Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G : In the increasingly crowded budget smartphone segment, manufacturers are constantly seeking that one standout feature to differentiate their offerings.

For the newly launched Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G, that killer feature is unquestionably its camera system.

But does a headline-grabbing 108MP sensor actually deliver real-world results, or is it just another marketing gimmick? After spending two weeks with the device as my primary shooter, I’ve got some surprising findings to share.

The Democratization of Camera Technology

The smartphone industry has witnessed a remarkable democratization of technology over the past few years.

Features that were once exclusive to flagship devices costing upwards of ₹50,000 have steadily trickled down to budget and mid-range offerings.

The Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G represents perhaps the most aggressive push yet to bring premium camera capabilities to the sub-₹15,000 segment.

“Our mission has always been to make premium technologies accessible to everyone,” explained Arijeet Talapatra, CEO of Transsion India, during the phone’s launch event in Mumbai last week.

“With the Pova 6 Neo 5G, we wanted to specifically address the photography limitations that budget-conscious consumers have traditionally faced.”

This focus on imaging is evident the moment you turn the phone over. The rectangular camera island proudly displays the “108MP DSLR Camera” branding, accompanied by Tecno’s “Eagle Eye” lens system and what the company calls a “Professional Portrait Lens.” Marketing hyperbole aside, the hardware is genuinely impressive for the price point.

Design and Build: Practical with Flair

Before diving into the camera capabilities, it’s worth examining the overall package. The Pova 6 Neo 5G doesn’t deviate dramatically from the established aesthetic of Tecno’s Pova line, but it does introduce some refinements that give it a more premium feel.

The back panel utilizes what Tecno calls a “Startrail Design,” featuring subtle light-refracting patterns that shift as you tilt the device. It’s available in three colorways: Comet Black (my review unit), Starfall Green, and Aurora Silver.

While the panel is still polycarbonate rather than glass, the matte finish does an excellent job of resisting fingerprints and provides decent grip.

The frame is also plastic but features a convincing metallic paint job with a slight texture along the sides that improves handling.

At 8.9mm thick and weighing 198g, it’s neither the slimmest nor the lightest phone in its class, but the weight distribution is well-balanced, making it comfortable for extended use.

The 6.78-inch display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and features a centered punch-hole for the front camera.

The bezels are reasonably slim for this price segment, with a slightly more pronounced chin. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor doubles as the power button and has proven reliable during my testing, recognizing my fingerprint quickly approximately 95% of the time.

Other design elements include a 3.5mm headphone jack (increasingly rare even in budget phones), a USB-C port, and a bottom-firing speaker that gets reasonably loud but lacks bass.

The SIM tray accommodates two nano-SIMs and a microSD card simultaneously—a thoughtful inclusion that doesn’t force users to choose between dual-SIM functionality and expanded storage.

Display: Bright and Smooth

The Pova 6 Neo 5G features a 6.78-inch IPS LCD panel with FHD+ resolution (2460×1080 pixels) and a 120Hz refresh rate. While not AMOLED, the display is surprisingly capable, with good color reproduction and viewing angles.

Tecno claims a peak brightness of 500 nits, and in my testing, the screen remained usable even in direct sunlight, though you’ll want to find shade for the best visibility.

The 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling and animations appear smoother, though the phone does dynamically adjust between 60Hz and 120Hz to conserve battery.

You can force it to stay at either refresh rate if you prefer maximum smoothness or maximum battery life.

Color accuracy is good for an LCD panel in this price range, covering 95% of the DCI-P3 color gamut according to Tecno.

There are three color profiles available: Standard, Vivid, and Adaptive, with the latter adjusting based on content and ambient lighting. I found the Standard profile to be the most natural, while Vivid adds more punch at the expense of accuracy.

The display supports Widevine L1 certification, allowing for HD streaming on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

HDR content, however, is limited to HDR10 rather than HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, which is reasonable for this price segment.

Performance: Competent Daily Driver

Powering the Pova 6 Neo 5G is the MediaTek Dimensity 6080 chipset, a mid-range 5G processor built on a 6nm process.

It’s paired with either 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, expandable via microSD.

In practical terms, this hardware configuration delivers smooth performance for everyday tasks and casual gaming.

