Tecno has been so active in the Pakistan market that right within a couple of weeks of launching Spark 4, the brand launched another smartphone in its Camon series which usually focuses on photography and camera.
The smartphone, dubbed as The Camon 12 Air, has a triple rear camera setup on the back with a common stack of a standard, an ultra-wide-angle, and a depth sensor. But the most significant part of the phone is not its camera, but the display.
Tecno offers you a punch-hole display in Camon 12 Air. If that didn’t shock you, then you should know it’s the only phone on shelves with these significant features in the price range. This phone only costs Rs. 20,000 (or ~$130 at the time of writing).
Now if you are questioning the quality, or you may also ask if this is only a gimmick, then you are right to ask. Because in such a price tag, you really should ask such a question or you would be dumb, without an offense. So the answer is that this phone has already impressed me with its vivid and crisp display. It’s actually more than just-fine in its price category.
I know that the companies make bigger displays in this price range only to attract customers but I’d prefer a bit smaller screen. The reason is the resolution, these budget-oriented phones use to come with. The 720p resolution on large displays is only a worse thing to have. So I also suggest users to consider the resolution, not the display size.
I’m just using the phone and will come up with a detailed review of its system and camera performance. Right now you can watch the unboxing video below with quick impressions. The video is in Urdu language, but English subtitles are also provided for your convenience.
Watch Video Unboxing
Tecno usually targets the budget and lower mid-range market but feature-wise, it takes on with upper mid-range devices. Especially this phone, Camon 12 Air, brings a feature from high-end flagships. Punch-hole display, that we yet saw from Samsung and Huawei’s high-end devices. Tecno offers the same for only Rs. 20,000 (equivalent of USD 128).
With the initial impressions of the box, you get to know the phone comes with 13 months of warranty instead of the usual 12 months. Tecno gives you 1 extra month for warranty and this could also be a buying factor for some customers.
This phone comes in two colors – blue and purple, but thankfully we get the blue variant.
There are some features mentioned on the box
- 6.55-inch display
- 2.0GHz Octa-core processor.
- 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.
- 16MP triple rear camera
- 4000 mAh battery
- Android 9 Pie
- Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock support.
After opening the box, you get the device on top without any wrapper. I am not sure when Tecno stopped wrapping the device, but it’s not an important thing at all.
You won’t get anything better than a micro USB port in this price range yet. But Tecno is probably the only brand to provide you the earphones right in the box for this price. Good thing is that there is now a 10-watt charger to fill up the phone’s 4000 mAh battery.
This is the front camera, that you can see through the hole in the display. Usually, we don’t get to see this display on most of the smartphones out there. In fact, only a few of them have the feature that too for the price way higher than Camon 12 Air.
You may call it a gimmick but frankly, it’s a lot better than a lot of wide and dot notch displays. In fact, the display itself is very bright for this price, though it’s an IPS LCD.
Still, you have the option to dump this punch-hole with a software-based dark top panel, in case you don’t like this annoying dot on the corner; which is a good reason to lose it.
Coming to the backside, the Camon 12 Air has much better build quality than the even cheaper Spark 4. Though you can’t expect a better build material int his price range other than the plastic or polycarbonate.
The finish, on top of it, is something that you can question but with Camon 12 Air, it’s totally justified. The gradient color with a slightly curved lining pattern is good to look at. It’s actually competitive but I’d give a point to the glassy plastic of Vivo Y11 rather than this glossy finish.
On the back, it has a triple camera setup to glorify the series as it’s supposed to focus on photography with the name “Camon”. It’s a combination of 16MP main shooter, a 5MP ultra-wide-angle, and a 2MP depth sensor.
The main camera shoots at 26mm equivalent focal length and offers the lens aperture of f/1.8. On the other hand, the ultra-wide-angle camera can shoot at a 120° angle of view. In addition, it can also shoot macros at a mere 2cm distance. The third one is sure for portrait mode with the bokeh effect.
Furthermore, this camera comes with the support of a quad-LED flash, which can provide sufficient luminance to support low-light shots. The fingerprint sensor is also present on the backside.
Power button and volume rocker, as usual, are on the right side while on the bottom you can see a speaker grill, a micro USB port, a mouthpiece, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The top side is empty. and on the left side, we have a SIM slot. This offers a three-slot tray that you can use with 2 SIM cards and a micro SD card, all at once. It’s a good feature to use and it’s actually better than most hybrid slots.
Camon 12 Air comes with a large 6.55-inch display size but with a mere 720p resolution. Though it’s not that much sharp due to a large but low resolution.
I have already told above that it’s a big display like many other budget-oriented smartphones. The fact that I don’t personally like. I’d rather prefer a bit smaller display with this low resolution of 720p.
This is just personal choice and you may beg to differ. In fact, in this price range, I have seen, most people don’t even care about resolution, but the actual size. Probably that’s the reason companies tend to offer the same.
The phone comes with a 4000 mAh battery and thankfully the phone ships with a 10-watt charger. It doesn’t support fast charging, yet it’s fine to have at least a 10-watt charger out of the box.
The detailed review will cover the performance and camera detail so just keep an eye on our social media handlers. If you want us to cover anything certain about this phone, let us know in the comments below.
