Who would have thought that a more affordable smartphone could bring a number of interesting superior features at once, in addition to excelling in gaming performance? This is presented by TECNO through the presence of the TECNO POVA 6, a smartphone for Rp 2 million which emphasizes gaming performance, the battery sector, and its design which literally lights up.
Compared to the other two brands under the auspices of Transsion Holdings, TECNO presents a smartphone line with a more varied class. Starting from the cheapest flip smartphone in Indonesia, to a line that emphasizes photography capabilities through the Camon series. TECNO POVA 6 comes as a more affordable option, but can bring interesting advantages, even for non-gamers at the same time.
After trying it out for about two weeks, the TECNO POVA 6 is an interesting choice for a smartphone for Rp 2 million, even with a reliable camera, of course with a number of shortcomings that may be minor for some people. Here is the complete review of TECNO POVA 6.
Design
Compared to its predecessor, I think the design of the TECNO POVA 6 looks more modern and stylish, and at the same time still looks futuristic, typical of the TECNO POVA series. There are a number of new elements embedded in the rear body, making it more attractive, appearing in three different color choices.
The TECNO POVA 6 profile is now much thinner and lighter, weighing only 79mm and 195 grams respectively. Apart from making it easy to carry anywhere, these two points are important to ensure safety when used to play games for long periods of time. IP53 certification is also present, making it resistant to dust and splashes of water. What I regret a little is that in the Meteorite Grey color option, fingerprints appear very easily and are difficult to clean.
If Gizmo friends don't want to experience this issue, they can choose two other color options which are slightly brighter, so they are more invisible. Another interesting part embedded in the back of the TECNO POVA 6 is the Dynamic LED Lights which has 210 individual mini LEDs, can provide up to 108 different types of light effects, of course you can customize the effects. Can be activated while playing games, charging, notifications, or activated continuously.
The design of the TECNO POVA 6 is arguably one of the most attractive among other futuristic gaming smartphone concepts, especially when paired with its slim profile. The accessories are also complete, including a soft case, stickers and Free Fire redeem codes, as well as bonus accessories for the first number of units that are successfully sold.
Screen
If the appearance of the rear body is quite eye-catching, the front of the TECNO POVA 6 is dominated by a very high-quality screen. Even though the TECNO POVA 6 screen dimensions reach 678 inches, the smartphone body is relatively compact. Thanks to the four sides of the bezel being made very thin, namely only 21mm on the bottom side, and 13mm on the other three sides. Also provides a more immersive effect when playing.
The panel itself is AMOLED, and even supports an in-display fingerprint sensor with fast and reliable speed—in my opinion the sensor area is a little too narrow, and is located a little lower. In addition, navigating and consuming entertainment content through the TECNO POVA 6 screen feels satisfying, thanks to the full HD+ resolution, maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, 100% DCI-P3 color standard, and support for 1 billion colors.
When used outdoors, the maximum brightness level of 1300 nits on the TECNO POVA 6 makes content still visible quite clearly under direct sunlight. Instant touch sampling rate up to 1500Hz provides high responsiveness when playing. Meanwhile, special certification from TUV ensures that the screen does not tire your eyes quickly.
Camera
Even though it looks like there are two separate camera sensor circles, in fact the TECNO POVA 6 camera that can actually be used to take photos is only the 108MP main sensor—TECNO says that the secondary sensor is only a light sensor. Considering this is a Rp 2 million smartphone with a focus on gaming performance, the quality slightly exceeded my expectations.
The main sensor uses the Samsung ISOCELL HM6, which means it has quite large physical dimensions, but is not yet equipped with OIS. Even though there are many camera modes on offer, the TECNO POVA 6 camera can take pictures with fairly clear and colorful quality—aka it's socmed ready, even though it can sometimes be a little oversaturated.
The 3x in-sensor zoom feature is also brought to the TECNO POVA 6, and the results themselves are quite reliable, as long as there is abundant lighting conditions such as outdoors during the day. A small note, the sharp images produced by the TECNO POVA 6 camera, in fact, sometimes look like they have a rather excessive over-sharpening effect.
However, this only becomes apparent when we try to enlarge the image shortly after taking it. Alias when uploaded to social media, of course it is not so visible. On the positive side, the image looks sharp. Likewise at night, even without night mode. However, if Gizmo friends want images with less noise and a little brighter, Super Night mode can be activated, or it is automatically suggested directly from the camera viewfinder.
The 32MP front camera on the TECNO POVA 6 also has similar photo characteristics, and is quite reliable as long as it is not in low-light conditions, because the details will be significantly smoother. Gizmo friends can access the complete photo results from the TECNO POVA 6 camera via the following album.
Apart from the photo capabilities which I think are quite satisfactory for an affordable gaming smartphone, the video recording also has quite high potential. Both the front and rear cameras support a maximum resolution of 2K 30fps with fairly good detail. Unfortunately, there's no EIS stabilization—it's only active in 1080p resolution.
