Tecno Phantom V Fold Review – Economy Version, No Compromises

 


The price of a foldable screen device in Malaysia can reach RM8888 as can be seen on the Huawei Mate X3. At the other end of the spectrum there is the Tecno Phantom V Fold which is the cheapest big screen foldable screen device on the market right now. "Cheap" here is relative to devices in its class because every V Fold in Malaysia is sold at a price of RM5399 a piece.



So what are the disadvantages and what are the advantages of the V Fold? This review will try to answer all these questions from our perspective who have used all the foldable screen devices that have been launched so far.


SPECIFICATIONS

Tecno Phantom V Fold

External Screen – 6.42″ AMOLED, LTPO 120Hz

Inside – 7.85″ AMOLED LTPO 120Hz

Dimensity 9000+ processor

1 X 3.2 GHz Cortex X2 chip

3 X 2.85 GHz Cortex A710

4 X 1.8 GHz Cortex A510

Mali-G710 MC10 Graphics Chip

RAM 12 Gigabyte LPDDR5X

Internal Storage 512GB UFS 3.1

Primary Camera 50 MP, f/1.9 (Wide Angle)

13 MP, f/2.2 (Ultra Wide Angle)

50 MP, f/2.0 (Telephoto) 2x Optical Zoom

4K 60p

Front Camera 32 Megapixel f/2.5 (Front)

16 Megapixel f/2.5 (Inner)

FHD 60p

5000 mAh battery

45W wired charging

SIM/Telephony Dual SIM Nano /5G

NFC Yes

Infrared None

Waterproof None

Side built-in Fingerprint Scan System

Sale Price RM5399 (12/512 GB)

SCREEN

The 6.42″ external screen is from the AMOLED LTPO family with 10-120Hz refresh rate support depending on the application being opened. It has the same screen ratio as Magic Vs which makes it very comfortable to use. No issues at all to type or open normal apps. Because of this we rarely felt the need to use a large internal screen.



Because it's from the AMOLED family, the panel displays vibrant colors and it's still easy to see the screen under the scorching sunlight. There are relatively thin bezels and a camera hole at the top.


On the inside, the screen by 7.85″ AMOLED is also of the 10-120Hz LTPO type as on the outside screen. This is one advantage of the V Fold compared to the Magic Vs that only use a 90Hz screen on the inside. This screen also has a camera hole on the right "door". Tecno is still not ready to use the under-screen camera like Samsung.



Both screens support HDR display. But We are aware that only Prime Video and YouTube support HDR mode on V Fold. Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix can only display HDR content.


In the first week there were no noticeable crease lines we could see on the inner screen. What we noticed was that the hinge on the V Fold was a bit stiff in the early stages. When opening the screen, the user will be surprised because it is like having a spring that pushes it open quickly. It's very annoying because it doesn't happen on the Z Fold2, Find N2 and Magic Vs pads that we reviewed before.



After about two weeks this hinge started to feel looser. The open screen action suddenly magically disappears. This is also the period it takes for the screen's crease lines to start appearing quite prominently. All foldable screen devices of the “Fold” type have this issue based on our experience.


So it can be concluded that no device manufacturer has been able to solve the issue of the folding effect even though this type of device has almost entered its fifth year of being launched to the public.



The V Fold's screen has two issues that we feel need to be touched on as we categorize them as quite serious. First of all is the haptic which feels cheap because it tickles the fingers. It feels like the haptic system of an entry-level phone. Not suitable at all for a device priced at RM5399.


The second issue is the V Fold's slow working automatic screen description mode. The time taken to notice a change in the surrounding information is around 2-3 seconds before it takes another 2-3 seconds for the device to change the screen information. Because it's too slow we just turn off this automatic screen description mode for the duration of the review.


BIOMETRIC

The side fingerprint scanner used is fast and quite consistent. Its built-in location on the power button makes it even easier for our fingers to reach while holding it. The facial biometric system is also fast as long as it is in bright conditions. No infrared scanner is used so it cannot be used at night.


