Techno Blender
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An affordable gaming phone that’s actually for gaming

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Some phones are meant to just be phones; portable digital companions. However, some phones are designed and destined to serve a singular purpose. The Tecno Pova line of phones is an example of the latter. These phones are designed to bring the gaming phone down to a lower price point. Well, I was given the opportunity to review the Tecno Pova 6 Pro 5G, which is the latest in this line of phones.

Going into this review, I was a bit skeptical. I reviewed the Pova 5 Pro (Review) last year. It was a triumph in several ways, but a disappointment in one key area, gaming. Tecno managed to squeeze every gaming phone trope into this phone: badass design, LED lights, game launcher, large cooling chamber, and an overall gamer aesthetic. However, with the phone’s poor gaming performance, it felt like Tecno just dressed up a mundane mid-range phone to look powerful.

Because of this, I hesitated to call it a gaming phone. It’d be like calling a sedan a sports car because someone put on a spoiler and stripe down the middle. Well, did Tecno deliver a hot rod this time around, or is it just another fancy paint job? Let’s find out.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Design

One thing I appreciate about Tecno and other companies like it is the fact that it’s not afraid to give their phones a bold and outlandish design. Well, the design of the Pova 6 Pro is nothing if not bold and outlandish. Honestly, I had trouble finding the words to properly describe it. Tecno gave the Pova 6 Pro a design that’s futuristic but very pretty at the same time.

True to the design philosophy of the Camon 20 Pro/Premier and the Pova 5, the back of the phone is adorned with an array of angled lines and shapes. Even the shape of the camera cutout matches this aesthetic. In between the lines, there’s a mish-mash of different textures and designs. The remarkable thing about the design is that it’s wildly inconsistent; there are different shapes, lines, textures, and text strewn about the phone. However, they all mesh together somehow. It creates a pleasantly eclectic aesthetic that I’m all for.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (1)

There’s just so much going on, but it keeps from being too much. The colorway I’m reviewing is the Comet Green color, and it looks gorgeous. You don’t see too many phones on the market with an overall green color scheme, but this phone wears it well. What makes the phone look even better are the subtle gold accents on the back. They stand out, but they do so in an elegant manner.

Dotted throughout the back of the phone, Tecno actually placed text showing off some of the specs of the phone, which I thought was a weird addition. If you look closely at the phone, you’ll see the main camera resolution, “Ultra Charge”, “NFC”, “06”, and “HI-DENSITY BATTERY 6000mAh”. You don’t have to look closely for that last one, as it’s laid out in gold.

LED lights

Being a gaming phone, the Pova 6 Pro needs to have some sort of extraneous lights on the hardware. I’d be lying if I said that this phone didn’t look like it took a few notes from Nothing. The in-laid LED lights on the back of the phone remind me of the Nothing Phone (1). Even the Pova 5 had LED lights.

Just like with the Pova 5, you’ll see the lights during several different scenarios. You’ll see the lights when gaming, charging the phone, taking photos, and starting the phone.

However, this time around, Tecno made some changes to its lights, and the company took a step backward in my opinion. The lights on the back of the Pova 5 Pro covered most of the back. On the other hand, the lights on the Pova 6 Pro only reside in the camera package. There’s a Y-shaped section that lights up along with a circle of lights around one of the camera sensors. It looks incredibly underwhelming compared to the lights on the Pova 5, and that’s saying a lot because the lights on the Pova 5 weren’t all that impressive, to begin with.

Not only are the lights on the Pova 6 smaller, but they’re not colorful like the lights in last year’s phone. They only shine in white, which is far less impressive compared to the lights on the Pova 5, which were full RGB.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (9)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (9)

Honestly, I think that the phone looks better with the lights off. They’re situated in one location and they’re only one color. The lights are a far cry from what they were in the Pova 5 Pro. I wouldn’t say that the lights subtract anything from the design. I just say that they don’t really add anything to the experience. The design is perfectly fine without them.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Build quality

I admire companies like Tecno. It’s able to bring some premium features down to an affordable price point. However, most companies that do this wind up running into the same obstacle, build quality. Phones can look, sound, and perform great… but they rarely feel great.

There’s no escaping the fact that this is an affordable phone. The moment I picked it up, it became obvious that I was holding a solid hunk of plastic. I could feel the plastic frame of the phone and, based on the warping of the reflections on the back of the phone, it’s clear that the back is made from plastic. In fact, just pressing my finger on it causes the back plastic to bend, which is not a good feeling.

Along with the plasticy feeling, there’s a notable lack of heft that you’ll instantly feel. This is only made worse by the thickness of the phone. The Pova 6 Pro is a decently thick phone, so the lack of heft doesn’t make the phone feel light; it makes it feel hollow. It’s lacking that feeling of density that you feel with premium phones.

This is not to say that the phone was cheaply put together. The buttons on it are nice and clicky and I didn’t hear any creaks or other sounds when applying some force to it. This phone should be fine as long as you don’t reenact a JerryRigEverything durability test. However, you’d want to be careful not to leave it where it can be sat on or stepped on.

This is the kind of thing you should expect from a phone under $300, so I’m not disappointed. Though, I will say that with how plasticy it feels, it takes away from the experience just a bit. Picking it up gives me the feeling that I’m holding a phone that’s not worth my time. If you’re used to using other phones from Tecno or comparable brands, then this might not be that much of a letdown. Just know that this phone will not feel anywhere near as premium as it looks.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (2)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (2)

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Display

This is a new iteration in the Tecno Pova series, so there are going to be areas where this phone improves over the Pova 5 Pro. The display is one of the biggest upgrades over last year’s model. The Pova 5 Pro sported a nice-looking LCD panel that ran at 120Hz. I have to tip my hat to Tecno because it was a rather beautiful display. It’s definitely one of the best LCD displays that I reviewed, but it fell short of the types of displays I had grown accustomed to from Tecno.

I was used to the displays on the Tecno Camon 20 Pro, Camon 20 Premier, and Infinix Note 30 Pro (both Tecno and Infinix are owned by Transsion, and the phones mentioned are using extremely similar displays if not the same panels.). The displays on these phones are bright and absolutely breathtaking in their color reproduction and calibration. The Pova 5 Pro’s display fell behind in color saturation (which was a given) and brightness.

The Tecno Pova 6 Pro’s display is an upgrade over the Pova 5’s in every way. Honestly, I was blown away when I powered on this phone.

