Tecno Camon 18 Premier (CH9) Price, Review And Specifications.

Tweet

 

Tecno Camon 18 Premier (CH9) Quick Specs:

6.7" Full-HD+ (2400×1080) 120Hz AMOLED Dot-in Display.

393ppi, 20:9 Aspect Ratio.

MediaTek Helio G96 Chipset.

Android 11 OS, HiOS 8.0.

Triple-lens (64MP+12MP+8MP) Back Camera.

Single-lens (32MP) Front Camera.

8GB of RAM.

256GB Internal Storage.

Face Unlock.

Fingerprint reader (Side-Mounted).

USB-C Port:

4G (LTE) Network.

4,750mAh Battery (33W Fast Charging).

Price: 155,000 naira,  KSh 37,399.

Tecno Camon 18 Premier (CH9) is the most equipped variant of the recently unveiled Tecno Camon 18 series, and it's the suceessor of the Tecno Camon 17 Pro (CG8). Others in the latest series are Tecno Camon 18p (CH7), Tecno Camon 18i (CG6), Tecno Camon 18c, and Tecno Camon 18 (CH6); which is the standard variant. However, and except for the Camon 18i and Camon 18c, the other three look almost identical.

And speaking of the looks, Tecno Camon 18 Premier is a nice looking phone. Though the front of the phone still resembles that of the Camon 17 Pro, because it sports an identical Dot-in display; and its 6.7-inch screen is almost the same with the 6.8-inch of the earlier phone. The screen also features a Full-HD+ resolution like the earlier one. However, Tecno Camon 18 Premier is fitted with a better display panel, and it also supports an higher screen refresh rate than its predecessor. This phone also wear a more appealing and classy looks.

In other words, and despite having almost the same size and resolution as the earlier one, the display of the Camon 18 Premier has an AMOLED panel; which displays richer colours than the typical IPS-LCD panel that came with the Camon 17 Pro. Also compared to the 90Hz refresh rate of the earlier one, the screen of the 18 Premier supports an higher refresh rate of 120Hz.

Despite sharing front design with the Camon 17 Pro, the front of the Camon 18 Premier still looks sleeker than that of the earlier phone. And it's because the latest phone has a slightly smaller hole-punch (camera cut-out) and thinner screen bezels. The thinner bezels also enable the phone to gain a slightly higher screen-to-body ratio than the earlier model. Also compared to the curved edges of the Camon 17 Pro, Tecno Camon 18 Premier comes with flat edges.

Moving on to the back. The back cover of the Camon 18 Premier also has a semi-glossy finish like that of the Camon 17 Pro, but unlike that of the earlier phone that sported a huge Camon branding, the back cover of the latest phone is plain and it's smooth to touch. And like its back cover, the camera bump is also plain-looking and classy. And that, combined with flat edges, make Camon 18 Premier to look more elegant and classy than its predecessor.

However, in spite of its sleeker looks and better display, Tecno Camon 18 Premier still sports a few downgrades (when you compared it to its predecessor). For instance, unlike the earlier phone that came with two speakers, Tecno Camon 18 Premier has a single speaker. The latest phone is also fitted with a 32-megapixel front camera and a 64-megapixel Triple back camera; which are lower than the 48-megapixel front camera and a 64-megapixel Quad back camera on the Camon 17 Pro. Yet, in spite of their lower numbers, the back cameras on the latest phone are equipped with better sensors, and the pictures taken with them look more realistic.

Furthermore, the 5,000mAh battery capacity of the earlier phone has also been downgraded to 4,750mAh, but the latest phone supports an higher fast charging of 33W, compared to 25W fast charging of the Camon 17 Pro. 

Meanwhile, except for the good looks, better display and a few downgrades (mentioned above), the rest of the features of the Camon 18 Premier are still like those of the Camon 17 Pro. For instance, Camon 18 Premier retain the dual microphone and USB Type-C port of its predecessor. The Power button on the Camon 18 Premier also doubled as fingerprint reader; because the phone also lacks rear-mounted fingerprint reader.

Under the hood also, things remain almost the same. Except for a different CPU, other major internal features of the Camon 18 Premier such as RAM, storage, and Operating System (OS), are exactly like those of the Camon 17 Pro. In other words, Tecno Camon 18 Premier is running on the Android 11 OS (though with the latest HiOS UI on top). The phone also features 8GB of RAM and 256GB internal storage like its predecessor. However, the Helio G95 CPU that came with Camon 17 Pro has been replaced with Helio G96 on the Camon 18 Premier. Yet both of these MediaTek processors have almost the same prcessing powers.

Verdict: Since Tecno Camon 18 Premier retain most of the internal configurations and features of its predecessor, therefore, the selling points of the phone are its sleeker looks, AMOLED display and better camera system. I would have added its higher 120hz screen refresh rate, but i don't see its use on this phone. Still, and personally, i think all the aforementioned selling points are worth it, most especially, the looks.

