Need a smartphone with an excellent set of cameras without breaking the bank? Then you should check out the new TECNO CAMON 30. If you’ve been following TECNO closely, you’ll be surprised at how much their smartphones have improved recently. This is a great example of how the brand has grown and is becoming truly competitive.
Recently, the company has been actively expanding, and a series of new smartphones has appeared in Ukraine. The newly introduced CAMON 30 series is quite intriguing and could be ideal for those who want a good phone with an excellent camera without overpaying. Interestingly, the series name is an abbreviation of the words CAMera ON, emphasizing the primary focus of this series: the smartphone’s cameras.
Although TECNO introduced the more premium CAMON 30 Premier of this series at MWC 2024, the standard variant, the Camon 30, has finally arrived on the Ukrainian market. Naturally, I couldn’t ignore such an intriguing camera phone and decided to test it. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by this new release, which is a rarity for me these days.
So, let’s not waste any time. I invite you to read my review of the TECNO CAMON 30.
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What is interesting about TECNO CAMON 30
First and foremost, the TECNO CAMON 30 is designed for photography enthusiasts. This mid-range smartphone boasts an excellent camera, offering impressive imaging capabilities at an affordable price. With its sleek design, powerful hardware, and focus on content creation, the TECNO CAMON 30 aims to meet the needs of photography enthusiasts and bloggers on a budget. It features a smooth 120Hz AMOLED display and a 50 MP main camera. Additionally, the new model is powered by the Mediatek Helio G99 Ultimate processor, complemented by 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage for personal data and media, expandable up to 512 GB with a microSD card. Quite an impressive package.
The TECNO CAMON 30, in the 8/256 GB configuration, is available in two color options—Basaltic Dark and Uyuni Salt White—and can now be purchased in Ukrainian electronics stores. Its recommended price is $300. This is a very attractive price for such a superb camera phone, as I have confirmed from my own experience.
TECNO CAMON 30 specifications
- Display: 6.78″, LTPO AMOLED matrix, resolution 2436×1080 pixels, aspect ratio 20.5:9, pixel density 393 ppi, brightness 1300 nits, refresh rate 120 Hz
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio G99 Ultimate, 6 mm, 8-core, 2 Cortex-A76 cores with a clock speed of up to 2.2 GHz, 6 Cortex-A55 cores with a clock speed of up to 2.0 GHz
- Graphics accelerator: Mali-G57 MC2
- RAM: 8 GB, LPDDR4X
- Permanent memory: 256 GB, UFS 2.2
- MicroSD card support: up to 512 GB
- Wireless networks: 4G, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS (A-GPS), NFC
- Main camera: triple, 50 megapixels, f/1.9, 23 mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0 μm, PDAF, OIS; depth module 2 megapixels, f/2.4; AI module, video recording 1446p
- Front camera: 50 megapixels, f/2.5, 24 mm (wide-angle), 1/2.8″, 0.64 μm, PDAF
- Battery capacity: 5000 mAh
- Charging: 70W with support for fast charging
- OS: Android 14 with HiOS V14.0.0 shell
- Dimensions: 165.3×75.3×7.7 mm
- Weight: 187 g
What’s in the package?
The TECNO CAMON 30 package is quite typical for smartphones in this price segment. In the branded box with logos and device information, you will find the smartphone itself, a powerful 70W adapter with fast charging support, a white power cable, a protective silicone case, a screen protector, and a bunch of various warranty papers and instructions. By the way, you’ll need to apply the screen protector yourself.
The package includes everything necessary to use the TECNO CAMON 30. It might have been nice to include wired earphones, but manufacturers seem to consider them unnecessary in the package nowadays.
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Cool design, sturdy construction
TECNO CAMON 30 has an elegant and modern design. The smartphone is available in two colors: Uyuni Salt White and Iceland Basaltic Black. I got the latter, which looks, in my opinion, stunning. The richness and sophistication of this black shade is very attractive to the eye. However, if you prefer lighter shades, then Salt White is more suitable for you.
The smartphone features a glass back panel with a “marble” design, giving it a sturdy overall construction. I really liked the wavy textured design, which sometimes resembles raindrops cascading down a car window.
As for the build quality, it’s top-notch. Everything is made from high-quality materials and assembled very well; nothing creaks or feels loose. In terms of comfort, the TECNO CAMON 30 is quite easy to hold, and you can use it without a protective case for some time. Your friends and those around you are sure to notice such a smartphone.
