just N120k, the Spark 10 Pro is no doubt the king of the budget phones.
