Tecno POVA 6 Pro review: meaningful upgrades

Check out our detailed Tecno POVA 6 Pro review to find out if this is the handset that ticks all the right boxes for you

• By Shekhar Thakran -
Published On: April 9, 2024

I reviewed the Tecno POVA 5 Pro in August last year and found it to be a sensibly-priced phone that brought along some of the most desired features from mid-range to a more affordable price point. With a high-refresh-rate display, fast charging support, and a unique design, the handset was an appealing buy under Rs 15,000. Instead of waiting around for a full year, the brand has now launched the POVA 6 Pro in March itself. But does it bring along the necessary upgrades to build on its predecessor's exciting proposition or does it fail to offer a similar value for money? Since the new handset is currently retailing for Rs 19,999 (a special discount of Rs 2,000 available at launch), you might also be wondering whether the higher price is justified or not. I'm here to answer all these questions and more insights on the phone, so without wasting any time, let's get right into it.

Verdict

Tecno POVA 6 Pro comes with meaningful upgrades over its predecessor and shines in aspects like the vibrant display, long battery life, fast charging speed, and useful software features. One of the key aspects missing from the handset, which was also missing on its predecessor, is an ultra-wide sensor. The smartphone's introductory pricing of Rs 17,999 makes it a good deal, but for the full price of Rs 19,999, it does need more thought.

Design and display

• Tecno POVA 6 Pro builds on the design language of the POVA 5 Pro and goes a step ahead.
• Apart from the LED strips that were also present on its predecessor, the POVA 6 Pro also offers dynamic lighting in the ring surrounding the cameras. The dynamic light effects can be adjusted from the settings menu.
  
  
• While we received the Comet Green variant of the handset, it will also be available in the Meteorite Black option. The Comet Green colour variant has a more distinguished look out of the two but the Black option could be preferred by those who want a more subdued look.
• The dynamic effects offered this time around in the updated Arc interface provide more options and do not feel like an afterthought, which was the case with the POVA 5 Pro. The 'Party Mode' allows you to keep the dynamic lighting on for as long as you want.
• The phone measures 7.9mm in thickness and weighs 195 grams. While the weight is on the higher side, the phone doesn't feel too heavy in the hand. The POVA 6 Pro does have a boxy feel to it, but I found it to be convenient to use with one hand. This is particularly impressive given the fact that this is the slimmest phone in the market with a 6,000mAh battery.
  
  
• Notably, instead of the IPS panel used on the POVA 5 Pro, the new phone from Tecno features a 6.78-inch FHD+ (2,460 x 1,080 pixels) AMOLED display (with 120Hz refresh rate and 1300 nits of peak brightness).
• I genuinely enjoyed watching videos on this phone. While the colour reproduction leaned more towards the vibrant side, the deep blacks truly enhance your viewing experience.

Cameras

• The Tecno POVA 6 Pro features a triple camera setup at the back, headlined by a 108MP primary camera with f/1.9 aperture. The primary camera is assisted by a 2MP Portrait sensor and a tertiary AI sensor. The phone offers 3x in-sensor zoom and 10x zoom.
  
  
• The handset offers the same camera modes as previous models from the brand. This means you have slow-motion, time-lapse, film, AR Line, Pro mode, Panorama, Documents, AR Shot, Super Night, Portrait, and Dual Video.
• However, the new addition here is Sky Shop (featured in the Camon series before), which lets you change the sky portion in your images with just a tap. This is a fun mode, and I ended up using it more times than I initially thought I would.
  
  
• While I found the shots clicked in the default camera Photo mode to be decent, in the 108MP mode, the phone managed to capture impressively detailed shots.
• I liked the in-sensor 3x zoom on the phone as it delivered good images, without a noticeable drop in quality. However, the 10x zoom is only usable in limited scenarios and the quality drop-off is significant.
• The portrait shots clicked by the handset were particularly impressive. In fact, I was surprised at how well the edge detection worked in certain shots. Have a look at the camera samples I have shared below and you'll get an even better idea.
  
