TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G: 5 Things You Need to Know Before Buying

TECNO’s most anticipated premium midrange-priced smartphone is now in the Philippines, the TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G.

And, just like its very popular predecessor, the CAMON 30 Premier 5G comes with a ton of spot-on features that you’d normally see in many other flagship devices.

Before you jump the gun and make that decision, here are five (5) best features you need to know about the TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G.

I. Flagship-Level Cameras

You get four (4) 50-megapixel shooters with the CAMON 30 Premier – that’s three at the rear and another one up front.

This camera system is headlined by a 50MP Sony IMX890 main sensor. This is the same one used by the OnePlus 11, the newly released OnePlus 12R, ASUS ROG Phone 8, OPPO Find X6, Nothing Phone (2), realme GT5, and many more.

The sensor allows more light into the lens to capture ultra-high definition photos in daylight. In addition, the f/1.88 aperture gives photos an evident depth-of-field effect during the day.

The sensor also has OIS optical anti-shake for handheld shooting if and when the user has shaky hands.

It is complemented by another 50MP periscopic 70mm lens with 3X optical zoom. This enhances your portrait shots by bringing a natural background blur.

The lens functions seamlessly, helping you create flagship-level portrait compositions with the subject taking center stage. Barrel distortion is also minimized while delivering sharper details.

As a bonus, the phone also provides AI Motion Snapshot for those quick, fleeting moments that you want to capture. There’s also Eye-tracking autofocus to help the subject stand out.

The 3rd sensor gives you anti-distortion, wide-angle macro capabilities. You can use this to take photos of the big city and small flowers, all with bang-for-your-buck clarity.

Great for outdoor photography, shots with the 114-degree wide-angle lens remain clear even at 10X zoom. As for Macro mode, subjects within an inch’s proximity are kept in focus all throughout.

The phone isn’t a slouch when it comes to selfies, either. It sports a powerful shooter at the front that helps users stay social media-ready.

Speaking of social media, the front camera can shoot 4K videos smoothly at 60fps. This leaves a lot of leeway for simple cropping, slow-motion processing, and post-production editing.

We’ll leave our readers with sample photos focusing on each sensor’s strengths below.

Here are sample shots from the main camera:

Here’s more from the telescopic camera:

Then, our wide-angle and macro shots from the 3rd camera:

 

II. Gaming-Level Chipset

The CAMON 30 Premier 5G is powered by a very capable MediaTek Dimensity 8200-Ultimate based on a 4nm process technology. This chipset also powers the Xiaomi 13T, and is similar to the base Dimensity 8200 found in the vivo V30 Pro and OPPO Reno11 Pro.

This chipset is notably optimized for gaming and multitasking with a total of 8 CPU cores:

• 1x Cortex-A78 performance core running up to 3.1GHz
• 3x Cortex-A78 performance cores running up to 3GHz
• 4x Cortex-A55 power-efficient cores running up to 2GHz
• A Mali-G610 MP6 GPU

The Cortex-A78 performance cores power the device’s active apps and games, supported by the GPU.

The Cortex-A55 power-efficient cores run most of the background and inactive apps.
These cores use less power to run apps, and help end users consume less power with longer device usage.

Additionally, this phone comes with 12GB of RAM + 12GB Extended RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. This is an ample amount of memory for its price point, complemented further with tons of fast storage.

Given the ability of this chip, we weren’t surprised that it ran tasks with ease. Despite having multiple apps running in the background with active games, it kept up smoothly.

In that regard, gamers will surely enjoy this device. We ran a graphic-intensive PUBG Mobile, which performed well without slowing down, frame rate drops, or heating up.

Yes, this device does not heat up. We credit this feat to the phone’s 10-layer cooling system that reduces overheating.

The CAMON 30 Premier 5G also provides an immersive gaming experience through audio with Dolby Atmos toggled on. This feature was a huge buff for me, helping me secure a win in just my first game playing PUBG.

To give readers a better idea of how good the chip is, we’ll leave the benchmark scores below.

Benchmark	Score
Antutu	957,924
Antutu Storage	84,621
S.Read	22,674
Speed	1976.0MB/s
S.Write	21,994
Speed	1912.3MB/s
R. Access	40,003
R. Speed	574.0MB/s
W. Speed	496.0MB/s
3D Mark: Wild Life	6482
Geekbench 6 CPU Single	993
Geekbench 6 CPU Multi	3279
Geekbench 6 GPU OpenCL	3379
Geekbench 6 GPU Vulkan	3733
PC Mark Work 3.0 (Performance)	17,694

 

III. Premium Build and Design

The TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G found a balance between old design languages and blends them with modern premium features.

Our unit came in the Hawaii Lava Black colorway, which is subtly smooth. The majority of the back panel features TECNO’s industry-first Tech-Art Lychee Pattern leather.

We say majority, because the upper right part of the back panel has what seems to be polycarbonate material.

Going back, the back panel is made of glossy suede material that gives the phone a unique feel. While our colorway is on the lowkey side, it surely has a luxurious touch even at first sight.