Brightness

We’re at a point where affordable phones are coming out with incredibly bright displays. This is why I was surprised when I saw the screen brightness of the Pova 5 Pro. Looking at it in direct sunlight reminded me of the bygone days when you had to cover your screen in the sun just to see it.

I expected more of the same with the Pova 6 Pro, but it looks like Tecno decided to increase the brightness by a large margin. It’s not the brightest display on the market, but it’s more than bright enough to be seen in bright daylight. I’m able to comfortably see everything on the screen in just about any lighting condition.

There’s also a high-brightness mode that will further increase the brightness of the screen when you’re in a particularly bright environment. One thing I noticed, however, was that the screen didn’t really get that much brighter. What I think the phone does is increase the contrast of the screen so that it’s easier to see when you’re in brighter light.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (3)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (3)

One issue regarding the brightness doesn’t have to do with the hardware. I think that the auto-brightness feature could use some tweaks. It’s pretty slow to adjust the brightness to match the lighting conditions. I’d see the brightness slowly increase or decrease to reach the desired level, and this process would take about 10 seconds at times.

Also, when I’d bring it into darker environments, the phone would drop its brightness down to 0%. I get that the phone wants to conserve battery and make for a comfortable viewing experience, but 0% brightness is just a bit too far.

Colors

This time around, Tecno went for an AMOLED display rather than an LCD, so there’s a clear difference in color saturation. The colors produced by this display are beautiful. As with all AMOLED displays, the colors are saturated, but it goes further than that. Tecno calibrates its displays to reach the sweet spot between saturated and oversaturated.

Out of the box, the colors already look rather punchy. I’d say that they’re meant to give you some generally nice-looking colors so that you can enjoy your content. However, if you’re looking for even more extreme colors, then you’re able to push the brightness even further in the display settings. There’s a “Bright color” mode that will boost the saturation even more.

I think that the heightened color saturation pushes them right to the edge of being oversaturated, but it doesn’t go overboard. I’ve used this term before in my other reviews, but I call these colors “Responsibly saturated.” They’re punchy and juicy, but they keep from being too much.

Overall

My feelings toward the Pova 5 Pro were a bit lukewarm, and one reason was because of the display. It just didn’t hold a candle to the displays from the likes of the Camon 20 phones and Infinix Note 30 Pro. With the Pova 6 Pro, I can’t take my eyes off of the display. It strikes such an amazing balance with its color production. The Pova 6 Pro is the first phone ever that I prefer using the out-of-the-box color saturation settings with. The saturation is so perfect intrinsically that I don’t need to boost them.

This, coupled with the increased brightness has completely redefined the kind of display experience you can get with this phone. It’s one of those situations when I have to remind myself that this is a -$300 phone. Logically, superior technologies trickle down over the years; several years ago, only phones over $800 would have high-performing OLED panels. Now, the technology is more accessible.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (14)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (14)

So, it makes sense that this phone’s display is very nice. However, it still blows my mind every time I unlock the screen.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Performance

The story of this phone’s performance is a confusing one, and I’ll tell you why a bit later in the review. For now, let’s just focus on the day-to-day performance. I was a little confused as to why Tecno chose the processor that it did for this phone. The Pova 6 Pro is using the MediaTek Dimensity 6080. This is the same processor that was in the Pova 5 Pro. That phone was able to perform rather well.

This time around, I’m actually seeing more stutters and dropped frames throughout the software than I saw last year, and I think this might be because of the fact that it’s running Android 14. It doesn’t create an overall laggy experience, but I noticed more stutters and dropped frames than I’d like to see.  Summoning the notification shade would take a full second at times, loading apps would be slow, the refresh rate would drop, Etc. This is something that you’d expect with weaker hardware; the Dimensity 6080 is in a pretty gray area between high-end and low-end chips.

I wouldn’t say that this phone is snappy, but I have seen much worse. The thing about it is that it’s not slow to the point where it slows me down. The phone drops frames, but the software never locks up when I’m trying to use it. So, I’m still able to use it at full speed, even under a heavy load. So, this makes it a little difficult to describe this phone’s performance. There’s also another reason that makes it even more difficult. However, before I get into that reason, let’s look at some numbers.

By the benchmarks

Now, I know full and well that benchmark scores don’t paint a full picture of how a phone performs. So, I’m not basing my opinion of the phone on the numbers. However, benchmark scores can be a good way to help know what kind of hardware you’re dealing with.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (10)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (10)

Starting off with the Geekbench scores, the Tecno Pova 6 Pro scored a single-core score of 777 and a multi-core score of 2,097. These scores are pretty low on the spectrum of phones, even scoring below other mid-range phones. This doesn’t automatically mean that it’s a poor performer, but it helps justify the dropped frames and slowdown in the software.

Moving over to the graphical side of things, I ran this phone through the Extreme Wildlife test in 3D Mark. This will run a short real-time animated animation with extremely high-resolution graphics and see how the phone performs. And how did it perform? Well… The Best Loop Score was 373 and the Lowest Loop Score was 396. For reference, the closest phone I can compare it to is the Tecno Phantom V Flip (Dimensity 8060). That phone scored a Best Loop Score of 1,324 and a Lowest Loop Score of 1,299. While running the animation, the Pova 6’s frame rate was between 1FPS and 3FPS.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Gaming

So, with benchmark scores that low, this phone should be absolutely terrible when it comes to gaming, right? THIS is why it’s so hard for me to describe how this phone performs! Without mincing words, the Tecno Pova 5 Pro was not a gaming phone. It ran lower-quality and medium-quality games smoothly, but most other phones can do that. When stacked with games like Genshin Impact and Star Rail, the gameplay turned into a slideshow at higher graphic settings. Turning the graphics lower made for a smoother experience, but it was still sluggish.

Well, guess what, Tecno fitted the Pova 5 Pro with the same processor as last year. This was the reason why I was a bit bummed when I got the phone. When I installed and loaded up Genshin and Star Rail, I expected the same performance as last year.

Then… Tecno surprised me.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (5)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (5)

I don’t know what the heck Tecno did with the software to make this happen, but the gaming performance on this phone is like night and day. I started Genshin Impact, cranked the graphics up to their highest settings, set the max frame rate to FPS, and just played. At that point, I was going to count every stutter or instance of slowdown. But something miraculous happened; I forgot what I was doing. The gameplay was smooth! It was so smooth that I forgot what I was doing and I just played. There weren’t any major performance drops that took me out of the gameplay. It took me a few minutes to remember that I was looking for slowdown.

Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t reach 60FPS. In fact, it stayed at a pretty consistent 25FPS, which is still perfectly playable. What impressed me was that it was consistent. It didn’t stutter or lock up. It just played. Remember, this is with the highest graphic settings on; motion blur and all. I don’t want to oversell it; it’s not spectacular, it’s decent. However, it’s miles better than the Pova 5 Pro.

What makes this more impressive is the fact that the High Boost gaming optimizer has three settings: Power Saving, Equilibrium, and performance. Performance will push the chip to its maximum. Well, I got this gameplay in the Equilibrium mode. In Performance mode, the performance isn’t a lot better, but the frame rate would run about 15FPS – 20FPS faster.

Honkai Star Rail

Another game that can melt a GPU is Star Rail. This game’s performance is a pretty mixed bag. The core gameplay drags the frame rate to an average of about 20FPS, which isn’t great, and that drops to about 16FPS on average during battles. This is with the graphics turned up to their highest setting. So, on average, the performance is noticeably worse with that game.

It’s a mixed bag because the gameplay is decently playable, but everything else is extremely slow. The title screen with the train animation is extremely laggy, and things slow down significantly when it plays the animation that brings you into the game. Also, navigating the interface leads to some significant slowdown. But, when I’m actually playing the game, things are much more fluid.

Overall

So, as I said, describing this phone’s performance is a challenge. The general performance isn’t anything to write home about. I got my fair share of stutter and slowdown while using the phone. Just navigating the software, I saw more slowdown than I wanted to see.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (6)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (6)

However, the gaming performance is far better than I expected. I won’t put it up there with more expensive phones; the hardware still shows its mid-range nature, but this is only when I crank the games’ graphics up to their highest settings. Even when I played some of the prettiest games on the Google Play Store, the Pova 6 Pro was a champ.

So, this phone is the opposite of the Tecno Pova 5 Pro. That phone could navigate the software smoothly, but it wasn’t the best when it came to gaming. In the case of the Pova 6 Pro it’s much better when it comes to gaming while showing more slowdown in general use.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review:  Heat performance

The Tecno 6 Pro is a cool phone, and I mean that in more than one way. It’s able to keep very cool during gaming sessions. After playing these graphically intensive games for about 20 minutes, I didn’t feel the phone get too hot to hold. The back of the phone was the coolest while the front was the warmest.

I’d say that things got a little toasty when playing games where I needed to use the digital joystick. My finger is on the glass right above the processor, so it’s logical that this gets a bit hot. However, it never got uncomfortable playing with this phone.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Battery and charging

This phone comes with a large 6,000mAh battery, and that’s extremely rare for a phone that’s under $300. With such a large battery, longevity is really good. I tested the battery in two ways. Firstly, I did a more standardized test. For it, I charged the battery to 100%, played a looping video at full brightness, and ran it until the phone died. It took 19 hours and 1 minute to reach 0% battery, and that’s not bad. However, it’s a little disappointing compared to other phones that I tested. For example, I ran the Galaxy S24+ through this same test, and it lasted 20 hours. The Galaxy S24+’s battery is 16% smaller than the battery in the Pova 6 Pro.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (7)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (7)

However, that was only the standardized test. In day-to-day usage, I was able to get more than a day and a half of battery life. This involved moderate usage with some gameplay, camera tests, video-watching, and general usage. I’d gotten comfortable starting the day off with a full battery and reaching the end of the day and saying “Nah, I don’t need to charge it.” Obviously, your mileage will vary. If you’re using this phone as more of a portable gaming console, then you’ll run out of battery sooner.

Charging

All of the Tecno phones I’ve reviewed so far have come with pretty fast charging, and the Pova 6 Pro is no exception. This phone comes with a peak charging speed of 70W. I was able to charge the battery fully in just under an hour. That might not sound too impressive compared to other phones on the market, but you have to remember that this is a larger 6,000mAh battery.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Speakers

I genuinely like Tecno’s phones. Neither of the ones I reviewed in the past have disappointed me to the point where I didn’t enjoy the experience. They have solid performance, beautiful designs, great software, jaw-dropping displays, and more. But, the one area where they consistently let me down is the speaker quality. I’m not going to lie, the speakers on all Tecno phones I’ve reviewed are mediocre.

I wouldn’t say that they’re offensively bad; they’re just so “meh.” It’s like they’re just there to perform the basic task of supplying sound and that’s it. I can’t really blame the company for this. With the exception of the Phantom V Flip (Review), all of the Tecno phones I reviewed cost under $300, and they already provide so much in other departments. So, these phones can’t excel in EVERY department, otherwise they’d cost so much more. Tecno had to make some compromises, and one of them had to be the speaker quality.

How are the speakers in the Pova 6 Pro? Well, they’re the same as the speakers in the other Tecno phones I reviewed. Also, what makes it worse is the fact that this phone is missing something that the other phones have. Other Tecno phones have the DTS audio technology built into the software. This is a suite of tools that you can use to customize the sound. You’re able to boost different aspects of the audio like the bass or treble, choose audio presets, and have access to a customizable EQ. For some reason, it’s not present for the Pova 6 Pro, which I think is a major bummer.

Audio tests

Aside from just listening to the speakers in my day-to-day usage, I also listened to some test tracks with this phone’s speakers. There are six tracks in total, and they all focus on one aspect of audio: volume, distortion, bass, treble, balance, vocals, and immersion. I’m going to go over how the speakers performed with these test tracks.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (8)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (8)

Loudness

When it comes to the loudness, I have no complaints. I think that these speakers are about as loud as most other phones on the market regardless of price. Realistically, you’re not going to use a phone’s speakers as a replacement for a Bluetooth speaker, so you most likely won’t use these speakers to fill your whole room with sound. However, if you need to, they’re powerful enough to do so.

Distortion

I think that these speakers do a pretty good job of cutting down on distortion. I’m able to play media at full volume and not really hear distortion. So, if you’re gaming with the volume all the way up or you want to listen to music at full volume, the audio will be really clear.

Bass

The thing that I don’t like about the speakers in Tecno phones is the lack of depth. They usually sound so neutral that the low-end audio just doesn’t project. This makes the sound come off as flat. Well, when I played the bass test track, the Pova 6 Pro just didn’t deliver the goods.

