After teasing online, the TECNO Spark 9 Pro is finally here and it’s a nice addition to the Spark series. The new smartphone was launched alongside the camera-centric Camon 19 series late last month.
Here’s what you get after unboxing the TECNO Spark 9 Pro:
- the device
- 18W power brick and Type-C charging cable
- a set of earphones
- Sim ejector tool
- a plastic case
- a screen protector
Right from picking it up, you’ll notice how light and compact it is depending on how big your hands are. TECNO picked the same back design for the Spark 9 Pro as the Camon 19 series – at least for the main cameras. The Spark 9 Pro has a dual ring main camera design but the back sports a glossy top and a matte bottom.
You’ll also see the new TECNO motto – Stop At Nothing etched at the bottom too. It’s a more minimalistic logo compared to the one featured on the Spark 8P.
Our unit comes in Quantum black. Other options include Burano Blue, Holy White, and Hacker Storm.
Coming to the front is the 6.6″ 1080p display. There’s a notch at the top bezel to house the selfie camera. The top bezel also sports a LED flash that also functions as a charging notification as it lights up when the phone is plugged in.
Sadly, there’s no high refresh rate as it is capped at 60Hz. Personally, I prefer a high-resolution display with a standard refresh rate as opposed to a low-resolution screen with smooth scrolling.
At 1080p, the resolution is adequate and it’s bright enough when outdoor. So far, I’ve enjoyed consuming multimedia content – from binging shows on Netflix to lazily scrolling Twitter and Instagram.
At the bottom, the Spark 9 Pro rocks a Type-C charging port that supports 18W fast charging, headphone jack, microphone, and speaker grille.
On the left side, we have the dual nano-SIM slot with an additional slot for an external microSD card. On the right side, we have the volume rockers and power button with the fingerprint reader embedded.
For optics, we get a 50MP triple camera array that includes a 2MP depth sensor and VGA camera. Same layout as its predecessor.
TECNO upgraded its selfie camera from 8MP to a 32MP front-facing camera. You are definitely going to get really good selfies and portraits from this snapper.
Stay tuned for our full camera performance review of the TECNO Spark 9 Pro coming later this week.
Under the hood is a Helio G85 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of board storage. You also get up to 3GB of virtual RAM thanks to HiOS Memory fusion feature.
TECNO Spark 9 Pro ships with Android 12 and HiOS 8.6 straight out of the box.
The whole configuration is adequate for daily tasks and I’ll be taking the phone through its paces in the coming days – look out for our full assessment.
Powering the TECNO Spark 9 Pro is a 5000mAh battery. You’ll definitely be getting healthy battery stamina with this phone. Light users will be getting very good performance – well into the second day on a single charge.
The TECNO Spark 9 Pro will also hold up to a full day of heavy use.
To juice up, we have an 18W charger included in the box. It’s not the fastest but still welcome from the 10W charger. You’ll need to reserve an hour and 22 minutes to go from 2% to 83%.
Early Verdict
The TECNO Spark 9 Pro does what a budget phone should do. It will get you through your work or play with as little hassle. You are getting a nice screen, decent cameras, good battery life, and it is fast enough to keep up with your tasks.
Pricing and Availability
TECNO Spark 9 Pro is available at TECNO official retail stores for Ksh 20,899 and e-commerce sites like Jumia.
Its siblings, the TECNO Spark 9 and Spark 9T go for Ksh 15, 599 and Ksh 17,199 respectively.
