Test and review of the TECNO CAMON CM smartphone: the best budget camera phone under 10,000 rubles

You can’t count how many companies are releasing their smartphones today, and you can’t count how many of them claim to “translate the capabilities of premium smartphones into an affordable segment.” But TECNO Mobile, it seems, does not say this unfoundedly: all smartphones in the new line received four rear cameras, except for the most inexpensive Spark 5 Air, a design with various current features (frameless display, mother-of-pearl back), large screens. Let's see how this is expressed in the brand's flagship device - TECNO CAMON 15 Pro.

This is a smartphone priced at 15,990 rubles with a retractable front camera, four rear cameras (one of which received a Quad Bayer sensor with a resolution of 48 megapixels), a 6.6-inch display with Full HD+ resolution and the Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 hardware platform. It looks like it can stir up the waters in the pond where Xiaomi, realme and Huawei/Honor swim calmly - or is it so?

⇡#Technical characteristics

Smartphone Tecno Camon 15

The Tecno brand appeared on the Russian market at the beginning of 2018, but many still have not heard about smartphones from this company. Frankly, this is the first time we’ve come across a device from a Hong Kong company. The creators have chosen the right path of development - producing affordable devices with premium standards. The developers claim that every product from Tecno boasts a large, detailed screen, a durable battery and an impressive camera.

The statements are ambitious, but it cannot be any other way. In 2020, competing in the smartphone market is not easy. We will get acquainted with the Camon 15 modification, which has as many as five cameras (one of them is front-facing), four flashes, 4 GB of RAM and an impressive display size.

Screen, technical and functional features

The basis of Tecno Camon 15 is a bright 6.6″ display with a resolution of 1600x720 pixels. Everything is fine with the detailing of the smartphone, just like with color rendition. The sensor quickly responds to user commands, it is extremely sensitive, which in some situations is even bad (accidental clicks/touches, etc.).

A large display requires a large case. The Tecno Camon 15 certainly cannot be called compact, and besides, it is also quite heavy. But nothing can be done, the industry imposes its own rules in this regard (the size of mobile devices is growing every year). Users with small palms will find it difficult to control the smartphone under review with one finger.

Tecno Camon 15 is made of plastic, the body is non-separable. The SIM card and additional memory are installed in a slot that extends from the end (like in high-end devices). The design of the smartphone under review is classic (there are no innovations here). The front camera is part of the edge-to-edge display.

The pride of Tecno Camon 15 is a 48 MP camera with four lenses.

The back panel of the Tecno Camon 15 will appeal to those who love vibrant colors. The back surface is embossed and has small patterns on it, thanks to which the device lies securely in the hand.

Camon 15 should be recognized as an ergonomic and fairly high-quality phone if we are talking about external aesthetics and materials used in the design.

Tecno Camon 15 has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as a MicroUSB connector for charging the battery and connecting to a PC. To be honest, it’s very strange to see exactly this type of outlet in a 2020 device (high-speed USB Type-C even reached budget devices in 2019).

But this feature is not a serious disadvantage. The included charger replenishes the charge quickly enough (an hour and a half, and you have a full battery at your disposal).

Tecno Camon 15 offers its owner all the data protection options and phone unlocking methods available today. Here you have a fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock 2.0, and a password. You can limit yourself to just one thing, or you can use everything at once.

It is impossible to completely disable HiOS and leave “pure” Android.

All options work reasonably quickly and clearly, but from time to time Tecno Camon 15 is still unable to recognize the owner’s face and fingerprint (you will have to enter a password). These protective measures could have worked faster.

Tecno Camon 15 supports 4G and voice communication in high definition format; in terms of communication, this smartphone is in perfect order. Mobile Internet can be accessed even through blank walls (no failures or switching from one standard to another). The interlocutor will hear you even in a busy place (the volume is acceptable, the clarity is decent, protection from external noise is included).

A few words should be said about the configuration of Tecno Camon 15. The developers took care of additional accessories in advance. As a result, the owner of the modification under review will not have to buy protective glass, covers, etc. on their own.

Case

Headphones

Tecno Camon 15 equipment:

• snow-white headphones
• protective plastic glass
• silicone case with Manchester City engraving
• Charger (wall socket and USB cable)

Operating system, performance and test results

The hardware basis of Tecno Camon 15 is the popular 8-core MediaTek Helio P35 MT6765 processor, as well as 4 GB of RAM. 64 GB is provided for storing user files (but do not forget that part of the free space is consumed by the OS and related services).

