Tecno’s roots are in the value-for-money segment, but the company has ambitions to expand into the premium market with the Phantom sub-brand. The original Phantom X offered great value for money, as is typical of Tecno, and had a better screen and camera than any of its siblings.
It also had some weaknesses, like the Helio G95 – an okay chipset for the mid-range, not so great for the Phantom’s target market. Now the X2 series is here and it improves on some of those flaws while keeping the focus on display and camera quality (actually, there are some major improvements here too).
We’ve already reviewed the X2 Pro, now we’re holding a Tecno Phantom X2. The vanilla model that however shares most of its hardware with the Pro, so if you want to check out the display, chipset and battery life, check out the Pro review. The main difference between the X2 and X2 Pro it’s in the cameras. The vanilla model lacks the large main sensor, instead relying on a better RGBW sensor and lens to boost its performance. Not even the vertical camera, which is exclusive to the Pro.
Moving past the camera, both models are the same size and basically the same design. The way to tell them apart is that the Pro marks its vertically retractable camera with a decorative ring.
We have a feeling that design will be divisive. The accentuated camera island is a real eye catcher, whether it looks good or bad is in the eye of the beholder. We’re inclined to like it: it’s unique, it’s symmetrical, there are no bad labels. We wish the vanilla model had a color other than “grey,” something like the Pro’s Mars Orange. Many will cover the back in a non-transparent case, so they don’t care, but still.
Phantom X2 Pro (left) and Phantom X2 (right)
While holding the Phantom X2 in our hands, we notice that Tecno has adjusted the aspect ratio of the display from 19.5:9 to 20:9. This reduces the width by a full millimeter, which normally makes phones easier to hold. Here this is overshadowed by how heavy the phone is – be careful how you hold it, otherwise it could do a backflip.
Tecno serves markets where a 1,000-euro flagship isn’t going to sell very well, no matter how awesome its hardware might be (not that the X2 is cheap, we’ll get to the price). We don’t expect the Phantom X2 to top all categories, but we did expect that the company’s value-for-money roots would motivate it to keep some practical features on board.
The original X had 256GB of storage and a microSD slot, as well as a 3.5mm jack. The Phantom X2 has 256GB of storage and that’s it: no memory card slots, nowhere to plug in wired headphones (unless you have a USB-C adapter, of course).
The Phantom X2 series dropped the microSD slot and 3.5mm jack
The X2 feels much more like a real flagship than the original Phantom X. The Dimension 9000 chipset is a big part of it, the Helio G95 of the original really dragged it down. The X2 is fast and responsive, and the Mali-G710 MC10 GPU can handle some serious gaming.
The first Phantom got stellar battery life with a capacity of 4,700mAh, the X2 series bumps up the battery capacity to 5,160mAh. However, even the most powerful hardware draws more power: judging by the results of the X2 Pro, the X2 will have exceptional, if not quite as exceptional battery life as the X. The company has also upgraded the charging system from 30W to 45W, but we haven’t seen an actual improvement. At least not on our X2 Pro unit, we’ll see if the vanilla X2 fares better.
We should mention one last thing before we get back to reviewing the phone: The Phantom X2 is priced at SAR 2,700 ($720/€685/₹59,000), although technology in Saudi Arabia usually costs more than elsewhere due to local taxes. Even so, it’s a nice step up from the Phantom X, which launched in India at ₹26,000.
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