Price And Design Colours:

The current price of the Tecno Camon 18 Premier is about 155,000 Naira and it is available in two colour options of Vast Sky and Polar Night.

Design: Camon 18 Premier Is A Nice Looking Phone:

From its 163.8x75.9x8.2mm dimensions (compared to 168.9x76.9x8.95mm dimensions of the Camon 17 Pro), it's obvious that Camon 18 Premier is just minute smaller than the Camon 17 Pro. And it also shows that the phone is flatter than the earlier model. Yet, due to its flat edges, Camon 18 Premier appear flatter than it actually is. Nonetheless, and in-spite of its all-flat appearance, the camera bump on the phone still protrudes a little from its back; which prevents the phone from completely lying flat on its back.

Also in spite of its all-flat appearance and its slightly smaller size, Camon 18 Premier still has the same weight of 200g as the Camon 17 Pro. The phone also has the same build quality. But unlike that of the earlier phone, the front of the Camon 18 Premier is protected by Dragontrail glass. Yet the phone retain the scratch-resistance policarbonate back cover of its predecessor. 

Also unlike those on the earlier phone, the three sensors inside the latest phone's camera module, sported bigger rings; which make them to look like those you'd see on the flagship phones. 

And as i said earlier, the back cover of the 18 Premier doesn't have the huge Camon branding; which was engraved on the back of the earlier model.

Meanwhile, the arrangements of ports (and their positions) on this phone are still similar to those on its predecessor. Though, the latest phone comes with a more beautiful SIM tray, however, the tray and slot are still located on the left edge. And on the right edge are the Volume rockers and Power button (which also doubled as fingerprint reader). The Power button, like that of the Camon 17 Pro, also sit flush to the frame of the latest phone. Also on the bottom edge of the phone is 3.5mm audio jack, speaker grille, USB Type-C port and primary microphone. The secondary microphone, like that of its predecessor, is also located on the top edge of the phone.

A Full-HD+ 120Hz AMOLED Display:

As a result of its AMOLED panel (which was last seen on the Tecno Camon 12 Pro), the screen of the Camon 18 Premier is able to display richer colours than that of the Camon 17 Pro; which sported a standard IPS-LCD panel. Nonetheless, the picture quality of the screen is still not as impressive as that of the flagship Tecno Phantom X (AC8); which features a Super-AMOLED panel. Even, in spite of its ability to deliver richer colours and high level of brightness (Tecno says about 550nits), the screen of the 18 Premier is still not as vibrant or as vivid as that of the Camon 17 Pro, especially when it comes to outdoor usage.

Furthermore, though the 120hz screen refresh rate of the Camon 18 Premier is higher than the 90hz of the Camon 17 Pro display. But you won't be able to get much benefits from this higher screen refresh rate, because this phone does not have ability to handle graphics-demanding and high frame rate games very well. More on that later.

By the way, and compared to the regular 60hz screen refresh rate, higher screen refresh rates such as 90hz, 120hz, and so on., brings about smoother page schrolling, gaming, and animations on your screen, but at the expense of a slightly power consumption.

Meanwhile, the AMOLED screen of the Camon 18 Premier still features a Full-HD+ or 1080 resolution like the IPS-LCD screen of the 17 Pro, yet the latest screen has a slightly different resolution of 2400x1080, compared to the 2460x1080 of the earlier one. This also means that the 6.7-inch screen of the Camon 18 Premier has a pixel density (or sharpness) of 393ppi; which is almost the same with the 395ppi of the 6.8-inch screen of the Camon 17 Pro.

Better Quality Rear Camera System:

On the specs sheet, and as i said earlier, the number of rear cameras on the Camon 18 (apart from its lower megapixel front camera) are lower than those on the Camon 17 Pro. Because compared to the 17 Pro's 48-megapixel front camera and 64-megapixel Quad back camera, Camon 18 Premier comes with a 32-megapixel front camera and a 64-megapixel Triple back camera. However, and in-spite of their lower numbers, the cameras on the latest phone are of better qualities.

Though, obviously, Camon 18 Premier retain the 64-megapixel Main rear sensor of earlier model, but the second and last cameras on the phone are different from those on the 17 Pro. In details, the other two rear cameras, on the 18 Premier, are made up of a 12-megapixel Ultra-Wide sensor (for taking wide angle shots or capturing more of what's in front of you without moving backwards) and an 8-megapixel Telephoto Periscope camera; which enables you to Zoom-In, up to 5.0X, and take clearer (or detailed) pictures of far distance objects without moving closer. The Ultra-wide camera also doubled as Gimbal camera (which brings about stable video recording).

Gimbal camera simply stabilizes the image (Image Stabilization) of your video-recording during movements or while your hand is shaking. Though the functionality is notably similar to that of the Image Stabilization mode on the Camon 17 Pro (Ultra-steady mode on the latest phone), but with the Camon 18 Premier Gimbal camera, the outcome is more better.

