Tecno Pova 6 Pro review: Unique mid-range phone with decent performance

Tecno Mobile earlier this month rolled out the new mid-range Pova 6 Pro series phone in India.

Like its predecessor Pova 5 Pro ( review ), the new handset comes with see-through design language and boasts improved dynamic light effect. Inside, it has big upgrade in terms of new and faster MediaTek processor, enhanced camera hardware and bigger battery capacity.

The company is offering the device in two colours— comet green and meteorite grey with prices starting at Rs 19,999.

Here are my thoughts on Tecno's latest phone Pova 6 Pro series.

Design, build quality and display

As noted earlier, the new Pova 6 Pro flaunts a transparent back panel and comes laced with LEDs; the company calls it the dynamic-eye light design.

Tecno has incorporated 210 single-point controlled mini-LEDs on the rear side and on the camera module to deliver visually pleasing rhythmic light notifications in sync with the caller tune. [More on this in the performance section].

. The device is well protected to handle daily wear-and-tear. The phones features sturdy plastic-based frame and cover panels. Also, the company has a pre-fitted screen guard on the front panel to protect the display from getting scratched when kept in tight spaces such as pockets with coins and pen.

The device comes with IP53 dust-and-splash resistant rating, meaning it can sustain accidental water splashes.

Add to that, Tecno offers free cover case with the retail box of the device. It can easily withstand and protect the phone from getting cracked during accidental fall on hard surface.

. On the front, it features a water drop display design with a small camera at the top centre. The company has also placed a dual-tone LED light at the top. It is not easily visible, but the LED makes its presence felt when taking selfies in the low light. It can also be turned on with the on-screen torch button in the drag-down drawer.

. It sports a 6.78-inch full HD+(2436 ×1080p) AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, pixel density of 393 ppi (pixels per inch) and offer peak brightness up to 1300 nits. It also comes with a TÜV Rheinland low blue light certification.

The display is really good indoors to consume multimedia content or read e-books. Even outdoors, it is decent, but only under the shade. Under direct sunlight, there is a reflection issue on the glass and have to take the phone a little close to the face to read any messages or emails or even read a news article.

It also features a 3.5mm audio jack, stereo speakers, triple slots (for two SIMs and one microSD card) and an in-display fingerprint sensor. The latter works fine as long as the finger is clean and dry.

Performance

It houses a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6080 octa-core processor with Mali-G57 MC2 GPU and Android 14-based HiOS 14 OS. The company offers the device in two configurations-- 8GB LPDDR4x RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage.

With such a big base storage, users can install more than 400 apps or store 2000 HD photos or 60 movies on the phone. Even if this is not enough, it supports the microSD card option. The customer can expand the memory up to 1TB of extra space on the phone.

. In day-to-day tasks such as opening apps, loading cameras, scrolling social media platforms and streaming content, the device performs without any issues. It can support up to 25 apps running in the background and not show any lag-ness.

Even while playing simple games, it doesn't overheat. But, when playing the games, it gets slightly warn, but never overwhelming enough to complain about.

Add to that, the device boasts bypass charge technology that ensures the device doesn't overheat while playing games when the phone is plugged into the charging point. But, I still wouldn't recommend device owners playing while charging.

. The device has a massive 6,000mAh battery, 20 per cent (1,000mAh) more than its predecessor. It can easily last one and a half days under normal usage. Even if you are an extreme user or play or stream videos for several hours, it can still deliver a full day. So, don't play games while charging.

The company is offering a 70W charger free with the retail box. It can fast charge the device from zero to 50 per cent capacity in under 20 and can reach 100 per cent within 50 minutes.

It can also reverse charge a phone but with a wire at 10W speed.

. The USP of Tecno Pova 6 Pro is its dynamic light notification. It supports up to nine different lighting options for calls, and power status. Also, while gaming, the device offers 101 different lighting effects options.

Like on the Nothing Phones, it is a gimmicky feature but succeeds in standing out among the peers in the Rs 20,000 price range.

. Photography

Motorola's new phone houses a triple-camera module-- with a main 108MP sensor backed by a 2MP sensor and an AI camera (0.08 MP) with dual LED flash on the back.

. It takes good photos in the natural sunlight. It does boost the colours of subjects particularly flowers and human faces to make them photogenic. They are really good.

. The Pova 6 Pro doesn't support ultra-wide angle mode, but with normal 1X mode, it manages to cover the wide area.

. Also, it comes with 3X optical. It fares well in this aspect, as there is no noticeable loss of quality. It also supports digital zoom up to 10X. But, the photos tend to become grainy once you cross the 5X zoom.

. With night mode on, the autofocus loses its speed, but if you have a steady hand, it can deliver good results.

. And, it features a 32MP camera with dedicated dual LED flash. It takes really good selfies outdoors and indoors with controlled light conditions.

. Like most phones, the Pova 6 Pro also comes with an array of tools and filters with portrait mode.

It also has an intelligent gender identification feature to offer customised makeup options to enhance the beauty of the face.

. For men with uneven beard issues, it offers an option to apply a beard to the face. There are more such superficial features and to be frank, the native camera app do a decent job.

People will like it, to make themselves appear photogenic on social media platforms or use it for Display Picture (DP) on messenger apps.

. Both the front and the back cameras can record 2K videos (2000p) at 30 frames per second (fps). The video quality is quite good for a phone costing around Rs 20,000.