The software base of Tecno Camon 15 is Android 10, but not pure, but with the proprietary HiOS add-on. Many users are skeptical about such things (admittedly, we are too). But before jumping to conclusions, let’s try to understand the advantages that this shell offers.

Immediately after turning on the Tecno Camon 15 and entering the initial data (language, login, password, etc.), HiOS begins to overwhelm the owner with numerous questions, pop-up messages, tips, instructions, etc. In the first couple of hours, the smartphone works very slowly and slows down literally everything (even the menu). This is how the device is configured, so you will have to be patient.

In rest/standby mode, Tecno Camon 15 consumes battery slowly.

The very next day (after updating all available applications, manually optimizing the OS, etc.) Camon 15 functions as expected, that is, fast enough (for its hardware).

Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely disable HiOS and leave pure Android (although real hackers can do anything), but if desired, the user has the right to limit as much as possible the degree of interference of the proprietary add-on in the life of the owner (disabling secondary services, applications and services is available in the smartphone settings).

What does HiOS offer us? Here is a list of the most interesting features:

• sliding sidebar with quick access to frequently used applications and tools (the service automatically studies user habits/behavior)
• smart energy saving mode (in “Settings” there is a so-called “Battery Laboratory”, it has many interesting options that affect the survivability of the battery)
• dark theme (just like in your favorite instant messengers)
• gesture control
• built-in applications for cleaning RAM
• game mode (don't expect miracles from it)
• parental control

Obviously, it’s quite possible to do without this baggage (besides, everything is available on Google Play in the form of separate applications), but the developers thought that HiOS is capable of diversifying the user’s life. That's probably true.

Let's talk about the performance of Tecno Camon 15. According to the popular 3DMark benchmark, the reviewed phone ranks approximately 1095th in the Sling Shot Extreme test rating. The device competes with Xiaomi Redmi 5 (released in 2020), OPPO Realme C1 and Vivo V7.

In PCMark, the competitors are more significant (Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro, Samsung Galaxy A7 and Lenovo P2).

We would like to add that in real tasks, Tecno Camon 15 behaves perfectly (we are talking about performance). The most popular programs (navigation, maps, social networks, browser, etc.) work quickly, without glitches or crashes.

There are also no complaints about the stability of the reviewed smartphone; everything is fine with software and hardware optimization.

Camera

The pride of Tecno Camon 15 is a 48 megapixel camera with four lenses (8x zoom available). The profile application contains a wide variety of shooting modes, but we liked the automatic format with scene recognition function (AI is responsible for this) most of all. The robot independently makes colors brighter, corrects color rendition, and changes white balance and sensitivity.

In addition, there is a “Blur” mode (aka bokeh), “Panorama”, “Night Shot” and options with animation in the form of a beard, glasses, hats (augmented reality). There are a minimal number of adjustable parameters in each tab, which simplifies the shooting process. By the way, Tecno Camon 15 supports Google Lens.

On a bright sunny day, Tecno Camon 15 can replace a full-fledged camera. Everything is fine with color rendition in the photographs (in the finished photographs the shades look even richer than in reality), and there are no complaints about the detailing. There is no shame in showing the footage to relatives and friends on the big screen (and not just on a smartphone display).

At night, everything is not so rosy (visibly large grain, average detail), but this is not a failure. In the end, the sensor in Tecno Camon 15 is not all-powerful, and besides, this is a budget-class phone.

Battery

Tecno Camon 15 has a powerful battery (5000 mAh), which is why the smartphone is so heavy. The measure is justified, because the device can live without recharging for more than one day, unless you are an ardent fan of correspondence, photography and Wi-Fi. Active citizens will have to recharge their phone about once a day (or even every 36 hours).

In rest/standby mode, Tecno Camon 15 consumes battery slowly. We remind you that this device has a “Battery Lab”, which provides a lot of settings and manual optimization for a particular application. This complex helps to extend the effective life of the battery.

Conclusion

Tecno Camon 15 is priced at 12,000 rubles. This is a great price for a device with an 8-core processor, 4 GB of RAM, a durable battery and an excellent 48 MP camera with four lenses.