The back panel combines glossy and matte elements. The glossy camera block is designed to create the illusion that you’re holding a camera in your hands. TECNO focuses heavily on the camera capabilities in this CAMON series, and the design of the phone reflects this attention to detail.
The design, inspired by classic cameras, adds a touch of sophistication and allows the user to feel like a professional photographer. Indeed, the CAMON 30 has a design reminiscent of a traditional digital SLR camera, with a large “lens” housing three camera sensors and a depth sensor. It’s impossible to miss the camera block—it stands out with its unusual shape and large sensors inside.
The developers at TECNO have placed a red LED indicator next to the camera module on the back panel of the smartphone. It reminds me of the notification LED indicators that used to be present on old phones. I found this feature very convenient because I like to keep my phone on silent mode. However, thanks to the LED indicator, I can still receive notifications promptly when the phone is face down. The red light of the indicator blinks when notifications arrive, during video recording, and while the device is charging.
I was also pleasantly impressed by the matte glass on the back panel of the smartphone, as the surface is smooth and pleasant to the touch. Moreover, the surface hardly collects fingerprints, dust, or dirt, which is a big plus. Although the rectangular overlay in the upper right corner is not entirely matte—it has a glossy finish.
The TECNO CAMON 30 boasts a flat screen, with a round cutout for the selfie camera positioned at the top. The speaker grilles are conveniently placed, so there’s no need to adjust the phone when placing it against your ear. Everything looks very neat and aesthetically pleasing.
The glossy edges also look nice. Although they actively collect fingerprints, so a protective case wouldn’t go amiss. Despite its relatively large dimensions (165.3×75.3×7.7 mm), the TECNO CAMON 30 is quite lightweight, weighing 187 g, so it doesn’t strain your hand during prolonged use. The smartphone feels comfortable to hold and easy to operate. There are neat curves on the seemingly flat edges, making the CAMON 30 pleasant to hold.
It’s a bit disappointing, of course, that the frames are plastic and not aluminum like in the CAMON 30 Premier model. By the way, the focus of this review has only received IP53 certification, which means protection against splashes and dust.
Overall, the design of the TECNO CAMON 30 is evidence of the company’s commitment to providing its smartphone with a first-class design at an affordable price.
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Ports and connectors
Let’s start with the top edge. Here, you’ll find the speaker, microphone, and IR port. It’s worth noting that the speakers are Dolby Atmos certified. This is somewhat of a pleasant surprise and unexpected, considering that the smartphone belongs to the affordable segment.
On the bottom edge, we see grilles for another speaker, alongside the USB Type-C port, which is used for charging the smartphone and connecting it to a laptop for data transfer. Also, the developers have placed a 3.5mm headphone jack here for connecting wired headphones. It’s understandable that such a decision would appeal to potential buyers, but why not include headphones in the package as well?
On the right side edge, two separate volume control buttons and a power button are placed. They are positioned at a comfortable height for easy control.
On the left side of the TECNO CAMON 30, there is only a slot for two nanoSIM cards and a memory card. Having a separate slot for the memory card is a good solution.
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Bright and smooth display
TECNO CAMON 30 features a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The display is large and vibrant, offering a brightness of 1300 nits, making it comfortable to use both indoors and outdoors even under direct sunlight.
With a pixel density of 393 pixels per inch, the display looks sharp, making it impossible to discern individual pixels. The PWM frequency is 2160 Hz. The screen is flat, so applying a protective film or glass to it is not difficult.
This is an LTPO panel, which is used for the first time in the CAMON series. It’s a rather atypical feature for the mid-range segment in general. Considering that the Camon series is TECNO’s mid-range offering, it’s nice to see LTPO panels being extended to more affordable smartphones. The declared refresh rate range is from 10 to 120 Hz. This solution helps to save energy when displaying slow or static content (such as photos or AoD screensavers).
It’s worth noting that the bezels around the perimeter appear almost equally thin, although the bottom one is slightly thicker. However, it’s very hard to notice this with the naked eye. The display itself is covered with Gorilla Glass 5 protective glass. It feels like the oleophobic coating is quite high-quality because the finger glides smoothly over the glass. As for screen smudges, they are very easy to remove, so it will maintain an attractive appearance for a long time.
With a resolution of 1.5K and a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hz, the LTPO display delivers impressive visual experiences. Vibrant colors, deep blacks, and exceptional clarity combine here to create an immersive viewing experience, whether you’re streaming your favorite movies or playing intense games.
