TECNO POVA 5 First Impressions
Here are some of my thoughts for the TECNO POVA 5 which features 6000mAh battery, 45w smart charging, 50MP AI camera, 6.77 FHD display and more all for just P7,999!
Ok so for starters, let’s talk about the design for the Tecno POVA 5
The smartphone features a 6.78 inches Full-HD Display with a 84.5% screen-to-body ratio. The screen’s pretty big enough to enjoy games and videos or even going through various social media platforms and apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
This smartphone also features 120hz refresh rate, the same quality of the mid-range and high-end smartphones that have been released in 2023.
The box design is also pretty neat although I’m feeling a little lacking what with so many things a previous FreeFire collaboration had. I would have wished they added more FreeFire stuff not just a redeemable in-game code and a few stickers.
Check out my Tecno POVA 5 unboxing video down below:
If I had one word to describe this smartphone, I’d say this is a tank; worthy of having the Gardena FreeFire name on it. It’s bulky and feels like a tank but its still wield-y enough and good enough to lug around your pocket. As a bonus, you also get some good graphics based on the characters from Free Fire.
The back design is made of plastic but it’s shaped to look like
The phone’s OS is also solid, working on an Android 13 build and using their customized HIOS system which is now HiOS 13 mind you.
The UI and UX is pretty standard fare with the difference here is having to swipe at the upper left to pull down the notifications…
Notification
And pulling down from the upper right to get the phone controls and adjustment.
Being that if follows a blocky design, it can take some time getting used to but thank god the controls are placed on just one side.
The Tecno POVA 5 camera I admire mainly because it doesn’t follow what current smartphones do especially with the flagships with jutting or protruding cameras and lenses at the back. It’s flat and fits snuggly on your hand when you hold it or carry it around.
I also like the camera which is a 50MP AI camera that shoots good photos from the rear as well as from the front.
Shot using the Tecno POVA 5’s rear camera
The colors are pretty grounded and it doesn’t exaggerate the colors and brightness.
Meanwhile, we also have the front camera which has 8MP and while that may not be a lot, it shoots pretty good photos…
It feels like a premium flagship even if the SRP for the unit was less than Php10,000 especially when it comes to the camera functions.
I’m a big fan of the Portrait mode where you get to play around with some last-gen portrait stuff like this one:
In terms of gaming, it feels smooth but not that super smooth. Good enough for the price point though. The phone features Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99 (6nm) and a Mali-G52 MC2 GPU. There’s very minimal heating but it’s otherwise a great experience. Bonus points for giving us a good gaming center via the “Panther Engine”
Overall, I highly recommend the POVA 5 especially if you want an exemplary smartphone that hits all the right notes and provides good to great streaming and gaming and has a really impressive 50 megapixel main camera.
