Thanks to silicon-carbon technology, smartphone makers are once again pushing toward thinner devices. That’s exactly what TECNO is showcasing with its latest release, the TECNO CAMON Slim 5G.
The goal is to deliver standard smartphone features, including a large battery, capable processor, large display, and more, in a sleek device without compromising functionality.
How well does the TECNO CAMON Slim 5G achieve this? Let’s find out in our full review.
TECNO CAMON Slim 5G Specs
- Android 16, HiOS 16 (up to 3 OS upgrades)
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 2644 x 1208 pixel resolution, ~429ppi
- 144Hz refresh rate, 2160Hz PWM dimming
- 2.5GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7300e octa-core processor
- Mali-G610 GPU
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB internal storage
- 32-megapixel front camera
- 50-megapixel (f/1.8, PDAF, OIS) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide) rear camera, LED flash
- Stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos
- IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust- and water-resistant, MIL-STD-810H
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi, Bluetooth
- GPS, A-GPS
- NFC
- IR blaster
- FM radio
- USB-C
- Dimensions: 162.6 x 77.3 x 6.4mm
- Colors: Matisse Black, Burgundy Red, Van Gogh Blue
- 6,000mAh battery, 45W wired charging
Design and Build Quality
As the name suggests, the highlight of the TECNO CAMON Slim 5G is its incredibly sleek build. While it won’t win any awards for being the thinnest smartphone in the world, its 6.39mm thickness makes it one of the thinnest phones we’ve ever used.
It’s incredibly light, too, weighing just 171g. Compared to other handsets that weighs over 200g, it’s definitely noticeable.
Despite its thinness, the CAMON Slim remains ergonomic and easy to hold, thanks to its flat, solid frame. The rear panel has a matte plastic finish that, sadly, attracts fingerprints and smudges.
It comes in six color options. Ours is the popular iPhone-esque Burgundy Red. It’s also available in Van Gogh Blue, Rebel Pink, Matisse Black, Gossamer White, and Neo Mondrian.
TECNO didn’t skimp on durability, either. The CAMON Slim 5G is IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust- and water-resistant, the same certifications found on flagship phones.
It also has a native Rain Touch function, and TECNO claims the screen remains responsive even when the phone is inside a waterproof case, which is particularly useful for bike and motorcycle riders.
The frame felt sturdy during a couple of light bend tests. The included hard plastic clear case also does a good job of protecting the display and rear cameras while adding barely any thickness.
There are magnets on the back for mounting accessories such as the MagBadge, a puck-like display that can be used as a viewfinder for selfies. It can also double as a cool charm for your bag thanks to its keychain mount.
Overall, we’re impressed with the TECNO CAMON Slim’s sleek build and durability.
Taking a tour around the device, we have a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 32-megapixel selfie camera housed in a punch-hole cutout. The bezels are very thin, too.
The left side has the One-Tap Button, with ridges that you can feel by touch.
On the right are the lock/power button and volume controls. The physical buttons sit flush against the flat frame and feel tactile and clicky.
The top houses the stereo speaker, IR blaster, noise-isolating microphone, and a faint Dolby Atmos logo.
At the bottom are the dual nano SIM slot, primary speaker and microphone, and USB-C port.
On the back is the vertical camera island. The 50-megapixel main shooter sits at the top, followed by the 8-megapixel ultra-wide and a flicker sensor. The dual-tone flash is on the right, along with the red indicator light.
Display and Audio
The TECNO CAMON Slim 5G features a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 2644 x 1208 pixel resolution, ~429ppi, 144Hz refresh rate, and 2160Hz PWM dimming.
Display quality has been good. We didn’t get exact figures for the peak brightness levels, but it gets bright enough for comfortable outdoor use.
It also supports HDR10 and HDR10+, although these don’t work on streaming platforms like Netflix.
The stereo speakers sound a little thin but are still good for their size. They offer ample volume, decent treble, and present but not thumping bass. With its slimness, I think it’s understandable. Apple’s iPhone Air doesn’t even have stereo speaker support.
There are also 200% and 300% volume boost modes, which do a decent job of increasing the volume, although you should expect some distortion.
Hardware and Performance
The TECNO CAMON Slim 5G is powered by a 2.5GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7300e octa-core processor, with a Mali-G610 GPU, 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage.
TECNO CAMON Slim Benchmark Scores
Like many phones today, it has a virtual RAM expansion feature that allows you to borrow 4GB/8GB/16GB of storage space.
Considering how expensive smartphones have become over the past year, day-to-day performance on the CAMON Slim 5G is actually decent. It’s not the smoothest experience, but it can handle everything you throw at it, from photo editing and video calls to web browsing and more.
