Tecno Phantom V Fold2 Review

The Tecno Phantom V Fold2, which comes around six months later than expected, is a direct sequel to the original Phantom V Fold. It’s possibly among the cheapest foldables available in Nigeria.

According to the main specifications, the Tecno Phantom V Fold2 is a slight upgrade over its predecessor. But there are a few noteworthy advancements that are worth taking into account.

 

For example, the battery can now handle faster 70W cable charging and has a 5,750 mAh capacity. Additionally, the phone supports wireless charging and comes with 12GB or 512GB of RAM by default.

The phone also has a redesigned design with a lighter, slimmer build and a vegan leather back. Bravo for packing a larger battery into a smaller, lighter device.

 

Tecno Phantom V Fold2 Unboxed

A suitable 70W charger and a USB-A to USB-C cable for data transfer and charging are included in the sizable container that the V Fold2 comes in, additionally, there is a lovely protective case with a kickstand.

 

Body and Design

It appears from our comments section that the design is somewhat divisive. The inclusion of the quite noticeable logo of the German luxury consumer electronics company LOEWE (corrected: it is not the Spanish luxury fashion brand of the same name as we first believed) could be the cause.

However, the build quality is what we are most concerned with. The phone weighs roughly 250 grams and is about 12 mm thick when folded, which is a substantial weight reduction from the previous iteration.

The handset is really pleasant to hold when folded. You can comfortably use the V Fold2 with one hand thanks to its size and sticky back material, when unfolded, the V Fold2 is 5.5mm thin and feels like a premium foldable. It’s really nice to hold.

Both the main and exterior screens of the new Phantom V Fold2 still use LTPO OLED panels. Additionally, the resolutions and diagonals are unchanged.

With a resolution of 2,000 x 2,295 pixels and a relatively typical square-ish aspect ratio, the primary foldable display measures 7.85″. Additionally supported by the display are 10-bit color depth and a refresh rate of 120 Hz.

The 6.42-inch screen on the cover has a higher aspect ratio and a resolution of 1080 x 2550 pixels. It also supports 10-bit color depth and operates at 120 Hz.

The ambient light control is another feature that we dislike. The phone uses a single ambient light sensor that is placed behind the cover screen. This isn’t ideal because, for example, when the phone is unfurled and set on a desk, the sensor can’t detect ambient light correctly.

 

Speakers

Although it still receives a “Good” rating, the loudness score of -27.1 LUFS is regrettably low, putting it behind both its predecessor and the competition. The stereo speakers are flat and dreary, and they seem a little too quiet.

Battery Test

The Phantom V Fold2 has a larger battery capacity (5,750 mAh) than the original V Fold (5,000 mAh), but the battery life is still not very spectacular, with an Active Use Score of 9:34 hours, which is below our expectations.

 

Charging Speed

Although the V Fold2’s wired charging has been upgraded from 45W to 70W, its charging speed isn’t impressive. Because of the larger battery.

It lags behind its rivals and even has a little slower performance at the 15 and 30-minute periods than its predecessor.

You recover more than half of the battery charge in the first half hour, and going from 0% to 100% in an hour isn’t all that horrible.

 

Performance

So the CPU configuration of the Dimensity 9000+ is quite similar to that of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 seen on a Galaxy Z Fold4 or Honor Magic Vs, with the same cores operating at essentially the same rates. This GPU is known as the Mali-G710 MC10.

There is only one memory option available for the V Fold2 this year: 12GB/512GB. Although Tecno does not specify the type of storage, our testing indicate that it is most likely UFS 3.0.

 

Triple 50MP Camera Setup

The camera hardware of the Phantom V Fold2 is essentially the same as that of its predecessor, with two little improvements. In addition to the sensor being larger, the ultrawide camera has been upgraded from 13MP to 50MP.

Because of the poor illumination, the primary camera captures respectable-looking daylight samples with a respectable dynamic range. Sharpness is fine, but in objects like trees and foliage, fine detail is frequently lost. Colors also need a little push.

Although the overall rendition appears to be comparable to the primary one, the 2x zoom camera is a little too soft for a shooter with such a limited reach. Actually, we think there is a little better balance between the highlights and shadows.

To start, the ultrawide isn’t extremely wide, but it has very little barrel distortion. Competing ultrawide solutions have produced sharper stills, but the color reproduction and dynamic range are acceptable.

The quality of the selfies is quite high. The subject’s face is always nicely exposed, and they seem crisp and detailed. Additionally, it makes no difference how you snap selfies because the selfie unit on both displays is the identical.

 

Video Recording

With all of its cameras on the rear, the Phantom V Fold2 can record videos at 60 frames per second and up to 2160p resolution. However, the selfie units can only capture 1080p at 60 frames per second. Both basic and an enhanced stabilization mode that simulates action cameras are available on the device; however, the latter option is limited to 4K@30 frames per second.

In terms of quality, the primary camera’s footage is good; it’s reasonably sharp, detailed, and lively.

Sadly, there are heavier shadows and much softer film from the 2x zoom.