Tecno Camon 18 Review: A good deal under 15k!

HomeIn-FocusTecno Camon 18 Review: A good deal under 15k!

Tecno knows how to steal a market. They always comes with a device that brings so much to the table that it makes you forget about the other brands. Recently, the company launched the Camon 18 series that includes the Camon 18 Premier, Camon 18P, Camon 18i, and the regular Camon 18.

We received the Tecno Camon 18 as a review unit to review the same. Tecno claims Camon 18 to be the best camera-centric smartphone with a price range of under Rs 15,000. So, does the smartphone really live up to the company’s claim? Apart from the camera, what is there in the phone, which makes it a better mid-range smartphone? We’ll get to know now!

What’s in the box?

Like many budget phones, Tecno provides everything needed out of the box. When you open the box, as usual you get the handset at the top. Then, we have a transparent soft gel phone case over here with the one common at the back. We have the 18W flash charger along with the USB Type-C cable. The phone even has a plastic film screen protector that’s pre-applied. And lastly, we have the SIM ejector tool. Besides, the TWS earbuds priced at Rs 1,999 are being given free with the smartphone, which is great.

Design

Compared to the previous phones of Tecno Camon series, Camon 18 has done a lot of work in the design department. It comes in premium design. Especially the rear look of the smartphone is quite spectacular, which comes in glossy finish. But due to the use of plastic, fingerprints are clearly visible on the rear panel when the phone is held.

At the right side of the phone, you will find the power button which also doubles as the fingerprint scanner, which is pretty fast as expected. On the left side, you will find the dual SIM tray that can hold two SIM cards and an SD card. At the bottom, you find a USBC Type-C port, a headphone jack, and a single speaker outlet. At the back, we have a triple camera setup with quad flash. At the front, we have a dotting display front camera with the earpiece on top.

Also Read | Tecno Camon 17 Pro Review: An affordable flagship with impressive features

Display

The Tecno Camon 18 has a large 6.8-inch LCD panel display with Full HD i.e. 1080 x 2460 pixel resolution. One can easily hold the phone. The display has a very tall aspect ratio now as I have used it to consume contents on most social media platforms. The display has a 90 hz refresh rate and it’s very smooth comparing it to devices like the Redmi 10. The display comes with 500 nits peak brightness; therefore, there is no problem in using the phone outdoors.

Performance

From the box, the Tecno Camon 18 comes with Android 11 based HiOS 8.0 skin and is being powered by MediaTek Helio G85 chipset. You get up to 4GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage. Also, 3GB expandable RAM support is available. You get up to 4GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage. Everything actually works very smoothly. Performing day-to-day tasks like watching videos, using social media and putting the phone under heavy task of switching between applications is quite smooth. However, it is not suitable for high graphics gaming. Overall, the Tecno Camon 18 is quite better in terms of performance.

Cameras

The Tecno Camon 18 is a camera-centric smartphone that has been introduced with 48MP + 48MP combination. This means a 48MP triple camera has been given in the rear of the device as well as on the front. Along with 48MP main camera, you get a 2MP depth and a 2MP macro lens at the back. AI Cam, Beauty, Portrait and Super Night Mode have been given in the phone.

The night mode pictures on this phone are just on point like it’s surprisingly good. I have used some more expensive smartphones that can pull of the kind of night mode pictures that this phone pulls and that’s a plus and something I really love about Tecno Camon 18.

Tecno Camon 18 (Night Mode)
Tecno Camon 18 Night Mode
Tecno Camon 18 (Night Mode Full View)
Tecno Camon 18 (Night Mode Full View)
Tecno Camon 18 Camera
Tecno Camon 18 Super Night Mode

As for regular pictures, I think the performance is just average because a lot of times, the HDR doesn’t work as expected, other times it works well so there is no consistency. If you are buying a phone like this, you should expect this kind of behavior from the cameras.

Tecno Camon 18 Portrait
Tecno Camon 18 (Portrait)
Tecno Camon 18 HD
Tecno Camon 18 HDR (Full View)

Talking about the video department, the Tecno Camon 18 comes with 2K video recording mode. We also have short video if you are into Reels and YouTube Shorts. For the other useful features in this phone are time lapse, slow motion and super night feature. Talking about the overall camera department, the phone is quite good.

Battery

For the battery of the Tecno Camon 18, you get up to 5,000mAh battery and supports 18W fast charging. It took me around one and a half hour to get the device fully charged. The screen on time on this device could be between 7 to 8 hours which is fairly good enough for the battery capacity that device has that means depending on how much of heavy user you are. This phone should be able to take you through the whole day before you are able to kill the battery.

Price

The 4 GB RAM + 128 GB internal storage base variant of Tecno Camon 18 price in India starts from Rs 14,999. The smartphone is available in Dusk Grey and Iris Purple color options. Tecno stands out from the rest of its competitors with attractive features under Rs 15,000.

Conclusion

From my perspective, there are a couple of main sections that any phone owner want to see their phone excel in – that is – performance, camera, and battery. The Tecno Camon 18 does really well in all of these areas. A 4GB of RAM, a triple rear camera, and a massive battery. Hence, the device is totally great and worth the price it currently sells for. It’s good that Tecno is quickly catching up to what price-conscious customers want and has also brought major improvements. I thoroughly enjoyed using this Tecno Camon 18!

Also Read: FiiO launches M17 Portable Desktop Class Music Player in India

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