Our Verdict
The TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G has a buttery smooth 120hz AMOLED display on a generous 6.77-inch screen, an aggressively large amount of RAM to play with, as well as a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultimate processor capable of some truly great things. The Camon range continues to deliver high-quality handheld gaming and possesses one of the best options for smartphone cameras available at the price point.
- Amazing triple camera
- Smooth AMOLED display
- Cameras extend from the back
- No 3.5mm jack port
The TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G is the latest addition to an already pretty well-established run of devices from the Chinese manufacturer. The name TECNO is synonymous with some awesome handheld gaming potential, and while it still leans heavily into this accolade with the Camon 30 Premier, it’s evident that there is a desire to continue its powerhouse of photography potential within the market while still keeping the price affordable.
With several mid-range phones competing for the top spot, the TECNO Camon 30 Premier is a great choice right off the bat. However, the big question is does it live up to its predecessors? Let’s take a deep dive and take a look at everything that makes this smartphone tick.
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Price and availability
The TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G smartphone comes in two colorways – Hawaii Lava Black or Alps Snowy Silver – and currently retails at approximately £380, although it is currently unavailable in the United States and the United Kingdom. The price is in line with the quality of what you get out of the TECNO Camon 30 Premier and definitely delivers for the cost.
Specs
Features and software
The TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G has a whole host of exciting features that solidify its spot as a great all-rounder. It’s capable of delivering some truly gorgeous gaming experiences on the go, plus the extremely impressive ability to act as one of the best cameras available on the smartphone market.
The Camon 30 Premier operates on Android 14 software and the bespoke HiOS interface featuring no additional bloatware. It boasts a responsive and easy-to-set-up fingerprint sensor, as well as the expected dust and splash resistances with its IP54 rating. This all means it’s pretty durable while you’re out and about or wrestling with a particularly hardcore gaming session.
While this particular smartphone is a truly fantastic handheld gaming device, it doesn’t scrimp on day-to-day usage, either. It has extremely fast charging with a 70W wired charge, a gorgeous camera with very impressive photography potential, and a crisp and clean display to show off your pictures or gaming victories. It, unfortunately, doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack port for wired headphones or other accessories. Still, it has some bombastic dual speakers and the ability to hook up almost any Bluetooth device, earphones, and headphones included.
Design
The TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G 6.77-inch screen is a respectable size and provides some effortless horizontal gaming or streaming. Despite its size and the relatively large back cameras, it doesn’t feel bulky and you can easily slip it into a back pocket or bag while you’re out and about, or hold it in your hands without feeling like your wrist is about to break from the weight.
It also just looks very sleek, so if aesthetics are your thing, the TECNO Camon 30 Premier won’t let you down. It has two slick colorways, Hawaii Lava Black and Alps Snowy Silver, and both look modern without overdoing the technical element.
Display
The display on the TECNO Camon 30 Premier is perfect for both gaming and photography. The screen is a generous 6.77-inchLTPO AMOLED display, with a max 120hz refresh rate (although this is fully customizable between 60hz, 90hz, the 120hz max, and auto-switch), and a respectable max brightness of 1,400 nits.
All of this serves its dual purpose, between intense gaming sessions, and photography and videography. The LTPO is particularly impressive because it means that the display can intuitively scale down to a lower refresh rate, with an always-on function that can utilize this whenever the device is dormant.
The screen itself is plenty durable, with TECNO utilizing Gorilla Glass 5 to protect it from daily wear and tear. Despite most of us doing our very best to protect our phones, especially ones that we’ve forked out a fair amount of money on, life happens, and so it’s a nice level of protection that makes the TECNO Camon 30 Premier a great pick.
Cameras
One of the biggest selling points of the TECNO Camon 30 Premier is just how impressive its cameras are. Even just a cursory glance at the specs points to how the Camon 30 Premier’s main focus is the hefty set of cameras in pride of place on the back. However, while impressive, the cameras extend a fair amount from the back plate, meaning the device as a whole becomes a lot chunkier towards the top.
TECNO wanted the Camon 30 Premier to represent a classic camera, which it undoubtedly succeeds at, but it does come at the cost of bulkiness. It’s not a massive shock, though, because cameras of this standard are naturally going to add a bit of chunk, but it’s worth taking into consideration the rather odd shape of this smartphone because of it. The camera offers some interesting aesthetics and even has a pulsing red light on the back like the snappers of old, which you can tune to represent charging or notifications.
