TECNO Camon C7 review: a solid, well-rounded 3G phone

In this TECNO Camon C7 review by MobilityArena.com, I highlight the device’s strengths and weak points. TECNO followed up the Camon C9 with a Camon C9 mini. If you want a good cameraphone but not at the price of the C9, the C7 is the next best thing. You get the 13 megapixel cameras and iris scanner, but everything else is pared down. Note also that the C7 is not a 4G smartphone.

We have already done our unboxing and first impressions, detailing all these things. You can also have a look with the detailed TECNO Camon C7 specifications.

TECNO Camon C7 Review In Brief

Here is a summary of the high points and low points of the Camon C7:

Pros
– Slim and lightweight body
– Very good rear camera
– Very Good battery life
– Fast and fluid performance

Cons
– No 4G LTE

And now, you can enjoy the full review below.

Camon C7 review: Design

Again, the Camon C7 unit we have here at Mobility Arena is the sandstone black one. And we love sandstone black to bits, but you might like any of the full available range of four colours. The C7 feels solidly built, but is very light. There is no heft here whatsoever. The C7 is really slim and lightweight.

The 3.5mm audio port i at the top, microUSB port at the bottom, volume and power buttons on the right side. And there is a hardware camera shutter button thrown in too in the bottom right corner.

The TECNO logo is tastefully imprinted at the back just below the camera lens and LED flash. The nice sandstone textured back cover is removable and opens up to give you access to two micro SIM slots and one microSD card slot. You don’t have to trade a SIM card for a memory card.

TECNO Camon C7 review: Software

The Camon C9 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with HiOS, TECNO’s new custom user interface, on top. HiOS is light and fluid. It has also been refined since its first coming on the Boom J8 and all issues we experienced with it then are non-existent here on the Camon C7. For example, all the early issue with the HiOS web browser have been resolved. What we have now on the C7 is a very capable browser that tick all the right boxes.

HiOS is coming of age. Just setup your Gmail account to get your Google email, calendar, and contacts synchronising and get going. Everything works just fine.

TECNO Camon C7 review: Music & Audio

The pre-installed music app, Boom Player, is quite good. Having gone through a few iterations, it now allows discovery of music videos too. Which is cool. Boom Player has all the standard features you would expect from a music app, plus it lets you find music and videos by African artistes conveniently. It also notifies you of new music when they are available.

You can pay for music downloads using your airtime. This is, in my opinion, one of it strongest points. With regards audio reproduction, the built-in mono loudspeaker is located at the back of the phone but it is sufficiently loud. Audio quality of the loudspeaker is good too, but not outstanding.

TECNO Camon C7 review: Photography

The TECNO Camon C7 sports dual 13 megapixel cameras just like its bigger brother, the Camon C9. The front-facing selfie camera has a large lens that is positioned centrally at the top of the display.

The pictures that both cameras take are quite good. The cameras do well in their class and for the price. However, the pictures lack some punch. They are not a sharp or as detailed as photos taken with the best cameraphones in the market. Price makes some difference. The greatest cameraphones have never come cheap.

The C7’s camera has one great advantage though: its ability to capture good images in motion. The below camera sample is a good demonstration of the Camon C7’s close-up photography capabilities in good lighting outdoors:

Camera summary: great cameras for the price and segment. No contest. TECNO has also bundled the Camon C7 with an app named Beautify Photo. The idea is that you can beautify and touch up photo after they have been taken.

TECNO Camon C7 review: Iris Scanner

The Camon C7 has an iris scanner built in. That huge 13 megapixel front-facing camera has to be put to more use than just taking selfies. I have used iris recognition on other phones, but the implementation on the Camon C9 is the coolest ever.

Remember those high tech movies where secret service officers or high ranking military brass get access to restricted areas via iris recognition? This is the closest to what obtains in those movies. There’s an animated sequence accompanied by a cool, geeky sound.

Performance

We have a quad-core 1.3 GHz Mediatek processor here, 2G of RAM, as well the same Mali-T720 graphics processor on the C9. Performance for everyday tasks is smooth. Push it harder with really heavy stuff and you will notice a drop. But that is nothing out of place for a smartphone of it class.

We put up the Camon C7 to the usual benchmark tests and came out with the following results:

• AnTuTu: 33,515
• GeekBench 3: 622 Single-Core; 1,792 Multi-Core
• Quadrant: 13,508

TECNO Camon C7 review: Battery

The Camon C7 impressed us with battery life too. The 2500 mAh battery is very adequate considering the screen size and processing power. We regularly got a full work day of use when connected to a WiFi network and slightly lower endurance if using a 3G network.

T-Band Compatibility

Of course, the C7 is compatible with TECNO’s T-Band bracelet. Using the T-Band with the C7 lets you capture images within 10 metres, monitor your sleep, as well as find your phone should it go missing.

TECNO Camon C7 Review Conclusions

The Camon C7 is a very good phone. It looks nice and is lightweight in the hand, and run smoothly. As with the Camon C9, the dual cameras are very good too. We wish the C7 had 4G LTE. One day, I put my two 4G LTE SIM cards in it and waited, wondering why I wasn’t getting any signal. LOL. Minutes later, I remembered that the C7 wasn’t a 4G phone. Hian!

However, we think that the Camon C7 is a winner too – another well-rounded package from TECNO. How much this costs? N40,000.

Now that you are through with this TECNO Camon C7 review, don’t forget to check out the full TECNO Camon C9 specifications and Camon C7 photo gallery.

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Author: Mister Mobility

Master storyteller and founder of Mobility Nigeria, Mister Mobility, has used and reviewed hundreds of mobile phones since 2001.