Tecno Phantom V Fold Review: Democratizing The Foldable Android Phone

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Techno Phantom V Unfold

Publisher rating: 7/10

Foldable phones have been touted as the next step in the evolution of smartphones and some promising phones are pushing this idea even further. However, they remain largely out of reach for those on a budget. While you can get a foldable phone that costs around $1,100, most foldable book-style phones cost upwards of $1,500 or around $2,000. Enter the Techno Phantom V Fold.

Tecno is a lesser-known brand in the US and European markets, but it is consistently one of the best-selling smartphone brands in Africa and is also making headway in the Indian market. Tecno Phantom V Fold is a bold leap for the company. It is the company's first foldable phone and the cheapest foldable book phone on the market. While not yet widely sold in the US - or maybe - the Tecno Phantom Fold V is the beginning of budget foldable phones. Tecno sent us a unit of the Phantom V Fold for the purpose of this review.

Basic specifications and features

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Techno Phantom V Fold

Tecno Phantom V Fold is a book-like foldable device with two screens. The coverage display is a 6.42-inch AMOLED LTPO display with a resolution of 1080 x 2550 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The primary display is a 7.85-inch display, which is also an LTPO display AMOLED operating at 120 Hz and a resolution of 2000 x 2296 pixels. The brightness of both screens reaches 1100 nits. The phone has a teardrop hinge and a fingerprint sensor on the side integrated into the power button.

The camera configuration consists of five cameras. On the back, there's a 50MP main camera with an AF/1.9 aperture, another 50MP f/2.0 telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom, and a 13MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field of view. cameras: one 16 MP on the main display and one 32 MP on the cover display, both with f/2.5 aperture.

Under the hood, you'll find the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+, an octa-core chip. The phone comes in two variants: 12GB/256GB random storage and 12GB/512GB storage. A 5000mAh battery powers the phone and a 45W fast charger is included in the box along with a protective case. It is currently being sold on Amazon India for INR 88,888 or about $1,088.

Design and build quality

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Techno Phantom V foldable

The Tecno Phantom V Fold is a book style fold and has some interesting designs, which for the most part seem to work for it. For starters, you have a 2.36:1 aspect ratio display. Although it is longer and wider than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, the phone is very comfortable to hold thanks to its high stand. It also weighs 299g, making it one of the heaviest foldables you can buy. Despite this, Tecno has managed to make the phone good enough for one-handed use.

Part of this is because the outer edge of the lid's display is curved, while the other edges are not. This asymmetrical approach is reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Edge, even if the curve isn't as pronounced.

Another reason is the choice of texture Tecno has chosen for the Phantom V Fold. The spine of this foldable has a perforated texture, which doesn't feel very premium, but does add grip. The back of the phone is not glass, but a soft plastic material with a pleasant texture. Techno says it's silicone skin, but it doesn't look like it. It's good enough, though, and adds a nice feel, look, and grip as well.

The phone looks great even when it's open. The main screen is blank on the sides, as you'd expect. The hinge itself is strong enough, but the magnets that hold the phone shut are strong enough. Unlocking a phone is a tall order, especially if you're trying to do it without your fingernails. However, there is a risk of bending the main screen when using a fingernail to unlock it. Overall though, the phone feels solid. Though it doesn't have an official IP rating.

Presentation: Techno, you're right

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Tecno Phantom V Folding cover screen

The display quality of the blanket is on par with other good folding items. It's sharp, has great colors, and gets bright enough for outdoor use. The 120Hz refresh rate with LTPO technology on the coverage display is a welcome addition. The curvature of the screen did not affect viewing much, but not everyone will like the fact that the Cover screen has different curves in the corners on both sides.

The primary display is a 120Hz LTPO panel and is pretty smooth. The camera hole can be a distraction, but the screen is still good value for money. Crease is a huge improvement over what we've seen from Samsung. Like the Oppo Find N2 Flip, Tecno has used a teardrop hinge. This means that we have fewer annoying creases on the home screen here. You will never get bored using this phone.

What hasn't really improved is the screen protection layer on the main display. It picks up a lot of fingerprints and grease, and dirt and dust stick to the edges. It's hard to fault Tecno for that, especially considering the relatively low price of this foldable printer, and these issues are common to all foldable devices.

Palash Volvocar / Slashgear

There's no folding mode, so you just get a 90-degree opening plus a full-open mode. By the way, the Tecno Phantom V Fold doesn't look completely flat. The phone is below 180 degrees when fully opened. Even if it folds completely flat with no visible gaps.

