There is no doubting the value of companion animals, either during our evolutionary history, when dogs especially helped with hunting and guarding, or in recent times, when eroding social connections meant people leaned on animals for the emotional bond they previously got from humans. But the carbon pawprint of pets was unduly heavy.

By the 2020s, there were more than a billion dogs in the world, causing untold ecological damage. Cats and…

I remember the days when a gaming laptop, or any laptop really, couldn’t hold up against the power and performance of even a low-grade desktop PC. Not that I’m saying I’m older — I’m middle-aged — but there was definitely a time when laptops were not what you wanted to use for gaming unless you absolutely had to. That’s no longer the case. Today, there are some incredibly powerful laptops that free you to play from just about anywhere, and that’s not even including modern PC handhelds. A great example of this is the Gigabyte G6X 9KG gaming laptop which has a GeForce RTX 4060 and supports full ray tracing and Nvidia DLSS. It has enough power to run Black Myth: Wokung without issues and allow me to reiterate, that’s possible on a laptop. Pretty impressive.

The best part, however, is that it won’t drain your money. The Gigabyte G6X 9KG gaming laptop is only $1,300, but it also offers 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Better yet, it has user-upgradeable options, as well, so it’s flexible and customizable. Today’s your lucky day. You have the chance to win this beast directly from Gigabyte. To enter, all you have to do is follow the tasks provided. To do that, or if you want to learn more about this particular Gigabyte gaming laptop, head below.

Learn more about the Gigabyte 16-inch G6X 9KG gaming laptop

I don’t know about you, but I prefer to see the full specs of a laptop in an easily digestible format. Bullet-list time!

Gigabyte G6X 9KG gaming laptop by the numbers:

• Display: 16-inch WUXGA full-HD (1920 by 1080) at 165Hz
• Screen Ratio: 16:10
• CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13650HX 14-core processor at 4.9GHz
• RAM: 32GB of DDR5 at 4800mHz
• Storage: 1TB Gen4 M.2 solid-state drive
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
• Connectivity: Intel WiFi 6E, Bluetooth v5.2

Additional Features:

• 4-sided slim bezels with 90% screen-to-bezel ratio
• Dolby Atmos audio technology
• Built-in microphone for calls and streaming
• Two 2-watt speakers with immersive audio
• USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C with Power Delivery support
• Fully backlit keyboard

Understandably, you might want to learn a little more about the gaming laptop featured here, or maybe you want to pour over the details yourself. Whatever the case, you know what to do.

Learn More

Enter to win the Gigabyte gaming laptop

Gigabyte 16″ Gaming Laptop Giveaway

In addition to announcing its new book-style foldable, the TECNO Phantom V Fold 2, the company also announced its second-gen flip phone. The of that device is the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2, and I’m here to review it. I’ve had some time with the phone at this point, over two weeks, and do think I have a good grasp of what it has to offer. If you’re interested in learning more about this rather affordable flip phone, well, read on.

In my TECNO Phantom V Fold 2 review, I talked about how much of an improvement that phone is over the first-gen model. The jump is monumental. Well, something similar can be said for the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2, actually, even though the effect is not as big as it was with the book-style foldable. With that being said, let’s see what this flip phone has to offer, shall we?

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Hardware / Design

The TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 comes in two color options, and it’s made out of metal and glass. The model I got to use is referred to as ‘Moondust Gray’, which is essentially a gray smartphone. The other model is ‘Travertine Green’. TECNO used aluminum for the frame here, and the phone feels very sturdy, and very well-built. I had high expectations in that regard following my use of the TECNO Phantom V Fold 2, but this phone delivered. Its backplate has a matte finish, and even though it’s slippery, it’s not as slippery as some other backplates are.

This phone does seem to be wider than it actually is when it’s folded. That’s the case with basically every flip phone, actually. It’s 73.4mm wide, which is not wide at all. The impression quickly changes when you unfold it, however. It’s quite tall at 170.75mm when unfolded, so it ends up being tall and narrow. Once again, that’s something many flip phone users already know. This phone has a large 6.9-inch display, so that explains things. It does feel really nice in the hand in both folded and unfolded setups as it’s not too heavy at 196 grams.

The folding mechanism does offer quite a bit of resistance

The folding mechanism is good. It does offer more resistance than some other flip phones I’ve used when you’re opening it, but that’s just a preference thing. It feels perfectly fine to open and close. There is a satisfying click in place when it fully opens or fully closes, as there should be. The hinge has been rated for hundreds of thousands of folds, so you’re fine in that regard. Unfortunately, though, the phone is not IP-rated at all, so don’t get it wet or anything like that. We didn’t really test if it will die if we do that, but it’s definitely not recommended without an IP rating.

