Set
The box that comes with the Infinix Note 12 VIP is huge – inside there is a bonus in the form of a smartphone, a 120W charger, USB-C, a case, documents, a SIM ejection key and additional protective glass. At the same time, the factory film is already glued to the smartphone. You can also find stickers in the box.
Since the side edges of the case do not fit the smartphone very tightly, the accessory does not give confidence. It is possible that over time, the smartphone will no longer fit securely in the case and simply fly away. At the same time, on AliExpress and other sites, the selection of cases for this model is still small.
The Tecno Camon 19 Pro’s packaging looks more familiar in size. Inside, the buyer will find a smartphone, a 33W charger, a USB Type-C cable and headphones with headphones – the sound quality can be called average, with a stretch.
It is noteworthy that the case from Tecno is also wider on the sides, although not as much as in Infinix.
Design
Infinix got a glass cover, while Tecno got a plastic cover. In both cases, the frame is made of plastic, but it is easy to confuse with metal. The matte-coated back panel helps on hot summer days as smartphones do not collect fingerprints even if the palms are sweaty.
In both cases, the performance of the cameras is completely different. From the back, the Tecno model is very similar to the Honor 50. This solution seems more practical – at least because the cameras on Infinix are placed on a black glass rectangle that collects fingerprints, streaks and just looks alien.
Although there are very narrow screen bezels on three sides of the front of the Tecno Camon 19 Pro, the bottom part attracts attention. The “chin” is particularly noticeable when compared to a competitor whose side bezels are wider, but symmetrical on all four sides.
Screen
Infinix gets a wider 6.7-inch AMOLED matrix, while Tecno has a narrow and long 6.8-inch IPS display. Both support 120Hz refresh rates with an Auto selection mode where the system decides which mode to turn on and when.
During testing it was noticed that the brightness setting in Infinix was unbalanced. If you increase the brightness from the minimum, the first change is only noticeable by 30%. There is a sharp jump from 60% to 100%, so you can only set the normal brightness to maximum values in the 80-100% range. The Tecno is fine with this, but the screen itself is a bit dimmer.
At the same time, the brightness of both is sufficient for most tasks, although in the bright summer sun you sometimes have to look at the screen.
Either way, the contrast isn’t enough and there’s no way to calibrate the screen to your liking.
Considering the problems with the screen brightness adjustment not working properly, the Tecno Camon 19 Pro screen looks more advantageous in this case. But in this case, you will have to put up with a less advanced and juicy IPS screen.
shell
The compared smartphones run Android 12 with pre-installed proprietary shells – XOS 10.6 on Infinix and HiOS 8.6 on Tecno. The two systems aren’t really all that different from each other, as both brands are owned by the Chinese manufacturer Transsion Holdings. At the same time, none of the interfaces can be called annoying or crooked – everything works surprisingly well and stably.
It only confuses the large number of pre-installed programs – there are only three app stores along with Google Play.
Also, all these extra apps cannot be completely uninstalled – they can be turned off. So they will be hidden from the desktop, but at the same time take up extra space in the memory of the smartphone.
Yield
The already bored Mediatek Helio G96 chipset is responsible for the performance in Tecno Camon 19 Pro and Infinix Note 12 VIP. This is a relatively fast and budget chip that can handle most tasks in everyday use, but it is definitely not suitable for mobile games – in any case, smartphones with this processor do not feel comfortable in all games.
For example, it is impossible to play Genshin Impact, because even with minimal graphics settings, smartphones over time get very hot and begin to slow down (a process in which the processor resets the clock speed under load).
In Call of Duty Mobile, both smartphones show a similar result – the game starts at medium settings and the process does not cause any problems.
Running New State on high graphics may cause problems, but at medium graphics settings the game is much more stable.
In the Geekbench 5 test, Tecno scored slightly higher with 518 and 1757 points in the single-core and multi-core test, compared to 506 and 1703 points for the Infinix. But this difference is practically not felt.
cameras
The Infinix Note 12 VIP offers a 108MP main camera, a 13MP ultra-wide camera, a 2MP depth sensor and a 16MP selfie camera. Tecno Camon 19 Pro is equipped with 64MP main camera, 50MP telephoto camera with 2x zoom, 2MP depth sensor and 32MP front module.
