TECNO Phantom V Fold Review: A Firstrate First Attempt
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 sparked my interest in foldable smartphones. I didn't think much of this product category until I tested the Z Fold5. But now that I see the potential in this smartphone segment, the idol in me wants to try harder.
Unfortunately, there are few options for sophisticated smartphones in India. The Google Pixel Fold has yet to reach our shores, while Xiaomi hasn't launched the Mix Fold 3 here. OnePlus, like OPPO, is expected to debut a foldable device later this year, and you'll get one. And TECNO comes to the rescue.
TECNO, primarily known as a premium mid-range smartphone maker, started work on the Phantom V foldable phone earlier this year. I contacted TECNO to test a sample and the company obliged.
And I'm glad they did! Using different devices has not only shaped my perspective on foldable phones, but has also calibrated my compass to help me better understand where the industry is going in this segment.
First, let's discuss the technical characteristics.
The Phantom V is a well-designed device with an aluminum body, a curved 6.42-inch Full HD external display and a 7.85-inch 2K main display, both AMOLED panels with a 120Hz refresh rate. It is powered by a 5000mAh battery, 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of non-expandable storage.
On the back, there's a triple camera system in a round body: a 50-megapixel primary lens, a 50-megapixel camera, and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. There's a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the lid display and a 16-megapixel camera on the right side of the main display.
The whole package is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ chipset.
design
The design is the best part of the Phantom V. The screen, which is slightly curved towards the outer edges, the brushed aluminum frame and toothed hinges when folded, as well as the leather back and the central camera bezel, do this very well. the phone looks folded, folded. The swivel screen offers a 21:9 aspect ratio, making it ideal for watching movies without the font effect.
When opened, the Phantom V essentially opens into a tablet. The customizable HiOS 13 Fold based on Android 13 (optimized for this particular device) means that when you unfold it, you can add different sounds by turning it a bit.
The side-mounted fingerprint sensor overlaps the fold, and the smoothness of the volume is top-notch. The placement of the sensor is perfect. where your finger touches the device when you pick it up and it unlocks instantly.
The only downside, if I may say so, is the weight. At 299 grams, it's the heaviest smartphone I've ever used, and it puts pressure on your wrist when you use it one-handed for long periods of time. However, when unfolded, the weight distribution is more acceptable and makes it easier to use.
One thing to note is that the Phantom V doesn't open 180 degrees, and the hinge is so loose that you can feel it tilt without much effort. Also, unlike the Z Fold5, the hinge prevents the phone from falling at any angle. Open it wider than 90 degrees and the entire device opens.
But given the risk TECNO took in developing a device for a niche market, and the fact that the Z Fold5 costs just over half, it's hard for me to argue against the company.
Usability, folded or not, is important, and in this case the Phantom V deserves a solid win.
User experience
This is where things get a little more complicated.
HiOS is pretty good. It's smooth with smooth animations and looks great in both light and dark modes. But at least it's not on the folding side yet. There are a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out, no pun intended. For example, I'm not a fan of unlocking the device when I turn it off. Any app I run on the home screen will only go to the cover screen, which TECNO calls the "sub screen".
In some cases, this led to accidental clicking of programs. Now this isn't a huge issue with the Kindle app, but I can see how it could cause random calls or messages. It's important to note that all of this can be changed in the settings, but it's on by default.
Also, you can't drag app icons from the app drawer to the home screen. You need to long press on the app icon and select the “send to desktop” option. Depending on your settings, this will send the app icon to where you want it, or to a different screen entirely.
This makes customizing your home screen a little tedious, especially considering that other versions of Android make the process much easier. One last issue I have with this software is the way the notification bar is implemented. On most Android devices, you can simply swipe down from anywhere on the home screen or lock screen to drag down the notification bar and control center. Another backup and management center has been expanded. In HiOS, the down gesture only pulls down notifications. To disable Control Center, you have to swipe down from the top right, which seems counterintuitive, adding an extra step to the process.
This is evil. Now for good.
I really like the way TECNO implemented Android 13. HiOS is one of the best versions of Android I've ever used and the amount of customization options this sophisticated system offers is amazing. From specially designed wallpapers to navigation to emphasize the symmetry of the unlocked device, considering what I mentioned above, TECNO is very focused on this.
Scrolling is smooth, especially at high refresh rates, and apps are very responsive. There are operating system improvements that improve the user experience. You can really get your hands dirty and set up different page transitions and animations, or even get a background that tracks your daily step count and rewards you with a fun background when you reach your goal. I think this is a very good easter egg.
Plus, there are tons of options to customize your always-on display, from showing your daily fitness to different clock styles, space-themed images, and more. I lost track of time to get everything set up the way I wanted, and that's the best part of Android, right?
The 12GB of RAM is further expandable up to 9GB. From cleaning junk files to freeing up memory, there are several built-in options to manage your device, anything you can think of.
My favorite "phone cooler" actually cools your phone; "phone booster" that optimizes apps and background processes to give you extra power; and a voice changer that lets you change your voice during calls (also supported on WhatsApp).
Overall, it offers a fun experience that I haven't seen on many Android devices that are getting more and more serious.
Battery life
Without the use of any special options, the Phantom V easily gave me more than two days of battery life with regular and heavy use, and in my experience, that's the best I've gotten from a sophisticated device. It has a larger capacity of 5000 mAh than some of its competitors, which may be due to its weight of 299 grams.
CAMERA
As with any sophisticated device, the camera isn't the reason to buy it, but TECNO does its best to deliver a full camera experience with a 50MP main camera, a 50MP telephoto lens and a 13MP ultra-wide camera. . It has a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front.
The photos were a bit saturated for my taste, but overall the results were pretty good.
Daytime shots show excellent color reproduction and sharpness, but the Phantom V Fold really shines in low light. It manages to take very impressive pictures in low light, showing impressive detail and sharpness. However, this level of performance does not include ultra-wide and telephoto lenses.
The camera app offers many features including Super Night, Pro Mode, Film Mode, AI CAM, AR shot and more. Among them, the Sky Shop feature includes sun, rainbow, star, sunset, etc. provides the most pleasant experience that allows you to change the sky in different situations. In addition, the Phantom V Fold does an excellent job of video recording, providing a resolution of 4K 60. However, it is worth noting that optical image stabilization (OIS) is only available for the main sensor.
In the end
It's commendable for a budget brand like TECNO to take a risk with a sophisticated device when the segment is still in its infancy. Yes, it has its issues, but you have to factor in the Rs 88,888 price tag, which is almost twice the price of its cousin. TECNO will introduce a foldable version of the Phantom V in the coming weeks, which indicates that the brand will do well in the foldable smartphone segment. So the Phantom V remains an interesting debut and choice.