Apps launch quickly, and multitasking is handled well, especially on the 8GB variant which benefits from Tecno’s Memory Fusion technology that can allocate up to 8GB of storage as virtual RAM.

Here’s how the phone performed in benchmark tests:

These numbers won’t trouble flagship devices, but they represent solid performance for a phone in this price range.

In real-world usage, I encountered occasional stutters when switching between demanding apps, but nothing that significantly impacted the user experience.

Gaming performance is decent for casual titles. Games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile run smoothly at medium settings, though you’ll notice frame drops if you push the graphics options to high or ultra. Less demanding games like Alto’s Odyssey and Asphalt 9 run without issues.

One performance highlight is the cooling system that Tecno calls “Bionic Cooling Technology.” Despite the marketing name, it’s essentially a multi-layer graphite sheet that helps dissipate heat.

During extended gaming sessions, the phone does warm up but never becomes uncomfortably hot, and I didn’t experience any thermal throttling during normal use.

Camera System: The Star of the Show

Now for the main event: the camera system. The Pova 6 Neo 5G is headlined by a 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM6 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture.

This is the same sensor found in several mid-range and even some higher-end devices, making its appearance in this price bracket particularly noteworthy.

Accompanying the main sensor is a 2MP depth sensor for portrait effects and what Tecno describes as a “Professional Portrait Lens,” which appears to be a fixed-focus macro lens with 2MP resolution. The front houses a 32MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture.

Here’s how this camera setup performs in various conditions:

Daylight Photography

In good lighting, the main 108MP sensor truly shines. By default, it uses 9-in-1 pixel binning to produce 12MP images with improved detail and dynamic range.

The results are impressive, with excellent detail retention, natural colors, and good contrast. Compared to other phones in this price range, the difference in image quality is immediately apparent.

You can also shoot at the full 108MP resolution, which is useful when you want to capture maximum detail for later cropping.

These full-resolution shots require good lighting to look their best, as noise becomes more apparent in anything less than ideal conditions.

The camera app offers several shooting modes, including an AI-enhanced mode that identifies scenes and adjusts settings accordingly.

I found this mode to sometimes oversaturate colors, particularly greens and blues, but it can be toggled off if you prefer more natural tones.

Low-Light Performance

This is where budget phones typically struggle, but the Pova 6 Neo 5G performs better than expected. The larger sensor and pixel binning technology help capture more light, resulting in usable images even in challenging conditions.

The dedicated Night Mode further improves low-light photography by taking multiple exposures and combining them.

While there’s still noticeable noise and some loss of detail compared to daylight shots, the results are surprisingly good for a phone in this price range.

I captured some genuinely impressive night shots of city streets and dimly lit restaurants that would have been muddy, unusable messes on most budget phones.

Portrait Mode

The portrait mode leverages the depth sensor to create a pleasing background blur. Edge detection is generally accurate around simple subjects like faces, though it can struggle with more complex elements like hair or irregular objects.

The level of blur can be adjusted before and after taking the shot, which is a nice touch.

Tecno’s “DSLR-like bokeh” claim is a bit of marketing hyperbole, but the portrait shots do have a pleasant, natural-looking depth effect that’s comparable to mid-range phones costing significantly more.

Macro and Other Modes

The fixed-focus macro lens is functional but limited by its 2MP resolution. In good lighting, you can capture decent close-up shots, but the results lack the detail and clarity you’d get from using the main sensor and cropping in.

Other shooting modes include a 108MP high-resolution mode, panorama, time-lapse, slow-motion, and documents.

There’s also a “Film” mode that offers various cinematic filters and aspect ratios for video content.

Video Capabilities

Video recording tops out at 4K/30fps, with the option for 1080p at 30 or 60fps. Electronic image stabilization is available but only at 1080p, making a tripod or gimbal necessary for smooth 4K footage.

Video quality is good in adequate lighting, with decent detail and accurate colors. Low-light video is less impressive, with noticeable noise and a drop in frame rate in very dim conditions.

Still, for social media uploads and casual recording, the video capabilities are more than adequate.

