The Tecno Camon 18 Premier was first announced as part of the Camon 18 series in early November. This is exactly 5 months since we last reviewed a Tecno Camon, and now – we have an upgrade! Tecno is progressively positioning the Camon smartphone series as an option on the global mid-range smartphone market; with the Camon 18 speaking this loud.
In a nutshell, the Tecno Camon 18 Premier is one beautiful smartphone every Android smartphone fanatic would fall for on the instant. Additionally, the dual-glass design, scintillating colour paint, and thin size make the phone an ideal pick for flagship mid-rangers.
Tecno Camon 18 Premier specifications
- Body: Glass front and back, plastic frame.
- Display: 6.70″ AMOLED, 120Hz, 1080x2400px resolution.
- Chipset: Octa-core Mediatek Helio G96 (12 nm); Mali-G57 MC2.
- Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android 11, HIOS 8.0.
- Rear cameras: 64 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP.
- Front camera: 32 MP.
- Battery: 4750mAh; Fast charging 33W.
Unboxing
As per the first impressions we had of the Camon 18 Premier, it comes in a cool white box – something that differs from the deep blue we’ve seen on the Tecno Camon boxes that we previously saw. When you unwrap the box, you’ll find the phone, charger head, a transparent phone case, earphones, USB-C fast charger cable, plus SIM eject tool.
The design and hardware
The Camon 18 Premier is made of glass on both its front and back sides. Premium feel, huh? The backside has a really fine silky matte finish, which we found quite nice to feel and touch; of course, adding on to the premium look.
Interestingly. the rectangle in which the camera is cut out is also flat and made of glass. On the other hand, the audio jack, mouthpiece, USB port, and speaker holes are perfectly placed in the center at the bottom.
The phone comes with a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, powered by an extended 1080p resolution. It does support a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate and has a punch-hole for the 32MP selfie camera. The Camon 18 Premier does not have an LED flash at the top of the screen. The position is taken up by the earpiece alone.
The back of the phone is smooth and has a smaller and subtle Tecno Camon wording on it. As expected, we have the camera combination here – including the 64MP primary camera, the 12MP ultrawide camera, and the periscopic lens of the 8MP. There’s also a four-LED flash too, to support this trio.
Display
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier packs a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen of the usual 1,080 x 2,400 pixels resolution. Like we’ve said, it has a small punch-hole centered around the top.
There are three Refresh Rate modes – 120Hz, Auto, and 60Hz. The 60Hz is self-explanatory, while Auto uses 120Hz throughout the UI and 60Hz in apps and games. The highest 120Hz mode pushes all apps to use their maximum supported mode – 120Hz in most cases, 90Hz in some apps like Play Store, and 60Hz in video apps.
Software and performance
The Camon 18 Premier comes with Android 11 with a layer of HiOS v.8.0 on top. We need to mention that the Tecno Camon 18 Premier is available in one configuration of 8GB RAM and 256GB UFS storage. This gives the phone that fluid feel when you are using it, making it flow all through operations and giving you even more reasons to love using it.
In terms of performance hardware, the phone runs on the Helio G96 chipset by MediaTek. The chipset packs two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores ticking at 2.05GHz and six energy-efficient Corext-A55 cores working at 2.0GHz. One unique thing that this brings to the Camon series is the support for a 120Hz refresh rate.
Battery life
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier is powered by a 4750 mAh battery, and it supports fast 33W charging. It is indeed fast because powering from 0% to 100% took just about 45 minutes. This is without mentioning that the battery can last up to 3 days of ordinary use – if you are the kind that loves reserving your phone battery.
Tests on consumption after or during video playback, calls, and web browsing all presented amazing standby performance.
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier Camera
We’ve always mentioned that the Cam in Camon stands for Camera. And the triple camera on this phone’s back stands out ten-over-ten. The Camon 18 Premier sports a 64MP primary camera, a 12MP ultrawide shooter with gimbal stabilization, and an 8MP with a periscopic lens for 5x optical zoom. The three are supported by a 4-LED flash.
On the front, the Premier has a 32MP camera for selfies whose focus is fixed at infinity. As expected, the sensor saves 8MP images by default. But the output is very good and relative to the Camon series.
Much of the camera app specifications are as you would wish them to be. Night Mode is available only on the main camera. There is also a Super Moon mode if you are the kind that goes to dreamland. Unfortunately, you won’t find anything to do with Manual/Pro mode.
Verdict
The Tecno Camon 18 Premier is the best Android flagship phone on the Ugandan market today. There are no second thoughts about that.
With a fine AMOLED screen, a unique camera setup, premium hardware features, excellent battery life, and fast charging; you have the right pick if you’ve set your hands on this device.
The Camon 18 Premier is available at all Tecno branded stores and outlets countrywide.
