Tecno Camon 30 Premier review: The ultimate mid-range all-rounder?

Today I have the latest smartphone from Tecno – the Camon 30 Premier! And before starting off with this Tecno Camon 30 Premier review, let me tell you something... If you have been following Tecno closely, you will be surprised by how improved their phones have become lately. And this (show phone) is a perfect example of how Tecno, as a brand, has grown and is getting really competitive.  The Camon 30 Premier is priced at Rs. 24,000 Pesos in the Philippines and some INR . 36,999 in India for the sole 12GB RAM and 512GB storage variant. And at that price, I think it has a LOT to offer, especially with the cameras.

Tecno Camon 30 Premier Specifications

• Design: Retro camera-inspired design
• Dimensions: 162.7 x 76.2 x 7.9 mm
• Weight: 210 gm
• Display: 6.77” LTPO AMOLED Panel, 1400 nits brightness, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR, 1400 nits (HBM)
• Resolution: 1.5K (1,264 x 2,780)
• Chipset: Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultra (4nm)
• CPU: Octa-core (1x3.1 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
• RAM: Up to 12GB + 12GB extendable
• ROM: Up to 512GB
• OS: Android 14 with HiOS on top
• Rear Camera: Triple Camera (50MP Sony IMX890 Primary + 50MP Ultrawide + 50MP Periscope)
• Front Camera: 50MP Camera (Centre-aligned hole-punch cutout)
• Battery: 5,000 mAh cell with 70W super fast charging
• Connectivity: 5G, WiFi, Hotspot, Bluetooth, USB Type-C
• Color Options: Silver, Black
• Check out the full specs of the Camon 30 Premier

Tecno Camon 30 Premier Review

Design

Anyway, let me start my review with this unique-looking design! If you look at the design of most of the phones under 35,000, honestly they all look quite boring with Plastic bodies, right?  But, here, the Tecno Camon 30 Premier is trying to offer a premium experience right away. It has a more robust aluminum frame and a nice eco-leather back that nicely fuses with the metal on the right side like this. I also like this modern-looking camera module, which gives off a flagship phone vibe. Now, I don't know how to explain this, but the top half of the Camon 30 Premier'sback protrudes like this, which helps for a better grip while holding the phone. So…Overall, I like its solid heft and it definitely feels like you are carrying a flagship phone. BTW, I am currently reviewing the Poco F6 and the Realme GT Neo 6T and they don't feel like I am holding an expensive phone. So, great job by Tecno in this regard. I also like this LED notification on the back which lights up when I receive a call or notifications. It’s just one of those small quality-of-life things you might like having on your phone.

Display

Upfront, I am happy with the display quality too. The Tecno Camon 30 Premier has minimal bezels all around, but more than that Tecno has included a nice OLED LTPO panel that refreshes at as low as 10Hz and can go up to 120Hz. It also produces nice colour, viewing angles and contrast, and the touch response is great too. However, HDR support on Netflix and Amazon Prime is missing here. But that’s something the company can push via an update, so I hope that will happen soon! This display of the Camon 30 Premier can get fairly bright as well, but I struggled a bit while using it outdoors in direct sunlight. So, not as good as the competition, but it’s completely fine when used indoors. I also would have liked it if the fingerprint sensor was a little above , it's positioned a bit lower for my small hands to reach easily, but never mind! It's fast and responsive, so I got used to it pretty quickly.

Audio and Haptics

That being said, I like the haptic feedback here. It seems like Tecno has used top-grade X-asis motor, so it feels pleasing to type on. Likewise, the speakers on it sound nice with Dolby Atmos support. It can get very loud too with slightly higher trebles, but overall I had a nice time listening to music and watching movies on this phone.

UI and Software

Another aspect where I feel like about the Camon 30 Premier is its improved UI. Tecno is in the right direction is its software game.  Two or three years ago, Tecno’s software was just trash. There was a lot of bloatware which I could not uninstall and it would get frustrating. Plus, they were even accused of coming with pre-installed malware in Africa. But things have changed a lot since last year! Tecno’s new HiOS has been as clean and refined as stock Android. There are some pre-installed apps but most of them can be uninstalled or disabled. Plus, Tecno has also finally committed to providing 3 years of OS upgrades, so thats great process to see.

