TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G review

Of all the smartphone niches, gaming phones are the ones we’re most enthusiastic about here at Pocket Tactics. Sure, it’s nice to have a powerful camera with AI features or a foldable flagship that costs as much as a second-hand car, but there’s nothing we like much more than a handset purpose-built for hours of engaging with games like Honkai Star Rail, Marvel Snap, and more. That’s where the new TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G comes in.

This phone is the latest in a long list of devices from the Chinese tech brand that prioritizes the mobile gaming experience. The POVA range has been around since 2020, with the brand regularly releasing updated versions to satisfy a growing base of TECNO fans. So, how does the latest version line up compared to some of the entries on our list of the best gaming phones? Let’s find out.

Price and availability

Unfortunately, if you’re reading this from the US, UK, or Europe, you may struggle to get your hands on a POVA 6 Pro 5G for a while yet. TECNO is currently concentrating its efforts on emerging markets. So it might be a case of importing this device or checking out eBay if you’re dead set on trying one out, which we’re assuming would cost somewhere between $200-300, depending on the seller. If you decide to pick one up, you can opt for either Comet Green or Meteorite Grey colorways.

Specs

Features and software

The TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G utilizes TECNO’s own HiOS operating system based on Android 14. It’s a very smooth operating system that is much lighter in terms of bloatware than other TECNO phones I’ve reviewed in the past. The device also features receptive face and fingerprint recognition, which is a bonus for those who don’t want to hammer in a numeric pattern every time you want to use your phone.

As a gaming-orientated handset, it’s no surprise to see the POVA 6 Pro 5G boast some software features intended to enhance the gaming experience. While you don’t necessarily need to embrace either to play to your heart’s content, both Game Space 4.0 and Game Assistant 4.0 can come in handy. Game Space is ideal for testers like me, providing live details on RAM, ROM, network strength, temperature, and more.

If, like me, you’re something of an audiophile, the Dolby Atmos sound of the POVA 6 Pro 5G is worth pointing out. This spatial sound algorithm works both through the speakers and any headphones or earbuds you pair with the device. Some might not notice it, especially through the speakers alone, but it lends to the gaming experience by enhancing the audio. The speakers themselves are also quite loud, so you won’t need to use a Bluetooth speaker if you’re trying to fill a whole room with sound.

Design

We like a gaming phone that looks like a gaming phone, and this is exactly that. Whether you get it in Meteorite Grey or Comet Green, the POVA 6 Pro stands out from the crowd with its metallic finish, Mini LED lights, and thin body. Unfortunately, the elaborate back cover is slightly prone to smudging, at least in my experience with the Comet Green version. Fortunately, you can quickly rectify this issue with a quick wipe using a microfiber cloth or by using the transparent in the box.

In terms of form factor, this phone is lightweight and boasts a comfortable build that sits nicely in the hands, with rounded corners you can easily wrap your fingers around, which is what you want when dealing with a gaming phone. You can certainly feel the camera bump on the back, but it isn’t invasive.

Still, the most interesting element of the look of the POVA 6 Pro is what the brand calls its Dynamic-Tech Design. We mentioned the Mini LED lights earlier, but this is where they come into play. The back of the phone features 210 tiny LEDs that have nine different modes capable of over 100 different effects. It’s a similar concept to the Nothing Phone 2’s Glyph interface, with the option to set specific patterns to indicate calls, battery level, and more. It’s a gimmick, sure, but I’ve found it to be a useful gimmick from time to time, especially when charging.

It’s worth pointing out here that I can imagine some finding the design of the POVA 6 Pro 5G a little too garish for their tastes. It is a bold design, there’s no debating that, and it’s an interesting decision from the brand at a time when other brands are choosing to make their gaming phones a little more subtle – the ASUS ROG 8 Pro is a perfect example of this. Still, it’s clear from POVA sales over recent years that there’s a market for this sort of outlandish design, so it depends on which side of the fence you find yourself in regards to how the thing looks.

Display

The display is one of the most significant improvements of the TECNO POVA 6 Pro over its predecessor, thanks to the new 6.78-inch FHD AMOLED screen. This move from LCD offers deeper colors and better overall visual quality, and it’s most noticeable when gaming or streaming video. The AMOLED also makes the device easier on the eyes, which is especially beneficial for gamers who might spend extended sessions staring at the screen.

The glorious AMOLED of the POVA 6 Pro 5G benefits the thinned-down ultra-slim 1.3mm bezels that are nearly invisible, giving you plenty of screen space to play with. With a peak brightness of 1,300 nits, I never ran into a problem viewing the screen in any scenario, whether it be on a sunny day – as rare as they are in the UK – or the dead of night with all the lights out.

Camera

Considering that the primary selling point of the POVA 6 Pro 5G is its affordability and gaming performance, I honestly wasn’t expecting all too much from the cameras in terms of quality. Simply put, you can’t expect a phone to have it all. However, I was pleasantly surprised by what this device had to offer.

