TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G Review: The Smartphone With Extending Camera Lens
The first telescopic lens on this phone has a very wide aperture.
I'm sure you haven't heard much about the TECNO brand in North America, but it is very active in other markets such as Africa, the Middle East, South/Southeast Asia and Latin America. The new TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G is the latest Android flagship smartphone and it has something very special in its camera. You can find out more about this in the further test report. Aside from those great camera features, the TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G has most of the other features you would want from a premium flagship smartphone.
What's in this box?
The packaging is also very high quality. The Phantom X2 Pro 5G comes in a sleek black box with a beautiful soft and colorful finish with a gold foil logo.
Along with a 45W charger, USB-C charge/data cable and wired headphones, the TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G also comes with a nice white hard rubber case. The case also has a large lip around the camera and a hinge so it can be used as a stand to hold the phone at an angle for watching movies and more. Kicks like this were pretty common on phones back in the day, and it's great to see the feature return as part of an included protective case.
The included large lip around the camera not only protects the camera lens when placing the phone on a desk or table, but also when holding the phone. The bump is easy to feel with your finger, avoiding fingerprints on large lenses.
Device:
As for the internal specifications, the TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 octa-core 4nm ARMv9 processor clocked up to 3.05GHz, 12GB LPDDR5X DRAM and 256GB UFS3.1 -Flash drive fitted. It also has a 5,160mAh battery with long standby and 45W fast charging. The display is 6.8 inch AMOLED with 120Hz refresh rate and 20:9 aspect ratio with 1080 x 2400 pixels, 9H hardness Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Phone dimensions. 164.6mm x 72.7mm x 8.9mm We also support multiple 5G bands such as Sub6 TDD: n38, n40, n41, n77, n78, n79, Sub6 FDD. n1, n3, n8, n7.8,
The top is flanked by a single microphone hole. This internal hardware appears to be housed within the phone's double-curved single-metal frame.
The bottom looks very smooth with rounded corners. The SIM card tray can hold 2 nano SIM cards. Of course there is also USB-C and a speaker grill. Speaker volume isn't as premium or loud as other expensive phones.
On the left is a thin, flat, and rounded pair of antennas. Thinner edges can give your phone a smoother grip than something with more surface and friction.
On the right is a very slim power button and volume rocker. They are difficult to spot, but well marked so they can be easily felt without looking. The power button is red to make it stand out better, which matches the red ring around the rear camera.
The glossy Phantom logo looks great on the back, and the matte black finish has a fine-grain texture that resists fingerprints perfectly and holds up surprisingly well.
camera
This is the most interesting part of TECNO Phantom X2 Pro. The camera array and in particular the extended wide-angle telephoto lens.
One thing I really hate about TECNO cameras is the camera software. While it will work well for most people, it lacks many features that I personally like the most, such as: B. RAW DNG output, manual control, white balance control and burst timer. One of the reasons I like the RAW DNG output is that I can check things after the fact. TECNO software uses noise reduction for JPGs when lighting is low and this reduces image quality. I prefer RAW images with noise that I can adjust to my taste after taking the picture. The lack of white balance controls was also disappointing, with the camera sometimes not adjusting the color temperature to my liking.
Camera with extendable 2.5x telephoto lens
The zoom lens has an aperture of f1.45 and a telephoto focal length of 9.3mm, which is roughly equivalent to a 65mm focal length in a 35mm full-frame film camera. Obviously, the f1.45 depth of field is closer to f8 than a full-frame 35mm camera lens, but still 2 stops behind the mid-telephotos of other cameras.
A naturally expandable lens body keeps the phone slim when the camera isn't working. It also allows for the longest focal length without a periscope-style mirror, and you can have a very wide aperture for shallow depth of field and better low-light sensitivity. The downside of zoom lenses is that there are moving parts and I'm afraid they could break if too much dust or particles got in.
Above is a comparison of my TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 65mm equivalent telescopic lens on the left camera and my 35mm full frame Nikon 80mm f1.4 lens on the right. Of course, the Nikon can produce a very shallow depth of field with soft, true bokeh, but the wide-aperture TECNO still achieves very realistic-looking, beautiful bokeh...because it's true bokeh. This isn't a depth sensor that tries to estimate the edges of objects and apply a blur filter to the background. This is real physics.
Of course, TECNO's f1.5 aperture at 9mm focal length does not correspond to the f1.5 aperture at the equivalent focal length of a 65mm lens. It's like an f8 aperture on a full-frame 35mm sensor. Still, it's 2-3x better than comparable phones. That's a full stop, or twice the focal length of most phones.