The device is also equipped with Lotus Leaf Biomimetic skin. This is a hydrophobic coating that makes water droplets cluster together on the surface, preventing soaking and leaving no residue.

In addition, the device has an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance.

As for the camera housing, users will see the sensors enclosed in a classic side-axis design reminiscent of traditional cameras. You can also find the action dot and zoom ring close by.

You can find the action dot situated at the top left of the back panel. This feature is a design touch indicating when the device is video recording, charging, and when alarms are going off.

Meanwhile, the zoom ring is a presumed aesthetic element seen as the outer part of the camera enclosure. However, it actually helps the device with heat dissipation to maintain the phone’s overall performance.

On the front, users are treated to a 6.77-inch LTPO AMOLED display. The display panel has a 93.9% screen-to-body ratio and an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz.

For buttons and ports, users can find the volume rocker of the left side. On the right, you’ll find the power button.

At the bottom, we have a dual-sim card slot, a USB Type-C port, and one of two loudspeakers. The other loudspeaker is situated on top, along with the device’s microphone.

TECNO blends classic design with their added touches to give off a more sleek feel. With the phone being 7.9mm thin and weighing 210 grams, it certainly feels great to hold.

The leather material is also appreciated due to its resistance against smudging, even coming with a case sporting a similar texture.

 

IV. Long Battery Life

The phone packs a modest 5,000mAh battery, featuring 70W of Ultra Charge technology.

The TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G has an extended lifespan with support for at least 1,600 charge cycles. The device’s battery also maintains 80% of its effective capacity after 4 years.

We took some practical tests for the newly-released phone, with different results ranging from mixed use variables.

In PCMark’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test, the phone was able to last for 11 hours and 52 minutes which is for a smartphone with this capacity but once we tested it further using different parameters, the device showed impressive results.

As for our video loop test, the device provided us with 22 hours and 50 minutes of media playback. This test was conducted by playing a full HD movie at 50% brightness with airplane mode on.

We also conducted a gaming test for the device. We found this phone can provide players with 12 hours and 30 minutes of gameplay.

This test was conducted with brightness and volume set to 50% over a Wi-Fi connection. In addition, this was also done with the Ultra Game Mode’s high-performance setting on.

From our results spanning from different testing methods, it seems that the device is well-equipped for media consumption and gaming binges.

We’ll also note that the initial battery life test focuses on general multitasking, presumably needing more power from the phone. However, the great numbers from the other tests do prove otherwise.

Our consensus? The TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G surely provides users with more than enough in terms of battery.

And in case you guys are thinking ‘what about charging speed?’, we have it covered too!

The smartphone takes roughly 1 hour to charge to 100% from 0. But if users are strapped for time, the phone just needs 24 minutes to charge from empty to 50% power.

This charging test was conducted with the device’s smart charging feature toggled on.

We can attest that the charging technology works as advertised from experience. With the phone drained by morning, I just had to take a shower and it was already good to go.

Wrapping up, users are set to get value-for-money for what this phone offers in the performance and battery department.

V. TECNO AI Imaging

With the CAMON 30 Premier’s dual-chip imaging, you can record 4K videos at 30fps with AI-NR HDR. You can see this enhancement especially when shooting at night with its 4K Ultra Night Vision effect.

And there’s more. For photography, you can shoot great portrait shots with the 50MP Professional Periscopic Portrait Lens with its built-in lock-focus that improves accuracy in every pose.

To capture perfect vlog moments, TECNO CAMON 30 Series collaborates with DJI OSMO SE, one of the most popular handheld imaging stabilizers in the market.

With this combo, you can shoot better vlogs or videos for any of your favorite social media channels.

Here are more AI Imaging features that came with the system:

Social Turbo

Have fun with the many different functions of the CAMON 30 Premier’ Social Turbo – voice changing, background changing, beauty functions, Tmoji avatars and many more.

AIGC Portrait

The AIGC Portrait helps you create original AI-generated content by using multiple photos and creating imaginative profile pictures. Let’s check them out below!

AI Erase

Enhance your photos by using the built-in AI Erase function to quickly and easily remove either people and objects from your shots.

Pricing

Starting May 10, 2024, the TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G will be available in stores nationwide. If readers make an in-person purchase, you’ll also get wireless speakers worth Php 3,000 with your new phone.

It has a suggested retail price of Php 23,999 for the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. The other CAMON 30 variants have these SRPs as well:

CAMON 30 5G 8+256: Php 11,999
CAMON 30 5G 8+512: Php 13,999
CAMON 30 Pro 12+512 (exclusive on TikTok): Php 19,999

Our Verdict.

So, should you get the TECNO CAMON 30 Premier 5G?

If you are looking for a new smartphone with impressive cameras that are almost flagship-level, great performance and improved battery life for gaming with beautiful display, all packed in a premium build and unique design, then the CAMON 30 Premier 5G is the right fit for you.

It is loaded with tons of features that’s perfect for vlogging and content creation. All these you can get for a very competitive price of only Php23,999. And don’t forget about the bundled freebies.

So, what do you think?