We were not inspired only by the dimensions and weight of the smartphone, as well as the overly annoying HiOS assistant, but, as it turned out, it’s really easy to make friends with the latter (manual settings will help you), and ergonomic features are already a matter of taste and personal preference (for some, phones with big screen to your liking).

In any case, Tecno Camon 15 has more advantages than disadvantages. We have before us a perfectly optimized product (in hardware and software terms) with original functionality. Don't forget about the rich equipment, a strong 4G module, enviable performance and a whole range of security features. We recommend.

Keywords: Android MediaTek Tecno

⇡#Design, ergonomics and software

An interesting story - we used to regularly talk about “fashion trends that come from the older segments to the younger ones,” but there is one feature that seemed exclusive to expensive smartphones, which has now moved exclusively to the mid-price segment. We're talking about a retractable camera. The solution, wildly popular from late 2018 to mid-2019, very quickly went out of flagship fashion and migrated to inexpensive smartphones. Of which, however, there are also not so many: of the direct competitors of TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, only Huawei P Smart Z/Honor 9X comes to mind, and more recently, the upper middle class device Xiaomi POCO F2 Pro.

A mechanized camera, of course, has disadvantages - a decrease in the speed of face recognition, the risk of damage to the retractable unit, and a limited (albeit long) service life of the mechanism. There is one plus, but absolutely irrefutable - nothing interferes with the screen area, there is no cutout or hole. This allows you to count on the entire screen, without borders or inclusions, when playing videos and in games.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, front panel: completely occupied by the screen, not counting the small frames and the earpiece slot under the top edge

In the case of TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, this advantage is reinforced by the large screen diagonal (6.6 inches) and minimal frames around it. And it looks good, and the whole scheme makes sense.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, rear panel: in the corner there is a large elongated panel with four cameras and an LED flash, in the center there is a fingerprint scanner

Moreover, the retractable camera unit did not greatly affect the thickness of the already large gadget with such and such a screen. It was possible to “hide” it in a slightly protruding block of rear cameras, keeping the edges relatively thin - 9 mm. At the same time, I note that in terms of dimensions and weight (204 grams) TECNO CAMON 15 Pro is comparable to smartphones with smaller diagonal screens. The same Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S/Redmi Note 9 Pro, with a very similar display size, is a little heavier and noticeably larger.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, left side: slot for SIM cards and microSD memory cards

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, right side: double volume key and lock/power key

However, it was possible to keep the weight within acceptable limits due to the use of plastic in the design of the case - both the back, disguised as glass, and the edges, painted to look like polished aluminum, are made of it. The front panel, of course, is covered with Japanese tempered glass Asahi Glass. Despite the plastic back panel, TECNO CAMON 15 Pro is already a slippery gadget, as usual in these times. In combination with the curved edges of the back, this leads to the fact that it strives to fly away both from the hand and from any imperfectly flat surface. You should immediately put the supplied silicone case on the gadget and not remove it unless absolutely necessary. Yes, the device will become even larger, but it will be “disguised” by an inexpensive-looking body.

Tecno Camon 15 Pro, top edge: retractable front camera unit

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, bottom edge: main speaker, microUSB port, microphone and mini-jack

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro has two color variations: “jadeite” (green) and “opal” (blue). Both shimmer in the light and look very good. As you can easily see from the photographs, we have a light version (“opal”), which, depending on the angle of view, looks either white or bluish-pink.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro in case

The rear cameras in TECNO CAMON 15 Pro are assembled in one vertical block, and a flash consisting of four LEDs is also placed there - the panel is very long, but it does not look like a black eyesore against the white background of the body. Or maybe I’m just used to these huge blocks. But a large number of different words on the back panel (the word Tecno appears twice for some reason) seems a little unnecessary.

In terms of functional elements, everything is traditional: the top edge is given over to a retractable front camera, on the sides there is a card slot and hardware keys, on the bottom there is a microUSB port (alas, here is a budget classic), a mini-jack, a microphone and a speaker.

