Tecno Pova 7 5G

The Tecno POVA 7 sports a 6.78-inch flat IPS LCD with a central punch-hole setup for the selfie camera. The bottom bezel is slightly thick, as is the case with the other two phones, while the other three sides have thin bezels. The underlying LTPS backplane powers a FHD+ resolution. The phone has a higher pixel density of 396 PPI compared to 393 PPI (FHD+) on the iQOO Z10x and 264 PPI (HD+) on the OPPO K13x.When compared side by side, the Tecno phone stands out from the other two in terms of clarity and contrast. So, visuals appear relatively more lifelike on this panel. You can watch up to FHD videos on Netflix (with Widevine L1 support) and up to 1440P videos on YouTube. The LTPS panel can also aid in a faster refresh rate. This phone offers a 144Hz refresh rate in select apps, including Settings, Phone, Messages, Facebook, and Files by Google. The other apps can refresh up to 120Hz, and there is an option to auto-switch refresh rate between 60Hz and 144Hz based on the content. As for brightness, it is usable both indoors and outdoors. However, the peak brightness is slightly underwhelming compared to its competitors.On the other hand, the dual stereo speakers are loud. Compared to the iQOO Z10x's stereo speakers, the Tecno phone offers more apparent separation between frequencies in a track like Fearless Pt. 2 by Lost Sky. Meanwhile, the OPPO phone has a single speaker. However, the OPPO smartphone offers a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is absent on the other two, allowing for wired audio with lower latency than most wireless options available.

A single 50MP rear camera with PDAF (phase-detection autofocus) and a dual-LED flash is present on the back of the Pova 7. Its competitors, the OPPO K13x and iQOO Z10x, also feature a 50MP primary camera with PDAF, but they also include a 2MP depth sensor. The front camera on the POVA phone uses a 13MP sensor, which is superior to its rivals, for capturing selfies and video calls. You can even record up to 4K 30fps videos from the POVA's front and back cameras, while the other two smartphones are limited to 1080p 30fps from both sides.The POVA 7 camera app is also quick to open and easy to navigate. Besides regular photos and videos, you get options like Super Night mode, Portrait, AIGC Portrait (template effects for hairstyle and clothing), Slow Motion, Dual Video, Time Lapse, Panorama, Sky Shop (sky effects), Pro, and Document scanning.As for the results, the Tecno smartphone captures decent daylight shots, portraits, and selfies. The low-light images are detailed with good exposure control. That said, the colour reproduction, although appealing, is not entirely accurate, and exposure requires improvement. To give you a better perspective, here's how the POVA 7 cameras compare to the OPPO K13x, which is among the best camera phones in its segment.DaylightIn daylight conditions, the Tecno POVA 7 captures slightly sharper and more detailed images than the OPPO K13x. The handset also handles exposure and dynamic range more effectively, maintaining a more balanced look in both highlights and shadows. The shadows under the circular pergola (the central structure) are missing in the OPPO photo, which makes it look flatter and less contrasty compared to the Tecno photo.

Tecno is powering the POVA 7 with a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate chipset. This is a 4nm chip with a clock speed of up to 2.5GHz. It is a tried-and-tested mobile processor, a variant of which is also found on the iQOO Z10x. Meanwhile, the OPPO K13x is powered by a Dimensity 6300 SoC with a top clock speed of up to 2.4GHz. The POVA 7 is equipped with 8GB LPDDR4 RAM and 128/256GB UFS 2.2 storage, which falls short of the iQOO Z10x's LPDDR4x RAM standard and UFS 3.1 storage standard. The smartphone also lacks a dedicated slot for a microSD card to expand storage, unlike the OPPO K13x. Here's how these specifications translate to our in-house synthetic tests like AnTuTu and Geekbench:The Tecno POVA 7 scores higher on Geekbench, likely due to its strong CPU, but scores lower on AnTuTu. This could point to a need for better overall optimisation.Even in the Burnout benchmark, the Tecno POVA 7 5G's performance when throttled is slightly behind that of the OPPO phone, but better than the iQOO Z10x. The Tecno phone performs decently when pushed, but may exhibit more performance drops than the OPPO.While playing demanding games like BGMI, the Tecno phone delivered better frame rates with support for Extreme FPS, unlike the iQOO Z10x, which was limited to Ultra. In Call of Duty, the iQOO had slightly better frame rates, but the Tecno smartphone remained more power-efficient overall. This suggests that the Tecno POVA 7 is a capable device for gaming and everyday tasks. That said, with better optimisation, the handset could perhaps get more out of the Dimensity chip.

The Tecno POVA 7 runs HiOS 15 out of the box, which brings a few practical features, including a sidebar for recent files and favourite apps, a Dynamic Island-style pill (called Dybamic Port) for timers and ongoing activities, and multitasking tools like mini floating windows and split screen. There's also App Twin, which lets you use two instances of apps like Facebook or WhatsApp. And let's not forget the Status Light widget on the homescreen or the menu in the settings page, which allows you to adjust the light effects of the Delta Interface on the back of the phone. 

Moving on, the Tecno POVA 7 is equipped with a massive 6,000mAh battery with a 45W fast wired charging speed. It's a dependable setup that should keep battery anxiety away for the majority of users. The handset lasted for nearly 12 hours in our PCMark battery endurance test. That's more than what we could get out of a 6,000mAh battery-powered OPPO K13x. The charging time is also comparable to that of the OPPO smartphone. So, no problem here. In Call of Duty: Mobile, the POVA 7 is the most efficient, dropping just 6 per cent of battery, less than both OPPO (8 per cent) and iQOO (7 per cent). In a slightly heavier game like BGMI, the POVA 7's battery drop is higher (7 per cent) than the OPPO K13x's 5 per cent and the iQOO Z10x's 6 per cent, but that drop is perhaps the price for achieving smoother frame rates (as mentioned in the performance section). In the 30-minute YouTube playback test, the POVA 7's battery drop is slightly higher (4 per cent) than the iQOO and OPPO phones (both 2 per cent), but it's acceptable given the large battery capacity and the more pixel-dense display.