What’s the very first thing that involves thoughts once you consider shopping for a big foldable telephone? If it is one thing alongside the strains of “they’re too costly for me,” then TECNO may need the primary giant foldable you may wish to take into account.
The TECNO Phantom V Fold 2 ushers in a brand new wave of affordability in giant foldables, enhancing the appear and feel of its predecessor in each manner, all with out growing the spectacular worth of that mannequin. Aside from normal enhancements and surprisingly premium options, TECNO can also be launching the Phantom V Pen, an lively stylus that appears and appears like an excellent higher model of Samsung’s S Pen.
The TECNO Phantom V Fold even matches the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 with practically each conceivable function possible. Tons of fantastic TECNO AI options are included like AI-generated paintings, AI textual content enhancing and summaries, and many extra. TECNO even included spectacular name options like the flexibility to alter your voice, swap the background throughout a video name, and even use Pixel 9-style name summaries for recorded calls.
It’s a budget-friendly expertise that solely will get higher as you dig deeper—one thing you may repeatedly must do as TECNO’s HiOS might actually use a UI facelift—but you will not really feel such as you’re lacking out on any of the very best options from the very best foldable telephones regardless that you are saving a whole bunch of {dollars} by selecting this one.
TECNO Phantom V Fold 2: Price and availability
TECNO is launching the Phantom V Fold 2 within the firm’s key areas, which largely consists of Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. The telephone makes its debut first in Africa on September 23, 2024, whereas the opposite areas will obtain it all through September and October.
The TECNO Phantom V Fold 2 begins at round $1099 USD with retail costs various by area. In the field, you may discover the telephone, a 70W charging brick, accompanying USB cable, a vegan leather-based case that features a kickstand, and the same old assortment of pamphlets. The inclusion of such a pleasant case helps additional enhance the already spectacular worth of this telephone.
TECNO backs the Phantom V Fold 2 with 2 Android OS upgrades and three years of safety updates.
TECNO Phantom V Fold 2: What I really like
From the second I opened the Phantom V Fold 2, I fell in love with how straightforward it was to multitask on the massive display. I’ve been utilizing foldables for years, however not all telephones are created equally, and TECNO’s default UI is matched solely by Samsung’s when it comes to simplicity of execution with out sacrificing highly effective options.
Running apps side-by-side is as straightforward as dragging an icon from the devoted residence bar on the backside to no matter aspect of the display you need. You also can float home windows by dragging the icons into the center or save app pairs for even faster entry later. Plus, the devoted “all apps” button on the underside proper means you by no means must swipe residence as long as you are utilizing the massive show.
While a lot of that is taken from AOSP, TECNO made just a few fascinating and noteworthy customizations. My favourite is that just lately opened apps seem as thumbnails on the bar as an alternative of simply icons. The full vary of options on the bar makes multitasking straightforward and intuitive, serving to this huge foldable instantly make plenty of sense.
None of this could be potential with out a first rate processor or sufficient RAM, and fortunately, TECNO has you lined there. With 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, plus a processor that is simply as quick because the Google Tensor G4 within the Pixel 9 Pro Fold—a telephone that prices $600 extra, thoughts you—there is not a lot that you are able to do to gradual this telephone down.
Even gaming is properly responsive and performative, with greater framerates than any of the Pixel 9 sequence telephones and an inside vapor chamber that retains it underneath 40C, which is cooler than any Pixel 9 telephone. Battery life was killer, too, with the most important battery on any foldable at 5750mAh, 70W quick charging with the included charging brick, and 15W wi-fi charging for gentle top-ups.
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TECNO has made some huge enhancements in {hardware} design and construct high quality, and that every one begins with how skinny the Phantom V Fold 2 is. It’s 10g heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 6—virtually actually as a result of the battery is 1300mAh bigger—but it surely’s additionally 0.32mm thinner than Samsung’s newest telephone. That’s loopy spectacular, regardless of the way you slice it.
It’s additionally simpler to open than Samsung’s foldables due to the curvature of the edges, supplying you with a pleasant little hole to seize along with your fingernail. The centered digital camera island on the again additionally ensures that it will not wobble when positioned down and unfolded on a desk, which is a pleasant contact. Too many telephones wobble due to uneven digital camera notches, however this is not one in every of them.
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The shows on the telephone are additionally superb, with ample brightness, wonderful coloration replica, deep AMOLED blacks, and a stable 120Hz refresh price. The outer show even sports activities a 2160Hz PWM price at low brightness, however TECNO selected a relatively gradual 360Hz PWM price for the internal show. This implies that the outer show is extra snug for me to repeatedly use, as I’m delicate to gradual PWM charges.
Thankfully, even with the slower PWM price on the internal show, the modulation price—that is the distinction between the brightest and dimmest factors through the on/off cycle—is comparatively low, particularly for a show that makes use of PWM dimming in any respect brightness ranges. As such, I did not expertise complications over the previous three weeks, however signs might all the time pop up for me later down the highway.
