Tecno’s first entry into the premium market, the Phantom X, got a vote of confidence in last week’s poll. Not by a huge margin, but more people are interested in what the phone has to offer than the ones saying an outright “no”.
The phone didn’t escape criticism, though. Better image processing can go a long way towards improving the phone’s standing in the camera-focused segment of the market. Some laid the blame at the feet of the Helio G95 chipset – a Dimensity chipset would have been a better option as those come with more advanced ISPs and higher overall performance to boot.
The confounding thing about the Phantom X is that it produces some of the best nighttime photos we’ve seen recently. And this is where most phones falter – daylight photography is a solved problem, but few makers get night photos right.
Anyway, HiOS showed the G95 chip in the best light with a snappy UI and a decent (if incomplete) feature set. Plus, you get 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage, which is more than what most competitors have to offer. Then there are the microSD slot, 3.5mm headphone jack and NFC, things that are often left out of mid-range models.
While Tecno didn’t get everything right, the Phantom X shows a lot of promise. Some think it offers great value for the money (even if it is Tecno’s priciest phone yet), others can’t get over some of the downsides of the spec sheet. Still, this is a product line to watch out for in the future.
If you are one of those who like the Phantom X package, you should know that the phone is already available in a couple of countries (with more to come). Make sure to read our review first.