Tecno Phantom 8 Review

Tecno Phantom 8 is the latest flagship smartphone from Tecno that looks to take things up from where the impressive Phantom 6 and 6 Plus left off. The smartphone packs dual cameras, speedy octa-core processor and abundant RAM.

Design and Display

The Tecno Phantom 8 doesn’t look too bad for something to rub shoulders with heavyweights such as the Samsung galaxy 8 and iPhone 8. It sports a metallic chassis with an alluring 3D ‘Diamond Fire Design’ for a good touch. The edges are curvy and the overall profile is rather svelte at 7.9 millimeters.
Tecno Phantom 8 sports a 5.7-inch IPS display with Full HD resolution of 1,080 x 1,920 pixels. You may expect slightly sharper images than what the predecessor offered. There is robust Corning Gorilla Glass to protect against scratches.

The Cameras

This again joins the bandwagon of flagships rocking dual rear cameras. Tecno Phantom 8 combines a 12MP sensor with a 13MP sensor for greater image depth and quality. You get Tri-LED flash, autofocus and 10X zoom among the shot features.
Bright selfies are on the card with this one. There is an amazing 20MP camera with dual-LED flash on the front. Selfie lovers are sure going to love this!

Hardware and Software

Apps and games will run with practically no glitches on the Tecno Phantom 8. This is because it boasts an octa-core MediaTek Helio P25 processor that gets support from generous 6GB RAM. The system memory is the company’s best ever.
For storage, you get 64GB space on the inside. This is expandable by jaw-dropping 2 TB using a microSD card. The Tecno Phantom 8 ships with Android 7.0 Nougat sporting HiOS 3.0 skin – this is a tad disappointing. But there’s promise of an upgrade.

Other Features

Another thing that may disappoint some buyers a bit is that the Tecno Phantom 8 comes with a 3,500mAh battery. However, this supports fast charging to reduce the amount of time it stays in the socket.
Tecno Phantom 8 features a fingerprint scanner and supports fast LTE connectivity. It has a USB Type-C port, dual SIM slots, USB On-The-Go (OTG), and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct.

Pricing and Availability

Tecno Phantom 8 is now available in Nigeria and Kenya. It starts at a price of 1399 AED. You can buy the Android phone at leading online stores in the countries. Tecno Phantom 8 price in Nigeria ranges from 121,000 Naira to 170,000 Naira.
Tecno Phantom 8 Price in Kenya starts at around 36,495 KSh. Price in Ghana is expected to start at around GH₵ 1465. The Tecno Phantom 8 was launched in the UAE and is expected in a couple of countries in the Middle East.

General Features

• Status: Available, From October, 2017
• Platform: Android 7.0 (Nougat), HiOS
• Processor: 2.6GHz Octa-core Processor: 2.6GHz quad-core Cortex A53 and 1.6GHz Cortex A53 (MediaTek Helio P25)
• GPU: Mali 880
• Memory: 6 GB RAM
• Colours: Galaxy Blue, Champagne Gold, Black
• Dimension: 159.95 x 79.5 x 7.9 mm
• Weight: –
• SIM Type: Micro-SIM
• SIM Count: Dual SIM, Dual Standby

Display

• Display: 5.7-inch IPS Display, 1080 x 1920 pixels (400ppi)
• Screen Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass (version unspecified)

Camera

• Rear Camera: 12 MP + 13MP Dual Camera, 1080p HD Video
• Rear Camera Features: Tri-tone-LED Flash, Autofocus, Geo-tagging, 10X Digital Zoom
• Front Camera: 20 MP Camera, Dual-tone LED Flash

Storage

• Built-in Storage: 64GB Storage
• Memory Card Support: Yes, up to 2TB (in practice up to 256GB) (Requires the SIM2 slot)
• Bundled Cloud Storage: –

Network Support

• 2G GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz
• 2G CDMA 1X: No
• 3G WCDMA: 850 / 2100MHz
• 3G CDMA EVDO: No
• 4G LTE: Yes, LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800), 28(700), 38, 40

Internet & Connectivity

• GPRS: Yes, up to 48kbps
• EDGE: Yes
• 3G/WCDMA/HSPA: Yes
• HSPA+: Yes
• CDMA EVDO: No
• 4G LTE: Yes, up to 300 Mbps
• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Wi-Fi Hotspot: Yes
• Bluetooth: Yes, Bluetooth 4.2 with A2DP
• NFC: No
• Infrared Blaster: No
• USB Port: Yes, USB Type C

Messaging

• SMS/MMS: Yes
• Instant Messaging: Yes
• Push Emails: Yes
• Email Protocol: IMAP4, POP3, SMTP

Entertainment

• Music Player: Yes, mp3, WAV, FLAC, eACC+
• Video Player: Yes, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, XviD
• FM Radio: Yes
• Loudspeaker: Yes
• 3.5mm Jack: Yes

Navigation

• Navigation: Yes, GPS with A-GPS
• Maps: Yes, Google Maps

Sensors & Control

• Digital Compass: Yes
• Accelerometer: Yes
• Proximity Sensor: Yes
• Light Sensor: Yes
• Barometer: No
• Pedometer: No
• Heart Rate Monitor: No
• Gyroscope: Yes
• Fingerprint Scanner: Yes (Rear)
• Iris Scanner: Yes
• Intelligent Digital Assistant: Yes
• Motion Sensing / Gesture Control: No
• Voice Control: Yes

Other Features

• Video Streaming: Yes
• Active Noise Cancellation: –
• Wireless Charging: No
• Water Resistant: No
• Dust Resistant: No
• Image Editor: No (download at store)
• Video Editor: No (download at store)
• Document Viewer: Yes
• Document Editor: No (download at store)

Battery

• Battery: 3500 mAh Battery (non-removable)
• Standby Time: –
• Talktime: –
• Video Playback: –