This is a way more eye-friendly show than any of Samsung or Google’s foldables, though I’d say Honor’s are the very best obtainable proper now.
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The included AI performance is surprisingly near most of the new options Google introduced for the Pixel 9, as effectively. Two-way name translation makes it potential to have a dialog with somebody in one other language, and the telephone even helps fast textual content abstract, AI-powered enhancing instruments, and AI wallpaper era such as you’ll discover in Galaxy AI.
Jumping into the “AI Gallery” app opens up one other realm of AI-powered instruments, as effectively. Many of those are just like what you may discover on a Pixel or Galaxy telephone together with object eraser. You can long-press on any object in a photograph to make a cutout of that object, then flip it right into a separate picture or sticker for use on social media.
The built-in ChatGPT-powered Ella assistant powers most of those capabilities and can also be increasing to name abstract in a post-update launch. Additionally, Google options like Circle to Search must be arriving someday in October when Google plans to increase this system to extra Android telephones.
The new lively stylus, known as the Phantom V Pen, is one other wonderful new function launching with the Phantom V Fold 2. It works rather a lot like a Samsung S Pen however differentiates itself in just a few methods. First, it is charged by way of the USB-C port on the aspect as an alternative of magnetically or by docking contained in the telephone.
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Second, it is acquired two buttons on it as an alternative of the only button on the S Pen, supplying you with extra methods to shortly change between instruments and choices whereas note-taking. Pressing a button whereas hovering over the display can even deliver up a menu with fast actions like annotating a screenshot, writing a brand new be aware, and so forth. It’s just like what’s on different Android units with pen assist, which is nice.
The V Pen itself is ultra-responsive and feels nearly as good as any lively stylus I’ve used on any telephone or pill. TECNO’s note-taking software program even features a good AI-generated object function that may flip your very tough sketches into beautiful paintings with a single faucet. The app helps you to select from a number of totally different artwork types after producing the picture, too, so you possibly can decide and select your favourite from the record.
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Given that this telephone is a number of hundred {dollars} cheaper than the subsequent obtainable foldable possibility, you may be shocked at how typically its digital camera trades blows with these telephones. In my testing, the Phantom V Fold 2’s major and ultrawide-angle cameras maintain up properly in opposition to dearer juggernauts just like the Honor Magic V3 in a spread of various lighting circumstances.
There’s an apparent distinction between among the pictures within the gallery above, however I would not say most of them are price spending a whole bunch of {dollars} for. During the day, the variations are way more refined than in decrease gentle, however there’s by no means a time when I’d name the cameras on this telephone dangerous.
I’m additionally impressed with the launch velocity and seize occasions of the digital camera. The digital camera app launches in underneath a second by double-tapping the volume-down button when the display is off, and it takes simply one other second for the digital camera to give attention to what you need. That means the digital camera might be prepared earlier than you are able to hit the button, a feat that many telephones nonetheless can’t declare.
TECNO Phantom V Fold 2: What wants work
My expertise with the Phantom V Fold 2 has been usually wonderful, however one drawback drove me loopy over the previous three weeks: notifications on wearables. I attempted a number of totally different sorts of smartwatches all through the evaluate—the Google Pixel Watch 3 and Amazfit T-Rex 3—and whereas I’d usually get notifications after I first related every watch, they’d abruptly cease sooner or later through the day.
The solely strategy to repair this was to reopen every smartwatch’s accompanying app, which apparently was killed within the background. I attempted locking the app in reminiscence and excluding it from power-saving measures, however none of those ways labored. TECNO might repair this in a future replace, however for now, it was an enormous annoyance for me.
TECNO’s taste of Android usually appears a bit dated, even when it is extremely feature-rich like a Samsung telephone. It’s not the top of the world but it surely lacks among the pizzazz of a Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, or Motorola telephone. But the largest drawback is not the UI look, it is the issue to find and understanding how options work.
This telephone is packed with options. So many it’d take you weeks to seek out all of them! During the evaluate, I continually discovered new issues I did not learn about, and it was virtually all the time accidentally. On a telephone name as soon as, I pulled out the sliding aspect tray that usually homes fast app shortcuts, solely to discover a function known as “Social Space” that permit me change my voice, contact up my look on digital camera, and even swap out or blur the background behind me.
I do not recall ever being instructed about this function, and Android Central managing editor Derrek Lee even instructed me that there was a strategy to reply or reject telephone calls with finger gestures—a peace signal to reply and a palm to reject—one thing that is buried deep throughout the system settings menu a minimum of 4 ranges deep.
I additionally thought the included Ella digital assistant was slightly gradual for my liking and was nowhere close to as correct for voice instructions as Google Assistant or Gemini. Asking normal questions typically took a number of seconds, and the reply was often bizarre.
I additionally ran throughout some occasional bugs or odd design choices. For instance, if you wish to use the entrance show as a viewfinder for the rear cameras when the telephone is unfolded, you might want to begin the digital camera when the telephone is unfolded, then faucet the “entrance show” button on the viewfinder. If you begin the digital camera when the telephone is closed after which open the telephone, this button would not seem. It’s not the top of the world, but it surely appears like a stage of polish might be utilized to those kinds of conditions.
