TECNO CAMON i4: Some competition for budget smartphones

With a starting price of Rs 9,599, the device is one of the cheapest smartphones to sport a 13MP Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled triple primary camera set-up.

The light-weight device features a glossy back body that reflects rainbow patterns against light and give the phone a near-premium look.

The device is available in three variants 2GB+32GB for Rs 9,599, 3GB+32GB at Rs 10,599 and 4GB+64GB for Rs 11,999.

Let us see what the 2GB+32GB variant (midnight black colour) has to offer.

With rounded corners, the device sports 13MP+2MP+8MP rear camera set-up and 16MP AI selfie shooter.

The triple rear camera set-up includes 13MP primary camera, 2MP depth sensing lens and 8MP ultra-wide camera.

The smooth fingerprint sensor sits at the back alongside the "TECNO CAMON" logo.

While the right edge of the smartphone carries the volume rockers as well as the lock button, the left edge of the device hosts the tray with dual SIM support along with a dedicated space for memory card.

The CAMON i4 comes equipped with a 6.22-inch HD+ display along with a water-drop notch that encircles the 16MP selfie shooter.

The HD+ Dot Notch with 19.5:9 aspect ratio display is decent enough to experience video streaming and games but when compared to Xiaomi's Redmi Note 7 and Asus's Zenfone Max Pro M1 that offer Full HD+ displays, CAMON i4 lost some edge.

The camera app houses industry-standard features like AI Mode, Bokeh effect, Beauty Mode, Wide Angle as well as AI Auto Scene detection that automatically adjusts light, brightness and contrast parameters to provide optimal results.

The performance of the 3,500mAh battery was impressive. On moderate usage, the device made it to an entire day.

CAMON i4 is powered by a quad-core MediaTek Helio A22 processor which lags behind the Redmi Note 7 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 or and Vivo Y91 with MediaTek helio P22 chipsets.

Running Android 9 Pie, the phone features the company's Hi operating system (OS) that opens the interface up to an app drawer lay-out with a funky bouncy effect.

In addition, the device supports 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity options along with an audio port for aux connection at the bottom of the device.

Despite notable attempts, the low-light camera functioning was not that great. Also, the missing notification LED makes it difficult to keep tabs of charging status and text alerts.

Conclusion: TECNO CAMON i4 brings in several trending features like the triple rear camera set-up, good battery life and big display at an affordable price point.