I was able to get some good shallow depth of field shots with the 2.5x extendable lens camera. If you click on some of the examples above to zoom in, you can see focus details around the subject. It's not a fake iPhone portrait mode that blurs the edges and washes out details. You can actually see the tiny strands of hair that match the faded background. nice!
Video with an extended telephoto lens
Record videos with a shallow depth of field of 2.5x telephoto. The actual bokeh in the videos is way better than the fake backgrounds other phones try to make. The wide angle lens blurs the background in beautiful, realistic videos and I love it. Not much glass is emitted from the sun.
Wide telephoto lenses work well for low-light video, as long as you have the right amount of light. Above you can see the leaves moving beautifully in the foreground and blurred in the background. This is how real bokeh works and looks great.
In fact, we used the TECNO Phantom X2 Pro for a few clips in the Gossip Girl Season 2 promo.
An ordinary camera with a wide-angle lens
The 1x camera has the usual wide focal length you'll find on many other flagship phone cameras. It has a 1/1.3-inch, 50MP sensor, but like most quad sensors, it only shoots at 12MP. The "50MP" option in the camera software gives you a 50MP file, but it's not the same. It looks like a sample 12MP file as there is no additional detail. In fact, you don't get better quality with this version, it's just a larger file.
Below are examples of 1x camera/lens combinations.
A camera with a very wide-angle lens
The 0.6x camera lens is only 13 megapixels and isn't as good in low light as the 1x or 2.5x cameras, but that's okay, you can't have everything. It's also a smaller camera, so that could be a reason. However, I love having an ultra-wide lens on hand, which is great for outdoor shots.
Below are examples of camera and ultra wide angle lens combinations:
Front camera
Of course we also have a good camera for selfies. Technically it's a 32MP sensor, but it only does 8MP. It's not very impressive in low light, but it usually gets the job done.
Below are some examples of front cameras.
software
The TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G runs HiOS 12 instead of Android 12. HiOS is not my favorite variant of Android for several reasons. You need to swipe up from the top-right corner to view notifications and access quick action controls. There shouldn't be any controls at the top of a phone with such a large screen. It's great that Android phones have a 3.8-inch screen, but at this size it's very difficult to raise your hand to touch that edge or touch it with your other hand. Keep control on one thumb while moving. In fact, the hand holding the phone will have a very smart interactive design.
HiOS 12 comes with a bunch of bundled apps that you might find suspicious, at least in North America. Palm Store, AHA Games, Welife, Boomplay, Ella, Carlcare, XShare, Visha Player, and Hi Translate are not typically available on North American Android phones, but are often included on phones destined for countries in Latin America and Africa. The market. What is this phone designed for?
Battery:
The TECNO Phantom X2 Pro packs a large 5160mAh battery, which is enough to last you all day no matter how much you use the device. I like to boost performance by turning off things like haptic feedback, high refresh rates, screen brightness, and side notifications. The Dimensional 9000 processor also has some nice tweaks to extend battery life, and the phone supports 45W fast charging.
buy now
TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G is not available in North America or Europe. It is only sold in Asian, African and Latin American countries. In Saudi Arabia As of 07/12/2022, the PHANTOM X2 PRO/AD9 is priced at SAR 3,499 (about $930.72).
For and against
professional
- The extendable 2.5x telephoto lens has a wide aperture for true bokeh.
- Nice body shape
- Including a beautiful triple case.
- Excellent camera with 1x standard wide angle lens
- Slim and comfortable shape
- The matte body doesn't attract a lot of fingerprints.
They fought back
- The camera software does not support RAW output or manual control.
- Magnifying glasses have moving parts that can be accidentally damaged
- It is not available internationally
- No wireless charging.
Conclusion
This is the first time a smartphone camera has a telephoto lens with a large aperture and shallow depth of field and beautiful bokeh with no obvious fake software simulations. The TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 2.5x extension lens is 1 to 2 stops wider than other phones with the same focal length. While it's still a long way from what's possible with a large (or larger) full-frame dedicated camera, achieving true bokeh in a smartphone camera is an impressive feat, and I love it with the Phantom X2 Pro to photograph. If only it could save RAW files like other flagship smartphones. The rest of the phone's features are also very good. The Phantom X2 Pro is a good entry into the competition as TECNO's flagship.
Special thanks to Angelina, Raquel, Rosie, Liga and Val for the photos.
