Tecno Pova Curve 5G review: style meets substance

In an interview with 91mobiles earlier this year, Tecno CEO Arijeet Talapatra mentioned that the Pova series from the brand attempts to bring in the wow factor for users. The new Tecno Pova Curve 5G, with its 7.45mm slim curved design, sticks to the same ethos. The price tag is quite affordable too. The new smartphone launched in India at a starting price of Rs 15,999. In terms of specs, the Pova Curve 5G packs a 144Hz AMOLED display, MediaTek’s popular Dimensity 7300 Ultimate SoC, a 64MP dual rear camera setup, a big 5,500mAh battery with 45W fast charging, and Android 15 OS with AI features. The Tecno phone is also said to be India’s first with a “no-network communication” support.

Well, we have rigorously tested the slim phone’s specs and claims, and in this 91mobiles’ Tecno Pova Curve 5G review, we’ll tell you whether the sleek design and compelling specs deliver in real-world use or if it’s all style with little substance.

Verdict

The Tecno Pova Curve 5G stands out with its sleek design, vibrant AMOLED display, and smooth performance powered by the Dimensity 7300 chip. Its 5,500mAh battery and 45W fast charging offer solid endurance. The camera output is decent, with usable 4K video from both lenses. However, the UI feels cluttered and the lack of OIS can sometimes result in shaky shots. Still, it’s a strong value pick if you can live with these trade-offs.

Design and display 

Right as we started using the phone, we noticed two things: one, the sci-fi-inspired patterns and prints on the back panel, and two, how slender the phone feels, which can be attributed to its curved sides. The handset is fairly light too, at 177 grams, and along with its slim and curvy figure, it is quite handy. I could easily slide it into my jeans pocket, take it out, and use it while standing in crowded metros. And there have been instances where its design was grabbing the attention of bystanders.

Now, even though the phone is slim, the slight protrusion of the rear camera module means it wobbles when kept on a flat tabletop. Even the bundled TPU case can’t fix this. The case is transparent but has a slight green tint, perhaps to match the phone’s colour.

We received the Neon Cyan variant for review, which actually looks closer to green in colour. You can also pick the phone in Greek Black and Magic Silver colours. While the sides of the phone have a shiny frame, inserting it in the case adds a striped pattern to them.

Resting on the right side of the body are the power key and volume rockers. Both are tactile and easily reachable with one hand. The top houses a mic and an infrared port, which can turn the phone into a remote control for appliances. And on the bottom, there is a USB-C port, another microphone, a fairly loud and clear speaker, and a dual SIM tray. There is no microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack here, which you can find on some of the other smartphones in the segment, like the POCO M7 Pro.

Finally, coming to the front, you get a long 6.78-inch screen, which is taller than its competitors like the iQOO Z10x (review) and POCO M7 Pro (review). Also, the AMOLED panel offers deep blacks, vibrant colours, decent contrast and sharp details. The Tecno phone has Widevine L1 support, but on Netflix, it can play non-HDR FHD content only. On YouTube, it does support playback up to 4K HDR quality though.

Outdoors, the Curve’s display is quite legible, even under the harsh sun, thanks to its 1,300 nits of peak brightness and a software feature called Outdoor Booster. This brightness and the screen’s Gorilla Glass 5 protection felt reassuring while I was out on treks in Jibhi.

I have captured plenty of good memories of my Jibhi trip from the Curve’s camera. Check out some of them below:

Cameras 

On the back, the phone’s 64MP (Sony IMX682) main camera sits in a large ring, highlighting its size and prominence. At 1/1.73-inch size, it is a bigger sensor than the 1/1.95-inch sensor inside the POCO M7 Pro. Even though the iQOO Z10x hasn’t specified the sensor size, its 50MP sensor has lower resolution than the Pova Curve 5G’s sensor.

The high resolution and the large sensor size, coupled with a f/1.8 aperture, let in ample light, resulting in detailed daytime shots with close-to-natural colours on the Tecno phone. However, its aperture size isn’t as big as the one on POCO M7 Pro, and it also lacks OIS. So, once the sun sets or in low light settings, the shots out of the Tecno phone are good, but fall short of the competition.

Here, you can see the comparison shots taken from the Tecno Pova Curve and the iQOO Z10x:

Daylight 

The photo from the Tecno Curve 5G is softer in comparison, retaining fewer details. You can see this if you zoom in on the texture of the leaves, the building surface and the window reflections. But without peeping in, the Tecno’s clicks appear more appealing thanks to their vibrancy and HDR processing.

Portrait

The first thing we noticed in this comparison is the Tecno camera’s stronger background blur, which looks slightly artificial. The iQOO Z10x’s shot has a more natural bokeh effect. But the colours and detail retention are better on the Tecno phone. This is noticeable in the beard and hair texture, the text on the shirt’s buttons, and the colour of the shirt. 

While Tecno handles edge detection well for the most part, it misses blurring the side of the chest area. So, the subject looks better on the Tecno phone. It just needs to improve the blur processing.

Selfie

In broad daylight, the Tecno phone captures more pleasing selfies with warmer colours and better exposure. In contrast, the iQOO phone produces cooler, more muted selfies. However, facial features and shirt details are clearer in the iQOO shot than on the Tecno one.

