Tecno Pova 6 Pro review: Gimmicky gaming gear

Tecno Pova 6 Pro 5G Review: Specifications

• Display: 6.78-inches FHD+ AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 6080 (6nm mobile platform)
• Memory: 8/128, 12/256GB
• Software & UI: HiOS on top of Android 14
• Rear Camera: Triple (108MP primary+ AI camera + 0.08MP)
• Front Camera: 32MP with dual-flash
• Security: Fingerprint sensor (in-display-mounted)
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS / A-GPS / Glonass / Galileo / QZSS / BDS, USB-C, 4G LTE, 5G
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient light, E-compass, Gyro, Proximity, Sensor core
• Battery: 6000mAh with 70W charging (70W adapter inside the box)
• Price in Nepal: NPR 26,999 (8/128GB) 

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review:

Gimmicky glyphy glow

• Dynamic-Light, 210 mini LED beads, 9 presets

First things first, let's talk about the Glyph 'Dynamic Light Effect'. It's one of the eye-catching things about the Pova 6 Pro and unfortunately, it felt very much gimmicky. Sure, you can light it up for notifications and calls but I found myself missing most of it most of the time. Also, my plans for a 'music visualizer' were quickly washed away when I realized there were only 9 presets and you couldn't customize it any further. Overall, it is there if you want to create a cool light show or perform a party trick but not very practical like glyphs in the popular 'Nothing' devices.

Design and Build 

• Dimension: 165.5 mm x 76.1mm x 7.9mm
• Weight: 198.3 g
• Glass front, Plastic frame, Plastic back

Even if you take the gimmicky glowing glyph out of the glamour, the Pova 6 Pro is still one polarizing smartphone. Neither I nor any of my colleagues "loved" the design but it was passable for most. On the other hand, some outright told me they'd never be caught dead rocking one. And to be honest, the gazes Pova 6 Pro got me in social settings might back up the sentiment. Props to Tecno though, as they have been confidently pushing that bold look on their Pova phones for quite a while and the company seems fairly certain that 'the target audience' wants a flashy, funky, and futuristic design.

Besides that, there's really nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to build and materials. You get a plastic frame and cheap-feeling buttons and the overall package feels relatively light. That might feel surprising given the nearly 200g on paper, but the phone is a bit bigger than most and the distribution is decent enough to not let the heft get to you.

Display

• Type: AMOLED, 120Hz, 1300 nits (peak)
• Size: 6.78 inches, 109.2 cm2 (~87.2% screen-to-body ratio)
• Resolution: 1080 x 2436 pixels (~393 ppi density)

On the screen side, I'd say you are getting a very good display for the price. A large 6.78 AMOLED one with vibrant colors, and deep contrast. The basics like resolution, refresh rate, and viewing angles leave no room for complaints. On top of that, the 2160Hz PWM dimming and high touch sampling rate (1500Hz) are welcome additions for sure. Outdoor visibility was also surprisingly good on the Pova 6 Pro 5G.

My experience using the smartphone's display was a pleasant one with fluid UI navigations, immersive movie streaming, and responsive gameplay. The front bezels are also respectably thin for a smartphone in this price range and the hole-punch adds a touch of modernity.

Speakers and Haptics

• Stereo Speakers with Dolby Atmos
• Z-axis vibration motor

The stereo speakers are okay-ish. They're not super loud and do decently with vocals and highs but there isn't much on the lower end. Watching movies and shows is perfectly fine and immersive but I'd opt for an earphone if jamming to music was on my mind. The haptics aren't very good though. It's one of the areas for budget devices to cut costs on so I am not really surprised but calling a Z-axis motor "4D Vibration Sense" seems ridiculous.

Performance

• OS: Android 14, HIOS 14
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 6080 (6nm)
• CPU: Octa-core (2x2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
• GPU: Mali-G52 MC2

Before I get into the nitty and gritty, riddle me this. What do you think of when you hear the word 'Gaming Smartphone'? I think for most people, an outlandish design is probably what characterizes such a device. But I always tend to divert my attention to the chipset, its architecture, cores, and what's cooling it. And when I first took a look at the papers, the same old Dimensity 6080 kinda disappointed me. I mean it's a decent chip for sure, but not something I am expecting a 'gaming' phone in the price range to have. Something like the Dimensity 8020, the newer 7200, or even the Snapdragon 778G would have provided much more raw power for not a whole lot more. The 6080 has just two performance cores and those too are Cortex A76s (@ 2400 MHz).  In contrast, all the other chips that I mentioned either have a higher number of performance cores or more powerful ones. So, they'd all comfortably beat the Dimensity 6080 in single-threaded snappy workflow and the 6080's remaining A55s aren't anything promising under full load either.

It's also less efficient than newer 4nm chips so I think Tecno has somewhat compromised on the processor in the Pova 6 Pro. I hold this opinion (despite the good scores) because when you are a "gaming" phone, you should at least offer a bit more than the competition which is the not case here. Drawing a one-to-one comparison, the recently released Poco X6 Neo also features the Dimensity 6080 and should provide comparable performance without any of the gamery gimmicks.

Gaming 

With that in mind, let's talk gaming. First, I tested the Pova 6 Pro by playing our regular suite of games: PUBG, Call of Duty, Mech Arena, and Genshin Impact and the results were good but nothing out of the ordinary. PUBG plays smoothly be it only at 40 fps (or the Ultra fps setting), while I had no issues with the gameplay on Call of Duty either. The dedicated gyroscope sensor made the gameplay fun while the touch response also felt faster than usual.