DESIGN

The design of V Fold is actually not the same as Z Fold4 or Magic Vs. In the engaged state there is still a small empty cavity between the screens. Not as big as the Z Fold4 but also not quite as close as the Magic Vs. Even so, it still feels thin in the hand and pants pocket.


Button. the fingerprint scanner power is placed on the right side along with the audio adjustment button. Both buttons are placed on the right "door" of the foldable screen. Therefore when opened the position of the button does not change. This is different from the Magic Vs design which places the audio adjustment button on the left "door" which causes confusion when this button is suddenly on the left side when the screen is opened.


The SIM tray is placed at the bottom of the left door along with one of the speaker grilles. On the opposite side there is another speaker grill. Finally, the USB-C port for charging is placed at the bottom on the right door of the device.



On the hinge part there is a rough texture that allows the fingers to be supported more neatly when held. In the hand the device is comfortable to hold both in the closed and open state. The back panel also has a soft leather-like finish to increase the comfort of the device when in use.


The main tri-camera system is housed in a circular camera bump. Because of its large size and it is also quite tall, the device cannot be placed flat on a table. Tecno provides a plastic frame that has a pattern that looks like carbon fiber. The frame is too thin to really absorb shock if the device falls.



On the back there is a large round-shaped bump that houses three cameras – 50MP wide-angle f/1.9, 13MP ultra-wide-angle f/2.2 and 50MP telephoto f/2.0 that supports 2x optical zoom and up to 20x digital zoom. This bump is large enough to cause the device to not be placed flat on a table surface. The two selfie cameras used are 16MP f/2.5 on the inside and 32MP f/2.5 on the outside.



Galaxy Z Fold4 vs Phantom V Fold

The battery is 5000 mAh which is the same capacity as Magic Vs. Supported charging is only wired at a maximum power of 45W. No audio jack, infrared emitter or slot for a micro SD card is included on this flagship device.


Another thing we felt was missing was any waterproof rating. In other words if you use the V Fold, be sure to store the device immediately if caught in the rain. It would be better if it supported at least IPX8 as Samsung and Huawei do, but this is a feature that is often sacrificed to save production costs.



SOFTWARE AND USER EXPERIENCE

HiOS 13 Fold operating system based on Android 13 is used. This is the first time we are reviewing a Tecno device so we don't know how it differs from the regular version and how smooth it is. Let's start with the good news first. The process of launching applications is fast as is the process of switching between open applications. There is a neat multi-tasking interface especially in tablet mode. Up to 9 applications can be clearly seen on the multi-tasking screen for easy selection.


HiOS fully supports Google Mobile Services (GMS). Then there is no problem for you to use Google services. We have to put this paragraph because someone asked is the V Fold has GMS. All popular applications can be downloaded through the Play Store and installed.



In tablet mode, there's a small taskbar below that displays five quick shortcuts to favorite apps and three more icons for recently used apps. This somewhat simplifies the process of quickly switching applications. But the HiOS taskbar is not as good as the Samsung One UI 5.1 taskbar which shows more open apps. It is also always displayed at the bottom of the screen. In terms of speed, Samsung's software still cannot be beaten by other manufacturers of foldable phones.


The supported gesture modes are very diverse. A five-finger gesture automatically switches apps in full-screen mode to a small, floating window. Launching the two-apps-launch mode is also as easy as scrolling down with one finger from the center of the screen. Pairs of two applications that want to be launched simultaneously can also be saved, only accessed through the multi-tasking screen with an icon placed at the top.



Admittedly the supported gestures are very nice but we felt the animations shown in the tutorial changed too fast for us to learn them. HiOS also has various other settings that ensure all applications can be used on the large folding screen and a mode that allows applications from the outer screen to open directly on the inner screen (and vice versa). In terms of feature support it is on par with the Magic Vs but behind the Z Fold4.


But the implementation of all these features disappointed us. For the mode of launching two applications simultaneously in two windows for example, the animation takes up to two seconds. The window size cannot be changed either. If you try it too, one of the applications will automatically close.



