Review Summary
Expert Rating
Tecno Spark Go 5G may seem like just another budget phone, but it has a standout feature: its design. It has certain elements that make it look similar to the iPhone Air, specifically the rear camera pill design. Is that bad? Not necessarily, as the Tecno Spark Go 5G looks quite good for a phone that costs Rs 9,999.
Tecno’s Spark series caters to the budget segment, offering buyers pocket-friendly options. The latest Tecno Spark Go 5G seems to be a major upgrade for this particular lineup, especially with 5G connectivity. The smartphone also runs Android 15 out of the box, another upgrade from the Tecno Spark Go 2024, which supports Android 13 (Go edition). Available at a budget-friendly price of Rs 9,999, here’s where the Tecno Spark Go 5G shines, and where it doesn’t.
Table of Contents
Verdict
At Rs 9,999, the Tecno Spark Go 5G stands out as one of the most well-rounded budget phones you can get right now. It’s a solid choice if you value premium design, dependable battery life, smooth gaming, and surprisingly good low-light photography. However, it’s not the best pick for selfie enthusiasts or those who prefer brighter displays.
Low cost, high design
The Tecno Spark Go 5G has a premium and sleek look that’s uncommon in a sub-Rs 10,000 phone. It’s also quite slim, measuring 7.99mm. The phone is tall and lightweight, making it comfortable to hold. We received the Sky Blue colour variant, which looks elegant and pleasing to the eye with a matte-like finish. The handset comes in three more colours: Ink Black, Turquoise green and Bikaner Red, catering to different user preferences.
It’s great to see brands in the budget segment stepping up and not overlooking the design factor. The Tecno Spark Go 5G also features an IP64 rating, which protects it from dust ingress and light water exposure. This is the standard IP rating for phones in the same price segment.
Good display, average brightness
The Tecno handset features a 6.74-inch HD+ LCD display (720 x 1600 pixels) with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 700 nits. These display specs are quite good for a budget phone. The smartphone’s display colours tend to lean towards a warmer tone despite the colour temperature set to neutral. This isn’t necessarily bad, but the display feels slightly lacking in terms of brightness. The peak brightness is capped at 700 nits, which is the standard in this segment.
You’ll also want to keep the refresh rate at 120Hz if you want a smoother scrolling experience. It’s still a notched display on the Tecno Spark Go 5G, and you also get a thick bezel at the bottom, but nothing too dramatic. The tall display also makes the phone a good device for watching your YouTube videos or movies on it.
Surprisingly smooth gaming
The Tecno Spark Go 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6400, the same processor found in more expensive phones, such as the Realme P3x. In our AnTuTu test, it scored 418,472, which is capable enough for a budget device. Competing phones, such as the iQOO Z10 Lite and Lava Blaze Dragon, have higher AnTuTu scores, but with minimal real-world differences. In day-to-day use, the phone felt smooth and responsive, with no noticeable lag.
Gaming performance was also better than we expected at this price. COD Mobile ran smoothly on medium graphics with high FPS, averaging 51.8 FPS in our tests. BGMI, on the other hand, gave a more standard 28.7 FPS. What impressed us most was the thermal efficiency. After playing three different games for 30 minutes each, the phone’s temperature rose by only 3.2°C. That means you can comfortably game for long stretches without worrying about heating.
The Tecno Spark Go 5G runs HiOS 15 on top of Android 15 out of the box. It comes with 45 pre-installed apps, only three of which are third-party, so the interface feels relatively clean and uncluttered. Tecno is also promising 2 years of OS upgrades (up to Android 17) and 3 years of security updates, which is easily the best software support you’ll find in this segment.
The phone also features Tecno’s in-house Ella AI assistant, which supports Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, and Marathi languages. You need to set the device language accordingly to use it. In our experience, this feature feels genuinely helpful, especially for users who prefer regional languages. With AI becoming a big talking point in smartphones, having a multilingual assistant makes the Spark Go 5G stand out in its category.
Reliable battery life
The Tecno Spark Go 5G packs a massive 6,000mAh battery, one of the biggest you’ll find under Rs 10,000. In the PCMark benchmark, it clocked 14 hours and 37 minutes, which is excellent for this segment. In fact, it outlasts most similarly priced phones, with only the iQOO Z10 Lite doing better at 16 hours and 52 minutes.