Throughout the testing period, I never encountered any issues with displaying content on the TECNO CAMON 30 screen. The smartphone impressed with its vibrant, saturated colors, image clarity, and accurate color reproduction. It’s pleasing to see that good displays have made their way into the mid-range segment. This means that the times when only flagships could boast bright, clear AMOLED displays are now in the past. And that’s very good news for users.
The TECNO CAMON 30 is equipped with an in-display fingerprint sensor. Setting it up is straightforward and takes only a few minutes. However, the benefits are plentiful. I have no complaints about the performance of the fingerprint sensor itself. Everything works precisely, and the screen unlocks almost instantly. Perhaps the placement of the sensor on the screen was somewhat inconvenient for me. In my opinion, the scanner is positioned rather low on the screen. It wasn’t always convenient to place my finger for scanning. But this is more of a personal preference than a problem.
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Sufficient performance
For its CAMON 30 series, TECNO has chosen different systems for different markets, and in our case, we get the Mediatek Helio G99 Ultimate (2×Cortex A76 2.2 GHz and 2×Cortex A55 2.0 GHz) with a Mali-G57 MC2 graphics processor. All of this is complemented by 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM (+8 GB virtual) and a 256 GB UFS 2.2 storage, expandable via a microSD card.
This is a slightly overclocked version of the Mediatek Helio G99 processor (on paper, there is practically no difference, and the test results are also almost identical). It’s worth noting that the Helio G99 has been with us for two years now. MediaTek has been gradually improving and overclocking it. The “Ultimate” version is precisely such an overclocked version, which is about 10% faster. From the very beginning, I noticed a significant limitation of this device, namely the lack of 5G connectivity.
Well, in this regard, nothing has changed, and perhaps for some, it won’t be a big issue, but in 2024, it’s already a certain drawback. We have LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, USB 2.0, and GPS navigation, QZSS, Galileo, BeiDou, NAVIC. But in everyday use, you may feel a certain “weakness” of the processor. Don’t get me wrong, the TECNO CAMON 30 mostly runs smoothly, efficiently launching apps and allowing quick switching between them, but it’s not an “instant” experience. We feel that the system mostly knows what we expect from it, but there are moments when it needs a little more time to think. However, it’s worth noting that the smartphone doesn’t tend to overheat excessively. Even when you’re taking photos or shooting video for a long time, the phone’s body only heats up slightly.
In synthetic tests, don’t expect record-breaking or record-low results. Average performance for a mid-range processor. It shouldn’t be compared to flagship performance, but it definitely doesn’t lose to competitors.
As for mobile gaming, don’t expect any significant achievements here either. You’ll be able to comfortably play any games from the Google Play Store, albeit only on medium settings. Considering the price and processor, it offers a decent gaming experience.
I’ve actively used the CAMON 30 for internet surfing, social media, watching YouTube videos, some casual gaming, and other everyday tasks. The smartphone performed very well. There were no noticeable lags, even with multiple tabs open. However, the smartphone is clearly not designed for high-performance gaming, such as Call of Duty or other high-end games. When I tried playing Asphalt 9, there were some delays. Similarly, in Call of Duty, the frame rate was unstable, fluctuating around 60 frames per second, and there were instances where the screen froze for a few seconds. Despite these issues, I didn’t experience any overheating problems with the smartphone.
To ensure optimal performance during intense gaming sessions or demanding workloads, the TECNO CAMON 30 features an enhanced 10-layer cooling system – the company’s most advanced solution for temperature management to date. This advanced technology efficiently dissipates heat, ensuring that the device remains cool and responsive even under prolonged loads.
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HiOS 14 based on Android 14
The CAMON 30 runs on Tecno’s HiOS 14 based on Android 14. While the OS offers a similar Android experience, there are a few differences that may not appeal to everyone. For example, swiping right on the home screen opens a widget window inspired by the iOS user interface instead of the Google Discover tab. Additionally, there is a news-sharing tab when scrolling down.
Another aspect worth noting is the pre-installed apps from TECNO, which occupy memory. Although they are not gaming or sponsored apps, some of them belong to the company itself. Most of them didn’t appeal to me, and while some can be uninstalled, the rest can only be disabled.
One of the apps that I find useful is the Ella assistant, which is powered by ChatGPT OpenAI. This chatbot is handy for tasks like translation, data retrieval, and other tasks based on AI.