All the physical buttons sit on the right-hand side of the device. There is the power/lock button, which doubles as a fingerprint scanner. On top of that, you’ll also notice the volume up and down buttons there. The power key does protrude less than the other two buttons, but all of them are clicky enough. The volume buttons do offer more of a click, of course. And yes, that fingerprint scanner does work perfectly fine and can scan your finger the moment you place it on the button, you don’t have to push it.

Two cameras are placed on the back and cut into the display

There are two cameras situated on the back of the phone, on the cover display. TECNO decided to let them cut into the display itself, as did Motorola and some other companies. It did not go the Galaxy Z Flip 6 route. Those cameras do protrude on the back, though each of them is its own camera island. An LED flash sits below them, and they’re vertically-aligned in the top-left corner.

Overall, I don’t really have major complaints when it comes to the build of the device. It’s perfectly fine in that regard, even though it would be nice to have an IP rating. TECNO needed to make some cuts in order to reach the desired price tag, though, so… that one is understandable.

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Display

The TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 has two displays, of course. This is a flip phone after all. This model has a much larger cover display than the original. Let’s start with the main display, though. The main panel measures 6.9 inches, and it’s a fullHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This panel does support a 2,160Hz high-frequency PWM dimming. The cover display measures 3.64 inches, has a resolution of 1056 x 1066, and it’s also an AMOLED panel. This panel goes around the cameras on the back this time around. Needless to say, due to its sheer size it’s far more useful than the panel on the predecessor. TECNO also allows you to do quite a bit of work on that panel, but we’ll talk more about that soon, let’s focus on the main display first.

Both displays are vivid and have good viewing angles

The main panel does get bright enough, though it’s not as bright as some of the competition in direct sunlight. Still, I never wished for it to be brighter, which is a good indicator. The touch response is good, and the panel is quite vivid and more than sharp enough. The viewing angles are not a problem either. This panel also didn’t feel plasticky at all, which is always a good sign. The crease is there, but it’s not as noticeable as you’d think it is considering the price tag of the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2. You can feel it with your finger, though, easily. You won’t notice it when you look at the screen straight on, and due to the fact how tall the screen is, I rarely felt it under my finger.

The cover display is quite spacious too

What about the cover display? Well, that panel is also more than bright enough, and it’s also quite responsive. There’s glass covering it, and other than the cameras being annoyingly inside the panel, technically, it was a joy to use. You can rotate the phone any way you like in order for those cameras to be on the left or right side of the screen, it’s up to you. TECNO basically separated the space above/below the cameras. It’s still usable, but not as part of the main display layout, if that makes sense. For example, a small notification card pops up there when you get a call, message, or something of the sort. It’s sort of a notification area.

Yes, you can use any app on the outer display

The number one question I usually get when it comes to cover displays is… can I use any app on it? Well, yes, kind of. You can enable any app to appear there, from the UI, though you do get a message some apps may not work or have a funky layout. Considering that each app has to be enabled on its own, it’s possible that you cannot use just about any app. I was able to, however, every app I wanted to use there, I was able to. That’s how every cover screen should work, by the way. I also didn’t experience odd UI problems or anything like that. TECNO’s implementation is not bad at all.

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Performance

Much like its ‘Fold’ sibling, the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 is using one of MediaTek’s chips. It is not using the same one as the Fold, however. This smartphone is fueled by the MediaTek Dimensity 8020 processor, which is the company’s mid-tier chip. This is a 6nm chip, in case you’re wondering. The company paired it with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 flash storage. You are not getting the option to expand the internal storage here, by the way. Those are not bad specs, but they’re also not flagship-grade, not at all. Is the performance any good, though? Well, read on…

The performance was good, but don’t expect flagship-level experience here

The performance was… well, quite good. Everything was mostly smooth without major hiccups or anything of the sort. I did notice some hiccups after I restarted the phone (every time), for a minute or two, but after that, everything ran fine… with ocassional hiccups. I don’t have considerable lag to report, none whatsoever, even if you’re really aggressively jumping between apps, etc. You can get it to slow down a bit, as with basically any phone, but you really have to hammer it hard in order for that to happen. There is a hiccup here and there, a skipped frame, but very rarely. The phone’s performance overall is really good.