We also noticed this non-smooth issue when opening the application from the outer screen to the inner one. It takes up to two seconds before the application can be used. It reminds us of the experience of using the first generation Z Fold. With HiOS 13 Fold based on Android 13, this issue should not arise as Android 13 has all the features of Android 12L that support foldable screen devices.


You want the Flex Mode available on N2 Flip, Z Flip4, Z Fold4 and Find N2? It's not on the V Fold. Even the V Fold screen cannot be opened to an L shape because the hinge does not allow it. Want to put the device in semi-open mode and watch videos on the external screen without a stick like on the Z Fold4? Sorry this is also not supported. The absence of these two standard Android 12L features is heartbreaking.



Where is Flex Mode?

It makes no sense that a device with a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+, and 12GB of RAM has intermittent issues. The Find N2 Flip we reviewed and uses the same chip provides a smoother experience. Because of this issue we increased the amount of RAM to 21GB virtually through the MemFusion feature. We are still facing the same issue. Speaking of MemFusion, users can add 3, 6 or 9 GB of virtual memory if needed.


If Tecno wants to compete with other manufacturers in the foldable screen device segment, their software needs to be improved because the experience of using the V Fold is sometimes like using a device with a mid-range Snapdragon 695 or Dimensity 720 chip.


BENCH MARK

The Dimesity 9000+ chip is a chip that is in the same class as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. It is also used on the Oppo Find N2 Flip. As we have said above, the experience of using the V Fold is less smooth. But what about the scores recorded in the GeekBench 6, Antutu 3D and 3D Mark synthetic tests?



Here are the benchmark scores of Tecno Phantom V Fold compared to Oppo Find N2 Flip (Dimensity 9000+), Galaxy Z Fold4 (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1), Honor Magic Vs (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1,) OnePlus 11 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 ), and iPhone 14 Pro Max (Apple A16 Bionic)


Geekbench 6


Tecno Phantom V Fold – 1238/3776

Honor Magic Vs – 1276/3822

Oppo Find N2 Flip – 1028/3088

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 – 1422/3764

OnePlus 11 – 1495/4805

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max – 2524/6317

Antutu 3D


Tecno Phantom V Fold – 994,304

Honor Magic Vs – 804,494

Oppo Find N2 Flip – 756,646

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 – 980,346

OnePlus 11 – 1,104,135

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max – 974,941

Wild Life Extreme


Tecno Phantom V Fold – 2567

Honor Magic Vs – 2651

Oppo Find N2 Flip – 2617

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 – 2798

OnePlus 11 – 3712

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max – 3373


The benchmark test scores recorded are high especially when compared to the N2 Flip. But multi-tasking performance and smoothness make the experience unequaled. The device also heats up easily. We noticed it gets hot when used as a WiFi hotspot. In terms of the first experience, COD Mobile, PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9 can be played at high settings, but the device will get a little hot after a long video game session.


This is probably the reason why the V Fold scores higher than the N2 Flip. While reviewing the N2 Flip there was no issue with the device overheating. Could Oppo lower the speed of their chip to avoid this issue?


TELEPHONY And GPS

5G networks can be well supported and there is also VoLTE and VoWiFi support if your telco offers it. Voice calls are clear without any connection issues. The only problem we are aware of is that sometimes the SMS does not arrive. This creates issues when trying to activate Disney+ HotStar, WhatsApp and Grab which require an SMS activation code.


Is this a problem with the telecommunications company or our phone has no answer. What we do know is that the SMS request process needs to be done several times before it can be randomly received safely.



GPS performance is like a lip-lap lamp on Hari Raya. It's good for a while, it's a total failure. We used the V Fold last week when Kuala Lumpur experienced severe traffic jams due to rain in the afternoon. When Waze is open sometimes the location cannot be tracked quickly (up to 5 seconds).


Missed the intersection? The car icon in Waze does not change to show the actual location for another 5 seconds. There is a time lag before the actual location of the car can be displayed in the application. For a flagship device, the V Fold's GPS performance is not satisfactory.