In real-world use, the Spark Go 5G comfortably lasted a full day on a single charge, even with regular gaming and video streaming in the mix. Charging is handled by the bundled 18W adapter, which took about 106 minutes to go from 20 to 100 per cent in our tests. That’s quite reasonable considering the large battery, and it’s in line with what we usually see on smaller-capacity phones.
Impressive cameras
The Tecno Spark Go 5G features a 50MP wide-angle primary camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. In terms of hardware, it could have benefited from a secondary camera and an 8MP front camera. However, the phone still delivers an impressive camera performance, especially in low-light conditions. Its daylight and portrait shots are also good enough for a budget phone at its price.
We put the Tecno Spark Go 5G’s cameras to test, and also compared them with the iQOO Z10 Lite, which has a 50MP wide-angle primary camera, a 2MP depth camera, and a 5MP front camera. Here’s how the two phones performed:
Daylight
In daylight conditions, both the Tecno Spark Go 5G and the iQOO Z10 Lite manage to deliver decent results with good levels of detail and sharpness. However, the Tecno Spark Go 5G edges ahead with slightly better colour reproduction, making its shots look more vibrant and true to life. The iQOO Z10 Lite, although capable, tends to produce images that appear slightly flatter in comparison. Overall, the Tecno phone offers a more pleasing output for casual photography in well-lit environments.
Portrait
There’s a noticeable difference between the two phones when it comes to portrait shots. The Tecno Spark Go 5G struggles with skin tones, often failing to reproduce them as accurately as the iQOO Z10 Lite. However, it makes up for this shortcoming with stronger edge detection and smoother bokeh. The background separation looks cleaner, and the phone manages to retain fine details quite well, giving portraits a more polished overall look despite the colour inaccuracy.
Selfie
When it comes to selfies, neither phone truly stands out. The iQOO Z10 Lite often produces oversaturated shots that look far from natural, while the Tecno Spark Go 5G delivers slightly better results, but still nothing exceptional. That said, the performance is in line with what you’d typically expect at this price point.
A bonus is the ‘wide selfie’ mode, which works much like a panoramic shot, where you start with one frame and then move the camera to capture the entire group. The feature seems useful, but the final results aren’t great.
Low-light
Low-light photography on the Tecno Spark Go 5G is surprisingly impressive. In standard low-light shots, the phone delivers minimal exposure issues and controls light flares well, all while retaining a good amount of detail. Colours also remain close to reality, which adds to the overall appeal.
In comparison, the iQOO Z10 Lite struggles in the same conditions, often producing grainy images with missing details and slightly faded colours. However, it does manage to recover in night mode, where exposure, detail, and colour reproduction see a noticeable improvement. The Tecno Spark Go 5G’s night mode isn’t bad either, but the difference between its regular and night shots is fairly minimal, making its standard low-light performance the real highlight.
Final verdict
The Tecno Spark Go 5G proves that budget phones don’t have to look or feel cheap. With a sleek design that punches above its price, dependable day-to-day performance, smooth gaming, and excellent battery life, it makes for a reliable daily driver under Rs 10,000. The cameras hold up well in daylight and low light, though selfies and portrait shots leave room for improvement. The display could have been brighter, but it’s still more than serviceable for streaming and casual use.
If you want a budget phone that nails the essentials while also offering 5G connectivity, long-term software support, and a premium design, the Spark Go 5G is an easy recommendation. However, buyers looking for an even cheaper alternative with similar specs might also want to check out the Infinix Hot 60i.
Editor’s rating: 8/10
Reasons to buy:
- The phone stays cool with only minimal temperature rise, making it comfortable for long use.
- Easily lasts a full day of heavy usage, and even longer with moderate use.
- The Spark Go 5G looks and feels more expensive than its budget price tag suggests.
- The rear camera handles low-light conditions well.
Reasons not to buy:
- While adequate indoors, the display struggles under direct sunlight, making outdoor visibility less than ideal.
- The front camera may disappoint users who frequently take selfies.
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