The Tecno Spark 8C was announced back in February 2022 and had its official release on 8th March 2022 in Bangladesh. The company is known for its aggressive pricing and quality in entry-level devices. With a high refresh rate display, larger battery, and a quirky design, does the Spark 8C stand out from the pool of budget devices? Or is it just another incremental rollout? Let’s find out more about the newest offering from Tecno.
key Features of Tecno Spark 8C
Design and Build Quality
Speaking of a quirky design, Tecno has seemingly gone all out with the 8C. Some of the previous iterations from the company have also been noted to have stand-alone design elements. With the Spark 8C, it all starts at the back. The phone has a rectangular camera housing which makes up almost two-thirds of the top part. The glossy textured bed also holds the fingerprint scanner and adds to the contrast of the overall color. There is another vertical textured design from the top to the bottom with the Tecno tagline “Stop at Nothing”.
Design aside, the phone has a plastic polycarbonate build all around. The power button along with the volume buttons are located on the right. The hybrid dual sim slot with a dedicated micro SDXC card is situated on the left of the device. The bottom houses the micro USB port for charging along with a bottom-firing speaker and 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Seeing a micro USB port even on an entry-level device is a letdown in 2022. Tecno definitely could have included a Type-C port to keep up with the current industry standard. Overall, the phone feels sturdy with an eye-catching look.
Display
The display on the Spark 8C is one of the main branding points for Tecno. It’s an HD+ IPS LCD panel with a 90 Hz refresh rate. Now users might be thinking what’s so great about a 720P panel? Well, there isn’t but considering the price and the buttery smooth animation 90 Hz brings, the room to complain is very narrow.
On the actual performance of the panel, it does fairly well. The display gets relatively bright outdoors with almost no noticeable color shift. Comparing the panel with an AMOLED one or even a higher resolution LCD panel would be unfair. Rather the display of the Spark 8C sits in its own segment considering the price.
Camera
There are two cameras in the Tecno Spark 8C. Before getting on with the sensors themselves, the lenses sit completely flush with the back with a raised protection ring around the main lens. The flush back gives it a unique look and eliminates wobble on plain surfaces.
The main lens of the camera is a 13 MP f/1.8 27 mm wide-angle shooter and the secondary one is just a QVGA lens. The lenses aren’t stacked with features like OIS, EIS, and PDAF. Rather it’s a functional sensor that gets the job done in its bare minimum standard.
The color reproduction indirect light is decent. Though there’s almost no dynamic range in any lighting condition. The AI portrait mode is a hit or miss at times. Sometimes the subject is in complete focus with a decent amount of blur on the background, other times it just completely misreads everything. The low light issue is also persistent here. Images tend to get a bit soft on artificial light with noticeable noise and grain.
Considering the price-performance of the camera, it should more than satisfy an average user. The videography is limited to 1080P at 30 fps. There is also an 8 MP front shooter with a dedicated LED flashlight.
Processor and Performance
The processor choice for the Tecno Spark 8C was a bit of a surprise. The company went with the Unisoc Tiger T606 processor. Traditional users might feel out of the water as there is no Snapdragon or MediaTek reliability here. But the move to Unisoc paid out big time in the 8C. The processor performs much better compared to the entry-level G series processor from MediaTek and 600 series from Snapdragon.
Animations are fast and smooth with no noticeable lag in app opening and closing. The 90 HZ display with Android 11 Go along with a new processor has been a brilliant combination whose performance rivals many premium mid-range devices in the market. The GPU is not outlined in the device specifications but it’s likely an in-house one from Unisoc.
Design aside, the phone has a plastic polycarbonate build all around. The power button along with the volume buttons are located on the right. The hybrid dual sim slot with a dedicated micro SDXC card is situated on the left of the device. The bottom houses the micro USB port for charging along with a bottom-firing speaker and 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Seeing a micro USB port even on an entry-level device is a letdown in 2022. Tecno definitely could have included a Type-C port to keep up with the current industry standard. Overall, the phone feels sturdy with an eye-catching look.
Display
The display on the Spark 8C is one of the main branding points for Tecno. It’s an HD+ IPS LCD panel with a 90 Hz refresh rate. Now users might be thinking what’s so great about a 720P panel? Well, there isn’t but considering the price and the buttery smooth animation 90 Hz brings, the room to complain is very narrow.
On the actual performance of the panel, it does fairly well. The display gets relatively bright outdoors with almost no noticeable color shift. Comparing the panel with an AMOLED one or even a higher resolution LCD panel would be unfair. Rather the display of the Spark 8C sits in its own segment considering the price.
Camera
There are two cameras in the Tecno Spark 8C. Before getting on with the sensors themselves, the lenses sit completely flush with the back with a raised protection ring around the main lens. The flush back gives it a unique look and eliminates wobble on plain surfaces.
The main lens of the camera is a 13 MP f/1.8 27 mm wide-angle shooter and the secondary one is just a QVGA lens. The lenses aren’t stacked with features like OIS, EIS, and PDAF. Rather it’s a functional sensor that gets the job done in its bare minimum standard.
The color reproduction indirect light is decent. Though there’s almost no dynamic range in any lighting condition. The AI portrait mode is a hit or miss at times. Sometimes the subject is in complete focus with a decent amount of blur on the background, other times it just completely misreads everything. The low light issue is also persistent here. Images tend to get a bit soft on artificial light with noticeable noise and grain.
Considering the price-performance of the camera, it should more than satisfy an average user. The videography is limited to 1080P at 30 fps. There is also an 8 MP front shooter with a dedicated LED flashlight.
Processor and Performance
The processor choice for the Tecno Spark 8C was a bit of a surprise. The company went with the Unisoc Tiger T606 processor. Traditional users might feel out of the water as there is no Snapdragon or MediaTek reliability here. But the move to Unisoc paid out big time in the 8C. The processor performs much better compared to the entry-level G series processor from MediaTek and 600 series from Snapdragon.
Animations are fast and smooth with no noticeable lag in app opening and closing. The 90 HZ display with Android 11 Go along with a new processor has been a brilliant combination whose performance rivals many premium mid-range devices in the market. The GPU is not outlined in the device specifications but it’s likely an in-house one from Unisoc.
Now moving on to performance, the processor is a breeze for day-to-day usage. Casual tasks like browsing the web or watching YouTube will provide a completely lag-free experience. The lag is only evident in high-end 3D games like PUBG and Free fire. This phone isn’t really designed to be a gaming phone per se, but it happens to handle graphics-intensive games at low settings pretty well. But beware of the heating issues though.
The Android 11 Go edition comes with HiOS 7.6. It’s the proprietary OS from Tecno. The OS itself is far from a stock experience, but the Go edition makes things much snappier. Overall, the device punches way above its class when it comes to performance.
Battery and Charge Time
The phone features a 5000 mAh battery. Users can expect to get over 6 to 8 hours of SoT from the device. There aren’t any fast charge options available on this device and the micro-USB charging port will only make the charging process a tediously long affair.
Price of Tecno Spark 8C in Bangladesh
The Tecno Spark 8C is officially available in Bangladesh in 3/64 GB and 4/128 Gb variants. The price of the 3/64 GB version is 11,990 BDT and the 4/128 GB version is 13,990 BDT respectively.
Verdict
The Tecno Spark 8C offers a good deal when it comes to entry-level and budget devices. The display and the design are great for its price but in a typical Tecno fashion, it struggles with the camera. The battery life is great but a Type C charger would have made it even better. Overall, the device isn’t recommended for gamers, rather it’s geared more towards casual users.
Source: United News of Bangladesh