The Tecno Phantom 9 is the latest promising smartphone from the Chinese company to make it to the Nigerian shores. Tecno Mobile is a subsidiary of Transsion Holding Company, which also owns other brands like iTel, Infinix, and Spice. Tecno and it’s sister brand mainly focuses on bringing affordable smartphones into the Africa market, and they hold around 45% of the total Africa phone market share.
With the launch of Phantom 9, Tecno is looking forward to replicating that success to an extent in Nigeria. In addition, Tecno Phantom 9 boost of a sleek design with an AMOLED display, and a triple camera stack that helps the phone stand out from the crowd. But are all these features enough to make the Tecno Phantom 9 a strong competitor against the incredibly popular Redmi Note 7 Pro, Huawei Y9 Prime 2019, and Realme 3 Pro? Let’s find out on our Tecno Phantom 9 full review.
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Tecno Phantom 9 Key Specifications
- Display: 6.39-inches AMOLED
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Processor: Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 (12nm)
- Front Camera: 32-megapixel
- Rear Camera: 16-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel
- RAM: 6GB
- Storage: 128GB
- Battery Capacity: 3500mAh
- OS: Android 9 (Pie), HiOS 5.0
Tecno Phantom 9 Review: Design and Build-up
The Tecno Phantom 9 has a trendy and reflective design. The device comes with a reflective plastic rear that can be mistaken for glass. The phone sports a micro design pattern on its rear panel, which Tecno defines as a “Holographic Design.” Recently, gradient scheme has been a trend for many smartphone brands, and the Phantom 9 isn’t left out. The back panel goes from light upwards and slides down to dark blue, a design that is welcomed by all Tecno fans. Also, Tecno has thrown in a purple chromaticity into the mix. The Tecno Phantom 9 design is a pure definition of stylish, tacky, and quality, and this is where Tecno crosses it.
On the rear panel, the Tecno Phantom 9 sports a noticeable camera bump, which causes unsteady motion when placed on a table. Upfront, the Tecno Phantom 9 flaunts its amazing slim bezels. This is one of the most selling points of this smartphone. Fortunately, the phone’s 158.5 x 75.3 x 7.9 mm dimension is quite thin, which makes it a dream phone for slim handset fans.
For security, the Tecno Phantom 9 flaunts an in-display scanner which works perfectly at most times, but sometimes you’ll struggle to unlock your phone especially when your thumb is wet. However, the rear panel easily magnets fingerprint smudges and scratches. Fortunately, Tecno provides a transparent protective back cover that helps to keep off smudges and increases grip.
The Tecno Phantom 9 possesses a very clicky power button and volume rockers. Connectors and ports such as micro USB, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a mono loudspeaker are perfectly placed at the bottom edge of the phone.
Tecno Phantom 9 Review: Display
Here comes the main talking point of Tecno Phantom 9. The smartphone’s 6.39-inches AMOLED display is one of the finest in this price range. This is the same type of display you generally see on flagship handsets including iPhone XS, Galaxy S10 Family, Huawei P40, and others. Meanwhile, AMOLED screens don’t need a backlight, you get a stunning and captivating contrast ratio.
The Tecno Phantom 9 AMOLED display colors look vibrant, and the blacks are rendered to the highest quality. Amazingly, the highly-rated Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro’s screen is nothing compared to what you’ll get on Tecno Phantom 9.
The Phantom 9 FHD+ display has over 400 ppi pixel density, which paves way for a pretty sharp display. The screen is bright enough to operate under direct sunshine. For protection, the Tecno Phantom 9 relies on Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Tecno Phantom 9 Review: Cameras
Moving to the camera department, the Phantom 9 is integrated with a triple camera set-up. The 16-MP main camera is supported by an 8-MP wide-angle lens and a 2-MP depth sensor. The Tecno Phantom 9 camera app offers Bokeh, AI, Panorama, Beauty, and AR modes. However, the camera default setting is AI cam, and that’s what you’re going to use most of the time.
The Phantom 9 main camera offers decent camera performance. Photos taken are delivered with a good amount of details especially in well lighted conditions, but the sharpening effect turns out to be a bit aggressive. The 8-megapixel wide-angle lens performs decently, and Tecno does a great job by correcting the wide-lens barrel distortion. Unfortunately, the Phantom 9 wide-angle lens shots are mostly dark when compared to the main camera.
However, the handset lacks a dedicated night mode. This is not a surprise to us as that’s the issue with most mid-range phones. The Phantom 9 records Full HD videos at 30 fps.
For selfies, the phone is equipped with a 32-MP AI front-facing camera. The Tecno Phantom 9 is outstanding when it comes to self-portraits. You get plenty of well-detailed photos and accurate color reproduction. Finally, the Tecno Phantom 9 camera is quite good but is far behind Redmi Note 7 Pro.
Tecno Phantom 9 Review: Hardware Performance and Software
The Phantom 9 is powered by a mid-range MediaTek MT6765 Helio P35 chipset loaded with 6GB of RAM. This prevents the handset from lag and stutter at bay during normal tasks. However, things go south when it comes to gaming. The Phantom 9 MediaTek processor paired with PowerVR GE8320 GPU manages to run PUBG Mobile and other high-end games like a slideshow even on low settings.
The Tecno Phantom 9 runs on Android 9 Pie on top of HiOS 5.0 interface. Unfortunately, while most brands are trying to strike in cohesive and neat designs, Tecno is heading in the opposite direction. Right from the home screen, the interface elements look clustered. The software makes it worse by bringing in unnecessary random news and game recommendations on the home screen.
Tecno Phantom 9 Review: Battery Capacity
The phone is powered by a 3500mAh battery cell. The Phantom 9 ships with a 5V 2A charger out of the box. However, the handset takes over 2hrs to fully charge from 0-100%. On a single charge, the Tecno Phantom 9 can easily last for 24 hours with few gameplay and screen-to-body of around 7 hours.
Tecno Phantom 9 Review: Price in Nigeria and Availability
The Tecno Phantom 9 is not a bad phone. The AMOLED display is undoubtedly the biggest selling point of the handset. The Tecno Phantom 9 is currently on sale for ₦92,000 (roughly $236). You can buy the phone at any leading phone store or slot in Nigeria.
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Tecno Phantom 9 Full Specifications
General
- Brand: Tecno
- Model: Phantom 9
- Release Date: July 2019
- Operating System: Android Version 9 Pie, HiOS 5.0
- Weight: 164g
- Colors: Blue, Purple, Lapland Aurora
Display
- Touchscreen: YES
- Type: AMOLED
- Display Size: 6.39-inches
- Screen Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Dimensions: 158.5 x 75.3 x 7.9 mm
- FaceLock Support: YES
- In-display fingerprint scanner: Yes
- Sensors: Fingerprint (under display, optical)
Platform
- Chipset: Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 (12nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53)
- GPU: PowerVR GE8320
Memory
- RAM: 6GB
- Inbuilt Storage: 128GB
- SD Card slot: YES
Camera
- Rear Flash: LED Flashlight
- Rear Camera: 16-MP + 8-MP + 2-MP
- Video: 1080p@30
- Front Camera: 32-MP
- Front Flash: —
Connectivity
- Wi-Fi: YES
- Bluetooth: 5.0
- USB: MicroUSB 2.0
- GPS: YES
- WLAN: YES
Network
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
- Technology: GSM | HSPA | LTE
- 3G Support: Yes
- 4G/ LTE Support: Yes
- 5G Support: NO
Battery
- Capacity: Li-lon 3500 mAh, non-removable
- Fast Charge: No
Price
- Price in Nigeria: ₦92,000
- Price in Dollar: $236
