For good reason, foldable phones are still a ways off from being seen as common smartphones: either they are too costly, or people believe they aren’t built to endure more than a few years. But over the past few years, folding screen quality has significantly increased, and foldable phones are gradually becoming more affordable. Motorola and Tecno released the Razr 40 and Phantom V Flip earlier this year, respectively, with prices under Rs. 60,000. After using the Tecno Phantom V Flip for a few weeks, I’ve put up my observations on the company’s most recent folding phone in the clamshell design.
Cost of the Tecno Phantom V Flip in India
The Phantom V Flip from Tecno is available in India for Rs. 54,999; the early bird price was only available for a month after the phone’s release. This phone comes with 256GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM. There are two colorways available: Mystic Dawn and Iconic Black.
Design of Tecno Phantom V Flip
When unfolded, the Tecno Phantom V Flip is a slim smartphone, which is advantageous because it results in a compact form factor when folded.
According to Tecno, the phone’s drop-shaped hinge, which is utilized in its folding display mechanism, includes a “Hoverlock” feature that lets you hold it open between 30 and 150 degrees. The Phantom V Flip features two cameras surrounding a circular cover display that looks a lot like a smartwatch display.
The phone’s fingerprint scanner is conveniently located on the right side, making it simple to access with one hand. It takes a little while to open the phone, but other than that, it seems to hold solid when bent at different angles. I had to use both hands to open and unfold the phone. Since the smartphone lacks an IP rating, you’ll need to take extra precautions against spills and dust.
Features and characteristics of the Tecno Phantom V Flip
The Arm Mali-G77 GPU and MediaTek’s Dimensity 8050 CPU, together with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, power the Phantom V Flip. There’s enough memory on this competent mobile processor to run many apps simultaneously. The phone has the option to employ up to 16GB of its 256GB of underutilized UFS 2.1 internal storage for even more taxing operations.
Tecno’s customized interface, HiOS 13.5, which runs on top of Android 13, comes pre-installed on the device. For the Tecno Phantom V Flip, the firm has guaranteed to give three years of security updates and two years of OS updates.
The Tecno Phantom V Flip demonstration
The Tecno Phantom V Flip performed admirably in the simulated benchmark tests, indicating that the Dimensity 8050 processor has sufficient performance overhead to continue operating smoothly and competitively for the foreseeable future. In AnTuTu’s benchmark test, the phone received 706,648 points; in Geekbench 6, its single-core and multi-core scores were 1,106 and 3,220 points, respectively. The phone received a score of 14,392 points in the PCMark Work 3.0 test.
Fortnite and Genshin Impact are just two of the graphically demanding games that the Phantom V Flip can handle. I toggled the highest settings on Fortnite’s higher quality “HD textures” function, and after 30 minutes, the phone started to become warm near the camera module, but it didn’t seem to have a significant impact on gameplay. Even in extremely busy domains, I had no trouble playing Genshin Impact on the “Medium” level.
Flip cameras made by Tecno Phantom V
A 64-megapixel primary camera and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera are included with the Phantom V Flip. A 32-megapixel front-facing camera that is located in a hole-punch cutout in the center can also be utilized for selfies.
This option allows for pixel-binning during pictures, but it also takes a little longer to save the image. You can see a lot more detail and precise coloration throughout the day. There’s a discernible loss in quality when you use the wide-angle camera during the day, particularly in terms of color accuracy and exposure.
In addition, the smartphone shoots good pictures in the dark, when the lighting is less ideal and it captures enough detail without producing excessive noise. For better results, I found that turning off the AI functions on the camera helped, although your mileage may vary.
Verdict
Although it makes some sacrifices along the way, the Tecno Phantom V Flip lowers the cost of foldable phones. The Moto Razr 40 Ultra, for instance, has a larger external display that can run apps and games, although this phone’s outer screen is equivalent in size to that of the similarly priced Moto Razr 40. In contrast, its more expensive counterparts do not have this feature. In a similar vein, I only really liked utilizing the Phantom V Flip’s primary camera, to the point where I was using it to take selfies.
The Tecno Phantom V Flip’s display is responsive and fluid, and its 120Hz refresh rate and powerful MediaTek processor enable programs to load quickly. If you’re searching for a foldable phone under Rs. 60,000 and don’t mind any of the aforementioned limitations, you might want to take a look at the Phantom V Flip.