The fingerprint scanner is located on the back, right under the index finger. This is unfashionable - now it is common to remove the fingerprint sensor under the screen - but it is still very convenient. And the capacitive sensor used here works better than modern optical/ultrasonic sensors - very stable and fast. The new model is also equipped with a face unlock function that automatically recognizes closed eyes. True, it may not be entirely convenient to use, because this procedure requires a camera that takes a very long time to extend - about two seconds. The mechanism installed here is not the most efficient.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro runs Android 10 with HiOS 6.0 shell. This is a proprietary TECNO development, which is somewhat reminiscent of MIUI from about two years ago: application icons are placed in mandatory non-disabled frames, the status bar is partially inverted (time is on the left) and filled with unusual icons, there are a lot of unusual applications and non-standard settings. And yes, of course, branded apps have built-in advertising, which also appears in the notification bar.

Screenshot gallery

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Of the specific applications, I would like to note the very active proprietary Phoenix browser, which continuously manifests itself in the same notification panel, and has at its disposal a search bar displayed on all screens, where, in addition, hot and current news topics fly, and throws recommendations onto the lock screen — at the same time, no one prohibits the use of other browsers, the same Chrome is pre-installed on the smartphone. There is its own left screen with news and recommendations in the style of Google Now, a search system in the smartphone’s memory, its own software store, which is useless if Google Play is available, a set of applications for optimizing the operation of the smartphone (from unusual ones, like “Freezer”, into which you can upload applications to in your opinion, consuming a lot of memory, to typical ones like programs that clean memory from unnecessary files) and “artificial intelligence” that offers various actions when working with a gadget, such as moving newly installed applications to one or another folder. In general, the shell seems overloaded and sometimes overly intrusive, but someone will like such a blatant abundance of options. It works relatively quickly - as far as the hardware platform allows.

Cameras and photos

So we got to the most important thing - the TECNO Camon X cameras. The manufacturer decided not to follow trends and limited itself to one 16 MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture.

The pictures are rich and clear, especially in good lighting. You can take photos even against the sun's rays, and video recording occurs at a resolution of 1920 x 1080. There is also no need to mess with manual camera settings; the software does an excellent job in automatic mode. A nice addition will be the preset shooting options and a wide variety of filters available from the built-in camera application.

Twilight and night shots lose detail, and this is not surprising. At short distances, you can take photos with a flash, which does its job perfectly and prevents flare and distortion.

With flash

The 20 megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture is not inferior to analogues from the middle segment of smartphones. Clear and cool selfies are the main feature of the phone. When there is insufficient lighting, a front flash is used here. Color rendition is excellent, the shade also remains correct. Those who like to take selfies at night can count on dual flash. Traditionally, there is a “Beauty” mode, which allows you to smooth out skin unevenness.

Both cameras have a portrait function, but as always it is far from ideal, because the background is often blurred mediocre.

Portrait mode

The full gallery of photos on TECNO Camon X is stored on Yandex.Disk.

⇡#Display and sound

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro received a 6.6-inch diagonal IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels (pixel density - 390 ppi). For its class, the combination of display size and resolution is quite impressive: Full HD+ in this price category, while not uncommon, is far from commonplace.

The screen “sandwich” is full-fledged - there is tempered glass (manufacturer unknown), a polarizing layer, and an oleophobic coating. The matrix itself is average - viewing angles are decent, as befits IPS, but colors are distorted when the view deviates too much from the perpendicular.

The maximum measured brightness of the TECNO CAMON 15 Pro display was 382 cd/m2, contrast ratio was 1224:1. Both indicators are below average, the brightness of the smartphone screen is frankly not enough - you can use it in the sun, but it’s not very comfortable

The display settings are standard: there is adaptive brightness; there is an “eye protection” mode with warm colors, which is appropriate to turn on before bed; there is a dark theme that has a decorative function on a smartphone with an LCD screen; you can change the font size and customize the animation of the retractable camera (or disable the animation altogether); There is an “In Pocket” mode, which reduces the sensitivity of the touch layer of the display to prevent accidental actions with it. You cannot change the color rendering; you can only rely on the factory settings.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, gamma. Yellow line – TECNO CAMON 15 Pro performance, dotted line – reference range

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, color temperature. Blue line – TECNO CAMON 15 Pro indicators, dotted line – reference temperature

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, color gamut in standard mode. Gray triangle – sRGB coverage, white triangle – TECNO CAMON 15 Pro coverage

The color gamut of the TECNO CAMON 15 Pro display is slightly higher than the sRGB standard. Gamma is ideal - an average value of 2.21 with stable curves. The color temperature greatly exceeds the norm (8,000-9,500 K with the standard at 6,500 K), the colors are much colder than they should be. The average DeltaE deviation on the Color Checker scale, which includes both a wide range of colors and shades of gray, was 7.14, with a standard of 3.00. Alas, the smartphone display cannot boast of precision settings.

