The Camon series from Tecno has developed a reputation in the market for offering unique designs and capable cameras. The brand is taking this legacy further with the newly-launched Camon 30 5G, which was launched alongside the Camon 30 Premier 5G recently. The new handsets from the brand aim to offer solid camera performance at a reasonable price. With an AI-enabled Ella assistant, an ultra-clear selfie camera with advanced eye-tracking, and plenty of other features, the Camon 30 5G aims to offer a well-rounded experience under Rs 25,000. Does it manage to do it or do these features feel gimmicky? Read my detailed review to find out.
Verdict
Tecno Camon 30 5G is a good choice for someone who is looking for a camera-centric phone under Rs 25,000. With high-resolution 50MP camera sensors on both the front and back, the handset manages to offer impressive camera performance in most lighting conditions. The phone also offers an impressive display and a distinct design. However, in this price range, you can find more powerful phones such as the Infinix GT 20 Pro (review). If you're leaning more towards a camera-centric phone, Camon 30 is a good choice but in other departments, you have other options.
Design and display
The Tecno Camon 30 5G comes with a "Nature Flow Texture Glass" design on the back, which is essentially a mix of a grainy matte and glossy finish. The brand claims that this design manages to capture nature's complex textures, from the Uyuni salt flats to Iceland's volcanic lava. The distinct look of the phone definitely catches the eye right away and looks appealing.
The rounded camera setup at the back of the phone comes with a fluted bezel on the sides. This design choice gives the phone a premium look.
Instead of placing the LED flash module within the camera bump, the brand has included it outside (adjacent to the camera setup).
On the top left at the back, there is a red indicator light. This light can be used to indicate multiple functions - When Ella (AI) or IR is enabled, incoming calls, and charging.
The handset measures 165.37x75.93x7.83mm, which makes it easy to hold and use even with one hand. However, as the Camon 30 5G weighs around 199g, it feels a bit on the heavier side. Having said that, the phone does feel sturdy and the build quality is pretty good.
The power and volume buttons are conveniently located on the right spine of the phone while you get the SIM card slot on the left. At the bottom, you'll find the USB Type-C charging slot and speaker grille. At the top, there is an IR blaster.
At the front, you are treated to a 6.78-inch FHD+AMOLED (2,436 x 1,080 pixels) display with a hole-punch design and a maximum refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Thanks to the extremely thin bezels on the side of the display, you get an immersive viewing experience.
With a peak brightness of 1300 nits, the phone's display holds up really well even under direct sunlight. I used the phone outdoors and had no issues with visibility.
While the display feels slightly oversaturated, I was impressed with the quality on offer here. Whether you're playing games or watching videos, with the AMOLED panel you already know you will get inky blacks and vibrant colours.
Thanks to the high refresh rate panel, navigation within the UI and the apps feels extremely smooth.
The viewing angles are pretty decent too. Overall, I was impressed by the display quality and didn't face any issues.
Cameras
The Camon 30 5G offers a 50MP primary camera with a 1/1.57-inch sensor size and OIS. The primary camera is assisted by a 2MP depth sensor and a light sensor. There is dual flash support for better low-light photography.
As the brand has emphasised the camera performance of the handset, I clicked as many pictures as possible to figure out the best and worst aspects of the optical performance. I realised that despite the AI branding in the default camera mode, unlike many other handsets in this price range, the phone didn't boost any colours (depending on the subject).
This meant that the skies were not extra blue, the grass was not extra green, and thankfully, even the skin tones captured by the camera were true to real life. With Tecno's skin tone tuning technology, skin tones were effectively captured by the phone. However, the colour accuracy extended to non-human subjects too. Oversaturated images sometimes take away from the essence of the original shot and that's why the colour accuracy offered here truly shines.
In portrait shots, the phone managed to detect edges really well.
The primary camera sensor managed to take some detailed shots (particularly in the 100MP mode) and OIS allowed the videos to be fairly stable. I must say that the videos were not entirely shake-free when shot with hand but the end product was usable on most occasions.
In low-light scenarios, and at night, the phone managed to click good shots without grain even in the default 'AI Cam' mode. This is enabled by the large f/1.88 aperture size of the primary sensor. With Super Night mode, the images clicked in the same scenarios turned out to be even better.
The sky shots didn't show any banding, and the sky shop mode allowed me to apply different filters too. If we talk about other camera modes, you get dual video (lets you record videos from both front and rear cameras at the same time), portrait, panorama, slow-motion, time-lapse, AR shot, documents, and Pro mode.