CAMERA

The camera system is quite complete as the main camera consists of 50MP wide angle f/1.9, 13MP ultra wide angle f/2.2 and 50MP telephoto f/2.0 which supports 2x optical zoom and up to 20x digital zoom. The two selfie cameras used are 16MP f/2.5 on the inside and 32MP f/2.5 on the outside.


The camera software has all the necessary features like Portrait, landscape, night mode and AR lens. There is also an external screen mode used as a viewfinder to record selfies and selfies. But once the Tecno software makes the experience of using the camera tainted. The process of switching between wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle and optical zoom lenses takes time




The picture taken looks soft because all the lenses do not have OIS. Because of this the resulting image is not sharp even in good lighting conditions. The resulting picture is also slightly yellow compared to the actual situation.


It can be summed up that the V Fold's camera capabilities are simple. Still not comparable to V Fold4, Find N2 or Magic Vs. Our magazine feels that it is not as good as the N2 Flip at this time. If the V Fold 2 is launched, Tecno needs to include OIS on at least one lens.






This is the result of the camera shot in 1x, 2X, 15x and 20x zoom mode. The capture results are good up to around 5X zoom only. Beyond this stage the resulting image begins to break down. Digital zoom is only up to 2x so the zoom capability is limited. This is not helped by lenses that do not have an OIS system.






BATTERY

Battery life is up to 16 hours and SOT is almost 7 hours. Poor battery performance due to a 5000 mAh battery. On Magic Vs with the same battery, SOT up to 10 hours can be achieved consistently. We feel that the Dimensity 9000+ chip that heats up frequently is the reason why the V Fold's battery does not last long.


The time to recharge the battery is around 60 minutes. While not fast, this charger comes with every purchase. Another feature we like is that there is an alarm system that sounds when the battery is 100% charged. This is a feature that we hope comes to other devices as it can prevent the battery from getting damaged quickly.


AUDIO

Stereo speakers are provided but without any additional systems such as Dolby Atmos. The audio is also just average as is the camera performance. It's loud and clear. At least on the highest settings the sound is still good.


IN THE BOX

Here's what's included in the box.


1x Tecno Phantom V Fold

1x Plastic frame.

1x 45W Charger.

1x USB-A to USB-C charging cable.

1x Manual.

1x SIM Pin.


CONCLUSION

Tecno Phantom V Fold is the most affordable Fold type foldable screen phone in the Malaysian market. It offers a wide screen on the outside allowing it to be used comfortably without having to be opened first. The design is also interesting because the back panel has a finish like a classic analog camera. With Dimensity 9000+ and 12GB RAM, it can also run various popular applications quickly.



But as with all “affordable” devices there are some compromises here. The software is not mature enough so it feels slow to use. This is not helped by the lack of standard features of foldable screen devices such as Flex Mode, a fast automatic screen mode, and fast indoor/outdoor screen app switching. The lack is also felt in the slow camera, as well as the problematic GPS. The short battery life is also another shortcoming that is difficult to forgive due to its large capacity.


In Malaysia Tecno Phantom V Fold is sold at a price of RM5399 but can currently be purchased at a price of RM4999 during the promotion period. Although "affordable" compared to the Z Fold4, Mate X3, and Magic Vs we don't recommend you buy it at this time. All the compromises we listed earlier make the V Fold feel like a mid-range device with a Snapdragon 695 chip.


It doesn't make sense to pay almost RM5000 when there are other better flagship devices at an affordable price like the OnePlus 11. If you also want a foldable screen device, we recommend the Magic Vs which balances satisfactory performance, solid design and an expensive price (RM5999) but still makes the purchase worthwhile.


Pro


120Hz LTPO external and internal screens

The powerful Dimensity 9000+ allows many applications to be used without issue.

The design is thinner than the Z Fold4.

Various useful gesture features.

The device is comfortable to use with one hand.

Loud stereo speakers.

Cons


Not waterproof.

There is no normal foldable feature like Flex Mode.

Software that does not offer use as a flagship device.

Slow camera.

Battery life that doesn't match the capacity.

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