The sound of the TECNO CAMON 15 Pro is fine, but not brilliant: there is a mini-jack, so you can listen to music using wired headphones without an adapter, but the smartphone cannot boast of a “noble” DAC, the sound is ordinary. If you have high-end wireless headphones, the gadget can please you with support for aptX and LDAC - that is, the sound level via Bluetooth will be at the top level. The external speaker is monaural, loud, but without any serious complaints about the sound level.

⇡#Hardware and performance

While aiming for something more than a lower-middle-class smartphone, TECNO CAMON 15 Pro still received a rather mediocre hardware platform - the Mediatek Helio P35 of 2020. Most often it is found on more inexpensive smartphones, but there are exceptions - for example, the direct competitor of CAMON 15 Pro, vivo Y30.

The main composition of the Mediatek Helio P35 (MT6765) platform: eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz (four cores) to 2.35 GHz (four more cores); IMG PowerVR GE8320 graphics subsystem with a frequency of 680 MHz. Technological process - 12 nm.

The smartphone delivers exactly the level of performance you'd expect from the Mediatek Helio P35, but at least it beats the Geekbench 5 and 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme benchmarks, which baffled the vivo Y30 with the same platform. While you shouldn’t count on running any modern game, especially at a high frame rate, the operating system is well optimized - the smartphone turns on relatively quickly, applications launch with an acceptable delay (it takes one and a half to two seconds to turn on the camera), and that’s all. everything possible is stored in RAM, fortunately there is a lot of it here: 6 GB of the LPDDR4X standard. The gadget works quite stably; not once during testing did it freeze or require a forced restart of one or another application.

The TECNO CAMON 15 Pro's throttling situation is average - the numbers seem to be about the same as those of the vivo Y30, but the frequency drop to 75% of the maximum occurred in the second half of the test, and not in the first, which indicates some problems with heating , and not about the features of the controller. Average performance level: 87 GIPS.

I already said about RAM above. With memory, the TECNO CAMON 15 Pro is generally excellent; it has a capacious 128 GB UFS 2.1 drive. And at the same time, you can further increase the memory capacity with a microSD card, without sacrificing a second SIM card for it: there is a separate slot.

Description

The Camon X smartphone from TECNO is made in a classic case.
The phone runs on the Android 8.1 operating system and supports two nano SIM cards in alternating mode. Phone dimensions: width 75.8 mm, height 158.6 mm, thickness 7.75 mm. Weight 154 grams. The diagonal of the IPS color touch display is 6 inches with a maximum resolution of 1440×720 and 268 pixels per inch (PPI). The device screen has an automatic rotation function.

TECNO Camon X is equipped with a 16 megapixel camera. The camera allows you to record videos with a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. In addition to the main camera, the phone also has a 20 megapixel front camera.

TECNO Camon X runs on an 8-core MediaTek Helio P23 (MT6763T), 2000 MHz processor and a Mali-G71 MP2 video processor, has 32 gigabytes of internal memory and 3 gigabytes of RAM. The phone has a slot for a memory card up to 64 gigabytes.

The battery capacity is 3750 mAh.

Also, the phone is equipped with sensors: light, proximity, Hall, compass, fingerprint reading. This adds additional functionality to the phone in various applications.

⇡#Communications and wireless communications

The speed at which the TECNO CAMON 15 Pro LTE modem operates is not indicated, nor is there information in open sources about the list of supported bands. We can only hope that the device certified for Russia works with the spectrum required here. During testing, the smartphone connected to the network normally.

Slot for two nano-SIM cards and one microSD card

Unfortunately, TECNO CAMON 15 Pro, even despite its Hong Kong origin, does not have NFC - you won’t be able to pay at contactless terminals using it. The rest is a typical set of wireless modules: dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, navigation system with support for GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo.

⇡#Camera

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro boasts a rear quad camera, which seems to set it apart from its classmates, at least quantitatively. But it's not that simple.

