Tecno POVA 6 Pro Review: Significant Upgrades

This year’s TECNO Pova 6 Pro is already available for purchase in the Philippines. The Tecno POVA 6 Pro offers significant improvements over its predecessor and excels in areas such as bright display, extended battery life, fast charging speed, and useful software features. A minor upgrade from last year’s Pova 5 Pro 19, with additional features such as an improved battery and camera sensor. It’s a smartphone designed with mobile gamers in mind, who require a good device at a reasonable price. And if it’s an improvement over last year’s iteration, it’s certainly worth considering.

TECNO POVA 6 PRO KEY FEATURES

The Tecno Pova 5 Pro was introduced only six months ago, therefore the Tecno Pova 6 Pro should be a small update to its predecessor. However, as the name suggests, there is a lot more to it. The Tecno Pova 6 Pro features several generational enhancements across all categories, including display, battery, charging, memory, and camera. It also retains a very similar price when it comes to storage, as the Pova 6 Pro comes with 256GB by default, whereas the Pova 5 Pro started with a 128GB base configuration.

For nearly the same price, the Pova 6 Pro now has a 120Hz OLED panel instead of an IPS LCD; it adds a 108MP main camera to the mix, replacing the earlier 50MP sensor, and increases battery capacity from 5,000 to 6,000mAh. Charging should be slightly faster, and reverse-wired charging should now be possible.

The new handset also retains the Dimensity 6080, which is good news because the Pova 5 Pro performed admirably in our tests and was rated high among similarly priced competitors. Additionally, the Pova 6 Pro is now IP53 dust and splash-proof and has a new look, yet it retains a similar design language. The LED strips on the rear remain intact.

UNBOXING THE TECNO POVA 6 PRO

As usual, Tecno provides a comprehensive retail box that includes not only the standard user manuals, charger, and cable but also a pair of wired headphones from the good old days.

There is also a translucent silicone case for added protection.

CAMERA

In terms of optics, the TECNO Pova 6 Pro has a triple camera setup at the back, led by a 108MP main sensor with Electronic Image Stabilization, followed by a 2MP depth sensor, and a third AI camera sensor that features dynamic lighting and provides additional depth information. It has a 32MP camera sensor up front, and what we enjoy about this selfie camera is the hidden front LED flash in the top right corner of the display’s bezel.

Checking out some photos from Spain, we can see the 108MP sensor at work. We see a lot of detail retention in our sample images, and cropping works much better when shooting a 108MP photo.

The camera’s 2x zoom is electronic rather than optical, as it just crops into the high-quality main sensor. And, for the most part, it wasn’t a major impediment, unless you’re someone who likes the compression of how faces and certain subjects seem with a dedicated telephoto lens. But if you don’t care about it, that’s great. We even got some neat AI camera tools like Sky Shop, which I was able to test out with the photographs on screen.

The story here is that when I woke up early to photograph the Barcelona skyline, I discovered a massive overcast of clouds blotting off the morning sun and so ruining our photographs. That’s when I tried Sky Shop, and it did help, especially when I used “Sunny” to replace the sky, with everything else seeming like a horrible Photoshop job. Hopefully, viewers won’t notice. However, in my perspective, it isn’t really about the gear. And if you can’t seem to get a good, usable shot out of this phone, I recommend taking a photography class or something.

The Pova 6 Pro can record videos at a maximum resolution of 2K at 30fps and 1080p at 30 and 60fps using both the primary and selfie cameras. The Pova 6 Pro also supports Dual Video recording, which allows users to capture video from both the front and back cameras at the same time.

Overall, I was pleased with the camera setup of the Pova 6 Pro 5G. And, when we consider the pricing, we believe we’re getting a lot of phones in this bundle.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

Tecno POVA 6 Pro builds on the POVA 5 Pro’s design language and advances it. Aside from the LED strips found on its predecessor, the POVA 6 Pro features dynamic lighting in the ring surrounding the cameras. The dynamic light effects can be modified in the options menu. While we received the Comet Green variant, the handset will also be available in Meteorite Black. The Comet Green color choice provides a more distinguished appearance than the Black option, although those looking for a more subdued style may prefer the Black option.

The dynamic effects available this time in the revised Arc interface provide additional options and do not feel like an afterthought, as was the case with the POVA 5 Pro. The ‘Party Mode’ feature allows you to keep the dynamic lighting on for as long as you choose. The phone measures 7.9mm thick and weighs 195 grams. While the weight is on the upper side, the phone does not feel overly heavy in your hand. The POVA 6 Pro has a boxy feel, but I found it to be easy to use with one hand. This is especially impressive given that this is the slimmest phone on the market, with a 6,000mAh battery.

Notably, instead of the IPS screen found on the POVA 5 Pro, the new Tecno phone has a 6.78-inch FHD+ (2,460 x 1,080 pixels) AMOLED display (with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1300 nits of peak brightness). I enjoyed viewing videos on this phone. While the color reproduction was more brilliant, the deep blacks made the watching experience genuinely immersive.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

The MediaTek Dimensity 6080 chipset that powers the Pova 6 Pro is well-known, so we have a solid notion of what to expect. It’s also the same chip that powered last year’s Tecno Pova 5 Pro. The chipset is part of the mid-range Dimensity 6000 series of SoCs, falling between the Dimensity 6020 and 6100+. It is built on TSMC’s 6nm N6 manufacturing process and includes an octa-core CPU and a Mali-G57 GPU clocked at 950 MHz.

The CPU comprises two Cortex-A76 cores running at 2.4 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0 GHz for less demanding activities. The Dimensity 6080 we examined comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but there is also a lower-tier variant with 8GB of RAM.

It is also less efficient than current 4nm chips, therefore I believe Tecno made some compromises on the processor of the Pova 6 Pro. I hold this opinion (despite the high ratings) because, as a “gaming” phone, you should at least give something more than the competitors, which is not the case here. In a one-on-one comparison, the recently announced Poco X6 Neo also has the Dimensity 6080 and should deliver comparable performance without the game gimmicks.

The Dimensity 6080 inside the Tecno Pova 6 Pro operates as expected and well within its pricing range. Furthermore, it can outperform the Dimensity 8100+ and Dimensity 7020 in some conditions, including mixed and GPU-heavy workloads.

Buy it if...

• Unusual design with an LED strip on the back, IP53 rated.
• Bright 120Hz OLED panel.
• Excellent battery life.
• One of the fastest chargers available.
• Excellent long-term performance at a reasonable cost.
• During the day, the camera performs admirably, and selfies are particularly appealing.
• HiOS is a feature-rich Android 14 overlay with a 3.5mm port, a dedicated microSD slot, and 256GB of base storage.
• A generous retail package.

Don't buy it if…

• Nighttime camera processing requires some work.
• Only one usable camera on the rear.

FULL SPECIFICATION