I’ve been using the newly launched Dual Sim Tecno Boom J8 for about two weeks now. When it comes to phones and indeed things in general, I’m big on aesthetics and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box and out came a classy white piece with a barely there shimmery gold hue and an all-round metallic strip on the sides. I’ll admit that I had warned my contact person at Tecno against sending me those black, charcoal grey things. Nothing wrong with them but I live on the girlier side of life and what’s wrong with a phone to match? 😀
I’ve heard people say that smooth finishes make phones slippery and I just don’t get that. People, at what point is any phone so slippery it slips right out of your hands and falls? Anyway, there’s a a variant of Tecno Boom J8 with a gritty sandstone finish.
The Tecno branding is at the back so from the front, the whole face is left unmarked. This gives the phone a sleek and very clean look. People have often mistaken it for an iPhone on first impression. Is that a good or bad thing? To be mistaken for another phone? Whichever way, with the Boom J8, Tecno has won big on the look and feel department.
The Tecno Boom J8 is first and foremost a music phone and it makes sense that the music features are the first things I looked for when it landed on my desk. Other than listening to music for most of the day as I work, I jog and walk a lot in the evenings and good music is certainly something that I’m interested in having on the track.
Boom Headphones
Every Tecno Boom J8 comes with boom headphones with distinctly good sound and rich bass. They’re collapsible for easy of movement. They’re resizable so they’ll fit any head and the cord is fabric coated so you can say bye to those knotty headphone cords. I mostly use the headphones at home or in the office though, so on the jogging track I would still need earphones.
The headphones, though soft and cushy, unfortunately do not envelop the whole ear but rather rest on it. I live in studs and I find that if I intend to use the headphones for a long time I have to remove the studs as the sharp end get pressed to the back of the ear and this gets painful. This is negligible though and not something I’d necessarily dislike or discredit the headphones for.
Boom Player:
This is the official music app for the Tecno Boom J8. It has features to help users discover new music by connecting them to the online store where they can download music or just stream and listen. This feature is quite comprehensive and music is filtered in genres, artists, albums, moods etc. There are charges to this and payment is via PesaPal. The Boom player does not seem to have a shuffle option and that struck me as rather strange. Why would a player not have shuffle?
Boom Max
I love this feature if only first and foremost for its dark handsome user interface! It has pre-set and recommended sound settings but you can also go to the equalizer and make your own sound. Choose what you like on the pre-sets and you can go from simulating rock and roll, soul or hip-hop to simulating a live concert at home.
Other cool features
- When the phone is on sleep, you don’t have to wake it up to access your music. Rather, you can start playing music by drawing a line straight from top to bottom. Drawing a line bottom to top will pause the music. Swipe to the right to play the next song and to the left to play the previous.
- If you want to open the boom player app, draw the letter M on the screen when the phone is on sleep and it will open.
- The phone’s inbuilt main speakers are at the bottom edge and so music does not get muffled when the phone is lying on a surface.
- There’s a cute pulsating light at the bottom of the screen and this pulsates along with the beats of the music. The light doubles up as a notification light for missed calls and messages.
Other features
Other than well thought out music features, Tecno Boom J8 also comes with an impressive array of other features as well. I’m a social media buff and I’d hate to be the girl posting grainy photos on Instagram and twitter and I love that the phone has a crystal clear 13mp back camera. I’m not big on selfies but for those who are, the 5mp front camera will give you good ones at 5mp. Still on that selfie vibe, flash the V sign at the front camera and it will snap a photo. Both cameras have flash.
With 2GB RAM, the phone will work fast and smooth even for multitaskers and with 16GB expandable to 128GB, users do not run the risk of running out of space. The screen is bright and crystal and a pleasure for general use and especially for those of us who watch series on phone once in a while.
With normal use, the battery takes me a full day of full use and I’m online on phone for way longer than I like to admit :-D. At the end of the day though it is barely holding on and once or twice I’ve had to use ultra saving mode.
The not so good
My least favourite features? The touch on the Tecno phone is a bit of a drag for me particularly because I type, read and scroll at the speed of light. I’ve found myself tapping keys impatiently and continuously, thereby making the problem worse by hanging the phone. This is the first phone I’ve come across that has this problem and I’ve actually never thought that such a thing exists. Unfortunately, as much as it fit so nicely into my life, it will run my patience to the end.
I find the screen too quick to scratch. Granted, the phone comes with a free flip cover but I abhor those. I feel they’re here to spoil the beauty of phones. I’m generally careful and have never dropped a phone or thrown it into my bag with keys, lipsticks and foundations but all the same, I like a phone that is still sturdy and can take a bit of normal day use without keeping me prisoner to fragility. In any case the free flip cover that comes with the phone injures easily too. I hope Tecno takes note and improves on those.
Tecno Boom J8 is otherwise an beautiful and good phone. It’s retailing at 16,999/- and as mentioned earlier, it comes with Boom headphones.
Here are some photos I’ve taken out and about with the phone.
Nzambani Hill in Kitui county.
Kitchen duty. Cooking healthy nini nini. On a serious note though, steaming is the healthiest and least intrusive method of cooking.
The weather in my village can be very severe sometimes. Love it!
Testing the Ford Everest at Carnivore Grounds last weekend.
Beautiful sunset. Photo taken from Impala Sports Club. Late evening jog.