The main module here is really interesting - Quad Bayer, 48 megapixels (authorship unknown), high-aperture lens (f/1.8), phase detection autofocus. There is no optical stabilizer, but expecting it on a gadget of this class would be downright utopian. By default, the camera shoots at a resolution of 12 megapixels; you can get images with the maximum resolution by activating a special setting available in the main screen of the application.

The 48-megapixel mode, in fact, is not really needed; the Quad Bayer system serves other purposes - for digital image stabilization, hybrid 2x zoom (available in TECNO CAMON 15 Pro) and better shooting in the dark by combining subpixels. But if you wish, you can shoot at the maximum resolution - the detail will really be higher.

The second camera in TECNO CAMON 15 Pro is needed to expand the viewing angle - a 5 megapixel sensor and an f/2.2 lens are used, there is no autofocus; The equivalent focal length is not specified, but we are talking about 13-15 mm, the angle expands approximately twice. The detail of the images is not high, but during the day you can get good images with this module; the dynamic range, taking into account the HDR work, is acceptable. At night the module is almost useless. Double zoom, as I noted above, is provided thanks to the main module - a crop is used with minimal loss. Detail and dynamic range are normal; again, it’s difficult to shoot with the zoom at night. The third camera is a depth sensor with a resolution of 2 megapixels, it is necessary exclusively for portrait mode. The purpose of the fourth camera remains a mystery - the manufacturer refers to it as an AI camera, but why a separate physical module is needed for the stated use of machine learning technologies is unclear.

By the way, it is impossible to disable the intervention of neural networks - there is simply no such option in the camera application. The basic mode is called AI CAM, and there is no alternative offered to it - a mode with manual settings, for example, is completely absent. The portrait mode is implemented a little strangely - it is divided into two, in one of which there is a beautifier that affects both the figure and the face, in the second the promised blur is available. They cannot be combined. There are separate modes for panorama, night shooting, shooting using augmented reality masks, and for two types of video (regular and clip of a given length). Overall, the application is quite simple and logical, but not the most detailed in terms of settings.

I have already mentioned the features of portrait mode above. In both the blur mode and the beauty mode, only the main camera with a standard viewing angle is available - shooting close-ups is possible only with strong distortions of the facial proportions, while TECNO CAMON 15 Pro produces medium and long plans very well. The gadget blurs the background efficiently, but you cannot adjust the bokeh depth.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro allows you to achieve good results when using the main camera at dusk, but not late at night - its capabilities are still limited. However, with the activation of the night mode, in which the camera combines an array of frames taken at different shutter speeds, it is possible to take a decent photo in low light. Examples are above.

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro also has a macro mode, but with limited capabilities - it uses the main camera, the minimum focusing distance of which is 2 cm.

Gallery of pictures

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Video recording is available with a maximum resolution of Full HD at a frequency of 30 frames per second. Shooting with three focal lengths is available, but you cannot switch while shooting. Among the features of the smartphone, it is worth noting the ability to shoot short videos of a given length using a beautifier and the ability to immediately share them on social networks from the shooting menu.

The front camera also received a Quad Bayer sensor with a resolution of 32 megapixels, which shoots in 8 megapixel mode by default (you can switch to the maximum resolution in the camera application). The lens here is set to f/2.0 aperture, there is no autofocus or flash. But there is a background blur mode, and in general the quality of shooting is very pleasing, the front camera is what we need here, even though it’s hidden in the body.

Cameras

Camon 12 and Camon 12 Air are equipped with triple rear cameras located in the corner of the back surface of the body.

Camon 12 has:

• 16-megapixel main module with f/1.8 aperture,
• 8-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/2.4 aperture and 120° viewing angle,
• 2-megapixel secondary camera with f/2.8 aperture for depth of field.

Camon 12 Air has the following cameras:

• 16-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture,
• 5-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/2.4 aperture and 111.4° viewing angle,
• 2-megapixel auxiliary module with f/2.8 aperture for determining depth of field.

Despite the difference in price, only the wide-angle camera differs in smartphones. At least on paper. Let's see how things work in practice.

Daytime shooting on Camon 12 and Camon 12 Air

Camon 12 (left) and Camon 12 Air (right)

And practice shows that the difference between smartphone cameras is quite serious. The more expensive Camon 12 is much better at shooting under artificial light. The photo is much lighter and has increased detail.