Ultra Steady mode can also be activated, so that the video results are even smoother. However, this mode is only suitable in conditions of abundant lighting. When activated in indoor or evening lighting, there is a visible shaking effect from the EIS trying hard to make the footage smooth. It's better to disable it and use more natural stabilization.
Feature
This TECNO gaming smartphone comes with HiOS 14 based on Android 14, and is promised to receive at least two OS version updates, as well as two years of regular security updates. Even though there are many extra features provided, the bloatware is relatively minimal, so it doesn't really burden the memory.
Collaborating with Free Fire, TECNO brings a number of exclusive elements ranging from wallpapers, icon packs, to notification sound options and ringtones. Extra features like Dynamic Port are also present on the TECNO POVA 6, providing a pop-up effect around the punch-hole camera for certain notifications. Another thing I like is that the connectivity support is very comprehensive.
In addition to the essentials such as NFC and a 35mm audio jack, there is an infrared sensor that allows the TECNO POVA 6 to function as a home electronics controller. The card slot is also non-hybrid, so it can carry two nano SIM cards and a microSD. Moving on to audio, this is the first TECNO smartphone with Dolby Atmos.
In my opinion, the sound quality from the stereo speakers is pretty good, not special, not bad either, and it's loud enough. At least this smartphone already supports the Hi-Res Audio standard both via cable and wireless. The vibration effect is also quite good, although it is not completely comfortable when activated when typing using the virtual keyboard.
Performance
TECNO POVA 6 carries a chipset that is considered quite legendary, especially in the smartphone line released by Transsion Holdings including Infinix and itel. Namely the Helio G99 octa-core 6nm, with the version “Ultimate” which is further customized by TECNO for maximum performance. The chip is paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR4x RAM (+12GB Dynamic RAM), as well as 256GB of UFS 20 internal storage.2.
Because it is not a completely new chipset, the positive side is that this chip is already optimized for various types of popular games, so I think it is the right decision for TECNO to embed the Helio G99 Ultimate as the brain of the TECNO POVA 6. The superior cooling system also keeps the body temperature very well maintained—even though the body profile is very thin, with a large battery.
Every time you run a game, the Game Assistant 4 feature.0 will automatically appear with a shortcut on the left side of the screen, becoming the control center for access to performance and other commonly accessed things such as screen recording, notification control and others. The good news is, TECNO POVA 6 supports 90fps frame rate on Mobile Legends and Free Fire.
For some other game titles, it is not yet supported, but at least it can run smoothly at an average of 40-60fps. Overall, the performance of the TECNO POVA 6 feels satisfying both when multitasking and running a number of popular game titles.
Battery
For an affordable smartphone with a thin design, a superior cooling system, and a large notification light module on the back, I think it's pretty great that TECNO can include the largest battery capacity in its segment. Yes, the TECNO POVA 6 battery has a capacity of 6000 mAh, which is certainly an attraction, especially for gamers who want to keep playing without having to charge it often.
The Helio G99 chipset, although not the newest, is considered to be energy efficient. Coupled with the use of an AMOLED screen, this is a smartphone that will only last two days of use for standard consumption. If you play games intensively, then “down” so all day. The standby time is quite long, as is the case when used while sharing a network or with lots of camera access.
Using the 70W charger adapter included in the sales package, the TECNO POVA 6 battery can be charged very quickly even though it has a large capacity. As claimed, from almost empty to full it only takes around 50 minutes. Meanwhile, to reach 50%, it takes about 20 minutes. It uses charger mode “Hyper”, considering that TECNO POVA 6 has a sophisticated, customizable charging system, namely Ladder Charge.
Each time charging takes place, a pop-up will appear to select three different charging modes. By default, “Smart” will be selected with adaptive speed adjusting power and heat. “Hyper” provides maximum charging speed, while “Low-Temp” charges slower to keep the device’s temperature in check—perfect for those who want longer battery life.
TECNO also provides a number of special technologies to maintain battery life, including notifications when the port is wet and when it is dangerous to carry out the charging process. On its official website, TECNO POVA 6 is claimed to still be able to provide 80% battery power even after going through 1600 charging cycles—approximately five years of normal use.
Conclusion
Compared to other Rp 2 million smartphones, it is natural that the TECNO POVA 6 has a number of shortcomings. Some of them are like the absence of an ultra-wide sensor, or the absence of 5G support. Whether the value of the deficiency is large or not depends on the needs of each individual.
However, the absence of these two features is replaced by a thin and stylish design, a very large battery, stable performance at fairly controlled temperatures, and a main camera sensor that can also be relied on for various lighting conditions. TECNO POVA 6 could be the right choice for all these needs.
TECNO POVA 6 Specifications
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