Performance

The overall performance of the Camon 30 Premier is also more than satisfactory! It’s definitely not as fast as the Poco or IQOO, but the Dimensity 8200 Ultra thats powering this phone is a decent chipset and I didn't find it to be slow. The 12GB RAM also helps, so I was able to get a fast day-to-day experience here. Tecno has also recently pushed an update that has improved the thermals. Previously, it used to get warm quite fast and quite easily, but now it remains cool. Even in terms of gaming, I am seeing better temperatures and fps after the update. But, if you are a hardcore gamer, you will get better gaming results on phones like Poco F6 or the Neo 9 Pro. But, if you don't play a lot of games, like me, this phone will work just fine.

Battery and Charging

The only area I think Tecno should improve is optimizing the battery endurance. Although the Camon 30 Premier has a big enough 5000mAh battery, an LTPO screen, and a 4nm energy-efficient chipset, I am not getting as good of battery life here. The max I am getting is like 5-5.5 hours of SOT, it should be providing me with better backup! There seems to be some optimisation issue. The overnight battery drain is also quite high, so..! Thankfully, Tecno has provided a fast 70W wired charger inside the box, which can get the phone from 0 to 100% in about 45 minutes!

Cameras 

Ok, another aspect I believe where the Tecno Camon 30 Premier stands out against the competition is its cameras! The company is marketing it as the first mid-range smartphone with Sony's dedicated imaging chip, which helps the CPU’s ISP for faster and better image processing. Along with that, the camera hardware looks promising as well with a 50MP Sony IMX 890 main lens, a 50MP Ultrawide lens, and a 50MP periscope lens with 3x optical zoom. Upfront too, we have a 50MP selfie camera. Ok so first, let me talk about the portraits and a disclaimer: if you like taking portraits... you will be happy with what the Camon 30 Premier does.

Portraits

You can click in different focal lengths like 1X, 1.5X, and 2X, but the 3X 70mm portraits from the periscope are something outstanding. The shots are something that can even be compared to a flagship phone. The background blur, the skin tone, edge detection in the Camon 30 Premier is superbly rendered. Even my dog’s portrait looks so good. The best thing is the near-natural color reproduction and detail preservation!  

Main Camera

Even from the main camera, the output is nice. I am not a fan of the warmth the photos have most of the time, and the colour tuning could have been better too but the details, sharpness and dynamic range are most of the good here. The only that Tecno tends to go overboard is with the contrast and shadow processing sometimes, but other than that, in good lighting conditions, the photos come out quite nice. Much better than the Poco, Realme or IQOO phones.

Night Time

That’s especially true during nighttime! Just look at these samples, they are just outstanding! I mean, I have never seen a mid-range phone process exposure, sharpness and highlights so well during nighttime. Trust me when I say this, out of all the nighttime samples I have taken from this phone, only 2-3 are not good, otherwise, the nighttime capabilities of its primary lens is quite good. The 3x nighttime photos are not bad too, the sharpness and everything are good, but it's just that sometimes the images look a bit faded.

UltraWide

Even the ultra-wide lens is above average in my books. Here, even though it is a 50MP sensor, the details are not comparable to its main lens and you will notice a definite degradation in dynamic range too. That stands true for both daytime as well as nighttime ultra-wide photos.

Selfies

Also, selfies are just okay here, nothing extra. Sometimes you can get a few nice shots but at times, the pictures are contrasty and shadows are not maintained well!

Videography

Videography-wise, Tecno has surprised me once again. You can shoot 4k 60 fps footage from all four lenses. Weirdly, the phone does not let you switch between the lenses at any resolution, so that's something I hope an update will fix it. At 4k 60 fps, the videos don’t have good stabilization, but if you switch to 30 fps the videos are quite nice with nice colors and details as well.

Tecno Camon 30 Premier Review Conclusion

So, if you look at all the smartphones that come within its price range, most of them are focusing on performance & performance only! But I think Tecno has surprisingly found a way to offer all-rounder balanced features here! So, yeah, a surprisingly good phone from Tecno that's easy for me to recommend, especially if you want the best camera for the price. However, the device has not been launched in Nepal just yet, but if it arrives, it might be the time of the year to switch to Tecno.

Tecno Camon 30 Premier Review Pros and Cons

Pros

• Unique premium design
• Satisfactory performance
• Excellent camera capabilities, especially for portraits
• Good audio quality with Dolby Atmos support.

Cons

• Display struggles in direct sunlight.
• Average selfie camera.
• Battery management could be better
• No HDR support