TECNO has also included several thoughtful software features to enhance user interaction. These include a floating window mode, which allows for easy multitasking, and a smart split-screen feature, allowing the use of two apps simultaneously.
The HiOS 14 interface is quite good and intuitive. The interface itself is pleasant, with large icons and options to customize folder settings. There’s also the option to clone apps, and in the pull-down notification shade, there’s an IR remote widget for controlling appliances.
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Great cameras
Undoubtedly, the camera is a standout feature of the TECNO CAMON 30, offering an excellent balance of price and quality. Equipped with a 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL GN5 main camera and a 50 MP Samsung JN1 front camera, this device is capable of capturing stunning photos even in low-light conditions. Additionally, the main camera is complemented by a 2-megapixel depth sensor.
The large 1/1.57-inch sensor of the main camera and optical image stabilization (OIS) ensure precise capture of every detail even in low-light conditions. The 100 MP ultra-high resolution mode, implemented through software algorithms, provides ample opportunities for cropping in post-production, making it easier to create the perfect shot without the need for framing.
TECNO’s AI-powered image creation capabilities further enhance the camera experience. The Social Turbo feature optimizes video calls on third-party apps, offering voice modulation, background change, beauty mode in videos, Tmoji avatars, and low-light illumination. The AI Erase feature allows users to quickly and easily remove unwanted objects or people from their photos, ensuring that the focus remains on the desired subjects. Additionally, the “Universal Tone” feature ensures accurate capture of skin tones, faithfully representing each person in the image.
Yes, that’s correct. The younger model in the CAMON 30 series received a slightly less powerful photo processing algorithm. While this might seem like a downside, in reality, it results in more natural-looking photos.
Even in night mode, the CAMON 30 managed to capture good details without distorting the final images, although not perfectly. The camera app includes some interesting features like the bokeh effect and sky enhancement, which enhance the overall appeal of the photos. The video is stabilized, sharp, and offers natural colors.
However, the camera app does not offer a wide-angle option, which was somewhat disappointing. As someone who enjoys taking wide-angle photos to capture larger scenes, the absence of this feature was a letdown. Apart from that, there’s not much to criticize in the camera section.
The 50-megapixel front camera with autofocus and eye-tracking feature is particularly impressive, enhancing the experience of vlogs and selfies with incredible clarity and precise eye-tracking autofocus.
The Vlog camera mode provides a comprehensive experience, offering shooting with multiple templates, automatic merging of multiple segments, controlled shooting, and the ability to create vlogs with both the front and rear cameras.
ORIGINAL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS CAN BE VIEWED HERE
Furthermore, the enhanced resolution of the front camera increases clarity during live broadcasts on social platforms, making it an ideal choice for content creators and influencers.
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Impressive battery life
The battery is the highlight of the Camon 30. With normal usage, the 5000mAh battery lasts the whole day, and with standard usage, it can even last up to one and a half days. During intensive use, such as hours of streaming and some gaming, the battery managed to last the entire day. During testing, the device lasted an impressive 14 hours and 12 minutes, which should be more than sufficient for the daily needs of most users.
Another pleasant detail is the inclusion of a 70W power adapter in the package, which charges the smartphone from 0 to 100% in just 45 minutes. However, this requires a deeper look. Fast charging not only requires a powerful adapter but also a high-quality battery and corresponding improvements in the smartphone’s design (heat dissipation). Therefore, the introduction of powerful adapters in the segment of affordable smartphones indicates an overall increase in the quality of components. In this aspect, TECNO is on the right track.
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Conclusions
The TECNO CAMON 30 is a reliable all-around device with a fresh design, a large and vibrant AMOLED display, a sufficiently powerful processor, excellent camera capabilities, and long-lasting battery life.
However, it’s important to note that the subject of my review may not be the best choice for experienced users or those with demanding workloads, as its hardware performance may be somewhat limited in such scenarios.
But not all users prioritize these aspects. For photography enthusiasts and social media influencers on a budget, the TECNO CAMON 30 offers an excellent balance of price and quality. Its impressive camera setup combined with artificial intelligence features and vlogging capabilities make it an excellent choice in its price range.
The TECNO CAMON 30 is an appealing option for those seeking an affordable smartphone with impressive camera capabilities and a focus on content creation. Additionally, its interesting design, decent hardware specifications for its price segment, and exceptional camera performance are among its advantages.
Therefore, if you need a modern smartphone that will delight you with high-quality photos and videos, TECNO CAMON 30 will be a great choice. It is definitely worth your attention!
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