Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone review

• SoC Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99 (2×Cortex-A76 @2.2 GHz + 6×Cortex-A55 @2.0 GHz)
• GPU Mali-G57 MC2
• Operating system Android 13, HiOS 13
• Touch display IPS, 6.78″, 1080×2460, 120 Hz
• RAM 8 GB LPDDR4, internal memory 128/256 GB UFS 2.2
• microSD support (independent slot)
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• Networks 2G GSM, 3G WCDMA, 4G
• GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BDS
• Wi-Fi 5 (2.4/5 GHz)
• Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE
• NFC
• USB 2.0 Type-C, USB OTG
• 3.5mm headphone audio output
• Camera 50 MP, video 1440p@30 fps
• Front camera 8 MP
• Proximity and lighting sensors, magnetic field, accelerometer, gyroscope
• Fingerprint scanner (side-mounted)
• Battery 6000 mAh, charging 45 W
• Dimensions 169×77×9 mm
• Weight 218 g

The slot on the left side can accommodate two Nano-SIM cards (on one side of the sled) and at the same time a microSD memory card (on the other side).

The Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone has a 6.78-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1080×2460 with a flat protective glass. The physical dimensions of the screen are 69x158 mm, the pixel density is 396 ppi. The width of the frame around the screen is 3.5 mm on the sides, 4 mm on the top and 6.5 mm on the bottom. The screen supports refresh rates of 60, 90 or 120 Hz.

Information about the front surface of the screen allows us to conclude that the glass plate is highly scratch resistant. Judging by the reflections of objects, the anti-glare properties of the Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire Special Edition screen are superior to the Nexus 7. A special oleophobic coating on the surface of the screen ensures that fingerprints can be easily removed and appear slowly.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness reaches 500 cd/m², which indicates the high brightness of the screen. The minimum brightness value is 4 cd/m², which allows you to comfortably use the device in complete darkness. Automatic brightness adjustment depends on external lighting conditions and the position of the adjustment slider, but does not always allow you to adjust the brightness to the user’s individual preferences.

The screen uses an IPS type matrix, which is characterized by a subpixel structure typical for this technology. It is important to note that there is no noticeable backlight modulation at all brightness levels, which eliminates screen flickering.

You can check out a gallery of microphotographs of the screens shown in the smartphone and Nexus 7 shots. Both screens show the same images with the original brightness set to approximately 200 cd/m². The color balance on the camera was set to 6500 K.

In the foreground of the white field, the photographs are taken perpendicular to the screens.

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And test picture (Original color profile):

The colors on the smartphone screen are clearly oversaturated, the picture is slightly darkened, and the color balance varies between screens. Let us remind you that the photograph cannot serve as a reliable source of information about the quality of color rendering and is provided only for conditional visual illustration. The reason is that the spectral sensitivity of the camera sensor does not exactly match this characteristic of human vision.

The photo above was taken after selecting the Original Color profile in the Screen Settings. There are two profiles in total.

When choosing the first, Vivid colors, the colors are even more oversaturated and unnatural

This effect is achieved by increasing color contrast. Additionally, you can adjust the shade (Cool color — Warm color).

The smartphone screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. However, when deviated diagonally, the black field becomes very bright and acquires a slightly reddish tint.

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average (for clarity, the backlight brightness on the smartphone is set to maximum):

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high — about 1100:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 16 ms (8 ms on + 8 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 27 ms.

In the screen settings, you can enable a mode with an increased refresh rate to 90 and 120 Hz, which at least leads to an increase in the smoothness of scrolling lists in the menu.

The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.61, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve significantly deviates from the power-law dependence:

This device has intensive dynamic backlight brightness adjustment that adapts to the nature of the output images. Even in moderately bright images, the backlight brightness varies greatly, causing the brightness versus hue curve (gamma curve) to differ from the gamma curve of a static image. Therefore, to evaluate characteristics such as contrast, response time, and black light at angles, tests were carried out using special patterns with a constant average brightness, rather than single-color fields across the entire screen.

This constant brightness adjustment can be uncomfortable, reduces the visibility of shadows in dark images, and makes the screen difficult to read in bright light due to the significant change in backlight brightness in medium-bright images.

It is also noted that the color gamut of this device is wider than the sRGB standard and is very close to the DCI space.

Let's look at the spectra:

The spectra of the device components are quite clearly separated from each other, which determines its wide color gamut. However, for a consumer device this can mean some disadvantages since most images, be they drawings, photographs or movies, are sRGB oriented. This device may cause colors to appear unnaturally saturated, especially on recognizable tones such as skin tones. This is shown in the photographs provided.

The gray scale balance remains average even after maximum correction, since the color temperature remains significantly higher than the standard 6500 K (without correction on the white field 11400 K). However, it is possible to reduce the intensity of the blue component, which slightly compensates for this discrepancy.

Bright light can actually affect your circadian rhythm, as mentioned in the article about the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. However, this problem can be resolved by reducing the screen brightness to a comfortable level, minimizing exposure. Interfering with color balance by reducing the contribution of blue does not make sense. This setting can be used to correct the color balance, and the result after manual correction (slider as shown in the image above) is good, as the color temperature becomes close to the standard 6500 K and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) remains below 10. For a consumer device this is considered acceptable.