Camon 12 (left) and Camon 12 Air (right)

Some Camon 12 Air plans work out better. The main thing is not to shake your smartphone and make sure that the lighting is as high quality as possible. In general, the cameras of both smartphones have problems with detailing complex shots.

Camon 12 (left) and Camon 12 Air (right)

And one more example that clearly shows the difference between smartphone cameras. The Camon 12's images are brighter, more detailed, and sharper. However, it is worth noting that it is better not to shoot overly complex compositions on both smartphones.

Photo on Camon 12

Here's a good example of a shot taken with the Camon 12 camera in poor artificial lighting conditions. The model coped with the difficult shot and the result was a completely acceptable shot.

Night photography on Camon 12 and Camon 12 Air

Camon 12 (left) and Camon 12 Air (right)

Night shooting on the Camon 12 was definitely a pleasure. Pay attention to the high detail throughout the frame and the excellent, almost invisible noise reduction. But the Camon 12 Air turned out noticeably worse. I note that this did not happen due to the lower resolution of the camera. It's all about different smartphone processors. The Camon 12 chip helps with photo processing and, as we can see, it does it very well.

And a couple more night photos on both smartphones.

Camon 12 (left) and Camon 12 Air (right)

Camon 12 (left) and Camon 12 Air (right)

Shooting in portrait mode on Camon 12 and Camon 12 Air

Photos in portrait mode on Camon 12

Both smartphones have a portrait mode. And in both cases he has the same problem, which is immediately noticeable. The background is not blurred enough. The subject stands out well overall. Notice how the regime managed to process the girl's hair - almost without mistakes. But it didn’t work out to blur the background beautifully. Maybe in the future they will improve the software, that's something to hope for.

Photos in portrait mode on Camon 12 Air

The same applies to Camon 12 Air. The background is medium blurred.

Front-camera

Now let's talk about the front cameras of smartphones. Camon 12 is equipped with a 16-megapixel front camera (f/2.0 aperture) with support for two micro-flashes, which I talked about earlier. The resolution of the front camera of the Camon 12 Air is 8 megapixels (f/2.0 aperture), and it claims to support processing using artificial intelligence technologies through the processor.

Photo on the front camera of Camon 12

The Camon 12 front camera generally does an excellent job. The pictures are bright, with honest color reproduction and high detail in the foreground. But notice that in the background both detail and sharpness are reduced.

Photo on the front camera of Camon 12

Photo on the front camera of Camon 12

A couple more photos taken with the front camera of the Camon 12. The only thing I can complain about is the low sharpness in the background.

Photo on the front camera of Camon 12 Air

The Camon 12 Air has a lower resolution of the front camera, but the pictures are not much worse. In general, we have the same picture: fair color reproduction and good foreground detail. However, in this particular photo there was not enough light. By the way, special flashes for the front camera, which are available in Camon 12, would be very helpful here.

Photo on the front camera of Camon 12 Air

The second example shows that you can take high-quality selfies with the Camon 12 Air's front camera, but you need to think about the light.

Video shooting on Camon 12 and Camon 12 Air

While smartphones have coped well with photography (I especially praise the Camon 12), they have real problems with video shooting. The detail is very low, the sharpness is minimal, and most importantly, there is constant automatic focusing. It is not possible to disable it in the settings. Everything is clearly visible in the videos below on Camon 12.

The Camon 12 Air still has the same disadvantages when shooting video, but it also adds shaking. The resulting videos are downright bad.

However, I will note a plus. If you shoot with a person’s smartphone, autofocus starts working normally. Apparently, the software was designed for this kind of shooting.

⇡#Autonomous work

TECNO CAMON 15 Pro received a battery with a standard capacity of 15.2 Wh (4000 mAh, 3.8 V). For a smartphone with such a large LCD screen as here, this is back to back. On the other hand, it is a hardware platform that is not very energy-demanding. As a result, we get a relative balance - the smartphone lives daylight confidently under heavy load. With not very active use, you can expect to charge it once a day.

In our traditional test with Full HD video playback at maximum brightness, with updates and notifications turned on, the smartphone lasted just under 10 hours - a good result.

For charging, the microUSB port, which is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, is used - this is not very relevant, but finding an inexpensive cable to replace a lost or forgotten one is still much easier. The charger provides 10 W power, which allows you to fully charge your smartphone in less than two hours. Wireless charging is not supported.