Tecno Spark 8C Review Keeping You Humble While On A Budget
Tecno Spark 8C is a great choice for those on a tight budget. There's a lot to love here, and you won't feel rushed halfway through. The camera and processing power could be better, but the battery, Samsung-like shape and similar design make it worth your money. But if you don't have that kind of budget, you better look elsewhere.
Design
Performance
Battery
Camera
Price
Tecno Spark 8C knows exactly what it is: a budget Android smartphone. Samsung looks and feels cheaper, doing its best to copy the more budget feel of the new flagships. For 3000 rand, you wouldn't expect the Spark to do much more than that. It lets you make calls, watch YouTube, play Candy Crush and take good pictures. What more could you want (besides a USB-C port)?
Beautiful in turquoise
The first thing that strikes you about the Spark 8C is the back panel. Where there would normally be a glass cover, Tecno opts for a plastic back. This is not a problem. The spark makes no mistake in looking at it; a big plus for low-cost phones. The big 'Stop at nothing' tag on the back is a bit... in your face. That's good because the background isn't exactly in your face 24/7. The cover solves the problem, so it's not a big deal.
And the front is in front of you 24/7. There is nothing special here. Imagine a Samsung Galaxy A smartphone, add the width of the body and you have the Tecno Spark 8C. The Spark runs on a 6.6-inch glass panel with surprisingly thin bezels. If you're not a fan of camera dots, the Spark's front-facing camera might look out of place.
Surrounding the screen is thicker than we'd like, with the same set of plastic-covered buttons you'll find on the back. On the sides are the standard power button, volume rocker and SIM tray. The bottom edge houses the micro-USB port, speaker grill and audio jack. The presence of an audio connection helps to forget the pain of not having a USB-C port.
Turn on the Spark and ride Stop for Nothing and you'll focus on the camera. It takes up one part of the body, which is good because it shares that space with the fingerprint scanner. Unlike the Spark 7 Pro, the camera doesn't extend beyond the phone. The Spark does its best to emulate more expensive Androids, but it can't turn water into wine.
Bright joy
While we don't like the slogan on the back, the real meat is inside the phone. After turning on your phone and going through all the standard setup steps, you'll be greeted by Hi OS. Hi OS is a Tecno skin running on a stripped down version of Android 11. It is slightly different from the main Android OS version. Suffice it to say, it was good. It's not that pretty, but if you've used any kind of Android before, the layout will be intuitive.
But it's the screens and processors that hold it all together. The 6.6-inch screen has a 90 Hz refresh rate and a 1612×700 resolution. While it's not the best, it's not that noticeable on a 6.6-inch screen. Note that enabling 90Hz refresh mode requires a quick look at the settings. It's not enabled by default - probably to save battery.
It leaves a lot of shine. What's more, we saw a steady increase in brightness while playing around with office stuff . Tecno doesn't mention Spark's maximum brightness anywhere. Considering, we are not surprised.
Under the hood, the Spark runs on a Unisoc T606 processor - we can only find out by going to Google. Shkëndija himself did not want to tell us, and neither did Tecno. That... says a lot. The only thing you will get from Tecno is that the Spark has a 1.6GHz octa-core processor. And for good reason. This thing will not compete with other smartphones in terms of processing power. It's solid enough to keep you going, but we wish it had a little more to add to the resume. Our review model has 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. A cheaper 64GB/2GB variant is also available.
At least with Spark you won't be infected with COVID any time soon (sarcasm). The Tecno phone does not have a 5G chip which limits it to the 4G network. It doesn't sound like a broken record, but that might be because of the phone's 3,000 rand price tag.
This is free real estate
Despite having plenty of dedicated cameras on the back of the Spark, it doesn't make the most of the space. There is a 13MP (f/1.8) main sensor paired with an 8MP front camera. Nor is it great. The cameras are good for catching the odd funny bird when you're on the go, but otherwise... The Spark left us with nothing to rave about.
What we will highlight is the surprisingly large 5000 mAh battery that Tecno has installed. After a few hours of heavy use, the battery drops below 80%. It will last all day and more. The only problem is charging this baby as it doesn't support USB-C charging. You're stuck with a micro-USB port. We know it's a budget smartphone, but we thought the era of bulky micro-USB was over. I do not think so.
Tecno Spark 8C Verdict
3000 rand for Tecno Spark 8C is a perfect choice. You don't have 5G, USB-C and a good camera - that seems about right. The Spark makes up for it with good battery life and the familiar looks of budget Samsung devices. Not much, but we didn't expect that to happen. For anyone who only needs a phone to perform the most basic functions (and then some), the Tecno Spark 8C is probably a good choice. You can do better elsewhere, but you'll be fine here.
