TECNO POVA Curve 2 5G Review

These days, it’s not hard to find a smartphone with a large battery or a high refresh rate display. Finding one that offers both while staying slim and comfortable to hold is a bit more challenging.

That’s where the TECNO POVA Curve 2 5G comes in.

It combines a large battery, a curved 144Hz AMOLED display, and a handful of AI features into a package that doesn’t feel overly bulky in the hand. On paper, it sounds like a compelling combination.

The question is whether that translates into a good everyday experience. Let’s find out how the POVA Curve 2 5G holds.

Design and Construction

Starting with the design, the POVA Curve 2 immediately makes an impression thanks to its slim profile. Despite packing an enormous 8000mAh battery, the device measures just 7.42mm thin.

In hand, the phone feels comfortable to hold. The curved edges help distribute the weight nicely and make it feel less bulky than you would expect from a device carrying this much battery capacity.

The rear panel uses a matte plastic finish that does a decent job resisting fingerprints and smudges. It feels pleasant enough in everyday use and doesn’t come across as overly cheap.

That said, I’m not completely sold on TECNO’s design language here. The futuristic aesthetic feels a little forced and artificial at times, especially the sticker-like design over here on the bottom part.

Some people may enjoy the look but personally, I would’ve preferred something like the first POVA Curve design. But I digress.

Durability is respectable as well. The device comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protecting the display and carries an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance.

For buttons and ports, the power button and volume rocker sit on the right side. The bottom houses the USB-C port, SIM tray and loudspeaker.

TECNO also includes a 45W charging brick and a protective case in the box which are always nice to see nowadays.

Display, Multimedia, and Biometrics

Flipping the phone over, you’re greeted by a 6.78-inch curved AMOLED display with a refresh rate of up to 144Hz.

This is easily one of the strongest parts of the device.

The display looks vibrant without going overboard. Colors appear natural, which makes photos, videos and social media content look pleasing in general.

The 144Hz refresh rate helps make navigation feel smooth and responsive. Whether you’re scrolling through social media, browsing websites or simply moving around the interface, the phone feels fluid.

Brightness is another highlight. With up to 4500 nits peak brightness and 1600 nits HBM brightness, visibility outdoors is excellent. Even under direct sunlight, I rarely found myself struggling to see what was on screen.

The curved edges also contribute to a more immersive viewing experience, especially when watching videos.

For media consumption, the display is backed by Widevine L1 support, allowing Full HD streaming on supported platforms like Netflix.

Audio, however, isn’t quite as impressive.

Despite TECNO listing Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio support, the POVA Curve 2 only uses a single downward-firing speaker. Volume is acceptable but I often found myself pushing it close to maximum.

Vocals and mids come through clearly enough, but there’s very little bass presence. The bigger issue is that the speaker can easily become muffled while gaming since your hand naturally covers it in landscape orientation.

For biometrics, the phone uses an under-display fingerprint scanner. It’s fast, reliable and consistently unlocks the device without much trouble. There’s also face unlock available if you prefer a quicker method of getting into the phone.

Cameras

In the camera department, the POVA Curve 2 features a 50-megapixel main camera accompanied by a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Up front, there’s a 13-megapixel selfie camera.

The camera system is surprisingly decent for everyday use.

Its biggest strength is the bright f/1.7 aperture which naturally creates pleasant background blur when shooting close-up subjects. Unlike some phones that rely heavily on software effects, the blur here can look quite natural under the right conditions.

Autofocus is reasonably reliable as well. It can capture finer details like textures and small objects without much trouble.

When using the 2x zoom mode, the phone crops in effectively and does a decent job isolating subjects without making images fall apart completely.

Outdoors is where the camera performs best.

Colors look natural and realistic while image processing isn’t overly aggressive. The photos aren’t the most detailed in the segment but they’re certainly good enough for social media and everyday photography.

Indoors is where the limitations start becoming more obvious.

Under weaker lighting conditions, the camera needs to push ISO levels higher to maintain brightness. While this helps keep subjects visible, images lose some sharpness and start looking softer compared to daylight shots.

Since TECNO markets this as an AI camera system, the phone applies a noticeable amount of processing after taking photos. Sometimes the results work in its favor, but there are moments when the software can feel a bit too aggressive.

For selfies, the 13-megapixel front camera produces usable results with decent detail and acceptable skin tones.

TECNO POVA Curve 2 5G sample photos

Tuesday, Jun 2

Moving on to video recording, both the rear and front cameras support up to 2K recording at 30fps.

Video quality is respectable for casual content creation and social media uploads. If you want additional stabilization, there’s an Ultra Steady mode available, though it reduces the resolution to 1080p at 30fps.

Sample rear video:

Sample rear video (ultra steady mode):

Sample front video:

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the TECNO POVA Curve 2 is the MediaTek Dimensity 7100 5G paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

For daily use, the experience is definitely smooth. Apps launch quickly, multitasking feels responsive and navigating around the system rarely presents any issues.

The benchmark results are quite respectable for this segment.

The POVA Curve 2 demonstrates a good balance between performance and efficiency. It scores over 800,000 points in AnTuTu and has decent PCMark numbers.

When it comes to gaming, it delivers a fairly capable experience for its price range.

