Tecno Phantom V Fold review

introduction

The democratization of leaflets is now a fact. Joining a growing list of foldable screen models now available outside of China, the Tecno Phantom V Fold presents a value-oriented alternative to the Galaxy of a similar name – the de facto standard for a tablet in the guise of a phone. .

The Phantom has the best foldable aspect ratio that the Galaxy doesn’t: the cover screen is larger and much more usable than the Samsung’s, and the foldable display inside is bigger, too. A large battery is therefore required to power the full area of ​​the 120Hz OLED screen and you end up with a rather heavy package, a gram weighing less than 300g.

You get a fairly capable camera system with a pair of 50MP units for main and telephoto, plus an ultrawide with autofocus – when will we ever get AF on a UW on a Samsung foldable?

Unlike most foldables, the Tecno has a Mediatek chipset at its core. The Dimension 9000+ is nearly on par with the Snapdragon 8 (+) Gen 1, so the Phantom V Fold is far from underpowered. And with 12GB of RAM as standard and 256GB or 512GB of storage, you won’t even need memory.

Other small niceties include 45W fast charging, stereo speakers and an FM radio – the flagship Snapdragons ditched that some time ago. It’s a very welcome sight that the V Fold is running Android 13, so its software is also up to date (quite capable too, it turns out).

The Tecno Phantom V Fold specifications at a glance:

• Body: 159.4×140.4×6.9mm unfolded, 159.4x72x14.2-14.5mm folded, 299g; Gorilla Glass Victus front, plastic back, aluminum frame; Schott UTG on folding display.
• Screen: 7.85″ LTPO AMOLED foldable, 1B color, 120Hz, 1100 nits (peak), 2000x2296px resolution, 10.3:9 aspect ratio, 388ppi; Display cover: 6.42″ LTPO AMOLED, 1B color, 120Hz, 1100 nits (peak), 1080 x 2550 pixels, 431 PPI.
• chipsets: Mediatek Dimensity 9000+ (4nm): Octa-core (1×3.20GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.85GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80GHz Cortex-A510); Mali-G710 MC10.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• Operating system/software: Android 13, HiOS 13 Fold.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 50MP, f/1.9, 1/1.3″, PDAF; Telephoto: 50 MP, PDAF, 2x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 13MP, 120˚.
• Selfie Camera: Cover:: 32MP, f/2.5. Internal: 16MP, f/2.5.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@60fps; Front camera: 1080p@60fps.
• Drums: 5000mAh; 45W wired, 40% in 15 mins, 100% in 55 mins (advertised).
• Various: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; FM Radio; stereo speakers.

Tecno Phantom V Fold unboxing

Tecno has designed an elegant box for the Phantom V Fold, as befits a folding. The size of two ordinary telephone boxes, and with the two strokes of a V meeting in the middle, the box opens on both sides, revealing a “Beyond the Extraordinary” cover. Only after you remove it can you see the phone, itself in a separate tray.

Package Contents • Snap-on case

Another box below contains a snap-on back cover with kickstand functionality. We’re not entirely sure you’d want to cover up what is one of the nicest rear panels in existence, but you do. Two other separate containers have the charger and USB cable all packed well.