However, when the selfies were taken indoors, the one on the Tecno phone looked softer, with washed-out colours. The iQOO phone produced oversaturated colours, but had ample details. 

Low-light (night mode)

When you enable the Super Night Mode on the Tecno Pova Curve, the photos have better exposure, and the details are clearer. You can clearly see the Metro Station name on the Super Night Mode photo compared to the regular photo. 

The exposure and noise control are also better than the iQOO Z10x. The left-side building and the leaves appear grainy on the iQOO phone. Not so the case with the Tecno photo. 

Moving to videos, the 4K 30 FPS support on Tecno phones’ front and rear cameras is rare in this price range. The output from the main camera is serviceable with quick focus capture thanks to PDAF. It is quite stable even without OIS.

Performance and software 

The underlying Dimensity 7300 Ultimate chipset uses the 4nm process node and tops at a 2.5GHz clock speed. The chipset is a proven performer found even on some midrange phones. The performance is reflected in benchmark tests:

The performance is backed by up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM (including 8GB extended RAM) and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage. There is no expandable storage support. In comparison, the iQOO Z10x offers faster UFS 3.1 storage, while the POCO M7 Pro includes LPDDR5x RAM and a microSD card slot.

I wish Tecno gave the option of user-expandable storage and newer RAM and ROM standards, considering some of the competitors do offer those. Still, it doesn’t take away from the Curve’s performance as it boots quickly, loads apps fast, and handles scrolling and switching smoothly. Even in the Burnout throttling test, the phone fared better than the POCO M7 Pro and iQOO Z10x.

As for gaming, you can play both casual titles and demanding ones, though the latter will run at lower graphics settings. For instance, we could run BGMI at an Ultra frame rate, only at Low graphic quality. The same is true for COD Mobile.

The performance feels good partly because of the Android 15-based HIOS 15 software. This UI looks clean, and yet, is quite feature-rich and customisable. You can clean it further by uninstalling many of the pre-installed apps, choose a unique cum uniform icon theme called Vision Art, use a sidebar to quickly access recent files and favourite apps, get a glance at important service information and notifications via a Dynamic Island-like pill-shaped UI, mulitask with floating windows and split screen options, and run two accounts of a platform simultaneously using App Twin.

The software also includes table-stakes AI features like text or voice summary, translation, document analysis, math problem solver, and writing assistant. There is also a device assistant named Ella Voice. While it is good to have options, the experience can be a hit or a miss. 

Although not labelled as an AI feature, the Tecno Curve 5G includes an “Intelligent Hub System” that allows you to make calls between two Tecno phones without cellular connectivity. You can make calls through the pre-installed FreeLink app. Like OPPO’s Beacon Link, the handset uses short-range connectivity and works only within a limited range, similar to a walkie-talkie.

Battery and charging 

The Tecno Pova Curve 5G packs a 5,500mAh battery with 45W wired fast charging (adapter and USB-A to USB-C cable included). In the PCMark Battery Test, the Pova Curve 5G ran for 11 hours 19 minutes in our rundown test, which is behind its competitors like iQOO Z10x with 14 hours 20 minutes and POCO M7 Pro with 17 hours and 46 minutes runtime.

However, it lasted longer in real-world usage. We ran a 30-minute YouTube session at 50 percent brightness and 50 percent volume, and the phone’s battery drained just 3 percent. This suggests decent real-world endurance. And it held up well during my weekend trip to the hills.

As for charging, the bundled 45W charger can take it from 20 to 100 percent in under an hour. That’s close to Tecno’s claim of 50 percent in 15 minutes and a full charge in 45 minutes. Moreover, it’s much faster than some phones in the segment, including the iQOO Z10x, which takes more than 1 hour and 15 minutes to fully top up. 

Final verdict

The Tecno Pova Curve 5G manages to strike a balance between style and substance. The handset boasts a very ergonomic design, and this is partly thanks to the curved AMOLED display, which is pleasant to read and interact with. At Rs 15,999, you are also getting a reliable MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate chipset that handles daily use and light gaming well. It is interesting that despite being slim, the handset still fits in a big battery and charges fast with the 45W adapter.

The 64MP main sensor takes decent shots, while 4K video recording on both front and back cameras is a rare plus at this price. But the selfies have softer details, and there is no OIS on the back. Similarly, Tecno has omitted a memory card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the software side, Tecno has given a lot of features, some useful, some not. The phone comes with a lot of preloaded apps that could seem cluttered for some users. The AI features need polish, and some, like Ella Voice, feel unnecessary next to Google Gemini.

The phone is currently available on Flipkart, and if you can overlook the small niggles, it offers good value with its pleasing design and display, reliable everyday performance, and lasting battery life.

Editor’s Rating:  7.8 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• An ergonomic design, thanks to a slim and lightweight chassis with curved edges
• Smooth 144Hz display with bright and vibrant visuals
• Reliable performance from MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate
• Big 5,500mAh battery with 45W fast charging

Reasons not to buy:

• The phone doesn’t come with a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack
• The selfie shots have softer details