Tecno Mobile officially launched its Camon 17 series smartphones in the local market about 3 weeks ago. The devices in this series include the regular Camon 17 and we also got a Pro version.
The first thing and the most notable to note about this new series as we mentioned when we published in the launch article is the refreshed design. The Camon logo is bigger than ever, reminiscent of Xiaomi’s POCO branding.
Camon 17 also ships in quite different colors to the 16 series. You get to choose between Frost Silver and Deep Sea Blue.
We got the Pro version as a review unit from Tecno’s local office. It’s a mid-tier smartphone so it’s definitely competing with a number of other devices in the same segment including the Samsung Galaxy A32. In this article we will be doing a comparison between the two devices.
If you’re thinking about purchasing either the Galaxy A32 or the TECNO Camon 17 Pro, this article should help you make the right decision. You can also watch our Camon 17 Pro unboxing video here.
Design and Display
The Tecno Camon 17 Pro comes with a 6.80-inch display with a resolution of 1080×2460 pixels at a pixel density of 395 pixels per inch (ppi). Clearly, this is a massive phone compared to the Galaxy A32 that features a 6.50-inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, at a pixel density of 411 ppi.
The 90Hz refresh rate display is the star attraction on both phones, as it’s a feature that we have mainly seen on these flagships. You can however change the frequency to 60 Hz in the settings. Why would you do that though?
Design-wise, both phones adopted a pretty good design. The Camon 17 Pro is a bit bigger though. It sports five cameras – a quad setup at the back consisting of a 64-megapixel primary camera; an 8-megapixel camera; a 2-megapixel camera, and a 2-megapixel camera. It sports a 48-megapixel camera on the front for selfies.
The Galaxy A32 on the other hand also has five cameras. At the back we have a 64-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture; an 8-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 aperture; a 5-megapixel camera with an f/2.4 aperture, and a 2-megapixel camera with an f/2.4 aperture. The selfie camera is a 20-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 aperture.
Internals and performance
This is probably one of the areas most smartphone buyers like me will give a serious look at when deciding to buy either of the smartphones.
The Samsung Galaxy A32 4G is based on Android 11 and packs 128GB of inbuilt storage that can be expanded up 1000GB via microSD card. The Camon 17 Pro also runs Android 11 and packs 256GB of inbuilt storage.
Well, both phones offer plenty of storage space which should be enough for you to store all your files.
The A32 features a MediaTek Helio G80 chipset paired with some 6GB of memory while the Camon 17 Pro comes with MediaTek Helio G95 chipset paired with 8GB RAM. Having used both devices, this is pretty adequate for all standard phone use. Apps loaded fast enough, flipping between apps is also easy. There are, however, slowdown in performance with larger and graphics-heavy apps, especially with the Galaxy A32.
Cameras
We already talked about the cameras. You can however check some sample shots taken by both devices below.
Clearly, the Tecno Camon 17 Pro takes the crown here. The photos are pretty decent with less noise, especially with good lighting. The night performance is quite impressive. The Galaxy A32 does not disappoint either especially with day time photos.
Battery life and Software experience
Tecno Camon 17 Pro is powered by a 5000mAh battery with 25W Type C fast charging. This is also the same battery size we’re getting on the Galaxy A32 although it has a 15W charging which is well, not exactly fast.
By far the battery is the most impressive feature we have seen on both devices. Under moderate or normal use, the phones should be able to last you for more than a day.
For the software experience, we will give it to Samsung, the experience is smooth with no bloatware unlike what we have on the Camon 17 Pro – unnecessary notifications and pop-ups. Still, the chipset on the Tecno handles everything well.
Conclusion, Pricing, and availability
Both phones come with almost similar specs. They also feature a fingerprint sensor (an in-display one for the A32 and a side-mounted one for the Camon 17 Pro which also serves as the power button).
While the Galaxy A32 is a pretty decent device, it fails in some aspects. There’s nothing really exciting about the CPU and GPU used here. Well, it gets the basics done, but no more than that. It however wins when it comes to the UI compared to the Camon 17 Pro.
Tecno also tried to get everything right with Camon 17 Pro – from good cameras to an amazing battery life among other features. The software experience might not be the best but as we mentioned earlier, the chipset manages to handle everything just fine.
Tecno is selling the Camon 17 Pro for Ksh.31,000 while the Galaxy A32 is available for Ksh.28,000.
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I will favour the Camon 17Pro over the A32 because of the processor used
Samsung A32 looks nice and so does the Camon device and I think the price will determine which majority will get
I think the Camon 17 Pro is a little bit better