Review: Tecno Spark 10 5G Sets The Bar For MidRange Smartphones

It's been a busy few years for the Techno brand, especially in the South African market. Apart from mid-range smartphones, the brand also launched several ancillary products in the new year, including a line of smartwatches, headphones, speakers and laptops. Tecno Spark 10 5G was launched in the country a few weeks ago.

The launch aims to bring 5G to the market at an affordable price and offer speed and performance to users looking for a reliable mid-range smartphone.

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construction and design

Externally, a smartphone may appeal to many people. Despite being classified as a mid-range smartphone, it doesn't pull any punches in terms of design. At first glance, the glass front panel does not have a special design. However, once you unbox the device and open the back, you will find a 3D printed design on the back cover. The design looks like a smaller version of a smartphone, which together creates a unique design.

Inside, it has a transparent cover that protects the back and allows a clear view of the contents. Even though the body is plastic, it doesn't look cheap. The plastic polymer fits well in the hand. The plastic keeps the weight on par with many flagship devices of the same size at 194 grams.

Tecno Spark 10 5G features a 6.6-inch display with an 84.3% screen-to-body ratio. It's not a completely unbranched structure, but it's not too broad to be memorized. With dimensions of 164.4x75.5x8.4 mm, this is quite acceptable for a mid-class smartphone. The screen features an IPS LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. The display also has a resolution of 720x1612 pixels.

In terms of setup, the smartphone has a Type-C charging port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The right side also houses a fingerprint sensor that doubles as the power button. This is ideal for non-flagship smartphones, which typically feature an in-display sensor. It also has a dual nanoSIM tray. The position of the camera island at the rear is also slightly different, giving it another unique feature.

Overall, it's a pretty nice design and solid build. This is not your typical mid-range smartphone, it has an attractive design and plenty of premium options.

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Performance and battery life

When it comes to daily use, the Tecno Spark 10 5G offers plenty of features to handle most of your daily tasks. The device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6020 chipset. It is powered by an octa-core processor (x2 Cortex-A76 2.2GHz and x6 Cortex-A55 2.0GHz) and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.

During testing, I was able to frequently exceed the 24-hour smartphone usage limit. Surprisingly, I was able to last up to 48 hours without needing to refuel. It is equipped with a 5000mAh Li-Po battery, which ensures most of its durability. However, power consumption and slightly lower screen resolution are not so important.

What's missing here is a fast charging method. It provides a maximum charging power of 18W, which takes over 150 minutes from 0 to 100%. It's relatively slow. The good thing is that if you pay daily, you'll likely be charged less than 40%.

Its RAM is an interesting addition to the Tecno Spark 10 5G. The listing states that it has 4GB of RAM, which is a mix of physical and virtual RAM. Use page files to increase virtual memory using internal memory available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB variants. Techno calls this feature Memory Fusion. It can provide up to 4GB of RAM to get the job done. This is a great strategy as most mid-range smartphones offer ample storage space by taking full advantage of multitasking capabilities.

The Tecno comes with a 50MP primary camera in a dual-camera configuration. The 50MP wide-angle lens has an f/1.6 aperture and a 0.08MP depth lens. On paper it's not the best deal, but the results are impressive. The main camera does all the heavy lifting, while the depth camera is only used to create blur and bokeh effects. It offers good image quality, good color depth and contrast, and close-up capabilities. However, the results lack clarity, and correcting this problem will require some work in post-processing.

Unfortunately, if there's one thing missing in everyday use, it's the lack of NFC. While I understand that this is a mid-range smartphone, which means it doesn't offer all the features of a flagship smartphone, I would happily trade any other feature to keep it at the same price. Since NFC has become the easiest way to make mobile payments and use a controller, I can't get by without an everyday driver.

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result

Tecno Spark 10 5G comes with a lot of useful features. Despite being called a mid-range smartphone, it can compete with some flagships in some ways. However, there are some missing features that I prefer over others. Overall, this is a solid offering.

It's priced at R5499, which is quite affordable for what it offers. With greater retailer reach, potential buyers will have more payment options at their disposal. Retailers selling the device include Ackermans, Edgars, Game, Jet, Makro, Mr Price, TPLF and Vodacom.

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