Just expect occasional split-second delays when taking pictures, slight stutters when scrolling through social media, and similar minor hiccups.
Considering how thin it is, and how TECNO hasn’t detailed any cooling system on its webpage, we’re curious to see how the CAMON Slim handles gaming.
Genshin Impact was surprisingly playable, but only under the Lowest preset with the frame rate set to 60. The device didn’t overheat, either, at least with these settings.
PUBG Mobile was also smooth under HD graphics with Ultra frames, while Call of Duty Mobile ran fine under Very High graphics with Max frames. Farlight84 had no problems running, but only under Smooth graphics at 90 frames.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was seamless under HD graphics with Extreme map quality and Super frames. Asphalt Legends Unite also ran smoothly under High Quality with 60 frames.
As long as we kept the graphics settings within its limitations, the TECNO CAMON Slim provided a surprisingly good gaming experience, even with triple-A titles, despite its thinness. For its asking price, however, we definitely expect smoother gameplay.
| Game | Graphics Settings |
| Genshin Impact | • Render Resolution: Lowest • Visual Effects: Low • SFX Quality: Lowest • Frame Rate: 60 |
| PUBG Mobile | • Graphics Quality: HD • Frame Rate: Ultra |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | • Graphics Quality: Very High • Frame Rate: Max |
| Farlight84 | • Graphics Quality: Smooth • Frame Rate: 90 |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | • Resolution: HD • Map Quality: Extreme • Frame Rate: Super |
| Asphalt Legends Unite | • Visual Quality: High Quality • Frame Rate: 60 |
Software and User Interface
The TECNO CAMON Slim 5G runs Android 16-based HiOS 16. TECNO promises “5-year 3-generation Android OS updates.” From what we understand, this means it should receive three Android version upgrades (possibly not consecutively) and five years of security patches. That’s commendable, although it’s not the longest support we’ve seen.
HiOS has matured very well. It’s polished and intuitive, and most users should be able to get used to it easily. Gone are the days when going TECNO means a software experience compromise. There’s still plenty of improvements to be had to catch up with other more optimized operating systems, but it’s considerably better than previous iterations.
The One-Tap Button is set to trigger TECNO’s Ella assistant by default with a long press or FlashMemo with a long press. You can remap them to other apps or commands.
As for the Indicator Light on the back, you can customize the time of day when it lights up. It works when you’re using Ella, receiving notifications or calls, charging, using the photo timer, recording video, and using the infrared.
The phone is also well-equipped with AI features such as the Ella assistant, Call Assistant, Recording Summary, Translator, AI Writer, and AI Notes.
The Gallery can also recommend which AI tools to use for each photo. These include Auto Zoom, Bokeh, HD Enhancement, Flare Remover, Shadow Remover, Eraser, and Extender.
There’s also the AI Art Gallery, which stylizes your photos with different backgrounds, animations, and more.
Instant File Transfer via NFC with iPhones is supported, but you have to download an app called Instant Transfer on the iPhone. It also works with Infinix and Itel devices.
You can scan a QR code on the Android device, which takes you to the App Store page for Instant Transfer.
The optical fingerprint scanner, as expected, is fast and reliable, although it’s not as snappy as its ultrasonic counterpart. Face unlock also worked well, though.
MagBadge
The TECNO MagBadge is a cool accessory for the CAMON Slim, if you can get past its finicky setup. The QR code takes you to a Chinese app store, but there’s no download button for the companion app called TECNO MagBadge. It’s not available on the Google Play Store, either.
We were able to find it on the App Center preinstalled on the device.
The viewfinder is a bit weird, too. It fails to display the viewfinder about half the time. A quick fix is to switch between camera modes on the smartphone itself.
When not being used as a viewfinder, the MagBadge can display static wallpapers, videos, Daily Mood, and custom texts. You can also upload photos and videos from the smartphone to the badge.
It can also be used as a stopwatch, a timer, and a smartphone controller for swipes and taps. It has four preinstalled “games”: Time Display and Butterflies are essentially interactive wallpapers, while Kiotski and Answer Book are actual games.
If you’re curious about the specs, the TECNO MagBadge has a 1.73-inch OLED display with a 477 x 466 resolution, weighs just 29g, supports Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, and has a 450mAh battery with USB-C charging.
We tested the battery by enabling a video wallpaper and Always-On Display. After four hours, the 100% battery dropped to 73%.
The remote shutter function has a 10-meter range. It comes with a funky silicone case and a keychain if you want to hang it on your bag or fit.
The free clear case for the CAMON Slim lets you attach the MagBadge magnetically to the back of the smartphone, but you have to remove the badge’s case.
