Notification LEDs fade into the background as always-on displays take over. But now they're back, bigger and more powerful than ever; in fact, phones like the Tecno Pova 5 Pro have become the centerpiece of the design.
Two units recently arrived in the office, one is a Dark Fantasy and the other a Silver Fantasy, both of which match the Turbo Light design. Tecno has been using geometric designs for a while, including in the previous Pova 4 series, but now there's a new twist with a transparent back.
Let's move on to the elephant in the room: the phone doesn't ring. Despite the hype, this phone is not the first to feature a transparent back. There are also older examples like Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer 2018, Red Magic 5G 2020, etc.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer • Red Magic 5G • Red Magic 6s Pro
A year later came the Red Magic 6s Pro, which combined a transparent back with RGB lighting on the fan. Two without phones and now Pova 5 Pro is the latest design trend with transparent back and LED backlight.
Anyway, let's get back to our phones. They are only available in neutral colors that highlight the LED lights. They can glow in 9 colors and create a breathing effect.
LEDs in action
Its benefits can be divided into two categories: useful and cold. First of all, the phone supports the usual "flip to mute" gesture: the phone now flips the screen face down for lights to control the notification feature, flashing to alert you to incoming calls, text messages, and even social media. The events are closed. Another useful feature is the battery status indicator when charging: red for less than 20%, orange for 20-60% and green for 60-100% (we charge less).
As good practice, the lighting system also recognizes certain in-game events, yes, in-game. When playing PUBG, the lights on your phone turn red on hit/kill, white on ADS (aim, aim), and change color while driving.
The Tecno Pova 5 Pro is powered by a 5000 mAh battery and is said to last for over 9 hours of playback time. Inside the box we have a 68W fast charger that charges from 0 to 50% in 15 minutes and fully charges to 100% in 45 minutes.
There's a big reason the Tecno charger is included in the box (besides added value for money). The company wants customers to have a high-quality, high-performance charger that does passthrough charging, a mode in which power is routed around the battery and connected directly to the motherboard.
This prevents unwanted heat generation when the battery is charging, which also helps extend battery life. This is a feature commonly found on gaming phones. Of course, this mode also works with power banks, but you need a powerful one.
Judging by the gaming features, this is a gaming phone. It is based on the Dimensity 6080 chipset combined with an L-shaped vapor chamber (2820mm²) that distributes heat through the graphene layer (10159mm²). There is 8 GB of RAM on board (almost another 8 GB), as well as 256 GB of internal memory.
Games can be played on the large 6.78-inch IPS LCD screen (1080x2460 pixels, 20.5:9). It has a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Certain games have been tested and optimized : Mobile Legends supports a stable 80fps and Free Fire supports up to 90fps.
Sound comes from powerful stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack that supports DTS, Hi-Res Audio, and Hi-Res Audio. The Z-axis linear motor enhances immersion with better tactile feedback.
We will test the Tecno Pova 5 Pro and let you know if this device can compete with other brands of gaming phones.