It’s laborious to know if that is intentional conduct or not, however I’d like to see that button on the massive show’s viewfinder always, regardless of the place I begin the digital camera.
On the {hardware} aspect, whereas the telephone appears and appears like a high quality product, the hinge might use a bit of labor. It jogs my memory plenty of the hinge on the unique Google Pixel Fold, which required a bit of additional effort to unfold fully. By default, unfolding the telephone brings it to an virtually flat place, however you may must push it a bit to get it completely flat.
I additionally thought the display protector on the bigger show was too shiny for my liking, and the telephone’s audio system have been too quiet. The haptics, too, aren’t fairly as much as par with different giant foldable telephones, though I would not fairly categorize them as “dangerous.” They’re simply not notably good.
Like Samsung’s foldables, the Phantom V Pen solely works on the massive internal show. There’s additionally no place to holster or retailer the pen on the telephone, and the included pen sheath is simply too huge to adhese to the telephone by way of the included adhesive strip. That means there isn’t any strategy to shortly take the telephone out of your pocket and jot down a be aware, and there isn’t any handy strategy to take the pen with you on the go with out a particular case.
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TECNO might enhance the cameras in two key areas for subsequent time. First, the telephoto digital camera actually must be behind one thing stronger than a 2x lens. Zooming in past 4x delivers blurrier photographs than I’d have anticipated on an $1100 telephone, even when this telephone comes with a number of shows.
Second, TECNO might enhance movement seize algorithms for shifting objects. I examined a number of totally different eventualities (together with my son leaping) and the Honor Magic V3 took a greater picture of mentioned shifting object each time. To be honest, Samsung’s telephones undergo from the very same points, so solely a Pixel or Honor foldable will ship higher outcomes right here.
TECNO Phantom V Fold 2: Competition
Every different giant foldable telephone in the marketplace prices fairly a bit greater than the TECNO Phantom V Fold 2, making direct comparisons tough. Of course, any variety of offers might decrease these costs considerably, although, so let’s check out the 2 largest rivals within the area: Samsung and Honor.
The recently-released Honor Magic V3 is the cream of the crop in cellular foldable {hardware}, as it is not solely the thinnest foldable round—practically 2mm thinner than the Phantom V Fold 2—but it surely’s nonetheless acquired an enormous battery like this telephone. The Magic V3’s processor is notably sooner, and digital camera zoom is considerably higher, particularly between 3x and 9x zoom ranges. But Honor’s Magic OS would not make multitasking fairly as easy as TECNO’s HiOS does, and the telephone is a minimum of $300 extra, relying in the marketplace you are in.
Then there’s Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6, which retails for round $600 greater than the Phantom V Fold 2. The huge draw of Samsung’s foldable is that the corporate ensures extra updates than every other foldable apart from Google, all whereas having the quickest processor round and among the strongest software program options. But battery life and charging speeds aren’t anyplace close to nearly as good because the Phantom V Fold 2, and whereas the cameras are a tad higher, I would not say Galaxy AI options actually provide something totally different or distinctive in comparison with Phantom’s.
TECNO Phantom V Fold 2: Should you purchase?
You should purchase if…
- You need a big foldable telephone with excellent multitasking and nice general efficiency, plus pen assist.
- You need a implausible foldable expertise with out mortgaging your own home.
- You need battery life that lasts for days, plus ultra-fast charging.
You should not purchase if…
- You want the easiest cameras on a foldable telephone.
- You need the very best, thinnest foldable {hardware}.
- You want greater than three years of software program updates and assist.
TECNO has blown me away with the Phantom V Fold 2, a big foldable telephone that proves you needn’t spend $1,500 to get an amazing expertise. It’s acquired impressively skinny {hardware}—thinner than Samsung’s finest—plus the largest battery and quickest charging in any giant foldable telephone in the marketplace.
TECNO even included all of the AI options you anticipate from a flagship telephone like this, together with AI-generated wallpaper and artwork, writing help, name transcripts, picture enhancing, and extra.
The {hardware} is not the sleekest round, and TECNO’s HiOS’s visible design feels a bit newbie, however there isn’t any denying what number of wonderful options make this an exquisite telephone to make use of. Multitasking is second to none—particularly on the massive display—and the telephone performs simply as effectively, if not higher, than the newest Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. My one huge irritation was that notifications on wearables have been subsequent to nonexistent, however this can be a software program bug that TECNO will hopefully repair within the close to future.
If you are searching for a big foldable however wish to avoid wasting money, TECNO’s acquired your again.
Finally, a extra reasonably priced book-style foldable you could love! It’s crammed to the brim with wonderful AI options that compete with the very best from Samsung and Google. The largest battery in any foldable combines with loads of energy, nice 120Hz shows, and the optionally available Phantom V Pen that makes note-taking a breeze.