Within the portrait mode, you get several beautification features such as AI Smart Body, Slim Body, Slim Head, Slim Shoulder, Slim Waist, Plump butt (your read that right!), slim legs, and lengthen legs.
There are three primary filters on offer in the default camera app - Standard, Bright, and CAMON. I personally preferred the CAMON filter, but you can take your pick.
The phone features a 50MP ultra-clear selfie camera with AutoFocus, assisted by Dual Colour Temperature Flash. The selfie camera comes with "advanced" eye-tracking support. Just like the rear camera, the front camera also captures skin tones well. With the high-resolution sensor, the phone manages to click some detailed selfies.
As the selfie camera offers a reliable performance, it can easily be used by those who click a lot of selfies or want to try vlogging.
I compared the phone's primary camera setup with that of the Infinix GT 20 Pro to find out which one clicked better pictures. As you can see, the Camon 30 5G managed to capture colours more accurately. The handset also captured more details in comparison to the GT 20 Pro.
Tecno Camon 30 5G
Infinix GT 20 Pro
Performance and software
With the MediaTek Dimensity 7020 5G chipset at the helm, the Camon 30 5G is not among the most powerful handsets in its price range. If we talk about competition, the likes of the Infinix GT 20 Pro, OnePlus Nord CE4 (review), or even the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion (review) perform better in both benchmarks and real-life usage.
While I didn't face any major hiccups, lag issues, or app crashes during my usage, the performance offered by the phone was not at par with the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, which I reviewed recently.
In the AnTuTu benchmark, the phone managed to get a score of 513359, which means it can handle your regular workload and light gaming.
In the Geekbench test, the handset grabbed a single-core score of 915 and a multi-core score of 2253.
While playing BGMI on the phone, I realised that it offers maximum graphics settings HD - High. In comparison, many other phones in this price range offer up to Ultra HDR option. This meant that while the game ran smoothly, the graphics were lower in comparison to other handsets.
This phone would be perfectly fine for anyone who uses it for everyday tasks and some light gaming. If you're more into gaming, a phone like the Infinix GT 20 Pro could be a better option.
Moving on to software, the Camon 30 5G runs Android 14-based HiOS skin out of the box. This means you get features such as Dynamic Port (Android version of Dynamic Island that shows crucial info), Floating Windows, MemFusion (adds virtual RAM via storage), Smart Panel (multitasking windows), Smart Hub (Cross-app content transfer tool), App Twin (dual app accounts on the same phone), and Kids mode.
The AI assistant Ella can be accessed via voice or by long-pressing the power button. I found the AI assistant to be inconsistent at times. For example, I asked it to set an alarm for each weekday next week for 3 pm. At first it set the alarm on the same day for 12 am. When I said the exact same command again, it asked me to tell it the time (despite me mentioning it in the original voice prompt and it even recognising it). Finally, when I pointed this out, it tried to change the conversation to a different topic.
HiOS offers a clean interface and comes with very few pre-installed apps. The animations and the UI navigation feel smooth and zippy.
The company has promised 3 years of software and security updates.
Battery life and charging speeds
The Tecno Camon 30 5G packs a 5,000mAh battery with 70W fast-charging support. The handset took around 46 minutes to charge from 20 percent to 100 percent in our charging test. This shows that even if your phone is fully drained out, you can simply plug it in for charging before going for a bath and your phone will be fuelled up by the time you are ready to go.
In my usage, the phone offered good battery backup, especially in the standby mode. I managed to get around 7-8 hours of screen-on time with the phone and in the PCMark battery test, the Camon 30 5G lasted for 11 hours and 10 minutes. In regular usage, the phone will easily last beyond a day for you with ease.
Final Verdict
The Tecno Camon 30 5G is priced at Rs 22,999, and ticks quite a few boxes. Howver, it's worth mentioning that if you're looking for a performance-centric phone, the Infinix GT 20 Pro derves consideration, while the Moto Edge 50 Fusion stands out for its lightweight design. Coming back to the Tecno Camon 30 5G, it sports a distinct premium design with a sturdy feel, offers capable cameras (both rear and front) that can click good shots in most lighting conditions, packs a vibrant and fluid AMOLED 120Hz display, and offers 70W fast charging support. It is a good choice for anyone who has these features on their priority list.
Editor's rating: 7 / 10
Pros
The handset features capable cameras that click detailed shots.
Display offers good peak brightness, vibrant colours, and deep blacks.
The phone features a distinct eye-catching premium design.