In MOBA games like Mobile Legends and Pokémon Unite, the phone handles the game very well. Gameplay feels smooth, controls are responsive and I didn’t encounter any noticeable lag during matches. Team fights, skill effects and larger battles remain stable, making it an enjoyable experience whether you’re playing casually or climbing the ranks.

The same can be said for Mortal Kombat as well as shooter games like Call of Duty Mobile. These game run smoothly and animations play without any obvious stuttering. Character movements feel fluid, inputs register properly and the overall experience is consistent throughout longer play sessions.

For heavier games, however, the experience becomes a bit more mixed.

Wuthering Waves launches with the Balanced preset by default but even at those settings, the game can feel somewhat laggy in certain areas. Enabling Game Space’s Performance Mode helps a little, but the improvement isn’t particularly dramatic. Frame drops can still occur while exploring larger environments or during combat encounters with multiple effects happening on screen at once.

Interestingly, lowering the graphics settings doesn’t result in a massive performance jump either. The game becomes slightly smoother, but the difference isn’t as significant as you might expect. Despite that, Wuthering Waves remains playable and players who don’t mind occasional frame drops can still enjoy the experience.

One thing I immediately noticed is heat buildup. The phone starts warming up fairly quickly when playing Wuthering Waves particularly around the upper portion of the device. It never became too hot to hold during my testing, but the increase in temperature is definitely noticeable after extended sessions.

OS, UI, and Apps

On the software side, the phone runs HiOS 16 based on Android 16.

The interface feels familiar and easy to navigate and animations generally remain smooth throughout daily use.

Unlike some devices that arrive packed with unnecessary third-party applications, most of the extra software here comes directly from TECNO itself.

Apps such as Game Space, Ella and TECNO Spot come pre-installed. Whether these are useful or unnecessary depends largely on your personal preferences.

TECNO has also placed a strong focus on AI features.

The phone includes Ella AI, Circle to Search, AI Writing, AI Subtitles, AI Gallery and a Translation Assistant.

Circle to Search remains one of the most practical additions since it allows you to quickly search anything on your screen without switching apps.

The AI Writing tools can assist with generating and rewriting text, while AI Gallery offers various image-related enhancements and editing options.

It’s a feature-rich software experience that offers plenty to explore, especially if you’re interested in AI-powered tools.

Connectivity and Battery Life

Connectivity is well-covered here. The POVA Curve 2 supports dual SIM with 5G and 5G-A connectivity along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, USB-C and NFC.

Sadly, no eSIM support here but using mobile data on this phone seems more reliable. It does get better internet connection through mobile data in our office where the signal reception sucks. So, that’s something.

Battery life is for sure one of the phone’s biggest highlights.

Packing an 8000mAh battery inside a 7.42mm body is already impressive on paper but the real-world results are equally impressive. The device comfortably lasted me an entire day of use with room to spare.

In our benchmarks, it achieved an excellent 19 hours and 35 minutes in PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Life test.

Charging is handled by a 45W fast charger and takes roughly an hour to fully replenish the battery.

TECNO also includes bypass charging support, allowing the phone to draw power directly from the charger during gaming to help reduce heat and battery wear.

There’s reverse wired charging as well, letting the phone act as a power bank for other devices when needed.

Conclusion

Now, for the big question: how much is the TECNO POVA Curve 2 5G?

It retails for PHP 16,499 (8GB+256GB) and for the price, it offers a compelling package for users who prioritize battery life, multimedia consumption and everyday usability.

The massive 8000mAh battery is easily one of the biggest selling points here. Pair that with a bright 144Hz Curved AMOLED display, reliable performance for daily tasks, decent cameras and useful features like bypass charging and NFC, and you get a device that feels well-rounded for the price.

At the same time, it isn’t perfect. The single speaker setup feels out of place on a phone that otherwise emphasizes media consumption. The gaming experience in heavier titles also reveals the limits of the chipset and the current futuristic design may not appeal to everyone.

Still, if you’re looking for a smartphone that can comfortably last all day, offers a beautiful display and handles most daily tasks without breaking a sweat, the TECNO POVA Curve 2 5G is easy to recommend.

It’s not the gaming powerhouse the POVA branding might suggest but, as an endurance-focused daily driver with a great display, it makes a strong case for itself in the midrange segment.

What we like:

• Excellent battery life
• Bright and smooth 144Hz AMOLED display
• Useful AI features

What we didn’t like:

• Single speaker setup
• AI processing can sometimes make photos look overly processed
• Design feels like a sticker

TECNO POVA Curve 2 5G specs
6.78-inch curved AMOLED display @ 2364×1080 pixels
144Hz refresh rate, 4500 nits peak brightness, 1600 nits HBM brightness
Corning Gorilla Glass 7i
MediaTek Dimensity 7100 5G chipset
Arm Mali-G610 MC2 GPU
8GB, 12GB RAM
128GB, 256GB storage
50MP main camera
2MP secondary camera
13MP front-facing camera
Dual SIM, 5G / 5G-A
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 5.4
GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
NFC
Infrared remote control
USB Type-C
HiOS 16 (Android 16)
8,000mAh battery, 45W fast charging
Mystic Purple, Melting Silver, Storm Titanium
162.7mm x 77.2mm x 7.42mm