Software: needs some work

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Techno Phantom V Fold Multitasking

The screens are great, but what about the software? Tecno is one of the companies keeping Android 13 with its own interface a secret, calling it HiOS Fold 13. Like many others, it's mostly good. There are some things that could have been easier, like the action center and quick switches. It has the nature of a Frankenstein monster as Material U performs a bit poorly with Google apps and none of the tech apps follow the theme colors. Fortunately, it was easy enough to replace the default versions of Tecno's phone and messaging apps with those from Google.

Home Launcher is another story. The Phantom V Fold won't let me switch to another home app and it works fine. Therefore, you'll need to stick with the standard Techno launcher for now. He's a good pitcher and doesn't give much to complain about. It could definitely use a little more tweaking.

The folding feature set is decent. Tecno hasn't played much with it, as the cover's screen still works like a normal Android phone. The multitasking experience on the home screen is also quite difficult.

However, I've had my fair share of problems with the software. Notification Center almost always displays a notification that says, "Microintelligence is running." The notification can't be dismissed and appears even when it's turned off, and there seems to be no way to dismiss it. There are annoying issues like this that get in the way of the experience, but this is one category where "how much does this foldable phone cost?" Questions are answered.

It sure comes in handy, especially if you're okay with some of the downsides of a cheap foldable phone.

Camera: strictly average

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Tecno Phantom V Fold Main camera overview

Camera performance is another class where the Tecno Phantom V Fold falls squarely in the middle. The cameras aren't bad, but they're nothing out of the ordinary

The cameras in the Tecno Phantom V Fold have issues with exposure and color accuracy. More often than not, cameras end up with noticeably bad lighting. Colors often vary slightly from reality as does the contrast. If you can adjust the exposure before taking the shot, the Phantom V Fold will spit out an acceptable shot.

Palash Volvocar / Slashgear

Portrait mode isn't really the highlight. Edge detection was excellent, but it often added a lot of contrast vignetting to faces, giving portraits an odd look that wasn't quite right. Document mode is a nice addition and works well.

Both selfie cameras have the same exposure and color issues, but getting a decent photo isn't difficult. Video recording is again just average. The lack of optical image stabilization is particularly noticeable in video mode.

The saving grace of the Tecno Phantom V Fold's camera is the night mode. It performs surprisingly well and holds up well against the Oppo Find X6 Pro, a phone that has one of the best low-light cameras on the market today.

Palash Volvocar / Slashgear

Camera performance in foldable phones tends to be an area reserved for a phone's price and size. Considering this and the price of this phone, the camera performance is acceptable.

performance and battery life

© Palash Volvoiker / SlashGear Techno Phantom v Fold Fortnite

The Tecno Phantom V Fold has solid hardware on paper, and software cons aside, it performs quite well. In day to day use the phone worked fine and I didn't encounter any major issues aside from a few glitches. Launching apps is always easy and the phone doesn't stutter thanks to the solid hardware.

Multitasking is a key aspect of a foldable phone, especially since all the extra screen real estate needs to be usable. The Phantom V Fold is magnificent on this front. Even pushed through split-screen and floating windows with as many apps open as possible, it performs like a champ and never feels like a cheap machine.

Playing games like Fortnite and Genshin Impact was also a tough experience on this phone. Performance was no problem, and it worked as well as you'd expect from a Dimensity 9000+ phone. I didn't experience any noticeable heating when playing these games, which is another plus for the V Fold.

Battery consumption was also respectable. If you're playing Fortnite on your home screen, 20 minutes of gameplay consumes about 6% of your battery, which is pretty good. Alternatively, playing a 20 minute locally stored Full HD video via VLC media player with the screen brightness set to 60% only drains the battery by 4%.

The battery life of this phone has always been excellent. The Tecno Phantom V Fold can comfortably handle a full workday, although your mileage may vary depending on the ratio of coverage screen to primary screen usage. 45W charging takes the phone from 0 to 100 in about an hour.

Verdict: Should you buy the Tecno Phantom V Fold?

© Palash Volvocar / SlashGear Tecno Phantom V folded in half

Tecno Phantom V Fold is the cheapest folding book you can buy right now. It's a full-size foldable phone at the price of a foldable clamshell phone. The phone wasn't launched in the US, but is on sale in India and Africa, the fastest growing smartphone markets.

Tecno Phantom V Fold must be purchased. It's a decent foldable phone that makes the right sacrifices for its price. In India, Tecno includes upload and download service in the first six months and one-time screen replacement with a one-year extended warranty for added security. Software update guarantees are quite weak, although two major operating system updates are promised.

For the price, the Tecno Phantom V Fold makes a decent proposition: Would you buy a foldable phone for the same price as a mid-range flagship if it meant sacrificing the camera and software experience? If your answer is yes, then Tecno Phantom V Fold is the phone for you.

If the novelty and convenience of a foldable phone isn't that valuable to you, you might want to look at another $1,100 phone. It's True God Knows Best $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100 $1,100

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