It’s definitely in bright daylight where the trio of cameras on the Tecno Camon 30 shines, and the images taken in natural lighting are beautifully crisp and clear with no need to fiddle with settings. The ultrawide camera offers up some really gorgeous macro shots, and the zoom lens doesn’t shy away from retaining image clarity, although the closer you zoom the lower the quality goes, which is to be expected.
This particular smartphone from TECNO features a three 50MP camera configuration on the back, with 23mm wide, 14mm ultrawide, and 70mm periscope telephoto capabilities. It tackles 4K video with ease at 1080p at 30fps and also features a Quad-LED flash and panorama photography options. The front also has a 24mm 50mp camera capable of 2160p at 30fps.
Performance
The Dimensity 8200 chip is typical for smartphones in this price range of the market, but TECNO spearheaded the Ultimate version of this chip for the Camon range, despite it looking to be almost identical to its standard version. It still serves the Camon 30 Premier well, since its performance specs exceed its Camon 20 Premier predecessor while keeping up with the likes of the Xiaomi 13T and the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. Some will certainly prefer the likes of a Snapdragon chip, but the Dimensity 8200 Ultimate that finds its home in the TECNO Camon 30 Premier is nothing to turn your nose up at.
We tested the performance by running some demanding games like PUBG Mobile and Honkai Star Rail, and even at the highest graphics settings, the Tecno Camon 30 Premier performed consistently well, with no overheating or drop in frames or game quality. So, if gaming is your priority when looking for a new smartphone, Tecno’s latest offering is definitely a respectable pick.
TECNO’s latest smartphone only comes with one option for storage, but the amount is an impressive 512GB with 12GB of RAM, so the lack of choice isn’t something to be mad at. It, unfortunately, doesn’t come with an external SD slot, but most smartphones in this range tend to steer clear of this option in favor of higher internal storage.
The device doesn’t overheat or get any warmer than expected, even when running some graphics-intensive games or streaming in the highest possible quality. It simply handles it all with dependable ease, and so the TECNO Camon 30 Premier’s performance is undeniably impressive.
Battery
The 5,000 mAh battery in the TECNO Camon 30 Premier is a pretty standard offering, but its 70W wired charging capabilities boost it a little higher than the usual for smartphones in this bracket. Since the smartphone isn’t available in the United States or the United Kingdom, we know that we unfortunately don’t have a totally accurate representation of its charging capabilities.
However, we tested the 70W charger that the TECNO Camon 30 Premier provides in South Korea, and it completes an impressive full charge, from zero to 100%, in less than an hour. So, while in Western regions you won’t get a charge with quite as much speed, the capability is certainly there, and it’s only due to geographical reasons that it might seem a little slower than advertised.
The battery itself lasts a fair amount of time, and can certainly keep you juiced through a full day. Even when playing graphics-intensive games for a couple of hours, like PUBG Mobile or Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, the TECNO Camon 30 Premier only sacrificed just shy of 20% of its battery. We had the graphics whacked to their highest on both games, and this smartphone took it in its stride with no complaints.
Should you buy the TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G?
If you’re in the market for an all-rounder that caters to both photography and handheld gaming, then the TECNO Camon 30 Premier is certainly a choice pick. While some smartphone brands focus solely on camera capabilities, and others choose to put all efforts into making handheld gaming devices, the TECNO Camon 30 Premier offers both with relative ease.
The Chinese-based tech company has once again provided a stellar smartphone on a respectable budget, which is what we’ve become accustomed to, and the TECNO Camon 30 Premier delivers on pretty much all accounts.
Alternatives
If you’re not sold on the TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G, check out some options for alternatives below.
Poco X6 Pro
The Poco X6 Pro is up there with the TECNO Camon 30 Premier 5G as one of our favorite lower mid-range devices of 2024. They’re very similar devices, but the Poco is a little more gaming-friendly than the TECNO, though the latter is much better when it comes to smartphone photography. For more details on this one, check out our Poco X6 Pro review.
Google Pixel 7a
With the recent arrival of the Pixel 8a, the 7a is now even more affordable, and it’s still a fantastic handset a year after it arrived on the market. It rivals the TECNO in terms of photography capabilities but has a slightly more compact form factor. It’s not as good at games, but if you’re not a gamer, that’s not such a big deal. If you want the full lowdown, see our Google Pixel 7a review.