This year’s TECNO Pova 6 Pro 5G 117 is already available for purchase here in the Philippines.
A subtle refresh from last year’s Pova 5 Pro 33 that brings about new features like an updated battery and camera sensor. It’s a smartphone made with mobile gamers in mind who need a capable handset at an affordable cost. And if it’s a better version of last year’s iteration, it’s definitely worth considering.
Read on to find out more.
Table of Contents
Design and Construction
The TECNO Pova 6 Pro builds upon the design cues of its what came before.
Our review unit is in Comet Green, and it really reminds me a lot of Pokemon Emerald for some reason. It’s also available in Meteorite Grey if potential buyers want a more muted color.
Either way, any of the colorways will have a very chromed up aesthetic, so if users wanted a stealthier look, they would most likely just skin the phone or put on a case without a clear back.
But for the most part we like the rear panel of the TECNO Pova 6 Pro for it’s uniqueness. It still features dynamic lighting effects that react to messaging and call notifications, as well ass music being played locally, or when being streamed from apps like Spotify or YouTube Music.
Albeit, the dynamic lighting has shrunk in size but is also a lot brighter and is no longer RGB.
Something new is, a part of the lighting can be found around one of the camera sensors, and both areas can be toggled On or Off with customizable animation patterns found in the settings menu.
Additionally, the rear is full of design motifs that highlight the Pova 6 Pro’s features like NFC, its 6,000 mAh battery and the number “6” to remind everyone that this is the sixth iteration in the series.
The frame of the phone is made out of a glossy-finished polycarbonate material, and situated on the right side are the volume control and power buttons.
On the left side is the dual nano SIM card tray that features a dedicated microSD card slot for expandable storage.
Up top is an infrared sensor for using the Pova 6 Pro as a universal remote, one out of two stereo speaker drivers, and a noise cancelling microphone.
At the bottom of the phone is a 3.5mm audio jack, another noise-cancelling microphone, a USB Type-C port for charging and wired data transfers, and a second speaker grille that features two out of two stereo drivers.
The TECNO Pova 5 Pro also gets an IP53 water and dust resistance rating for accidental spills and protection from the rain.
Display, Multimedia and Biometrics
The TECNO Pova 6 Pro features a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display that gets a dynamic refresh rate users can adjust between 60, 90, and 120Hz but for the most part we kept it in Auto-Switch mode for better battery efficiency.
It also gets a touch sampling rate of 1500Hz and a peak brightness of 1300 nits (just make sure to toggle High Brightness Mode if you plan to use it outdoors.)
The phone also gets the TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification to give end users peace of mind when it comes to staring at the display for too long.
For the most part it’s a good display that outputs accurate colors with 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. And it’s a bonus that they’ve also shrunken the bezels compared to the 5 Pro.
What’s a little annoying is the resolution at 2436 x 1080, well I think it’s the resolution;
Whatever it is, it’s really noticeable when watching youtube videos that autoplay at 360p or 480p resolutions, something about it’s display output just isn’t as crisp as other FHD+ AMOLED panels even when turning it up to a higher resolution.
It isn’t a deal breaker as I’ve already binged watched a bunch of Solo Leveling on the Pova 6 Pro, but it’s definitely noticeable.
Now it’s stereo speakers aren’t the best but just like last year they do get loud enough to fill a small room. The highs mostly come out of the bottom and the mids and lackluster low ends come out of the top.
It can be a little jarring at first but I also wouldn’t say it’s a deal breaker considering how much the device costs. Either way, users have the aforementioned 3.5mm audio jack for wired headphone or earphones that can give end users more audio immersion if need be.
For biometrics, the phone features a snappy-enough optical in-display fingerprint sensor but at the same time gets face unlock for biometric security options.
The placement of the fingerprint sensor is preferentially lower than we like, but it doesn’t really destroy the experience when using the phone either.
We also get face unlock with the selfie camera under the display, and we are happy to report it works great in good to less than favorable lighting conditions.
Cameras
For optics, the TECNO Pova 6 Pro features a triple camera setup at the rear headlined by a 108MP main sensor that features Electronic Image Stabilization, followed by a 2MP depth sensor, and a third Ai camera sensor that features the dynamic lighting around it, and also provides additional depth information.
In front, it features a 32MP camera sensor, and what we really like about this selfie camera is the sneaky front LED flash hidden within the top right corner of the display’s bezel.
Checking-out some snaps from Spain, and we can really see the 108MP sensor got to work. We see a lot of detail retention within our sample shots and yes cropping is way better when actually shooting a 108MP photo.
For the camera’s 2x zoom, its electronic and not optical as all it does is crop into the high resolution main sensor. And for the most part, it wasn’t the biggest hindrance either unless you’re somebody who truly craves the compression of how faces and certain subjects look with a dedicated telephoto lens.
But for those who couldn’t care less about that, it’s totally just fine.
We even get some cool Ai camera features like Sky Shop, which I did get to try out with the images on screen.
The story here is when waking up quite early to take some shots of the Barcelona skyline, I noticed the huge overcast of clouds blocking out the morning sun and in turn screwing up our shots.
That’s when I gave Sky Shop a try and it did mitigate the issue, especially when using “Sunny” to replace the sky with everything else coming off like a bad photoshop job hopefully viewers don’t notice.
Although in my opinion, it truly isn’t about the gear. And if you’re someone who just can’t seem to get a good usable image out of this phone, I’d say take a photography course or something.
For video, the Pova 6 Pro can shoot at a max resolution of 2K at 30fps, and 1080p at 30 and 60fps with both the main and selfie cameras.
The Pova 6 Pro also features Dual Video recording, which enables users to utilize the front and rear cameras for simultaneous video recording.
