Reviewing Tecno Pova 2

Tecno Nova 2 is a new budget release with some fantastic features. This phone has features that would impress the users. It is not very common to hear about a phone with such a low price tag that has a big juice battery packed inside it. 

This phone has too much to offer. It has a 7000 mAh battery packed inside it. It also has a 48MP main camera sensor.

Moreover, this phone has a huge screen, measuring 7.0 inches. 

Its price point may lead people to doubt its performance; here is a breakdown to help you decide better.

Design – Elegant

This phone has an exquisite design. It has all the style elements you would love to have in a smartphone. This cell phone is a year old release but still maintains the aesthetics of a new phone and looks like it was released yesterday.

The phone has a plastic body, with a glass front. The back of the phone is plastic with a rough surface, and two horizontal lines – inspired by Mustang. It is available in Power Blue, Polar Silver, and Dazzle Black colors

The exact weight of this is not available as of now but be ready to hold onto some weight because it is a big battery phone and I can tell you that this phone would be heavier than your usual phones. This phone has bezels around it which are okay; however, the bottom bezel is annoying because it is the most prominent one.

An O-shaped cutout holds the front camera. It is a very prominent notch, more noticeable while watching videos. This phone has a multifunctional speaker that works as a microphone and speaker. 

The back camera has one main and three secondary lenses. The back of the phone also supports the fingerprint sensor placed conveniently for easy accessibility.

At the bottom of the phone, you will get your 3.5mm headphone jack, a type-C charging, and a speaker grill.

Good Display

This phone comes packed with a huge display, measuring whopping 6.9 inches. The display is an IPS LCD with good color contrast. This phone is available at a low price, and this screen works fine with the phone.

This humongous display has a decent pixel density of 389 pixels per inch. This is a good display but sometimes it lacks brightness when outdoors. The body-to-screen ratio is also acceptable, which is 82.8%. I believe screen-to-body ratios above 80% are often great, so, this phone is fine in this department.

To keep the cost of this cell phone under the roof, Tecno went with an IPS LCD in this cell phone. You will get a decent color scheme and see all its intricacies; I still wish this phone comes with a fantastic AMOLED panel.

You wouldn’t face any problem when you use this phone indoors but when outdoors the brightness of this phone seems low. It is sometimes difficult to see through this screen in bright sunlight. 

You would think I hate IPS panels but technological advancements demand changes and the IPS panel is not at all bad, but new screen panels have replaced it since you get better color contrast and dispersion. 

Performance – A Beast

I have to give credit where it is due. This phone has a good RAM offering. You get an option to choose among 4-6 GB RAM options. And considering this is not a pricey phone I think the 6GB model is affordable plus a safe option.

This phone comes with a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset right out of the box. For a budget phone, Tecno has pulled out a good deal. The phone has adequate power to handle your daily tasks easily.

This phone responds well to my interactions and doesn’t lag. The animations on this phone are good too. They don’t fade away if you go for heavy tasking. It wasn’t a buttery smooth experience but was not awful. It justifies the price as simple as that.

However, if you are into multi-tasking or use some heavy features/applications, I recommend you go for a 6GB RAM model and skip the base 4GB RAM model. It will provide some extra power and will handle background tasks with ease.

I am not a heavy mobile gamer, I have my custom PC for it but sometimes, when waiting for the bus or at night when I don’t have anything else to do, I do gaming. I have played Asphalt 8 and Call of duty on this phone and let me tell you that it was a good experience. It didn’t drop many frames and handled all the gaming well. 

One good news for gamers is that this phone has a large battery so you don’t have to charge your phone during the games.

A Little Old Software

Pova 2 has android 11 pre-installed in it. This is not a very old android version and my overall experience with this version was satisfactory. It is a very simple android version and everything will be in front of your eyes. However, bloatware are hard to ignore on this phone when you use it.

One thing I was worried about while getting this phone was whether I would get regular software updates or not because the company doesn’t say anything in this matter. 

Quad Camera Setup

How can we forget the big camera setup on the back? It is literally popping out of the back. So the camera is made up of 4 lenses. The main lens is a 48MP sensor followed by a 2 MP macro lens and two 2MP depth sensors. To be honest, this camera looks interesting.

The pictures produced by this camera are just okayish. It does fine in bright sunlight but not so well with low light. The images feel washed out because saturation and colors are controlled to a specific level. The dynamic range is not on point with this camera. Still, Night photos are the worst in my experience. 

The back camera is powerful enough to record at 1080p or 1440p with constant 30 frames per second. This is not very bad if we look at this phone’s price tag. I used the camera for recording, it wasn’t overwhelming but it wasn’t bad. 

The front camera has an 8MP sensor. It can also record at 1080p at 30 frames per second. The front camera can take normal pictures but not portraits. 

Big Battery Pack

How can we forget the big camera setup on the back? It is literally popping out of the back. So the camera is made up of 4 lenses. The main lens is a 48MP sensor followed by a 2 MP macro lens and two 2MP depth sensors. To be honest, this camera looks interesting.

The pictures produced by this camera are just okayish. It does fine in bright sunlight but not so well with low light. The images feel washed out because saturation and colors are controlled to a specific level. The dynamic range is not on point with this camera. Still, Night photos are the worst in my experience. 

The back camera is powerful enough to record at 1080p or 1440p with constant 30 frames per second. This is not very bad if we look at this phone’s price tag. I used the camera for recording, it wasn’t overwhelming but it wasn’t bad. 

The front camera has an 8MP sensor. It can also record at 1080p at 30 frames per second. The front camera can take normal pictures but not portraits.

Final Word

If you don’t want to break the bank and get a phone that would perform well, this phone is an excellent option to consider. However, you have to compromise on a few things with this for example the camera of this phone is just good, the software updates are not confirmed.