TECNO launched the POVA Curve 5G, the company’s latest 5G smartphone in the POVA 7 series, earlier this month. This has a 144Hz flat screen, Ella AI, and is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate processor. Specifications look impressive on paper. Is it worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Camera |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- TECNO POVA Curve 5G 8GB + 256GB in Geek Black colour
- 45W fast charger
- USB Type-C cable
- Protective case
- SIM ejector tool
- User manual
Display, Hardware and Design
The POVA 7 5G sports a 6.78-inch (2460×1080 pixels) FHD+ 20:9 aspect ratio LCD screen with 144Hz refresh rate. The screen has up to 900 nits HBM brightness and the colours are good as well.
You can select smart switch or force it to 60Hz or 144Hz. The 144Hz refresh rate offers a smooth user experience, especially when you are scrolling through the UI and when gaming. You can select from Original (default), and Bright colour style. You also find sleep aid mode and eye care mode in the display settings.
The phone has a 13MP front camera inside the punch-hole. There is an earpiece on the top edge which also works as a secondary speaker. You can see a large bottom bezel, which is common in phones in the price range. The haptic feedback is decent.
Coming to button placements, the power button which embeds the fingerprint scanner is present on the right along with volume rockers. The hybrid dual SIM slot is present on the left. The primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone and vent for speaker are present on the top. The infrared sensor is present on the back of the camera module.
It weighs 207 grams, since it packs a huge 6600mAh battery. It is not noticeable since the weight distribution is good.
The phone has delta design and the back has a glossy finish, so it is prone to scratches, so it is recommended to use the bundled case. In addition to the Geek Black colour that we have, the phone also comes in Magic Silver, Oasis Green colours. It has IP64 ratings for dust and splash resistance, which is good enough. Even though the phone has a plastic back, the build quality is decent for the price.
Camera
- 50MP rear camera with f/1.6 aperture
- Secondary AI camera
- 13MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture
The camera UI is the same as other phones running HiOS 15. It includes several features such as portrait, Super night, Dual video, Vlog, Time-lapse, Panorama, Sky shop, Pro, Documents and more. Even though the phone has a 50MP rear camera, the final output is about 12MP in size after pixel binning, and the front camera output is 13MP.
Coming to the camera quality, the daylight shots are decent, and it is recommended to enable HDR option which automatically switches on HDR according to the shot, so that the dynamic range is fine. The camera can focus quickly. The portrait mode has good edge detection.
Low-light images are decent, but there is noise when you zoom in. The night mode is useful, thanks to the optimization. The 13MP front camera does a good in daylight, and the front camera portrait is decent as well.
Check out some camera samples below
It can record videos at 4k resolution at up to 30 fps from the rear and the front cameras, which you don’t get in most phone in the price range. It has EIS, but doesn’t have OIS. The phone has portrait video recording at 1080p, 30 fps from both the front and rear cameras.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 15 with HiOS 15 on top. It has Android security patch for March 2025. The POVA 7 5G will get 1 Android OS update and 2 years of security updates. Wish the company had offered at least 2 Android OS updates.
HiOS 15 brings a new UX that is clean, has new icons, wallpapers, Animation Engine, and has Ella AI that brings Multilingual Support including Hindi, and it will support Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, and Marathi by the end of this year, said the company. The UI is neat and clean and has been way improved and smoother compared to HiOS 14.
There is AI Call Assistant that provides real-time translations, transcriptions, and summaries for calls, including WhatsApp. Other features include AI Auto Answer, AI Voiceprint Noise Suppression, AI Writing & Document Assistant and AI Screen Awareness. Gallery app has AI Eraser 2.0 & Image Extender, AI Sharpness Plus, and there is also AI Wallpaper Generator, Vogue Portraits & Artboard.
Out of 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, about 7.44GB is usable, out of which 3GB is free when the default apps are running in the background. There is additional 8GB RAM expansion feature. Out of 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, 224.4GB is free out of the box.
Since the phone has an IR blaster, it comes with an IR remote feature that you can use from the quick settings. Apart from the usual set of utility and Google apps, it comes preloaded with Facebook that can be uninstalled, but they come back after reset.
The phone has Multi-Functional delta light interface smartphone, a backlit design element with 104 Mini LED lights that performs in multiple scenarios – notifications, music, volume change and more.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor which immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player and there is Dolby Atmos. Even though there is FM Radio support, there is no app for it out of the box. Audio through the stereo speakers is crisp and loud. Audio through the headphones is good as well.
This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. It also supports HDR playback on YouTube, but this doesn’t work on Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features such as 5G with 10 5G bands n1/n3/n5/n8/n28B/n38/n40/n41/n77/n78, and supports Airtel and Jio 5G out of the box. There is also dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, GPS + GLONASS, and this also has NFC support that you rarely see in phones in the price range. It also has USB OTG support, and it has USB 2.0. We did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume is good.
The phone has an Intelligent Signal Hub System that continuously optimizes signal reception using AI to ensure smoother call experiences, especially in low-network areas. There is Antenna Enclosure coverage 86.5% – with full body signal design there is almost no signal blind spot, and it offers a more stable and faster network, said the company.
The phone is optimized for remote and Tier 3 locations where networks often fluctuate—ensuring calls and data stay stable, and there is VoWifi Dual Pass. We did not face any call drops. It uses the company’s own dialer, and there is call recording.
The TECNO POVA 7 5G’s body SAR is 0.363W/Kg and head SAR is at 0.931/Kg which is less, and is way under the limit in India which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate SoC. It has 4X Arm Cortex-A78 cores at up to 2.5GHz, paired with 4X Arm Cortex-A55 cores. This uses TSMC’s 4nm process.
The Arm Mali-G615 GPU does a good job in games. You can play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, but can’t expect sustained peak performance is high graphics mode. In BGMI HDR Ultra works.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99% which is good. The temperature increased from 35 to 38 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 6000mAh (typical) battery. It can easily last for a day with heavy use, thanks to the optimization.
Since the phone has support for 45W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in half an hour and up to 100% in just over an hour. There is reverse wired charging, and bypass charging as well when gaming, so the charging current bypasses the battery to go straight to the motherboard, so it doesn’t affect the battery.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 14,999, the TECNO POVA 7 5G is a good option if you need a large battery, neat UI and smooth performance. The AI features are an added bonus. Wish the company had offered at least 2 OS updates.
Pricing and availability
The TECNO POVA 7 5G is priced at Rs. 14,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model and the 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 15,999. It is now available from Flipkart.
Alternatives
The TECNO POVA Curve 5G at a slightly higher price is a good option with a curved AMOLED screen and better camera. The Infinix Note 50s 5G+ is also a good option.
Pros
- 144Hz LCD screen is good
- Smooth performance
- Good build, IP64 ratings
- HiOS 15 is packed with several features and AI features
- Good camera in daylight
- Excellent battery life, 45W fast charging
Cons
- Average low-light camera performance
- Only 1 major OS update