Just like with other Tecno phones, these speakers sounded flat and lifeless. The bass track featured some really bass-heavy instruments like double bass, bassoons, contrabassoons, and tubas. I could hear the sound of these instruments clearly; I heard the raspy rattle sound of the contrabassoons. However, I just didn’t hear any of that depth that goes on along with them. This makes the sound much less immersive.

Treble

If depth is what you listen for in the bass, then what you listen for in the treble is clarity. I’m more satisfied with the treble than I am with the bass. I enjoy listening to higher-pitched sounds on these speakers, as they project clearly. One thing I say about Tecno speakers is that they’re great for ASMR content. It’s like the company hit a sweet spot with the tuning for its speakers because I don’t think that other phones that I’ve reviewed produce treble as satisfying.

Balance

Balance is an important characteristic of speakers. You want to be able to hear both the treble and bass especially if you’re listening to music. I think that the overall balance is good. While that’s the case, I did find that the treble overpowers the bass a bit. I can hear the bass, but that lack of depth just holds it back. So, the higher tones project more.

Vocals

The vocals are an area that people sometimes overlook. I have to say that I’m not impressed with the vocal performance of this phone’s speakers. Listening to different songs, I found that the vocals mostly blend in with the music.

Immersion

Given the rather flat profile of the sound, there’s basically no immersion. There are some phone speakers that almost make it feel like the sound is surrounding you. You know that it’s coming from a singular point, but it has a way of surrounding the ears. However, in the case of the Pova 6 Pro, I didn’t get any of that immersion.

Overall

The speakers on the Pova 6 Pro aren’t great. They’re flat and pretty dry overall. They get the job done, but you’re not going to want to use them if you’re a person who cares about quality speakers. Being under $300, I’d say that the cut in quality wasn’t unjustified.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Camera

When it comes to camera quality, Tecno has had a pretty decent track record… with the exception of the Camon 20 Pro (Review). So, I expected some pretty decent performance across the board, and that’s what I pretty much got. I feel that modern mid-range cameras are about as good as flagship cameras from a few years ago. They’re more than capable of taking pleasing pictures with some nice details and color reproduction.

In the case of the Pova 6 Pro, I think this tracks. I was generally happy with the results that I got with this phone’s camera.

Exposure/contrast

Overall, I didn’t find any glaring issues with the exposure. I will say that the camera tended to overexpose some areas. A bit of overexposure isn’t a bad thing, but I spotted blown-out highlights a little more than I would have liked to see. Thankfully, instances of overexposure weren’t too common. I was able to capture a bunch of well-exposed images.

As for the contrast, I didn’t have any major issues with it either. I found that the contrast was nice, but there were a few times when I felt that it crushed the shadows a bit. It’s not drastic, however.

Colors

The colors are an area where I think that Tecno could have pushed things just a bit further. In the images I captured, I was able to get the juiciest colors from green leaves and blue skies. I think these show the most saturation. However, overall, the images felt a bit washed out. It’s like someone took the pictures of the scene, plopped them into Photoshop, and cranked the saturation down a few stops.

There’s also a slight lack of warmth in the images. I took some of my images during golden hour, and it looks like I took them in the afternoon hours. This adds up to an image that’s on the bland side. It’s not bad, I just feel like the phone could deliver just a bit more color.

Overall

I think that Tecno did a good job with this phone’s camera. Images come out with a nice amount of detail, good contrast, and decent exposure. My only complaint is the fact that the images are lacking some color and warmth. The Pova 6 definitely isn’t a contender for “Camera Phone of The Year.” However, it’s still a reliable camera that produces some nice results.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Software

If you’re used to using phones in the West, then the software powering the Pova 6 Pro might be a bit jarring for you. This phone is running on Tecno’s HiOS Android skin running on top of Android 14. I’ve gotten pretty used to this software by using Tecno’s phones.

One of the best things about this software is how customizable it is. You’re able to customize things like the icon size, page turn effect, icon grid, text color, ETC. Also, there are 17 different gestures you can do to quickly perform actions. There are nine gestures you can do on the home screen to perform different actions like starting apps, summoning the notification panel, starting the system search, ETC. This is in addition to the eight gestures that you can perform while the screen is off. All you have to do is draw a certain shape on your screen when it’s off and it will either activate a toggle or start an app.

The software is a refreshing take on Android if you’re used to Stock Android. Another feature I like is the ability to enlarge folders. It adds another level to your organization.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (12)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (12)

I only have one gripe. The notification shade is actually split into two sections. If you swipe down on the left side of the top of the screen, you’ll summon the notifications. However, if you swipe down on the right side, you’ll see your Quick Settings. Also, you can swipe sideways between both when either is summoned. This is something that you’d get used to, but I wish that the software would give you the option to have a more traditional notification shade with both notifications and Quick Settings on the same screen.

Overall, however, I don’t have any major issues with the software. It’s one of my favorite Android skins out there, and I feel at home when I use it.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Final verdict

Sometimes, it takes a few iterations to get a formula correct. Because of this, in the pursuit of excellence, a company will launch one or several devices that just fall short of being acceptable. In this case, that device would be the Pova 5 Pro. This was a phone that fell to the back of my mind quickly after reviewing it. It just fell short in several ways. The phone didn’t feel like a true gaming phone. It just felt like a mid-range phone with a gimmick.

This year, I think that Tecno achieved the formula that it was working toward. I can honestly say that this phone feels more like a true affordable gaming phone than last year’s iteration. That’s pretty ironic because the Pova 5 was much more adorned in gamer phone flair. It had a more robust array of lights, and they were colorful. However, the gaming performance wasn’t anything special. The Pova 6 Pro isn’t as decked out as last year’s phone, but it’s much more of a gaming phone.

I enjoyed using the Pova 6 Pro much more than the Pova 5 Pro. It improved upon that phone in several ways. And, the areas where it didn’t improve, the phone was either unchanged or it was something that didn’t significantly affect the experience. The display is much better, the gaming performance is miles ahead, the camera is really good, and the design is outrageous.

The only real bummer is the lack of the DTS Sound. I’m not sure why the company didn’t include this suite of controls.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (13)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (13)

The Pova 6 Pro was able to completely surpass my expectations and deliver an actual gaming phone experience. I feel much more comfortable calling this phone a gaming phone than I did the Pova 5 Pro. I highly recommend that you give this phone a try.


