I have had with me two devices from Tecno’s Camon 19 series for weeks and used them interchangeably. You can watch our review of them below and check out this detailed comparison.
The takeaway from using the Tecno Camon 19 and Tecno Camon 19 Pro over the last few weeks/months is this:
- Tecno has upgraded the Camon device lineup, its apex smartphone offering at this time, without forgetting its affordable pricing roots. Sure, the Camons are now stepping up to where the Phantom once stood (it is now a separate sub-brand targeting more high-end customers) but that shouldn’t mean that it becomes out of the reach of those who’ve previously bought Camon devices, right? It’s why the “standard” Camon 19 exists. Starting at just Kshs 23,500, it is a bargain offering for all that it packs. Depending on the options one wants to explore, the Camon 19 Pro, which is our recommended device among the trio that’s available in our market (there’s a pricey 5G variant), starts at just under Kshs 34,000.
- So, how would costing be the number one user experience for someone? Well, it is not, really. However, for a reviewer like yours truly, it is. This is because the pricing goes a long way in helping place a device in its proper context and appreciate it for what it is and not unnecessarily condemn it for what it is not. Most times, whatever you think ought to have been there could’ve been there if the device maker was charging more for it.
- Now that the costing experience is out of the way, we can discuss the Camon 19 series’ cameras. They are fantastic on the Pro model and bang average on the standard variant. Don’t get it twisted, the standard model Camon 19’s cameras are actually good. Just that they are blown out of the water by the Camon 19 Pro whose shooters are fantastic. The beauty of being in the same lineup is that lots of the functionality of the viewfinder of the Camon 19 Pro is also found on the standard variant. The same goes for all the camera-centred features. There’s barely anything to complain about. Still, you can’t go wrong any day of the week when you settled on the Pro as your preferred purchase. Its cameras deliver. Big time. During the day and at night. Especially at night.
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- Battey life is fantastic on the Camon 19 and the Camon 19 Pro. There are no complaints there. We want to believe this is the same experience across the entire range. The software has been well optimized and there’s barely anything that drains the battery without the watchful eyes of Tecno’s HiOS reining it in.
- The best thing about the Camon 19 series, apart from the cameras and the crispy displays (more on those below) is their design. It just blends very well with what we expect of a modern device. The cameras are large and protrude, thereby meaning that there’s significant wobbling when the devices are laid on a flat surface like a table when without a cover but that’s really it. The backs are great. Not glossy and not exactly matte. Whatever it is that is going on with the starry back is great. So much that my review units have never known their plastic cases since the unboxing. And, the device’s slim profiles (the Pro is slightly fatter, by a hair) just make whatever was good about them become great.
- The displays on both devices are fantastic and good whether one is indoors or outdoors. Could they use some more brightness outdoors? Sure, they could.
- These are, at the end of the day, phones. They handle that phone part very well. Calls are clear and crisp – especially HD voice calls on the Safaricom network and the usual surfing the web is handled very well. Heck, these things are built to allow you to do multiplayer gaming online in realtime so…
- The software experience is unchanged from the last bunch of Tecno devices we had a look at. Since the Camon series has had a history of being the first in line to receive the latest updates, we are waiting to see what Tecno does with the software, not just on this device but across the board, with the next version of its HiOS overlay in Android 13. That could get us excited all over again. If you have no experience with Tecno’s software or the most recent versions of it, what you can expect from the Camon 19 series is this: it will be fully functional, it will be fast and the experience will be, largely, a good one. There will be lots of little annoyances, though. Nothing you can’t live with. Like, for instance, freezing some of the pre-installed apps that you may not need and doing away with as many of the intrusive ads as possible.