At the same time, changes in color temperature and ΔE are small from hue to hue, which has a beneficial effect on the visual assessment of color balance. The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance does not play a big role there, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness can be significant.

Apparently, the device does not support DisplayPort Alt Mode via the USB Type-C port for outputting image and sound to external devices (according to the USBTreeView program).

So, the screen has a high maximum brightness (500 cd/m²) and excellent anti-glare properties, which makes it convenient for outdoor use even on a bright sunny day. In conditions of complete darkness, its brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level (up to 4 cd/m²). Automatic brightness adjustment may be acceptable, but it does not allow you to customize the screen to your individual preferences. Among the advantages of the screen, it is worth noting an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap between the layers of the screen, the absence of noticeable flickering, high contrast (1100: 1) and refresh modes with a frequency of up to 90 or 120 Hz. However, drawbacks include poor black stability across viewing angles, aggressive and constant dynamic brightness adjustment, and overly saturated colors. Despite the importance of these characteristics for this class of devices, the quality of the screen cannot be assessed as high.

At the back, the Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire has only one camera (with a 50 MP sensor and an f/1.6 lens), complemented by a scene depth sensor. There is more or less adequate and fast autofocus, but there is no stabilizer. The camera's capabilities are basic and it shoots at a basic level, so switching between full resolution (50 MP) and pixel binning (12.5 MP) does nothing.

Detailing is average at best, the dynamic range of the matrix is not too wide, overexposure is visible, the picture is flat and faded. Strong added contour sharpness is visible. Overall, this is basic shooting quality for an inexpensive smartphone.

Example of night shooting:

The smartphone can shoot video at a maximum resolution of 2560×1440p at 30 frames per second without stabilization. The image is loose, the detail is low, there is smear around the edges. In general, the level of video shooting is basic.

The Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone supports mobile networks up to 4G. In the urban area of the Moscow region, the device demonstrates reliable operation in wireless networks without losing connection, and quickly restores the connection after it is broken.

The smartphone is also equipped with a wireless adapter supporting Wi-Fi 5 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac at 2.4/5 GHz frequencies) and Bluetooth 5.0, and also has NFC support.

The single-channel satellite navigation module supports work with GPS, as well as Glonass, Galileo and BDS systems. The initial detection of satellites during a cold start occurs quickly, and the positioning accuracy is not satisfactory.

The voice of the interlocutor in the speaker of this smartphone sounds very loud and clearly distinguishable. The vibration from the vibration motor feels good. The device has all the necessary built-in sensors, including a gyroscope. In addition, there is a function for recording telephone conversations from the line.

The Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone has the Android 13 operating system with a custom HiOS 13 shell. The interface is typical of the Chinese style, with an abundance of additional functions, pop-up panels and buttons. Over the past year, the interface has undergone changes, becoming more discreet and devoid of intrusive advertising. The notification shade is now divided into two parts. The device comes pre-installed with many programs. There is also an official Google Play Store app store, as well as access to Google services. In addition, there are other pre-installed application stores, including Palm Store, Ru Store, AHA Games.

The smartphone has very loud stereo speakers. The sound they produce is quite decent and rich — watching movies and playing games is a pleasure. It is possible to use DTS settings with presets and a five-band equalizer. The 3.5mm audio output for wired headphones is also retained.

The Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone is powered by an octa-core Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99 SoC and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. It has 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM with virtual expandability. Built-in UFS 2.2 storage is available in 128 or 256 GB options. The device also supports the installation of a memory card for additional data storage. There is support for connecting external devices via the USB Type-C port in USB OTG mode.

However, the smartphone does not appear to support DisplayPort Alt Mode via the USB Type-C port for outputting image and sound to external devices.

The Helio G99 platform is produced using a 6 nm process technology, which is currently below average — less than 400 thousand points in the AnTuTu test. However, there is enough power for smooth operation of the system and for undemanding games. The popular game Free Fire (analogous to the battle royale PUBG), to which this branded device is dedicated, in practice runs without the slightest slowdown, and you can play comfortably.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” — due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark and GFXBenchmark gaming tests:

Testing in browser cross-platform tests:

AndroBench memory speed test results:

We test for performance degradation when heated using the Burnout Benchmark program, which allows you to load the CPU, GPU and NPU:

Performance degradation due to overheating under heavy load is moderate.

The Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone has a 6000 mAh battery and demonstrates decent battery life in tests. However, it is no higher than that of the average device with a 5000 mAh battery.

Testing has traditionally been carried out at the usual level of power consumption without using power saving functions, although the device has them. Test conditions: the minimum comfortable brightness level was set (approximately 100 cd/m²). Tests: continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme); continuous viewing of video in HD quality (720p) via your home Wi-Fi network; Injustice 2 game with automatic graphics settings.

All these are the maximum possible figures obtained under “ideal” conditions, including without installed SIM cards. Any changes in the operating scenario will most likely lead to worse results.

Using the included 45 W mains charger, the smartphone is fully charged within an hour. The smartphone can implement reverse charging of another device via a cable with a power of up to 10 W. Wireless charging is not supported.

The Tecno Pova 5 Free Fire smartphone is available for purchase in official retail for about 15-16 thousand rubles. The device may not have a stellar screen or photo and video capabilities, but its attractive looks, good performance and powerful stereo speakers make it a worthy choice in its segment. In addition, the device has excellent battery life and holds a charge for a long time on a single charge.