Selfie Camera

The 32MP front camera produces detailed selfies with good color reproduction. There’s also a portrait mode for the front camera that creates a reasonably convincing background blur without a dedicated depth sensor. Beauty modes are available but are thankfully subtle by default.

Camera Software and Features

The camera app is feature-rich but remains intuitive to navigate. Advanced users will appreciate the Pro mode, which offers manual control over ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance.

There’s also Google Lens integration, AR stickers, and a document scanning mode.

One standout software feature is the “AI Image Engine” that Tecno claims enhances photos using machine learning algorithms.

In practice, this seems to improve color reproduction and dynamic range, particularly in challenging lighting conditions.

Battery Life: Endurance Champion

The Pova series has always emphasized battery life, and the Pova 6 Neo 5G continues this tradition with a substantial 6,000mAh battery. This large capacity translates to exceptional endurance in real-world use:

In practical terms, most users will easily get through a full day of heavy use, with moderate users potentially stretching to two days between charges.

Charging is handled by a 33W fast charger included in the box. While not the fastest charging solution available today, it strikes a good balance for battery longevity. A full charge takes about 90 minutes, with a 30-minute charge providing roughly 50% battery.

Software: HiOS with Some Quirks

The Pova 6 Neo 5G runs Tecno’s HiOS 13.5 based on Android 14. The software experience is feature-rich but comes with some bloatware that may not appeal to all users. Thankfully, most pre-installed third-party apps can be uninstalled.

HiOS offers extensive customization options, including themes, icon packs, and a flexible layout system. The interface is colorful and animated by default, though you can tone this down in the settings if you prefer a more subdued look.

Useful features include a game mode that optimizes performance and blocks notifications during gameplay, a one-handed mode for easier operation, and various gesture controls. There’s also a sidebar that provides quick access to frequently used apps and tools.

Tecno promises two years of major Android updates and three years of security patches for the Pova 6 Neo 5G, which is reasonable for this price segment but falls short of the longer support periods offered by some competitors.

Connectivity and Extras

As the name suggests, the Pova 6 Neo 5G offers 5G connectivity, supporting the n1/n3/n5/n8/n28/n40/n41/n77/n78 bands that cover most global networks. Other connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, and NFC for contactless payments.

Call quality is good, with clear audio on both ends of conversations. The phone supports VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling on compatible networks, which is useful in areas with spotty cellular coverage.

Additional features include an FM radio (which requires wired headphones to function as an antenna), an infrared blaster for controlling TVs and other appliances, and a linear vibration motor that provides better haptic feedback than the circular motors typically found in this price range.

Pricing and Variants

The Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G is available in three configurations:

At these price points, the phone represents excellent value, particularly for photography enthusiasts working with limited budgets. The 8GB + 128GB variant offers the best balance of performance and value for most users.

Periodic discounts and bank offers can further reduce these prices, potentially bringing the base variant under the psychological ₹12,000 barrier during sales events.

Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G Conclusion: A New Photography Champion in the Budget Segment

The Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G isn’t perfect. The plastic build, average display brightness, and software bloatware are reminders of its budget status.

But these compromises fade into the background when you consider what the phone does deliver: genuinely impressive camera performance, solid battery life, decent performance, and 5G connectivity—all at a price point that makes it accessible to a much wider audience.

For photography enthusiasts on a tight budget, the Pova 6 Neo 5G represents a significant step forward. It demonstrates that capable smartphone photography is no longer the exclusive domain of premium devices, and that with the right sensor and software optimization, even budget phones can capture memories with clarity and detail.

Is it actually “DSLR-like” as the marketing suggests? No—dedicated cameras still offer advantages in terms of optical zoom, sensor size, and flexibility.

But the gap is narrowing, and for many casual photographers, the Pova 6 Neo 5G will be more than capable of meeting their everyday needs.

In a market segment where meaningful differentiation is increasingly difficult to achieve, Tecno has found a winning formula by focusing on camera capabilities that genuinely improve the user experience rather than just adding specifications for marketing purposes.

The result is a phone that punches well above its weight in the aspect that matters most to many consumers.

If camera performance is your priority and your budget is limited, the Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G deserves a spot at the top of your consideration list. It’s a testament to how far smartphone photography has come, and how accessible it has become.

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