TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G Review: The Smartphone With Extending Camera Lens
The first extended mobile lens has an impressively wide aperture
I'm sure you haven't heard much about the TECNO brand in North America, but they are quite active in other markets such as Africa, Middle East, South/South Asia, East and Latin America. The new TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G is their latest flagship Android smartphone and there is something very special about its camera suite. You can find out more about this in the further test report. Apart from these excellent camera features, TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G has more features that you can expect from a high-end flagship smartphone.
What's in the box?
The packaging is also very high quality. The Phantom X2 Pro 5G comes in a beautiful black case with a nice soft touch and patented strap along with a gold embossed logo.
Besides the 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. Additionally, the case has a large tail around the camera array, which also has a hinge, so it doubles as a kickstand to hold the phone at an angle for watching movies and the like. Kickstands like these are far more common on phones and it's great to see the feature return as part of the included protective case.
The large mounting edge around the camera assembly with the case protects the camera lens not only when you place your phone on a table or table, but also when you hold the phone. The edges can be easily felt with fingers, avoiding fingerprints on oversized glasses.
ingredient
As for internal specifications, the TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G packs an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 9000 4nm ARMv9 processor clocked up to 3.05 GHz, 12 GB LPDDR5X DRAM, and 256 GB flash memory. It has a 5160mAh battery with long life mode and 45 W fast charging. 6.8-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and 20:2 aspect ratio. The phone measures 164.6mm x 72.7mm x 8.9mm. We support many 5G bands beyond Sub6 TDD: n38, n40, n41, n77, n78, n79 , sub6 FDD: n1, n3, n8, n28,
The top is flush with a single microphone hole. The internal hardware seems to be tucked into the dual bent unibody metal frame design of the phone.
The bottom is very smooth with rounded corners. The SIM card tray can hold 2 nano SIM cards. Of course, there's also USB-C and a speaker grill. Speaker sound is not as high quality or as loud as other expensive phones.
The left side is thin, smooth and rounded with several areas for antennas. Thin bezels can make phones smoother with increased surface area and friction.
The right side houses the ultra-thin power button and volume rocker. They are a little hard to see, but stretch so much that you can easily feel them without looking. The power button is painted red to stand out, and matches the red ring around the rear camera.
The glossy "Phantom" logo on the back looks great, and the matte black finish has a fine grained texture that avoids fingerprint smudges well and is very comfortable to hold.
camera
This is a really cool part of the Tecno Phantom X2 Pro; The camera array and especially the extended telephoto lens with a large aperture.
One thing I don't really like about Tecno cameras is the camera software. While it works fine for most people, it's missing some of the features I really like, such as RAW DNG output, manual controls, white balance control, and a burst shot timer. One of the reasons I like the RAW DNG output is because I can control things afterwards. The TECNO software applies noise reduction to JPGs in low light conditions, which affects image quality. I like to save RAW images with very little noise that I can tweak to my liking after shooting. The lack of white balance is also frustrating because sometimes the camera doesn't automatically set the color temperature I want.
Extendable 2.5x telephoto camera
The Extender has an aperture of f1.45 and a telephoto focal length of 9.3mm, which is roughly equivalent to the 65mm focal length of a 35mm full-frame film camera. Of course, the f1.45 aperture is more like an f8 aperture than a 35mm full-frame camera lens in terms of depth of field, but it's still about 2 stops wider than most other mid-telephoto lenses you'll have. View in another camera.
Of course, the stretchable lens case lets you keep your phone slim when the camera isn't in use. This allows a long focal length without the need for a periscope mirror and we can have a very large aperture for a shallow depth of field and good sensitivity in low light. The downside to stretched lenses is that they have moving parts and I'm worried that if too much dust or particles get in, things will break.
Above is a comparison between the equivalent 65mm TECNO Phantom X2 Pro Stretch Lens camera on the left and my full frame Nikon 35mm camera with 80mm f1.4 lens on the right. Obviously the Nikon is capable of a much shallower depth of field with smooth, realistic bokeh, but the Tecno's wide aperture still produces decent bokeh that actually looks realistic... because it's real bokeh! This isn't a depth sensor trying to approximate the edges of the subject and applying a blur filter to the background, this is real physics.
The Tecno's f1.5 aperture at 9mm focal length is not necessarily the same as f1.5 aperture at 65mm equivalent focal length. Looks like f8 aperture on a 35mm full frame sensor. Still, it's better than other phones with a comparable 2-3x telephoto lens! It's a notch or two wider than other phones of comparable focal length.
