Tecno Camon 11 and 11 Pro

Tecno have finally refreshed their Camon series with the release of the Tecno Camon 11. And a better speced-out Camon 11 Pro. I gotta say, these are really beautiful phones. The Camon series is Tecno’s camera-focused line. Selfie takers and mobile Photographers would love this release.

BUILD AND DISPLAY

The Tecno Camon 11 rocks a nice all-screen display with a tiny notch. Further housing a speaker grill, proximity sensor, and a single camera with a flash. Likewise the Camon 11 Pro. In fact, it’s the exact dimensions of the regular 11. Because this was a Pro upgrade, not a Plus one.

The Camon 11’s display is a crisp 6.2″ HD+. With actual resolutions of 720×1500 pixel. Therefore bringing it’s Pixel density to 268 pixels-per-inch. Although it’s not a crazy OLED 1080p display, it’ll do fine. Especially with that 500nits of brightness.

The Camon 11 Pro comes with the same HD+ resolution. So you may be dissapointed if you expected Full HD like last year’s release.

This happened because mediatek only offers AI capabilities with the Octa-core CPU in the Helio P22 chipset. Which can only support a HD+ display at maximum.

These phones are built really well. Also, they come in a nice metal finish. Therefore feels quite premium.

MEMORY AND STORAGE

The Tecno Camon 11 ships with 3GB of RAM alongside 32GB of internal Storage. Meanwhile the Camon 11 Pro packs a bigger 4GB of RAM alongside 64GB internal storage.

Also, there’s SD card support up to 256GB. 

CAMERA

Well Cameras have been the selling point for the Camon Series. And the Camon 11 is no different. On the regular one you’re getting a 13+2MP camera combo at the back. In addition to a 16MP on the front for selfies.
Accordingly, you get an upgrade on the Camon 11 Pro. A 16+5MP dual camera instead. Similarly, there’s also a 24MP selfie cam.
As you would’ve guessed, both these phones offer Face ID unlocking.

Furthermore, you get AI photography. A striking new feature where advanced scene detection and image processing is possible. Everything from Portrait mode to Zoom and Enhance, Face-recognition and everyday photo editing would be alot better.

SOFTWARE AND PERFORMANCE

I really can’t help but feel Tecno is lowering their standards. First was the screen, and now it’s the Processor. The Camon 11 sports a 1.5Ghz quad-core Mediatek processor. However we had a much more powerful 2.3Ghz octa-core Processor on last year’s Camon X.
Likewise the Camon 11 Pro with a 2.0Ghz octa-core chip. To be fair though, there’s less pixels to push this year. And they were probably trying to keep the cost down. Nevertheless, Tecno 
An ARM Mali-G71 MP2 GPU also handles graphics Processing. Similarly, both these phone stuff run on Tecno’s custom skin, HiOS 4.1. And likewise, are based off Android 8.1

OTHER FEATURES

The Tecno Camon 11 ships in 3 colors; Bordeaux Red, Aqua Blue and Mdnight Black. The Pro version however, comes in only Nebula black. Nonetheless the glossy finish creates various beautiful hues under different lighting.
There doesn’t seem to be a notification light. Although the front flash seems to light up while charging.

There’s a dual(nano) sim and memory card dock on the left. You get 4G support on either sim. Volume rockers and Power buttons are on the left.
I still don’t get why Tecno hasn’t moved over to USB-C fully. Reserving it for their costlier Phantom line.
Besides offering FaceID, the Tecno Camon 11 still retained the Fingerprint Sensor on the back. It’s high time though, they started using on-screen fingerprint. Read about it here.

Finally, the AR emoji feature is a worthy mention. Just like with Animojis on Apple, you may now turn you face into a chicken’s and gobble around.
 Camon 11 retails for about 49,000NGN (~$140). However, the Pro goes for 76,000NGN (~$210)

TECNO CAMON 11 OR 11 PRO?

Personally, I don’t think the Pro upgrade is worth it. Apart from the double storage, an extra GB of RAM and slightly better camera does not justify the extra 25,000NGN in my opinion. And although the Cameras are better on the Pro, you’re still not missing out on the most important AI feature that’s present on both.

Meanwhile, you can buy these phones on Jumia or Konga