Some phones are meant to just be phones; portable digital companions. However, some phones are designed and destined to serve a singular purpose. The Tecno Pova line of phones is an example of the latter. These phones are designed to bring the gaming phone down to a lower price point. Well, I was given the opportunity to review the Tecno Pova 6 Pro 5G, which is the latest in this line of phones.

Going into this review, I was a bit skeptical. I reviewed the Pova 5 Pro (Review) last year. It was a triumph in several ways, but a disappointment in one key area, gaming. Tecno managed to squeeze every gaming phone trope into this phone: badass design, LED lights, game launcher, large cooling chamber, and an overall gamer aesthetic. However, with the phone’s poor gaming performance, it felt like Tecno just dressed up a mundane mid-range phone to look powerful.

Because of this, I hesitated to call it a gaming phone. It’d be like calling a sedan a sports car because someone put on a spoiler and stripe down the middle. Well, did Tecno deliver a hot rod this time around, or is it just another fancy paint job? Let’s find out.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Design

One thing I appreciate about Tecno and other companies like it is the fact that it’s not afraid to give their phones a bold and outlandish design. Well, the design of the Pova 6 Pro is nothing if not bold and outlandish. Honestly, I had trouble finding the words to properly describe it. Tecno gave the Pova 6 Pro a design that’s futuristic but very pretty at the same time.

True to the design philosophy of the Camon 20 Pro/Premier and the Pova 5, the back of the phone is adorned with an array of angled lines and shapes. Even the shape of the camera cutout matches this aesthetic. In between the lines, there’s a mish-mash of different textures and designs. The remarkable thing about the design is that it’s wildly inconsistent; there are different shapes, lines, textures, and text strewn about the phone. However, they all mesh together somehow. It creates a pleasantly eclectic aesthetic that I’m all for.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (1)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (1)

There’s just so much going on, but it keeps from being too much. The colorway I’m reviewing is the Comet Green color, and it looks gorgeous. You don’t see too many phones on the market with an overall green color scheme, but this phone wears it well. What makes the phone look even better are the subtle gold accents on the back. They stand out, but they do so in an elegant manner.

Dotted throughout the back of the phone, Tecno actually placed text showing off some of the specs of the phone, which I thought was a weird addition. If you look closely at the phone, you’ll see the main camera resolution, “Ultra Charge”, “NFC”, “06”, and “HI-DENSITY BATTERY 6000mAh”. You don’t have to look closely for that last one, as it’s laid out in gold.

LED lights

Being a gaming phone, the Pova 6 Pro needs to have some sort of extraneous lights on the hardware. I’d be lying if I said that this phone didn’t look like it took a few notes from Nothing. The in-laid LED lights on the back of the phone remind me of the Nothing Phone (1). Even the Pova 5 had LED lights.

Just like with the Pova 5, you’ll see the lights during several different scenarios. You’ll see the lights when gaming, charging the phone, taking photos, and starting the phone.

However, this time around, Tecno made some changes to its lights, and the company took a step backward in my opinion. The lights on the back of the Pova 5 Pro covered most of the back. On the other hand, the lights on the Pova 6 Pro only reside in the camera package. There’s a Y-shaped section that lights up along with a circle of lights around one of the camera sensors. It looks incredibly underwhelming compared to the lights on the Pova 5, and that’s saying a lot because the lights on the Pova 5 weren’t all that impressive, to begin with.

Not only are the lights on the Pova 6 smaller, but they’re not colorful like the lights in last year’s phone. They only shine in white, which is far less impressive compared to the lights on the Pova 5, which were full RGB.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (9)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (9)

Honestly, I think that the phone looks better with the lights off. They’re situated in one location and they’re only one color. The lights are a far cry from what they were in the Pova 5 Pro. I wouldn’t say that the lights subtract anything from the design. I just say that they don’t really add anything to the experience. The design is perfectly fine without them.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Build quality

I admire companies like Tecno. It’s able to bring some premium features down to an affordable price point. However, most companies that do this wind up running into the same obstacle, build quality. Phones can look, sound, and perform great… but they rarely feel great.

There’s no escaping the fact that this is an affordable phone. The moment I picked it up, it became obvious that I was holding a solid hunk of plastic. I could feel the plastic frame of the phone and, based on the warping of the reflections on the back of the phone, it’s clear that the back is made from plastic. In fact, just pressing my finger on it causes the back plastic to bend, which is not a good feeling.

Along with the plasticy feeling, there’s a notable lack of heft that you’ll instantly feel. This is only made worse by the thickness of the phone. The Pova 6 Pro is a decently thick phone, so the lack of heft doesn’t make the phone feel light; it makes it feel hollow. It’s lacking that feeling of density that you feel with premium phones.

This is not to say that the phone was cheaply put together. The buttons on it are nice and clicky and I didn’t hear any creaks or other sounds when applying some force to it. This phone should be fine as long as you don’t reenact a JerryRigEverything durability test. However, you’d want to be careful not to leave it where it can be sat on or stepped on.

This is the kind of thing you should expect from a phone under $300, so I’m not disappointed. Though, I will say that with how plasticy it feels, it takes away from the experience just a bit. Picking it up gives me the feeling that I’m holding a phone that’s not worth my time. If you’re used to using other phones from Tecno or comparable brands, then this might not be that much of a letdown. Just know that this phone will not feel anywhere near as premium as it looks.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (2)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (2)

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Display

This is a new iteration in the Tecno Pova series, so there are going to be areas where this phone improves over the Pova 5 Pro. The display is one of the biggest upgrades over last year’s model. The Pova 5 Pro sported a nice-looking LCD panel that ran at 120Hz. I have to tip my hat to Tecno because it was a rather beautiful display. It’s definitely one of the best LCD displays that I reviewed, but it fell short of the types of displays I had grown accustomed to from Tecno.

I was used to the displays on the Tecno Camon 20 Pro, Camon 20 Premier, and Infinix Note 30 Pro (both Tecno and Infinix are owned by Transsion, and the phones mentioned are using extremely similar displays if not the same panels.). The displays on these phones are bright and absolutely breathtaking in their color reproduction and calibration. The Pova 5 Pro’s display fell behind in color saturation (which was a given) and brightness.

The Tecno Pova 6 Pro’s display is an upgrade over the Pova 5’s in every way. Honestly, I was blown away when I powered on this phone.