If you’re wondering about gaming, well, you can play games on this phone, without a problem. If we’re talking about casual games, that are not too graphically demanding, the phone does it without a hitch. You can also run truly demanding games but do note that you’ll need to lower the details in order to get better performance out of those. I never felt like the phone was too hot to hold, or that the heat affected the performance, though it does get rather warm when you’re running more demanding 3D games.

If you’re a gamer, look elsewhere

The bottom line is, I wouldn’t get this phone if you’re into gaming. It can run games, but it’s just not meant to do that exactly unless we’re talking about casual games. I don’t know, I always find it weird to play anything in landscape on flip phones. In any case, the phone’s performance overall is really good. It’s not up to par with flagship smartphones, and it’s not supposed to be. This is not a powerhouse phone, but it’s one that offers really good performance that will satisfy the vast majority of people without a problem.

Benchmarks

We’ve also run some benchmarks on the device, as we usually do. Below, you’ll find results from Geekbench 6, both CPU and GPU results. On top of that, we’ve also tested the phone via 3D Mark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress tests which is supposed to put strain on the phone by emulating intense usage of the device.

Geekbench 6

GRAPH

3D Mark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test

Video export test

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Battery

TECNO did include a considerably larger battery this time around. The company went with a 4,720mAh unit. The previous model included a 4,000mAh battery. That’s a huge improvement right there, then again this model does have a much larger cover display. The charging has also been improved, but we’ll talk about that a bit later on. So, is the battery life good enough to last you throughout the day? Well, yes, at least it was for us. In fact, it managed to get me through the day easily, I was not even close to needing a charger. Do note that I did use both displays and didn’t unfold the phone for every little thing. This was a combined usage, though I did use the main display more, like 70% of the time, maybe.

The battery life was really good

I don’t usually use my phone that much during the day, but on several days I really pushed it to see how good it’ll do, and it managed to cross the 7-hour screen-on-time mark with somewhere between 10 and 25% of battery left, depending on the day. I did use the camera quite a bit on those days, and the same goes for TikTok and YouTube. So, even if you’re a power user, this phone can keep a charge quite well.

I did notice that gaming does deplete the battery faster than anything else, but that is to be expected. This is not a gaming phone, and even if it is, games have that effect on battery life. Overall, the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 offers really good battery life. It’s easily one of the best in that regard when it comes to flip phones. You can check out some battery stats below.

This thing can charge in about 45 minutes, more or less

TECNO also boosted the charging speed on its ‘Flip’ series. This smartphone supports 70W wired charging, Wireless charging is not included, and the same goes for reverse wired or wireless charging. This wired charging, however, can get you to 50% in only 15 minutes. A full charge takes around 45 minutes according to the company. It took us 47 minutes to get there, though, but still… it’s more than fast enough overall. TECNO also includes a charger in the retail box, so no worries there.

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Camera

The TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 has two cameras on the back, and one on the foldable display. The thing is, if you need to take a selfie, chances are you’ll want to use the main cameras. You have a nice size of the cover display to help you. The inner camera should only be used for video calls, realistically. The rear cameras are so much better in every way. With that being said, let’s talk details. On the back, TECNO included a 50-megapixel main camera. The company used a 1/1.57-inch camera sensor here. OIS is supported, and the same goes for PDAF. The other camera is a 50-megapixel ultrawide unit with a 114-degree FoV. On the front, you’ll find a 32-megapixel snapper with a 1/2.8-inch sensor, 0.8um pixel size, and an f/2.5 aperture lens.

The main camera managed to surprise me, it’s actually really good

The main camera performance actually managed to surprise me, in a good way. The same goes for the ultrawide snapper. I was expecting a lot less in the photography department, but both of those cameras did a nice job, actually. Both the main and ultrawide cameras managed to provide sharp and detailed images that are also vivid at the same time. Even when it comes to HDR performance, they did not do a bad job. What surprised me is that the main camera did a wonderful job with portraits. Not the best out there, but a lot better than I had hoped. The dynamic range was good in images, and so was the white balance.

Low light perfromance is not the best

No, not everything is great, unfortunately. Both the main and ultrawide cameras do show a visible drop-off in quality in low light. The main camera does a good job overall, though street light flares can mess up images. The ultrawide camera on the other hand, well, street flares are an issue, but images also end up looking a bit greener than they should in such conditions. Also, the details do take a visible hit compared to the main camera in low light conditions. If you plan to shoot in such conditions, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you use the main camera.