Still, like those of its predecessor, and with the Image Stabilization (or Ultrasteady mode) OFF, both the front and back cameras of the Camon 18 Premier are capable of recording 2K videos at 30fps (frame per second). But with Image Stabilization ON or Ultra-steady Mode ON, the cameras can only record videos in 1080p at 30fps.

Furthermore, both the front and back cameras are also capable of shooting portrait video or video bokeh (blurring backgrounds of your recording videos) in 1080p at 30fps. And they can also shoot Slow-motion videos at 240fps.

Meanwhile, and spite of their lower megapixels sensors, the shots from both the front and back cameras of the latest phone are as still as sharp (or as detail) as those of the earlier phone's. In fact, the pictures from the rear camera of the 18 Premier can be Zoomed-In up to 60X (60 times). The skin tones and colours of the photos, taken with the latest phone's cameras, also look natural and more realistic than those from the earlier model.

Same RAM, Same Storage And Almost The Same Processor As The Camon 17 Pro:

While retaining the 8GB of RAM, 256GB internal storage and Android 11 Operating System (OS) of its predecessor, Tecno Camon 18 Premier is fitted with a different CPU and it also comes with a recent Tecno HiOS 8.0 custom UI (on top of the Android OS). In other words, and compared to the Camon 17 Pro's Helio G95 (MT6785V) CPU, Camon 18 Premier is powered by the Helio G96 (MT6781) CPU.

Though Helio G96 is a recent CPU and it also tops the lists of the MediaTek midrange gaming chipsets. However, this processor still packed the same processing power as the Helio G95. Apart from being a 12nm octa-core processor, the CPU also features the same 6x Cortex-A55 Arm and 2x Cortex-A76 Arm as the Helio G95. Both of them also have the same maximum processing speed of 2.05Ghz. Even, the Mali-G76 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) of the earlier processor offers a slightly better graphics performance than the Mali-G57 GPU that's inside the latest one.

For instance, the latest GPU has lower pixel shades and a slightly lower clock speed of 850Mhz, compared to the 900Mhz of the earlier GPU. This is why some graphics demanding and high frame rate games, which play smoothly on the Camon 17 Pro, stutter a little on the 18 Premier. As a result, and as i said earlier,  you won't be able to utilize the full benefit of higher screen refresh rate of the 18 Premier when it comes to gaming.

But when it comes to multitasking, opening multiple apps simultaneously, and heavy internet browsing, Camon 18 Premier handles them all with ease, just like its predecessor.

4,750mAh Battery With 33W Fast Charging:

Though the 4,750mAh battery of the Camon 18 Premier is a little less stronger than the 5,000mAh battery of the Camon 17 Pro, yet, the battery is still more than enough. Besides, the AMOLED display of the phone is slightly more power efficient than the IPS-LCD display of the earlier one. Which makes the battery life of 18 Premier to be on par with that of the earlier phone. Also, thanks to the latest phone's 33W fast charging, this battery can be fully juiced back in just a little over an hour (with the phone's out-of-the-box 33W charger) when it drops to one percent.

Full Specifications Of The Camon 18 Premier (CH9):

GENERAL

Maker: Tecno Mobile.

Name: Tecno Camon 18 Premier (CH9).

Year Announced: October, 2021.

Dimensions: 163.8x75.9x8.2mm

Weight: 201g.   

Colour: Vast Sky & Polar Night.

DISPLAY
Screen Type: AMOLED-LCD capacitive Touchscreen.

Size and Resolution: 6.7-inch, Full-HD+, 2400x1080 pixels, 120Hz Refresh Rate.

Aspect ratio & Pixel Densities: 20:9, 393PPI.

Protection Dragontrail Glass.

PORTS:

3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes.

USB Type-C Port: Yes.

MicroUSB port: No.

Lightning Connector: No.

Google Assistant Button: No.

PERFORMANCE

Chipsept: MediaTek Helio G96 Octa-core Processor, 2.05GHz.

GPU: Mali-G57 MC4.

RAM: 8GB.

Operating System: Android 11, HiOS 8.0.

STORAGE

Internal Storage: 256GB.

Micro-SD card slot: Yes, up to 512GB.

SIM AND NETWORK

SIM: Nano, Dual SIM slots.

Network:  GSM, WCDMA, HSPA+, LTE.

CAMERA

Rear camera: Triple-lens; (64MP+12MP+8MP) With Quad-Flash.

Front camera: Single-lens, 32MP, Single Front Flash.

VIDEO RECORDING:

Rear Cameras: 720p, 1080p, 2K @ 30 fps.

Front Camera: 720p, 1080p, 2K @ 30 fps.

CONNECTIVITY:

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, HotSpots, NFC, USB-OTG.

BIOMETRIC, SENSORS & LOCATION: 

Security: Face Unlock, Side-mounted Fingerprint Reader..

Sensors: Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, G-sensor, Accelerometer And

Barometer sensor

Others: GPS, Location (Geo, Glonass), Radio.

BATTERY

Battery Capacity: 4,750mAh.

Qi Wireless-Charging: N/a.

Fast Charging: Yes, 33W.

Tweet