Brightness

We’re at a point where affordable phones are coming out with incredibly bright displays. This is why I was surprised when I saw the screen brightness of the Pova 5 Pro. Looking at it in direct sunlight reminded me of the bygone days when you had to cover your screen in the sun just to see it.

I expected more of the same with the Pova 6 Pro, but it looks like Tecno decided to increase the brightness by a large margin. It’s not the brightest display on the market, but it’s more than bright enough to be seen in bright daylight. I’m able to comfortably see everything on the screen in just about any lighting condition.

There’s also a high-brightness mode that will further increase the brightness of the screen when you’re in a particularly bright environment. One thing I noticed, however, was that the screen didn’t really get that much brighter. What I think the phone does is increase the contrast of the screen so that it’s easier to see when you’re in brighter light.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (3)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (3)

One issue regarding the brightness doesn’t have to do with the hardware. I think that the auto-brightness feature could use some tweaks. It’s pretty slow to adjust the brightness to match the lighting conditions. I’d see the brightness slowly increase or decrease to reach the desired level, and this process would take about 10 seconds at times.

Also, when I’d bring it into darker environments, the phone would drop its brightness down to 0%. I get that the phone wants to conserve battery and make for a comfortable viewing experience, but 0% brightness is just a bit too far.

Colors

This time around, Tecno went for an AMOLED display rather than an LCD, so there’s a clear difference in color saturation. The colors produced by this display are beautiful. As with all AMOLED displays, the colors are saturated, but it goes further than that. Tecno calibrates its displays to reach the sweet spot between saturated and oversaturated.

Out of the box, the colors already look rather punchy. I’d say that they’re meant to give you some generally nice-looking colors so that you can enjoy your content. However, if you’re looking for even more extreme colors, then you’re able to push the brightness even further in the display settings. There’s a “Bright color” mode that will boost the saturation even more.

I think that the heightened color saturation pushes them right to the edge of being oversaturated, but it doesn’t go overboard. I’ve used this term before in my other reviews, but I call these colors “Responsibly saturated.” They’re punchy and juicy, but they keep from being too much.

Overall

My feelings toward the Pova 5 Pro were a bit lukewarm, and one reason was because of the display. It just didn’t hold a candle to the displays from the likes of the Camon 20 phones and Infinix Note 30 Pro. With the Pova 6 Pro, I can’t take my eyes off of the display. It strikes such an amazing balance with its color production. The Pova 6 Pro is the first phone ever that I prefer using the out-of-the-box color saturation settings with. The saturation is so perfect intrinsically that I don’t need to boost them.

This, coupled with the increased brightness has completely redefined the kind of display experience you can get with this phone. It’s one of those situations when I have to remind myself that this is a -$300 phone. Logically, superior technologies trickle down over the years; several years ago, only phones over $800 would have high-performing OLED panels. Now, the technology is more accessible.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (14)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (14)

So, it makes sense that this phone’s display is very nice. However, it still blows my mind every time I unlock the screen.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Performance

The story of this phone’s performance is a confusing one, and I’ll tell you why a bit later in the review. For now, let’s just focus on the day-to-day performance. I was a little confused as to why Tecno chose the processor that it did for this phone. The Pova 6 Pro is using the MediaTek Dimensity 6080. This is the same processor that was in the Pova 5 Pro. That phone was able to perform rather well.

This time around, I’m actually seeing more stutters and dropped frames throughout the software than I saw last year, and I think this might be because of the fact that it’s running Android 14. It doesn’t create an overall laggy experience, but I noticed more stutters and dropped frames than I’d like to see.  Summoning the notification shade would take a full second at times, loading apps would be slow, the refresh rate would drop, Etc. This is something that you’d expect with weaker hardware; the Dimensity 6080 is in a pretty gray area between high-end and low-end chips.

I wouldn’t say that this phone is snappy, but I have seen much worse. The thing about it is that it’s not slow to the point where it slows me down. The phone drops frames, but the software never locks up when I’m trying to use it. So, I’m still able to use it at full speed, even under a heavy load. So, this makes it a little difficult to describe this phone’s performance. There’s also another reason that makes it even more difficult. However, before I get into that reason, let’s look at some numbers.

By the benchmarks

Now, I know full and well that benchmark scores don’t paint a full picture of how a phone performs. So, I’m not basing my opinion of the phone on the numbers. However, benchmark scores can be a good way to help know what kind of hardware you’re dealing with.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (10)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (10)

Starting off with the Geekbench scores, the Tecno Pova 6 Pro scored a single-core score of 777 and a multi-core score of 2,097. These scores are pretty low on the spectrum of phones, even scoring below other mid-range phones. This doesn’t automatically mean that it’s a poor performer, but it helps justify the dropped frames and slowdown in the software.

Moving over to the graphical side of things, I ran this phone through the Extreme Wildlife test in 3D Mark. This will run a short real-time animated animation with extremely high-resolution graphics and see how the phone performs. And how did it perform? Well… The Best Loop Score was 373 and the Lowest Loop Score was 396. For reference, the closest phone I can compare it to is the Tecno Phantom V Flip (Dimensity 8060). That phone scored a Best Loop Score of 1,324 and a Lowest Loop Score of 1,299. While running the animation, the Pova 6’s frame rate was between 1FPS and 3FPS.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Gaming

So, with benchmark scores that low, this phone should be absolutely terrible when it comes to gaming, right? THIS is why it’s so hard for me to describe how this phone performs! Without mincing words, the Tecno Pova 5 Pro was not a gaming phone. It ran lower-quality and medium-quality games smoothly, but most other phones can do that. When stacked with games like Genshin Impact and Star Rail, the gameplay turned into a slideshow at higher graphic settings. Turning the graphics lower made for a smoother experience, but it was still sluggish.

Well, guess what, Tecno fitted the Pova 5 Pro with the same processor as last year. This was the reason why I was a bit bummed when I got the phone. When I installed and loaded up Genshin and Star Rail, I expected the same performance as last year.

Then… Tecno surprised me.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (5)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (5)

I don’t know what the heck Tecno did with the software to make this happen, but the gaming performance on this phone is like night and day. I started Genshin Impact, cranked the graphics up to their highest settings, set the max frame rate to FPS, and just played. At that point, I was going to count every stutter or instance of slowdown. But something miraculous happened; I forgot what I was doing. The gameplay was smooth! It was so smooth that I forgot what I was doing and I just played. There weren’t any major performance drops that took me out of the gameplay. It took me a few minutes to remember that I was looking for slowdown.

Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t reach 60FPS. In fact, it stayed at a pretty consistent 25FPS, which is still perfectly playable. What impressed me was that it was consistent. It didn’t stutter or lock up. It just played. Remember, this is with the highest graphic settings on; motion blur and all. I don’t want to oversell it; it’s not spectacular, it’s decent. However, it’s miles better than the Pova 5 Pro.

What makes this more impressive is the fact that the High Boost gaming optimizer has three settings: Power Saving, Equilibrium, and performance. Performance will push the chip to its maximum. Well, I got this gameplay in the Equilibrium mode. In Performance mode, the performance isn’t a lot better, but the frame rate would run about 15FPS – 20FPS faster.

Honkai Star Rail

Another game that can melt a GPU is Star Rail. This game’s performance is a pretty mixed bag. The core gameplay drags the frame rate to an average of about 20FPS, which isn’t great, and that drops to about 16FPS on average during battles. This is with the graphics turned up to their highest setting. So, on average, the performance is noticeably worse with that game.

It’s a mixed bag because the gameplay is decently playable, but everything else is extremely slow. The title screen with the train animation is extremely laggy, and things slow down significantly when it plays the animation that brings you into the game. Also, navigating the interface leads to some significant slowdown. But, when I’m actually playing the game, things are much more fluid.

Overall

So, as I said, describing this phone’s performance is a challenge. The general performance isn’t anything to write home about. I got my fair share of stutter and slowdown while using the phone. Just navigating the software, I saw more slowdown than I wanted to see.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (6)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (6)

However, the gaming performance is far better than I expected. I won’t put it up there with more expensive phones; the hardware still shows its mid-range nature, but this is only when I crank the games’ graphics up to their highest settings. Even when I played some of the prettiest games on the Google Play Store, the Pova 6 Pro was a champ.

So, this phone is the opposite of the Tecno Pova 5 Pro. That phone could navigate the software smoothly, but it wasn’t the best when it came to gaming. In the case of the Pova 6 Pro it’s much better when it comes to gaming while showing more slowdown in general use.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review:  Heat performance

The Tecno 6 Pro is a cool phone, and I mean that in more than one way. It’s able to keep very cool during gaming sessions. After playing these graphically intensive games for about 20 minutes, I didn’t feel the phone get too hot to hold. The back of the phone was the coolest while the front was the warmest.

I’d say that things got a little toasty when playing games where I needed to use the digital joystick. My finger is on the glass right above the processor, so it’s logical that this gets a bit hot. However, it never got uncomfortable playing with this phone.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Battery and charging

This phone comes with a large 6,000mAh battery, and that’s extremely rare for a phone that’s under $300. With such a large battery, longevity is really good. I tested the battery in two ways. Firstly, I did a more standardized test. For it, I charged the battery to 100%, played a looping video at full brightness, and ran it until the phone died. It took 19 hours and 1 minute to reach 0% battery, and that’s not bad. However, it’s a little disappointing compared to other phones that I tested. For example, I ran the Galaxy S24+ through this same test, and it lasted 20 hours. The Galaxy S24+’s battery is 16% smaller than the battery in the Pova 6 Pro.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (7)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (7)

However, that was only the standardized test. In day-to-day usage, I was able to get more than a day and a half of battery life. This involved moderate usage with some gameplay, camera tests, video-watching, and general usage. I’d gotten comfortable starting the day off with a full battery and reaching the end of the day and saying “Nah, I don’t need to charge it.” Obviously, your mileage will vary. If you’re using this phone as more of a portable gaming console, then you’ll run out of battery sooner.

Charging

All of the Tecno phones I’ve reviewed so far have come with pretty fast charging, and the Pova 6 Pro is no exception. This phone comes with a peak charging speed of 70W. I was able to charge the battery fully in just under an hour. That might not sound too impressive compared to other phones on the market, but you have to remember that this is a larger 6,000mAh battery.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Speakers

I genuinely like Tecno’s phones. Neither of the ones I reviewed in the past have disappointed me to the point where I didn’t enjoy the experience. They have solid performance, beautiful designs, great software, jaw-dropping displays, and more. But, the one area where they consistently let me down is the speaker quality. I’m not going to lie, the speakers on all Tecno phones I’ve reviewed are mediocre.

I wouldn’t say that they’re offensively bad; they’re just so “meh.” It’s like they’re just there to perform the basic task of supplying sound and that’s it. I can’t really blame the company for this. With the exception of the Phantom V Flip (Review), all of the Tecno phones I reviewed cost under $300, and they already provide so much in other departments. So, these phones can’t excel in EVERY department, otherwise they’d cost so much more. Tecno had to make some compromises, and one of them had to be the speaker quality.

How are the speakers in the Pova 6 Pro? Well, they’re the same as the speakers in the other Tecno phones I reviewed. Also, what makes it worse is the fact that this phone is missing something that the other phones have. Other Tecno phones have the DTS audio technology built into the software. This is a suite of tools that you can use to customize the sound. You’re able to boost different aspects of the audio like the bass or treble, choose audio presets, and have access to a customizable EQ. For some reason, it’s not present for the Pova 6 Pro, which I think is a major bummer.

Audio tests

Aside from just listening to the speakers in my day-to-day usage, I also listened to some test tracks with this phone’s speakers. There are six tracks in total, and they all focus on one aspect of audio: volume, distortion, bass, treble, balance, vocals, and immersion. I’m going to go over how the speakers performed with these test tracks.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (8)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (8)

Loudness

When it comes to the loudness, I have no complaints. I think that these speakers are about as loud as most other phones on the market regardless of price. Realistically, you’re not going to use a phone’s speakers as a replacement for a Bluetooth speaker, so you most likely won’t use these speakers to fill your whole room with sound. However, if you need to, they’re powerful enough to do so.

Distortion

I think that these speakers do a pretty good job of cutting down on distortion. I’m able to play media at full volume and not really hear distortion. So, if you’re gaming with the volume all the way up or you want to listen to music at full volume, the audio will be really clear.

Bass

The thing that I don’t like about the speakers in Tecno phones is the lack of depth. They usually sound so neutral that the low-end audio just doesn’t project. This makes the sound come off as flat. Well, when I played the bass test track, the Pova 6 Pro just didn’t deliver the goods.