The shallow depth of field of the 2.5x reflex camera allowed me to take lots of great photos. If you click on some of the examples above to zoom in on them, you'll notice details at the edges of the subject stay sharp. It's not like the iPhone's fake portrait mode, which blurs edges and washes out detail. You can actually see the tiny strands of hair covering the blurred background. This is good!
Video with an extended telephoto lens
Another fun thing to do with the 2.5x telephoto lens' shallow depth of field is shoot video. Real bokeh in videos looks much better than the simulated background blur other phones try to do. The wide angle lens blurs the background of the video nicely and realistically and I love it. Not much sun.
A large aperture telephoto lens works well for low light video as long as you have the right amount of light. Above you can see that the background fades nicely, as well as the moving leaves in the foreground. This is how real bokeh works and it looks amazing.
We even used a TECNO Phantom X2 Pro for some of the footage in a small Gossip Girl Season 2 commercial.
General wide angle camera
The 1x camera has the typical wide focal length you'll find on most other flagship phone cameras. That's 50Mp for a sensor size of 1/1.3 inches, but like most four-chamber sensors, it only puts out 12Mp. The "50Mp" option in the camera software gives you a 50Mp file, but it doesn't look like an oversampled 12Mp file because there really isn't any more. No detail. You're not getting very good quality with this option, it's a large file.
See some examples of 1x camera/lens combinations below:
Camera with ultra wide angle lens
The 0.6x camera lens is only 13 megapixels and doesn't perform as well as a 1x or 2.5x camera in low light, but hey, you can't have everything. It's a small camera, that's probably one of the reasons. Still, I like having an ultra wide lens available which is great for shooting outdoors.
See some examples of camera and ultra wide lens combinations below:
Front camera
Of course, we also have a decent camera for selfies. This is technically a 32Mp sensor, but it only outputs 8Mp. It's not spectacular, especially in low light, but usually gets the job done.
See some examples of front cameras below:
software
The TECNO Phantom X2 Pro 5G runs HiOS 12 in addition to Android 12. HiOS is not my preferred version of Android for a number of reasons; You have to swipe left to view notifications and right to access the quick action controls. A phone with such a large screen shouldn't have any controls along the top edge. This is fine when Android phones have 3.8-inch screens, but at this size, it's really impractical to move your hand up to touch those edges, or use the second hand when using the Keep in inches control. This phone is too big. Smart interaction design.
HiOS 12 also comes with a lot of bundled apps that could be seen as dubious, at least in North America. Things like the Palm Store, AHA Games, WellLife, BoomPlay, Ella, CarlCare, XShare, Bisha Player, and HiTranslate aren't typically found on North American Android phones, but are often hidden on phones targeted in the country by the US. Latin America and Africa, and this phone is aimed at those markets.
battery
The TECNO Phantom X2 Pro packs a massive 5160mAh battery, which is sufficient for a whole day depending on the intensity of use of the device. I want to improve efficiency by disabling things like haptic feedback, high refresh rates, screen brightness, and extra notifications. The Dimensity 9000 processor also features good optimizations to increase battery life and the phone supports 45W fast charging.
for sale
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, which was announced on 12/07/2022, PHANTOM X2 PRO / AD9 costs 3499 Sar (approx. 930.72 USD).
advantages and disadvantages
facility
- The extendable 2.5x telephoto lens has a wide aperture for true bokeh
- Beautifully designed body
- Includes a beautiful kickstand box
- Excellent 1x normal wide angle lens camera
- Slim and comfortable form factor
- The matte body doesn't attract a lot of fingerprints
Problem
- The camera software doesn't offer RAW output or manual controls
- Conversion lenses have moving parts that can be accidentally damaged
- Not available worldwide
- No wireless charging
Closing
This is the first time we've had a smartphone camera with a telephoto lens and large aperture actually get a narrow enough depth of field and beautiful bokeh without fake software simulations. The TECNO Phantom X2 Pro's 2.5x extension lens is 1-2 stops wider than other phones at the same focal length. While it's still a long way from what's possible with a dedicated (or large) full-frame camera, getting true bokeh on a smartphone camera is an impressive feat, and I love shooting with the Phantom X2 Pro to shoot! If you can save RAW files like other flagship smartphones. The rest of the phone's features are also very good. As TECNO's flagship product, the Phantom X2 Pro is an excellent entry in the competition.
Special thanks to Angelina, Raquel, Rosie, Liga and Val for their photo opportunities.