Is the TECNO MagBadge worth it? If you can get it for free with the CAMON Slim or at a significant discount, and if its hiccups are ironed out, sure. Hopefully, TECNO could send a software update to fix the random bugs we encountered.
Cameras
The TECNO CAMON Slim 5G features a 50-megapixel Sony LYTIA 700C main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS). It is joined by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 32-megapixel selfie snapper.
It has tons of playful photo modes, including AIGC Portrait, Sky Hop, and Aqua Mode (a.k.a. Underwater mode), which disables the screen and lets you control the camera using the physical buttons.
For video, the main and selfie cameras can record at 720p@30fps, 1080p@30fps/60fps, and 2K@30fps. Sadly, there’s no 4K recording. The ultra-wide can record at 720p@30fps, 1080p@30fps, and 2K@30fps.
TECNO’s AIGC is also here that uses AI to transform your photos to look like a painting by Picasso, VanGogh, GeomAbstract, Monet, Anime, and more.
You can even see a live preview in the viewfinder for each of the styles, albeit they don’t do justice to how it will look like after the shot is taken.
Daylight photos generally look pleasing. Details are very sharp, dynamic range is wide, and colors are vibrant. Perhaps even too vibrant in some scenarios.
Low-light shots are usable but nothing to brag about. Details are sharp enough, and exposure could be better, but poor white balance can ruin the overall image.
The ultra-wide photos have a similar look, but obviously with worse details due to the lower 8-megapixel sensor.
We got nice-looking selfies from the 32-megapixel front camera. Skin tones are accurate, exposure is ample, and details are sharp. Just be careful when using the AI beautification modes, as they can drastically reduce image quality.
While the camera hardware looks appealing on paper, the TECNO CAMON Slim could process photos better. It’s more than good enough for most use cases, but we hope TECNO could tune the software a bit more.
Battery and Charging
It’s impressive that the TECNO CAMON Slim manages to pack a large 6,000mAh battery into such a thin body. It’s paired with a 45W wired charger.
Battery life is decent. It’s definitely not the best for the price, but it’s good enough for a sleek smartphone with such a large battery capacity.
It lasted 14 hours and 15 minutes in PCMark’s Synthetic Battery Test and 17 hours and 25 minutes in our 1080p YouTube Video Loop Test. The bottom line is that you’ll likely be charging this device every night if you use the phone a lot throughout the day.
As for charging, the 45W charger provides a 0-27% charge in 15 minutes, with a full charge taking about 1 hour and 6 minutes. See the full charging test below:
- 15mins: 0-27%
- 30mins: 51%
- 45mins: 74%
- 1hr: 92%
- 1hr 6mins: FULL
Verdict
The TECNO CAMON Slim 5G is a compelling demonstration of just how much hardware can fit into a remarkably thin smartphone. It’s impressively slim and lightweight at just 6.39mm and 171g, respectively, yet TECNO managed to pack in a large 6,000mAh battery, 144Hz AMOLED display, capable cameras, capable processor, and IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K-rated durability.
That combination is what makes the CAMON Slim stand out. It’s not simply thin for the sake of being thin. The phone remains durable, comfortable to use, and capable enough for everyday tasks and gaming, provided you stay within its hardware limitations.
There are compromises, of course. Performance isn’t the smoothest in its class, the cameras could use better image processing, battery life is merely decent despite the large capacity, and the lack of 4K video recording is disappointing. The stereo speakers are also somewhat thin-sounding.
The MagBadge is a fun addition, but its finicky setup and inconsistent viewfinder experience make it feel more like a novelty than an essential accessory.
Still, the CAMON Slim 5G succeeds at what it sets out to do. It offers a genuinely slim and lightweight design without sacrificing the features you’d expect from a modern smartphone. If you prioritize portability, durability, and a sleek design while still wanting a large battery and capable hardware, the TECNO CAMON Slim 5G is an easy phone to consider.
TECNO CAMON Slim pricing and availability in the Philippines
The TECNO CAMON Slim 8GB/128GB has an SRP of Php24,999, while the 8GB/256GB retails for Php27,999. The base model is exclusively online, while the top-tier variant is also available in physical stores nationwide.
For a limited time, you can get it with the free TECNO MagBadge, which retails for Php5,999.
Pros
- Extremely thin, light, and durable build
- Good for day-to-day tasks, surprisingly capable for gaming
- Decent software support
- Useful AI features and customizable One-Tap Button
- Fun MagBadge accessory
Cons
- No 4K video recording
- Image processing could be better
- Occasional stutters and delays in everyday use
- Finicky MagBadge setup and viewfinder experience