The Tecno Phantom V Flip: A Foldable Phone That Makes a Statement, But Not Without Compromises
Foldable phones are steadily edging their way into the mainstream, but still face an uphill battle. They’re often exorbitantly priced, or burdened with a perception of fragility. The Tecno Phantom V Flip steps in to challenge these assumptions, offering a compelling foldable experience at a more accessible price point, but it doesn’t do so without making some compromises. Let’s dive into the depths of this innovative device and explore what makes it tick.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Pricing and Availability
The Tecno Phantom V Flip launched in India at Rs. 54,999, offering 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. This introductory price, which was only available for a limited time, makes it a significantly more affordable option compared to other foldable phones. It’s available in two stylish colors: Iconic Black and Mystic Dawn.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Design and Build
The Tecno Phantom V Flip boasts a sleek design when unfolded, making it a thin and elegant smartphone. Its folded form is surprisingly compact, making it easy to carry around. The exterior is clad in vegan leather, providing a comfortable grip and a touch of luxury.
The inner screen displays a subtle crease, mostly noticeable when looking at dark wallpapers or when the screen is off. Though slightly perceptible during usage, it doesn’t significantly detract from the overall viewing experience. However, the crease is still evident when the screen is on and the phone is held at specific angles. You can definitely feel the crease when scrolling through apps.
Tecno’s innovative drop-shaped hinge features a "Hoverlock" design, allowing the phone to be kept open at angles ranging from 30 degrees to 150 degrees. The design eliminates the gap between the two halves of the display when closed, contributing to a seamless and sleek aesthetic.
The circular cover display, reminiscent of a smartwatch, is positioned above the dual rear cameras. This display provides a quick glance at notifications, time, and certain apps, adding a touch of convenience to the user experience.
The fingerprint scanner, located on the right side of the phone, is easily accessible with one hand. While the phone’s build provides slight resistance when opening, which helps to maintain its position when bent at different angles, two hands are usually needed to fully unfold the device. However, this design choice helps to reduce the risk of accidental opening.
The absence of an IP rating highlights the lack of water and dust resistance. You’ll need to be cautious about splashes and dust exposure to maintain the longevity of the phone.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Performance and Specifications
The Tecno Phantom V Flip is powered by the capable MediaTek Dimensity 8050 chipset, coupled with an Arm Mali-G77 GPU and 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. This combination delivers smooth performance, capable of handling multiple tasks concurrently with minimal lag. The plentiful 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage, augmented by the ability to utilize up to 16GB of free storage for demanding tasks, provides ample space for storing apps, documents, and multimedia files.
The Tecno Phantom V Flip runs HiOS 13.5— Tecno’s custom user interface built on top of Android 13. The interface is smooth and user-friendly, facilitating effortless multitasking between apps. The device is also promised to receive two years of OS updates and three years of security updates.
The custom UI ships with several preinstalled apps, including WPS Office, Phone Master, Facebook, Mobile Cloner, Visha Player, Spotify, Carlcare, and Instagram. It also includes a "Sharp News" app that aggregates news stories and links to web content. While most of these bloatware apps can be uninstalled, Phone Master remains persistent.
The quick settings menu, though initially requiring some adjustment, provides a comprehensive array of toggles and settings, minimizing the need to venture into the Settings app. However, navigating the Settings app can be challenging, with certain options tucked away in less intuitive sub-menus.
The multitasking gestures enable the creation of floating windows, providing flexibility for using multiple apps simultaneously. Other software enhancements, such as app cloning, game mode optimizations, and custom UI refinements, enhance the overall user experience.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Performance and Benchmarks
The Tecno Phantom V Flip delivers respectable scores in synthetic benchmarks, confirming the Dimensity 8050’s ability to handle demanding tasks effortlessly. In the AnTuTu benchmark, the device scored 706,648 points, while Geekbench 6 registered a single-core score of 1,106 and a multi-core score of 3,220. The PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark resulted in a score of 14,392 points.