You should use main cameras for selfies

The selfie camera is also not great, in general. That’s not as important, however, as you do have the phone’s main cameras for taking selfies and even video calls if you want. You really don’t have to use the selfie camera at all. Videos are not the best. They perform okay in good lighting, but when you shoot in low light things deteriorate. There’s also considerable stutter when jumping between two views (main and ultrawide cameras). You do get plenty of options in the camera UI, though, the UI itself is not half-bad. All in all, this phone has an okay main camera, and most people will likely be happy with the images it can provide. That’s about it, though, it’s not exactly versatile in the camera department, and that’s perfectly fine.

Main camera samples:

Ultrawide camera samples:

2x digital zoom camera samples:

Recording temperature (5 & 10 minutes):

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Software

I praised TECNO’s software quite a bit in my TECNO Phantom V Fold 2 review. Well, this is basically the same software, but without some Fold-specific foldable features. It’s really, really good. TECNO managed to trump quite a few smartphone OEMs in the software department. Not only does it look clean, but it’s very smooth, with great animations, and you can easily remove the excess bloat that comes with the phone. There is also plenty of customization baked into HiOS 14.5.

You can customize this phone through and through

This phone allows you to change the swipe-down home screen gesture without a problem. It allows you to customize the icons, while you can also remove items from the status bar if you want. That’s not something just about any OEM offers, and it’s nice to see. You can grab different themes from the Internet, while an AI wallpaper generator is included in the package too. It can switch wallpapers for you. TECNO even threw in some fun live wallpapers, which are kind of interactive. On the cover screen, you can choose between a variety of pets that appear and have different movements based on your swipes and taps. They even become interactive when you receive a message.

You can also customize the fonts, and color theme, plus there are additional settings for the home screen itself. Options like changing the grid layout, changing animations, utilizing different gestures, hiding apps from the app drawer, and so on. On top of all that, the phone’s always-on display feature is not half bad either. It’s very simplistic. You can choose the accent colors for it, and also choose what items actually appear on the screen. It’s mostly black to save battery, and it’s a really nice way of knowing what’s the notification status, what’s the time, and so on.

The animations are quite good, and the UI is responsive

The entire UI offers great performance, actually. The animations are not too slow at all, they’re just right. It’s very responsive, and modern looking. Different UI elements are well-balanced, so nothing pops out as if it doesn’t belong. That’s a mistake a number of other companies made. I didn’t think I’d like HiOS as much as I did, but there you go. There’s a lot to unpack on the software front here, but I just wanted to give you an idea as to what to expect. And yes, multi-window is supported, and it works well. You even get access to the side tray with apps that you can access from the vertical line on the display… no matter where you’re currently located. From there you can launch apps in small windows, or fire up multi-window. HiOS is a lot better than you’d expect, it’s definitely worth trying out.

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Audio

As you’d expect out of basically any mid-range or high-end smartphone these days, stereo speakers are included here. The main speaker is bottom-firing, while the secondary one is front-firing, as it’s located in the earpiece. Are the speakers any good? Well, let’s just say that most people will be happy with their performance, even though they’re not exactly the best speakers we’ve seen, not even close.

The speakers are not exactly loud, but they’re loud enough. It’s a nice balance I’d say. The sound quality coming from them is good, but nothing to write home about. I wish the vocals were a bit more pronounced, and the low-end is not the best, but only if I’m nitpicking. The point is, the output is more than good enough, and the vast majority of people won’t really find much to complain about here.

TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 Review: Should you buy it?

So… is the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 worth it? Well, it all depends on what you’re looking for, and what’s the price of competing products in your region. The TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 has a rather limited availability, but if it’s available in your region, you should consider it. It’s a solid phone, there a no glaring problems with it at all.

TECNO really did manage to pack a lot of power and features here, having the price in mind. Its screens are good, the software is great, the main camera is okay, and so on. As I said, no glaring problems at all, it’s a solid phone. This thing costs the equivalent of $699, though its price tag does vary from one market to the next. I do believe the TECNO Phantom V Fold 2 is a better value, but you should not overlook the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2, it’s worth taking into consideration.

You should buy the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 if you:

…want a flip phone but are on a budget
…mainly shoot with the main camera
…appreciate well-executed software
…love to customize your software experience
…plan on using the cover display a lot

You shouldn’t buy the TECNO Phantom V Flip 2 if you:

…want your phone to be water and dust resistant
…need the best camera on a flip phone
…have the need for wireless charging