The really surprising thing about Tecno cameras is the night mode. The details of the photo are not flagship, but still quite high quality. In this case, the photo is emphasized so much that it becomes difficult to distinguish between day and night images. On the Infinix Note 12 VIP, the night photo is slightly lower brightness than the competitor, but still shows a good result.
When it comes to daytime photography, there is no need to demand anything beyond super from mid-budget smartphones and it is necessary to approach this subject objectively. Therefore, the main Infinix and Tecno cameras for their price give quite detailed and high-quality pictures, which has only one drawback – the photo turns out to be very “colorful”, so the final picture is very far from the real picture, even on cloudy weather. day.
The difference between the two smartphones is also noticeable – Infinix makes pictures more contrast, while Tecno brightens them more. As a result, the red brick wall on the Tecno Camon 19 Pro is more orange.
The Tecno lacks the wide-angle camera that Infinix has – it produces stills for a solid quad for its segment. However, Tecno may offer a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with 2x zoom that reveals a photograph of a distant object in detail. The process of processing the main and tele-camera on the Camon 19 Pro is strikingly different – zoom photography looks surprisingly more accurate in color reproduction.
The third two-megapixel module is essentially not required. It helps to create a photo with a blurred background, but this can be done through the program.
As for the video from Tecno, the socialbites.ca correspondent expected to see a better result, since the smartphone claims to have optical stabilization – the OIS inscription is even placed separately on the case. But the miracle did not happen – when shooting handheld on the go, the Camon 19 Pro does not cope, and the video series is no different from what Infinix offers – it turns out that the video “twitches”.
The new items cannot offer shooting in 4K (the maximum resolution available is 2K), and there is no shooting at 60 frames per second. I wanted to see at least FullHD at 60 frames, which is already ubiquitous on some cheap devices.
The front camera on the Infinix is complemented by a spotlight that helps take selfies in low light. The 16 MP sensor itself shows a good result. The detailing for this category is also pretty good. The Tecno Camon 19 Pro has a selfie camera with a higher resolution, but the quality is slightly worse – for example, the skin details “evaporate”.
features
Both smartphones are equipped with a physical fingerprint scanner located on the right side power button. At the same time, the buttons do not hang – the assembly of Tecno and Infinix is at a high level, which is not always found even in more famous brands.
Also important for low-cost smartphones, both models support memory expansion using microSD cards. You do not have to choose between the operation of two SIM cards or one and a memory card – there is a combined slot in which you can insert both SIM cards and MicroSD cards at the same time.
Tecno and Infinix also have 3.5mm headphone jacks.
Speaking of audio, it’s also worth noting that Infinix offers stereo sound, often referred to as “one-and-a-half” – the sound comes from multimedia and speech speakers. The quality is below average and the sound is flat but still better than the Tecno – no stereo.
In addition, smartphones have a fairly high-quality and smooth vibration engine, as well as an NFC module with which you can make contactless payments using Mir Pay and its analogues.
battery
Infinix Nite 12 VIP is equipped with a 4500 mAh battery with 120 W fast charging support included in the kit. According to the manufacturer, the smartphone can charge the battery from 0% to 100% in just 17 minutes, but in practice it took around 30 minutes to fully charge the battery.
It also turned out that the fast charging mode should be turned on separately – this was probably done to save the battery, but then it does not make much sense because 120W charging is offered as a key feature of this device.
Tecno Camon 19 Pro, in turn, received a 5000 mAh battery and 33 W charging – with its help it takes about 70 minutes to replenish the battery.
An hour after watching YouTube at maximum brightness, Infinix lost 11% and Tecno 9%. Smartphones are sufficient for daylight hours at full use and will certainly work from morning to night for most users.
results
Now many manufacturers are suspending their activities or leaving the Russian market altogether, so there will probably be more models than just Tecno and Infinix. The main thing is that when there is no competition, the “young” brands do not overprice, as with other Chinese companies.
Infinix offers its customers Note 12 VIP for 27 thousand rubles. Modification with 8 GB of RAM and 256 flash memory, while Tecno brought Camon 19 Pro to Russia in a version with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of ROM for 22 thousand rubles. With an equal amount of memory, the price will likely be the same.
By the way, for the same money, and sometimes cheaper, you can buy sub-flagship solutions from Xiaomi or Realme on AliExpress. In such models, the cameras will be better, and the performance will be several levels higher, which will take several years. If we talk only about official retail, the Tecno and Infinix models have every chance of becoming popular gadgets in the middle price segment.