The unit of the device I received came in Phantom Black, hidden in a total orange box, don’t know what concerns the K7 with orange though. The box contained the K7, and few accessories, and you can read the detailed Unboxing article here.
The Tecno K7 features a very simple but non-unique design that feels premium-ly copied from the likes of Apple iPhone 7 Plus, or the Oneplus 5 smartphone. Upfront is a 5.5-inch HD display. The left and right bezels seem very OK for a device of this range, but the upper and lower bezels looks a bit too tall, making the device, some inches higher than my older Cubot H2. Under the screen are the usual Android hardware capacitive navigation buttons. The buttons are very shiny and reflects light easily, but they aren’t backlighted. At first, we find usage at night a bit difficult, but don’t worry, with consistent usage, you’ll be used to them, and be able to locate them even without looking. To the top of the device is a front-facing 5-mega-pixel ‘selfish’ camera and it LED assistant, alongside the speaker grill, and the ambient light sensor, which look so much like a dedicated notification light, but NO! The Tecno Spark K7 is got not notification light.
On the right hand side is the power button and the volume rocker, nicely blended into the device. This buttons have great feedback. At he top of device is a lonely 3.5 mm audio jack, while the base of the device hosts a USB Type-C, (clearing my throat, excuse me) USB 2.0 port and the microphone. Nothing on the right hand side.
Turning to the back of the device, you’ll immediately notice the rear fingerprint scanner below what looks like the dual rear camera design on the Apple iPhone 7 Plus. Just that the second camera in the case of the Spark K7, is a single LED flash, seating beside the 13-megapixel main camera. This is where you’ll begin to appreciate the built quality of the K7. There’s even this antenna-like ring traveling through the top and bottom of the smartphone, giving the K7 the look of a premium metal built phone, but no, it is plastic, nothing metal. It just that, Tecno decided to choose a premium plastic material, which is a thump up for them.
The Tecno logo is just below the fingerprint scanner, and at the base, to the right, is placed the loud speaker which gets really muffled when placed on a soft object. Taking of the back cover, you’ll see the non-removable 3000 mAh battery covered in metal, a dedicated slot for microSD card upto 32GB, and of course the dual micro-SIM slots.
In all, the built quality of the Tecno Spark K7, is very OK. Sighting the device from afar or even picking it up, the first impression you’ll get won’t communicate cheap at all. In fact, the contrary is the case, although we would have appreciated more originality on the part of Tecno.
Display
The display on the Tecno Spark K7, is a 5.5-inch HD IPS display, with 1280×720 pixel resolutions, which translate into 267 pixels per a single inch (PPI). I did not have much issues viewing items through this display. Color reproduction is at par with device of similar price tag. In fact, overall indoor usage was perfectly OK. Of course you won’t see icons and text painted on the screen like premium smartphones with AMOLED panels, but what we got is worth the money.
Take the K7 outside, and you’ll immediately notice how reflective the glass panel is. Usage under direct sunlight is very possible, but get ready to be tilting the device here and there occasionally.
Adoptive brightness is also doing it job very well, although I do always leave it deactivated especially when I’m indoor, why? Because I think the ambient light sensor which controls the auto brightness is too sensitive in the case of the K7. It adjusts the brightness of the device just instantly when higher or lower light is detected. I personally think ambient sensors should be designed to observe change of brightness, then give at least 100 to 150 milliseconds before adjusting the brightness, by this, your eyeballs will be less affected, especially when the incoming brightness is not from a stable source.
In all, the display on this device is far more OK that it not, except for the extra reflective glass.
Processor, Storage and RAM
As for storage and RAM, the Tecno Spark K7 we are reviewing is hosting 1 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage. 5.3 GB of the internal storage was preoccupied by the software aspect of the phone, leaving users with about 10+ GB. RAM management was not an issue on this device as multitasking was a bit smooth than some smartphones of similar price range. In fact Tecno did a great job as to RAM management on this device. With few background apps, the RAM do get occupied up to 800 MB. You could easily multitask smoothly between 4 to 5 applications, but the initially opened applications will begin auto clearing as soon as you try opening another one. In my case, Chrome is my testing companion and, I could easily work on 3 to 4 tabs at the same time, which is good. But don’t expect buttery smooth performance though, cos processor factor is another thing.