  
• One issue I had with the image quality was with the level of detail towards the edge of the pictures in Super Night mode. The objects placed at the edges were not so sharp in these shots. The lack of an ultra-wide sensor limits the kind of shots you can click with the phone.
• As the phone features a 32MP AI selfie camera (f/2.2 aperture) with dual-tone flash support, it was hardly a surprise that the selfies clicked with the phone were detailed. The front camera also captures different skin tones really well.

To get a better perspective of the camera performance, we compared the camera samples clicked with the Tecno POVA 6 Pro with the ones clicked with the Vivo T3. We found that the camera samples clicked with the latter offered more colour accuracy and the background blur appeared more natural too.

Performance and software

• Tecno POVA 6 Pro is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 6080 5G chipset and up to 12GB of RAM. The handset ships with up to 256GB of internal storage, which is expandable by up to 1TB with a microSD card. The MemFusion feature increases RAM by up to 12GB by converting storage space into virtual RAM as needed.
• The Game Space feature lets you individually optimise specific games and offers features such as smart frame stability and network boost to ensure your gameplay experience is top-notch. You can choose to go for performance mode to get the most out of your device.
• There were no stutter issues while playing games such as Battlegrounds Mobile India and Real Racing 3. However, the phone could not play BGMI in HDR or higher graphics modes, which is slightly unusual for this price range. The 120Hz display refresh rate ensures that your gameplay experience is smooth and the touch response is pretty decent too.
• In the AnTuTu benchmark, the POVA 6 Pro managed to get a score of 441943, which is towards the lower side in this price range.
• On Geekbench, the handset managed to get a single-core score of 772 and a multi-core score of 2076. While there are better performers in this price range, this is still a decent score.
  
  
• In the CPU throttle test, the phone managed to retain 84 percent of its peak performance after running 50 threads for 30 minutes. This is on the lower end in comparison to some of its main rivals.
• The phone runs HiOS v14.0 out of the box and you get some interesting features with it. The OS provides you with app suggestions on the basis of your usage. Smart Accelerator speeds up app launches by learning your daily phone usage and predicting which app you will use next.
• The phone's interface provides you with real-time reminders (payments, bedtime routine etc.) depending on your current scenario. Smart Touch lets you extract text from pages and pictures by simply long-pressing the screen with two fingers.
• With Smart Hub, you get temporary storage for text, images, files etc. to provide you with an efficient way for cross-app content transfer. App Twin feature lets you use dual accounts for an app.
• You also get the usual Floating Windows, Smart Panel, Game Mode, and Kids mode features that you get with the HiOS here. You also get Ella, which is a translation tool that helps you translate text from images or voice.

Battery life and Charging speed

• Tecno POVA 6 Pro comes with a massive 6,000mAh battery that managed to last an impressive 15 hours and 56 minutes in the PCMark battery test.
• In light use, the phone easily lasts two days. Even if you're a heavy user, it can last beyond a day with ease.
  
  
• If you're concerned that such a large battery would be a pain to juice back up again, you can put aside these concerns as the handset comes with 70W fast-charging support. I managed to charge from 0 to 100 in around 60 minutes.

Final Verdict

While the POVA 6 Pro does come with clear upgrades in display, battery capacity, and dynamic lighting at the back, it still doesn't feature an ultra-wide camera. Also, the other handsets in this price range feature more robust processors. While I did not face any major issues with the phone's performance, having a more powerful processor would have given me more assurance about its long-term usage. While the phone is still a good deal at the current introductory retail price of Rs 17,999, once its pricing is pushed to Rs 19,999, it neds careful consideration. If you're looking for performance, the likes of Vivo T3, Narzo 70 Pro, and iQOO Z9 are worth considering. The Tecno POVA 6 Pro however, makes for a worthy buy if you're in the market for a phone with solid battery life and one that looks cool too.

Editor's rating: 7.5 / 10

Reasons to buy

• The POVA 6 Pro features a massive 6,000mAh battery that offers long backup
• The 120Hz AMOLED panel offers an immersive visual experience
• The dynamic lighting gives the phone a unique look
• 70W bundled charger

Reasons not to buy

• No ultra-wide camera sensor
• The processor could have been better