Just like with other Tecno phones, these speakers sounded flat and lifeless. The bass track featured some really bass-heavy instruments like double bass, bassoons, contrabassoons, and tubas. I could hear the sound of these instruments clearly; I heard the raspy rattle sound of the contrabassoons. However, I just didn’t hear any of that depth that goes on along with them. This makes the sound much less immersive.

Treble

If depth is what you listen for in the bass, then what you listen for in the treble is clarity. I’m more satisfied with the treble than I am with the bass. I enjoy listening to higher-pitched sounds on these speakers, as they project clearly. One thing I say about Tecno speakers is that they’re great for ASMR content. It’s like the company hit a sweet spot with the tuning for its speakers because I don’t think that other phones that I’ve reviewed produce treble as satisfying.

Balance

Balance is an important characteristic of speakers. You want to be able to hear both the treble and bass especially if you’re listening to music. I think that the overall balance is good. While that’s the case, I did find that the treble overpowers the bass a bit. I can hear the bass, but that lack of depth just holds it back. So, the higher tones project more.

Vocals

The vocals are an area that people sometimes overlook. I have to say that I’m not impressed with the vocal performance of this phone’s speakers. Listening to different songs, I found that the vocals mostly blend in with the music.

Immersion

Given the rather flat profile of the sound, there’s basically no immersion. There are some phone speakers that almost make it feel like the sound is surrounding you. You know that it’s coming from a singular point, but it has a way of surrounding the ears. However, in the case of the Pova 6 Pro, I didn’t get any of that immersion.

Overall

The speakers on the Pova 6 Pro aren’t great. They’re flat and pretty dry overall. They get the job done, but you’re not going to want to use them if you’re a person who cares about quality speakers. Being under $300, I’d say that the cut in quality wasn’t unjustified.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Camera

When it comes to camera quality, Tecno has had a pretty decent track record… with the exception of the Camon 20 Pro (Review). So, I expected some pretty decent performance across the board, and that’s what I pretty much got. I feel that modern mid-range cameras are about as good as flagship cameras from a few years ago. They’re more than capable of taking pleasing pictures with some nice details and color reproduction.

In the case of the Pova 6 Pro, I think this tracks. I was generally happy with the results that I got with this phone’s camera.

Exposure/contrast

Overall, I didn’t find any glaring issues with the exposure. I will say that the camera tended to overexpose some areas. A bit of overexposure isn’t a bad thing, but I spotted blown-out highlights a little more than I would have liked to see. Thankfully, instances of overexposure weren’t too common. I was able to capture a bunch of well-exposed images.

As for the contrast, I didn’t have any major issues with it either. I found that the contrast was nice, but there were a few times when I felt that it crushed the shadows a bit. It’s not drastic, however.

Colors

The colors are an area where I think that Tecno could have pushed things just a bit further. In the images I captured, I was able to get the juiciest colors from green leaves and blue skies. I think these show the most saturation. However, overall, the images felt a bit washed out. It’s like someone took the pictures of the scene, plopped them into Photoshop, and cranked the saturation down a few stops.

There’s also a slight lack of warmth in the images. I took some of my images during golden hour, and it looks like I took them in the afternoon hours. This adds up to an image that’s on the bland side. It’s not bad, I just feel like the phone could deliver just a bit more color.

Overall

I think that Tecno did a good job with this phone’s camera. Images come out with a nice amount of detail, good contrast, and decent exposure. My only complaint is the fact that the images are lacking some color and warmth. The Pova 6 definitely isn’t a contender for “Camera Phone of The Year.” However, it’s still a reliable camera that produces some nice results.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Software

If you’re used to using phones in the West, then the software powering the Pova 6 Pro might be a bit jarring for you. This phone is running on Tecno’s HiOS Android skin running on top of Android 14. I’ve gotten pretty used to this software by using Tecno’s phones.

One of the best things about this software is how customizable it is. You’re able to customize things like the icon size, page turn effect, icon grid, text color, ETC. Also, there are 17 different gestures you can do to quickly perform actions. There are nine gestures you can do on the home screen to perform different actions like starting apps, summoning the notification panel, starting the system search, ETC. This is in addition to the eight gestures that you can perform while the screen is off. All you have to do is draw a certain shape on your screen when it’s off and it will either activate a toggle or start an app.

The software is a refreshing take on Android if you’re used to Stock Android. Another feature I like is the ability to enlarge folders. It adds another level to your organization.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (12)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (12)

I only have one gripe. The notification shade is actually split into two sections. If you swipe down on the left side of the top of the screen, you’ll summon the notifications. However, if you swipe down on the right side, you’ll see your Quick Settings. Also, you can swipe sideways between both when either is summoned. This is something that you’d get used to, but I wish that the software would give you the option to have a more traditional notification shade with both notifications and Quick Settings on the same screen.

Overall, however, I don’t have any major issues with the software. It’s one of my favorite Android skins out there, and I feel at home when I use it.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro Review: Final verdict

Sometimes, it takes a few iterations to get a formula correct. Because of this, in the pursuit of excellence, a company will launch one or several devices that just fall short of being acceptable. In this case, that device would be the Pova 5 Pro. This was a phone that fell to the back of my mind quickly after reviewing it. It just fell short in several ways. The phone didn’t feel like a true gaming phone. It just felt like a mid-range phone with a gimmick.

This year, I think that Tecno achieved the formula that it was working toward. I can honestly say that this phone feels more like a true affordable gaming phone than last year’s iteration. That’s pretty ironic because the Pova 5 was much more adorned in gamer phone flair. It had a more robust array of lights, and they were colorful. However, the gaming performance wasn’t anything special. The Pova 6 Pro isn’t as decked out as last year’s phone, but it’s much more of a gaming phone.

I enjoyed using the Pova 6 Pro much more than the Pova 5 Pro. It improved upon that phone in several ways. And, the areas where it didn’t improve, the phone was either unchanged or it was something that didn’t significantly affect the experience. The display is much better, the gaming performance is miles ahead, the camera is really good, and the design is outrageous.

The only real bummer is the lack of the DTS Sound. I’m not sure why the company didn’t include this suite of controls.

Tecno Pova 6 Pro (13)Tecno Pova 6 Pro (13)

The Pova 6 Pro was able to completely surpass my expectations and deliver an actual gaming phone experience. I feel much more comfortable calling this phone a gaming phone than I did the Pova 5 Pro. I highly recommend that you give this phone a try.

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