So for the most part, I was fairly satisfied with the camera system on the Pova 6 Pro 5G.
And when we factor in the price, we truly think we’re getting a lot of phone in this package
OS, Apps and UI
For software the TECNO Pova 6 Pro comes with Android 14 out of the box, skinned with HiOS 14 on top.
HiOS 14 is a quirky user interface for calling it’s home screen a desktop, and brings a couple of cool gaming focused optimizers like Game Space 4.0 and Game Assistant 4.0.
Game Space 4.0 allows users to run games in their selected performance mode and monitors CPU and GPU performance and more.
Game Assistant 4.0 is like Game Space 4.0 but end users can access the toolbar by swiping from the side of the screen when in game.
HiOS 14 also brings about new live wallpapers and a new icon designs.
We even get easy access to the IR remote control app, because TECNO wants everyone to remember not to panic when they can’t find a remote, when they have a TECNO Pova 6 Pro.
Performance and Benchmarks
The brains behind the Pova 6 Pro’s operations is a Mediatek Dimensity 6080 chipset, just like last year.
This is somewhat of a letdown, especially if you’re looking to upgrade form last year’s Pova 5 Pro.
But in hindsight, we don’t think this phone is for you if you already have last year’s iteration.
So, the Dimensity 6080 5G is a 6nm SoC, that features an octa-core CPU capable of 2.4Ghz clock speeds, and Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
It’s configured with 12GB of on board memory and 256GB of internal storage. And with MemFusion users may expand their RAM from 12GB to a maximum 24GB if they see fit. While internal storage can also be expanded by adding a microSD card into the dedicated slot behind the dual nano SIM card slots.
When it came to running most apps and games like Genshin Impact, Farlight 84 and Mobile Legends, the TECNO Pova 6 Pro did not flinch as long as WiFi or Data connectivity remained flawless.
So, no major issues during our testing.
For those of you interested in our synthetic benchmark scores, check them out below.
Antutu v10.2.1 – 436,668
Antutu Storage Test – 42,324
S.Read – 1,035.0 MB/s
S.Write – 529.7 MB/s
3D Mark: Wild Life – 1,335
Geekbench 6
Single: 778
Multi: 2,069
Geekbench 6 GPU Vulkan – 1,426
Geekbench 6 GPU OpenCL – 1,411
PC Mark Work 3.0 Performance – 10,004
Battery and Connectivity
Powering the TECNO Pova 6 Pro is a huge 6,000 mAh battery, which is bigger than last year’s.
But what’s crazy is, the POVA 6 Pro is still 17 grams lighter despite the bigger capacity!
It features a faster 70W wired charging rate, allowing users to charge up from 0 – 50% in about 20 minutes and to full in less than an hour with the included brick in the box.
And battery life from the Pova 6 Pro has been superb in real world use, TECNO markets the battery as something they spent a lot of R&D on.
They claim the 6,000 mAh battery can withstand charging at extremely cold and hot climates wherein regular batteries have a harder time charging at their marketed rates or tend to bloat faster in really warm environments.
So yes, I’m very satisfied with its battery life in real world use. And depending on how much end-users use their phones, I can see the battery life lasting 2 days or more if you don’t really play a lot of games or use GPS navigation apps.
In our PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Life test, the device garnered a result of 14 hours and 12 minutes, this was with the phone set to airplane mode, volume muted, and brightness set to 50% to account for mixed usage variables.
With the same conditions, in our standard video loop test, it lasted 27 hours and 58 minutes.
For connectivity, we get up to 5G connectivity for both SIM slots, dual band WiFi, and Bluetooth 5.3.
We didn’t really notice any issues in call quality so it’s safe to say the phone essentials are covered.
Conclusion
The TECNO Pova 6 Pro 5G, starts at PHP 11,999 here on our Philippines shores but is available at an exclusive discounted price of Php 10,499 during its first sale. This special deal can be found only at TECNO’s TikTok Shop from March 10 to 15.
Additionally, the first 200 orders will receive a complimentary POVA customized gift set valued at Php 1,000, along with the Philippine exclusive Farlight 84 goodies.
But hey for PHP 11,999, the TECNO Pova 6 Pro is great midrange phone that features a unique design aesthetic with better than average performance, the picture quality that comes from its camera system is also very usable when photos are taken in proper circumstances but should fair users well for everyday captures as well.
And yes, it is sort of a letdown knowing last year’s Pova 5 Pro that features the same chipset is 3,000 pesos cheaper.
But like I said in the our Hands-On video, those who own that unit wouldn’t purchasing this year’s refresh, so at the end of the day;
The choice is ultimately yours, but if the question was is the Pova 6 Pro a good phone for everyday use, then the answer is yes.
What we LIKED:
- Price.
- Battery.
- AMOLED Display.
- IR Blaster and dedicated slot for expandable storage.
- Unique design.
What we liked LESS:
- Weird display resolution.
- Unoptimized UI animations.
- Speakers could be better.
TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G specs:
6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display
1080*2436 pixels, 120Hz
1300 nits (peak) brightness
MediaTek Dimensity 6080 5G
12GB RAM (+12GB extended memory)
256GB storage
Triple rear cameras:
– 108MP main with 10x in-sensor zoom
– 2MP (unspecified) lens
– AI lens
32MP selfie shooter (hole punch notch), dual-tone LED flash
Dual nano-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
GPS
USB Type-C
NFC
In-screen fingerprint sensor
Dynamic Light miniLED effect
IP53, dual speakers, Dolby Atmos
27342mm² vapor cooling chamber
HiOS 14 (Android 14)
6000mAh battery
70W Ultra Charge
165.51 x 76.13 x 7.88 mm
Comet Green, Meteorite Grey