The 108MP primary wide camera is capable of some high-quality shots, whether they be of inanimate objects like the example Scrabble board below or something a little more detailed like a human or animal subject. The 10x zoom is also pretty handy, and while the images you capture while zooming might be a little grainier than you might like, it’s certainly better than nothing. The rest of the triple camera set-up consists of a 2MP depth sensor and AI camera, neither of which I had much experience with, but combined with the 108MP lens to offer a well-rounded set-up.

The 32MP selfie camera is no slouch either, with a dedicated flash to get your best angle night or day. On the subject of night, both cameras are relatively proficient in terms of low-light photography. The quality of night-time images isn’t quite up there with flagships like the Xiaomi 14 or Samsung Galaxy S23, but for a mid-ranger, it does a pretty decent job of capturing the subject, no matter the lighting scenario.

Performance

Unsurprisingly, the performance of this gaming-oriented phone is pretty impressive thanks to its generous 12GB of RAM or up to 24GB with a possible extra 12GB of virtual RAM, and MediaTek Dimensity 6080 SoC. It is a little disappointing that the chipset is the same as last year’s POVA 5 Pro, but for the most part, it gets the job done. It has no problems with day-to-day tasks, from messaging to scrolling through social media, and the HiOS 14 software makes this all the smoother. Still, this is a gaming phone, so let’s get onto the good stuff.

For a start, casual games have no issues running on this device. Candy Crush plays like a dream, made better still by the enhanced, vivid colors the AMOLED screen offers. Vampire Survivors, a game notorious for its incredibly busy visuals, also thrives on the POVA 6 Pro 5. So far, so very good.

To properly test the gaming capabilities of the POVA 6 Pro 5G, I booted up Honkai Star Rail to see how the phone handles this relatively demanding title from Hoyoverse. I won’t say that this phone handles HSR perfectly because it doesn’t. There are moments, especially in the animation frames between attacking an enemy and breaking into an RPG battle sequence, where things are a touch laggy – either with adaptive refresh rates or by selecting 120Hz as the default. However, outside of these instances and a couple of dicey moments with character movement, there are no significant issues with the gameplay, and most of the gorgeous in-game animations are as magnificent as the developer intended.

Not only is the POVA 6 Pro 5G a cool customer when it comes to performance quality, but it never seems to run hot while running games. This is thanks to TECNO’s SuperCooled system, which keeps things chill at all times. All in all, the performance is as solid as you might hope for in a mid-range, but unsurprisingly, it falls a little behind some of the more expensive gaming phones out there with demanding titles, predominantly due to the chipset. However, as we said earlier, you can’t have it all, and it’s down to you whether you think the affordability is worth the occasional moment of frustration.

Battery

The 6,000mAh battery of the POVA 6 Pro 5G is one of the phone’s most attractive features, promising hours of gameplay without the need to reach for your charger. It can muster around 11 hours of play or 30 hours of day-to-day use, so it’s really just a case of putting it down for an hour once a day, or once every two days, if you’re not using it extensively, to charge back up to 100%.

While the battery life is impressive enough as it is, things only get better when it comes to charging. As we’ve come to expect from TECNO products, the POVA 6 Pro 5G is a rapid charger, with 70W charging boosting this device from flat to 100% in under an hour or by 50% in around 25 minutes. For a device in this price range, I’ve no complaints about the battery life or charging capabilities, with TECNO knocking it out of the park once again.

Should you buy the TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G?

If you’re looking for a potent gaming phone with a surprisingly solid camera set-up, vivid AMOLED display, and plenty of storage space for mobile titles, it’s hard not to recommend the TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G. This is all before even considering the price, which is frankly a steal. There aren’t a bunch of mid-range gaming phones, but this might be the best of them.

There are, however, a couple of caveats worth pointing out before rounding out this review. For starters, the elaborate design of the POVA 6 Pro 5G is not for everyone. It’s also a touch on the delicate side with an IP53 dust and waterproof rating, so it isn’t quite dust-tight and would struggle to survive any sort of water damage. Finally, we have to mention that while this is a gaming phone, it’s clearly a mid-range gaming phone, so if you’re looking for something with a little more performance horsepower for console-level play, it might not be the one for you.

Alternatives

If you’re not sold on the TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G, check out our suggestions for some alternatives in a similar price range below.

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

If this gaming phone is a bit garish for your taste, the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is a potential alternative that isn’t quite as bold in its design. However, there is a trade-off for the more understated A54 5G, with the Samsung nowhere near as competent at running games as the POVA 6 Pro 5G. If you want more details to help make up your mind, see our Samsung Galaxy A54 5G review.

Poco X6

The Poco X6 is a very viable alternative to the POVA 6 Pro 5G, with this fellow mid-ranger offering stellar performance for the price, a crisp display, and capable cameras. The design of the Poco X6 is a little more understated than the TECNO, though it still stands out from the crowd with the bright yellow back cover. There’s very little to separate these two outside of personal preference, so take a look at our Poco X6 review if you want to know more.