Finally, I am getting to the full review of this beautiful device which I have been putting off for a while. If you missed my first impressions, they are right here. Like I said then, Tecno is definitely improving. The devices have moved from being the noisy ‘China phone’ to being devices that we can be proud of.
This particular device is Tecno’s attempt at creating a music phone and I do love the effort. The Boom J7 can be better than what it is right now and I will love to see a ‘sequel device’ to this one.
Specs
- 5-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixels, 294 pixels per inch (PPI)
- 16 GB internal memory, expandable to 32GB external
- 1 GB RAM
- 1.3 GHz quad-core processor
- Dual-SIM
- 8MP back camera, 2MP front camera
- 2020 mAh battery
- Android KitKat 4.4.2
Form
The beauty of the Tecno Boom J7 can not be overstated. Everyone wanted to have a feel. It is very slim and it feels very smooth in the hands. At 5.0 inches, it is not too large to be handled and the weight just makes it right.
The package came with replaceable back covers which fit perfectly. They also comes in different colour variants, both the device and the covers.
The UI is very smooth and quite awesome with a few bells like the weather animation, nice icons and the screen generally renders colours very well. My background was a very hi-res image and the colours were sharp so it is safe to say that you won’t have a problem with your HD videos and HDR pictures.
Function
The OS that comes with the Boom J7 is the Android KitKat 4.4.2 and that is a sort of let down considering that I was looking forward to Tecno’s first Android 5.0 device. This device comes with Over-The-Air update so it just may come to pass. Anyway, it was all good and there was no noticeable lag initially.
However, when the apps began to pull their full weight, the lag became more with heavy games due to the RAM which is 1GB. This also makes multitasking not as smooth as it should be. This phone is not a flagship so it is totally understandable.
The Boom Music Player is one of the major features of this phone and it really tried. The highlight of this app is the fact that you can instantly access several thousand songs online. The library is not the most updated out there but it does a pretty decent job. Tecno has said they will keep updating it so we can all look forward to all that.
One other feature worth noting is the gesture that comes with the phone. You can access most apps by customising the gestures that launch those apps in standby mode. For example, drawing W across the screen launches Whatsapp while M launches the music app.
The camera is pretty decent, it is not awesome but does the job quite well. The HDR needs to step up.
The battery is probably the only thing I can really say is a real let down here. Power issues are not yet over in our part of the world and for a phone that you are expected to play a lot of music on (without counting social networking, chatting and more), I expected the battery to be more than a mere 2020 mAh.
Verdict
The Tecno Boom J7 is an amazing device, considering the price point which is about US$100. We would definitely recommend this so if you are not bothered by the battery and want a great music phone, the Tecno Boom J7 is for you. In all, the phone is a departure from the Tecno that we know and we look forward to more of this and even better devices ahead.
