Before us today, we have two very decent midrange phones competing for our attention. They are the Redmi 9T vs Tecno Camon 17.
The midrange portion of the smartphone market is where most buyers look to when seeking for decent phones at affordable prices. Both phones are sold at around the same price.
The Redmi 9T and the Tecno Camon 17 both promise a lot of bang for the asking price. This has led a lot of people to wonder which phone is the better option.
If you are looking to buy a new phone and are torn between both options, do read on.
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Redmi 9T vs Tecno Camon 17
Build
Both phones are built with plastic. They both have plastic frames and plastic backs. There is no glass here. The Tecno Camon 17 is slightly heavier at 198g when compared to the Redmi 9T which weighs 197g.
SoC
The Redmi 9T has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC. It is an octa core SoC with 2 ARM Cortex A73 (2GHz) and 6 ARM Cortex A55 (1.8GHz) CPU cores. The GPU on board is an Adreno 610. The SoC has a transistor size of 11nm.
The Tecno Camon 17 runs with a MediaTek Helio G85. This is an octa core SoC with 2 ARM Cortex A75 (2GHz) and 6 ARM Cortex A55 (1.8GHz) CPU cores. The GPU on board is a Mali G52. The transistors on this SoC are 12nm in size.
Software
The Redmi 9T ships with MIUI 12 running on Android 10. The Redmi 9T is upgradeable to Android 11 and would get up to two years of software updates.
The Tecno Camon 17 ships with HiOS 7.6 on top of Android 11. It is the more modern phone but Tecno’s track record with software support is below par.
Performance
In terms of how the phone would perform with apps, speed and carrying out tasks, the Tecno Camon 17 would outperform the Redmi 9T but would consume more battery as well. The Tecno Camon 17 has an Antutu benchmark version 8 score of 203,000 compared to the 175488 scored by the Redmi 9T.
That being said, the Redmi 9T would handle games and other graphical applications better. Why is that? Well the Redmi 9T has the better GPU and since it uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, games and apps (like GCam) are optimized for it.
Memory
The Redmi 9T uses the newer and faster UFS 2.1 while the Tecno Camon 17 uses the older and slower eMMC 5.1. The difference in speed can be seen transferring files across folders or copying to/from a laptop.
Both phones offer that same storage options of 4/64GB and 6/128GB, but the Redmi 9T has the extra option of 4/128GB.
Camera
This is one area on phones that is very important to a lot of people, the cameras. Lots of people rely on their smartphone camera not just for photo and video, but for work, meetings and other activities.
The Redmi 9T has a quad (4) camera set-up. The first is the main camera (wide) which is a 48MP Samsung GM1 sensor. The second one is an 8MP Omnivision Ultrawide camera. The third is a 2MP Macro camera and the fourth is a 2MP depth sensor.
The Tecno on the other hand only has triple (3) camera set-up. The first is a 48MP (wide) camera. The second is a 2MP depth sensor and the third one is either a black and white or a QVGA sensor or purely just for aesthetic. All of the cameras on the Tecno are generic (the maker is unknown).
The Redmi 9T has the better cameras hands down. The Samsung GM1 sensor is tried, tested and very capable of delivering excellent shots.
Both phones record video of Full High Definition (FHD) or 1080p @ 30 frames per second (fps).
At the front, the Redmi 9T has an 8MP selfie, while the Tecno Camon 17 has a 16MP selfie. The Tecno Camon 17 has the better selfie camera and would produce better photos. Both phones record selfie video of 1080p @ 30fps.
Display
Both devices use an IPS LCD display. The Tecno Camon 17 has the larger 6.8” screen with a resolution of 720p (HD+) and a pixel density of 266 ppi. The Camon 17 also has a 90Hz refresh rate with brightness rating of 450 nits.
The Redmi 9T has the smaller 6.5” screen with a resolution of 1080p (FHD+) and a pixel density of 395 ppi. The screen has a standard 60Hz refresh rate, 450 nits brightness and Gorilla Glass 3 for screen protection.
The Redmi 9T has the better display options overall. The only area it falls short is the slower refresh rate which it posseses.
Battery
The Tecno Camon 17 has a Li-polymer 5,000mAh battery and supports 18W fast charge.
The Redmi 9T also has a Li-polymer battery but it is bigger at 6,000mAh. It supports 18W fast charge as well. The Redmi 9T takes this one.
Sensors
Both phones have finger print sensors for security. They also both have GPS, proximity sensors, accelerometers and a compass. They both do not have gyroscopes. That is where the similarities end.
The Redmi 9T has an infrared blaster and NFC. Both of which the Camon 17 lacks.
Connectivity
The Redmi 9T has network bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40 and 41 for 4G LTE. Due to the modem on its SoC, it has upload speeds of 102Mbps and download speeds of 603Mbps.
The Camon 17 only has 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 38, 40 and 41. It has 75Mbps upload speeds and 301Mbps download speeds.
Both phones have dual 4G nano SIM slots and support Bluetooth 5 as well as Wifi 5.
Prices
The Tecno Camon 17 (4/128GB) sells for
₦76,000 on Pointek while the Redmi 9T (4/128GB) sells for ₦76,800 on Xiaomi’s official Jumia store.
Verdict
- Performance: Tecno Camon 17
- Memory: Redmi 9T
- Camera: Redmi 9T
- Display: Redmi 9
- Battery: Redmi 9T
- Sensors: Redmi 9T
- Connectivity: Redmi 9T
Final say
Both phones are very decent for the price. If you are looking for pure processor performance whilst ignoring other things, then you should go with the Tecno Camon 17. If you want the whole package and can ignore a slight performance dip, then the Redmi 9T will give you everything you want at this price point.
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