The Phantom V Flip effortlessly handles graphics-intensive games, including Fortnite and Genshin Impact. In Fortnite, the device maintained smooth gameplay even with "HD textures" enabled and high settings activated, though the camera module did become slightly warm after 30 minutes. Genshin Impact was also playable on Medium settings without issues.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Battery Life and Charging
The Tecno Phantom V Flip packs a 4,000mAh battery that supports 45W wired charging. The included charger rapidly replenishes the battery, bringing it to 63 percent in just 30 minutes. Another 30 minutes of charging boosts the battery to almost full capacity at 95 percent. The phone’s battery life is reliable, lasting 14 hours and 27 minutes in a video loop test, which is an impressive result.
In real-world usage, the Phantom V Flip generally provides a full day of battery life. With moderate usage, including around 30 minutes of gaming, watching YouTube videos, texting on WhatsApp, and browsing social media, the battery typically retains approximately 30 percent by day’s end.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Display and Multimedia
The Tecno Phantom V Flip’s inner display is a 6.9-inch flexible AMOLED panel with a full-HD+ resolution and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The display is smooth and responsive, offering vibrant colors and excellent details. The ability to adjust screen brightness, especially with High Brightness Mode enabled, ensures good visibility even outdoors.
The display supports HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG codecs, providing an enhanced viewing experience for compatible content. Apps operate well in split-screen mode, and the built-in camera and YouTube apps benefit from the large inner display.
The circular 1.32-inch cover panel, while not as bright as the inner screen, is a convenient tool for accessing various functions, including:
- viewing notifications
- previewing images
- fitness tracking data
- upcoming alarms
- weather information
- using the sound recorder, timer, and stopwatch.
This cover display allows quick access to a selection of pre-installed apps, including a curated list of apps available from the Play Store.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Camera Performance
The Tecno Phantom V Flip features a dual camera setup consisting of a 64-megapixel primary camera and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. There’s also a 32-megapixel front-facing camera housed in a center-aligned hole-punch cutout on the inner display.
The primary camera excels in capturing crisp and sharp images, especially when utilizing the "64MP" mode, which employs pixel-binning for enhanced detail. Daylight images showcase ample detail and accurate color reproduction. However, the wide-angle camera shows a noticeable drop in quality in daylight, particularly in exposure and color accuracy.
The Phantom V Flip also takes commendable photos at dusk, maintaining considerable detail with minimal noise. While the camera’s AI features can be disabled for better results, individual preferences may vary. In low-light scenarios, the Super Night mode consistently delivers high-quality images, capturing remarkable detail within a few seconds.
The dual-display design allows for unique selfie capturing, enabling the use of the 64-megapixel rear camera while using the outer cover display as a preview monitor. This innovative method produces sharper selfies and allows for features like Super Night mode even in dimly lit environments.
The primary camera supports video recording at up to 4K resolution at 30fps, though the wide-angle camera is not ideal for recording video. In low light conditions, switching to 1080p at 60fps is recommended, but image quality still falls short compared to the Super Night mode’s effectiveness in still photography.
Tecno Phantom V Flip: Verdict
The Tecno Phantom V Flip breaks new ground by offering a foldable phone at a more affordable price point. However, certain compromises have been made to achieve this accessibility.
Unlike some of its more expensive counterparts, the Phantom V Flip lacks a larger external display, limiting its functionality to quick glances at notifications and basic tasks. The Moto Razr 40 Ultra, with its larger external display, offers more comprehensive functionality at a comparable price.
While the primary camera on the Phantom V Flip is a standout performer, its ultra-wide-angle lens lacks the same level of quality, making it less appealing for capturing expansive scenes.
The display on the Tecno Phantom V Flip is a highlight, offering a smooth and responsive experience with vibrant visuals. The 120Hz refresh rate and the MediaTek Dimensity 8050 processor work in tandem to ensure a seamless user experience. The battery life is also commendable, offering sufficient power throughout the day, and the 45W wired charging provides a significant speed advantage over the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, which supports 25W charging.
In conclusion, the Tecno Phantom V Flip presents a compelling value proposition for those seeking a foldable phone experience at a more affordable price point. However, its lack of a larger external display and the ultra-wide-angle camera’s shortcomings represent trade-offs. If these compromises are not dealbreakers, and you’re looking for a folding smartphone with a smooth display, dependable battery life, and a capable processor, the Tecno Phantom V Flip deserves consideration.