With the latter two titles, the Pova 6 Pro somewhat struggled to maintain consistent frame rates across sessions. Genshin on 'Medium' settings struggles to touch the 40 fps mark with frequent dips in the middle while the Mech's gameplay wasn't exactly smooth sailing either.

"Unlock high-frame experience for MLBB (90fps), Free Fire (90fps). Fine-tuned and officially certified for the best frame and graphics on the same platform. " - Tecno

Since I wasn't getting any promising results with the games we normally test for, I also played Mobile Legends Bang Bang and Free Fire, two games that Tecno explicitly mentions in their Pova 6 Pro marketing material. Unfortunately, no wins here either.

Both MLBB and Free Fire ran pretty well at 60 fps but that's nothing impressive since these games pretty much run on anything. The part I was intrigued about was the "90 fps" which I couldn't achieve because there isn't an option for it anywhere. This is most certainly just an optimization thing and could be fixed in the future but I wouldn't call it "Fine-tuned" by a long stretch. The 2871.78 mm² heatsink, paired with all the other optimizations, does keep the phone from overheating during gaming. But a 44-degree reading after 15 minutes of Genshin Impact should help you keep your expectations in check.

UI

• HiOS 14 based on Android 14

I don't have any strong feelings towards Tecno's HiOS but it feels like it could use some optimization. Every YouTube video I watch defaulted to 480p despite an FHD+ screen and some Netflix shows also played in low quality. I also think that battery optimization could be improved in the future. Besides that, HiOS feels light and not as heavily skinned as most others and there seem to not be any glaring problems that I could find. Pova 6 Pro 5G boots on the latest software (Android 14) but you'll probably only get two years of Android and security updates.

  There's considerably less bloatware than the last Tecno phone I've held so that's a plus. I also like the 'Game Space' and 'Gaming Assistant sidebar' features but the MIUI-like control/notification panel isn't my cup of tea.

Battery and storage

• 6000 mAh and 70W charging

Endurance-wise, the Pova 6 Pro is pretty good. I think Tecno can still optimize to get more out of the 6,000 mAh battery but the 1.5 day of battery life I was getting is above average. The 70W charger is also the fastest in this price range. You can expect 50% top-ups in just about 20 minutes, whereas a full charge takes about 55 minutes! Just for fun, I decided to test their "1% Super-Endurance Power" claim of 20 min call time, 5 mins of gaming, and 4+ hours of standby on 1% battery. Surprisingly, I was able to play a full TDM match in PUBG (~7 -10 mins) so I'd say it kind of holds up in that regard as well!

Camera 

• Rear: 108MP, f/1.9, 1/1.52", 0.7µm + 2MP depth + 0.08MP
• Front: 32MP, f/2.2, 1/3.1", 0.7µm

The camera is one of the foundational pillars of any smartphone and 'gaming' ones don't share a good rep in this regard. So, I was expecting the Pova 6 Pro to butcher this part and have a disappointing performance. I'll gladly tell you that it's not the case here. Firstly, the downsides. Though there are 3 lenses on the back, only the main 108MP one is actually useful. The other two are just complementary and don't do anything on their own. Daylight photos from the Pova 6 Pro actually look pretty decent for the price. The 9-to-1 pixel binning from the 108MP camera ensures a decent amount of detail and sharpness. The image processing and colors aren't terrible either with the Pova opting for a flat natural look instead of the poppy and saturated one we often see in this price range. But as with the case with most others, the dynamic range and highlight control isn't very good so be prepared for crushed shadows and overblown highlights.

Human subjects and portraits could also be better as faces tend to come out looking flat with unnatural skin tones. But for a budget device, you could argue it's okay-ish enough. Normal selfies look passable but the portrait mode oversharpens faces and the output looks overly edited for most people. Lowlight photography with the Tecno Pova 6 is nothing exciting. You can get decent-looking shots of sign-boards and temples but the lack of OIS is clear as day in terms of overall sharpness in most. Video-wise, you can shoot up to 2K 30fps from the front and rear cameras. The details are better than in a typical FHD video, but it struggles with proper stabilization. The 'Super Steady' at FHD 30fps produces fairly usable footage and solves the stability problem mentioned earlier. The front also goes up to 2k 30fps and the dual flash might come in handy when shooting during low light. So, you are getting above-average videography capabilities for the 200-250$ price range.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro 5G Review: Conclusion 

So to put it into a few words, Tecno Pova 6 Pro is a decently packaged smartphone littered with gimmicks. At its core, the experience is solid enough but not very far off from the competition. The design might be an instant dealbreaker for a lot of people but even if you look past that, there might be alternatives with better performance, better cameras, or better software experience elsewhere. The Pova 6 Pro isn't available in most markets right now. But the pricing should be somewhere around 220-250 USD. For that, you can get the iQOO z9 for performance, Samsung Galaxy A24 or A15 5G for cameras, or pick the OS of your choice. There isn't much that appeals to me about Tecno's Pova 6 Pro. I could get behind it had the phone packed a punch, but it's just average in that aspect as well. With all that said, I don't see it appealing to a very large audience despite being a decent deal.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro 5G Review : Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Ample Memory (8/256GB base)
• Good display for the price
• Lasting endurance with fast top-ups

Cons:

• Polarizing design
• Okish performance for a 'gaming' phone
• Basic Cameras
• Software needs optimization