[tie_index]Tecno Spark K7 CPU Performance[/tie_index]
Tecno Spark K7 Processor Performance
On the Processor department, well, Tecno still chose to offer the K7 with the already aged and almost outdated Mediatek MT6580. This is a 32-bit Cortex-A7 arm processor clocked at 1.3GHz. If it was back in 2013/2014, this would have been a great processor. But if it were to be then, believe me the K7 will retail above $200.
As for performance, nothing stellar; Antutu v6 and Basemark OS II, which were the only Benchmarking apps I ran, gave just 24,627 and 146 respectively, making the Tecno Spark K7 to fall behind the Infinix Hot 5.
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Tecno Spark K7 Fingerprint Scanner
I think this is one of few midrange smartphone from Tecno with fingerprint scanner; I’m not sure though. However, I must say that I’m not disappointed with the rear fingerprint scanner on this device. Setting the fingerprint scanner up was no issue at all. The scanner can record up to 5 fingers, and when this is properly done, unlocking the device won’t be much of a problem. Although, in 10 unlock trials, I do get maximum 2 or 3 failures, depending what’s on your finger (like water) and or, how well you place it.
The presence of this rear fingerprint scanner is one thing that will surly give this device a boost over it competitors. The following are few things you can do with the rear fingerprint scanner;
- Unlocking the smartphone
- Camera control
- Call control
- Online payment among few other things.
[tie_index]Tecno Spark K7 Software Review[/tie_index]
This hell of a long article…but it’s worth reading…Tecno did some good job on this device.
Thanks Bro. I tried my best not to leave my readers with too many questions.
Thanks Bro. I tried my best not to leave my readers with too many questions.
This hell of a long article…but it’s worth reading…Tecno did some good job on this device.
Fell in love with this phone too. And I’m loving everything about it. Almost perfect.
Thanks for reading sir.
Thanks for reading sir.
Fell in love with this phone too. And I’m loving everything about it. Almost perfect.
Well detailed review, nice phone BTW
Thanks Bro.
Thanks Bro.
Well detailed review, nice phone BTW
Very nice feed.. the tecno spark is an awesome device truly.
Thanks Bro… But many are complaining of the 1GB of RAM sha.
Thanks Bro… But many are complaining of the 1GB of RAM sha.
Very nice feed.. the tecno spark is an awesome device truly.
Good review…
1GB RAM is ok, as far as your are not a heavy graphic game fan and you are average user.
True. And there’s even the 2gb RAM variant of the Spark.
True. And there’s even the 2gb RAM variant of the Spark.
Good review…
1GB RAM is ok, as far as your are not a heavy graphic game fan and you are average user.
Detailed review. Shows everything about this device. One of the best budget phones and the camera is good.
I couldn’t lay my hands on the 2 GB RAM version though, but even the 1GB version is fluid enough for it price.
I couldn’t lay my hands on the 2 GB RAM version though, but even the 1GB version is fluid enough for it price.
Detailed review. Shows everything about this device. One of the best budget phones and the camera is good.
I’m impressed with this review. Took time out to read everything. Although, we might want some improvements on this phone, it means that it’s not a bad phone overall.
I’m impressed with this review. Took time out to read everything. Although, we might want some improvements on this phone, it means that it’s not a bad phone overall.
Oh! You mean one can still multitask smoothly even with the 1G RAM? Thats nice
Yes. RAM is well optimized on this phone.
that’s a wonderful information for users and would-be users. Thanks
Yes. RAM is well optimized on this phone.
that’s a wonderful information for users and would-be users. Thanks
Oh! You mean one can still multitask smoothly even with the 1G RAM? Thats nice
This is such a great review. It’s been almost a year I got my k7. It’s a really nice pocket friendly device.
I gotta ask, how to you enable camera grid lines on the K7? Pls help me out.
Thanks
Seriously, I wish I could help bro. But it above a year now, and I don’t have the K7 anymore.
Seriously, I wish I could help bro. But it above a year now, and I don’t have the K7 anymore.
This is such a great review. It’s been almost a year I got my k7. It’s a really nice pocket friendly device.
I gotta ask, how to you enable camera grid lines on the K7? Pls help me out.
Thanks