The Tecno Boom J8 is officially out and the launch which was held at Garden City Mall Tecno Store was awesome. By now you already know that the Tecno Boom J8 comes with free Headphones, the Boom Headphones. The handset packs in an impressive 5.5-inch with an HD resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. So this is the Tecno Boom J8 Unboxing video, the review part comes after the video.
Looks and Feel
With a metallic frame that stands out as you touch it for the very first time, the Tecno Boom J8 seems to be a phone that is very durable. For some reason the first person I showed this phone said it looked like an iPhone. I continue to hear the same thing from some friends but what stands out is that with a smaller frame, the Tecno Boom J8 has a larger screen area than the iPhone 6Plus which has a bigger frame.
Like the Tecno Phantom 5 and a few other smartphones, the logo has disappeared from the front top to the back cover. I don’t know why but it makes the phone look cool and high end. Speaking of the Back cover, it has a sand stone texture that is non slip. Even with sweaty hands, the phone stays right on your palm.
Boom Player and Boom App
Since the Tecno Boom J8 is a Music Phone, it makes sense to talk about the music features in depth. The hardware consists of clear speakers with openings on the metallic frame at the bottom and the Boom Headphones themselves which come free with every purchase of the Tecno Boom J8.
The speakers are definitely much better than an average phone and have more bass and treble. The Boom Headphones produce much better bass than ordinary earphones and even have an inbuilt microphone.
The Boom Headphones are the type of headphones that rest on the ear. The headphones are collapsible meaning they can fit in tight spaces for mobility. The padding on the ears is soft and locks in music to your years, there is very little music that leaks out unlike other headphones.
Boom Player
Boom Player 2.0 is the official music app on the Tecno Boom J8 and it has some interesting features in it. The discovery tab at the top connects you to an online music store where you can stream for music as well as download. You need an account though and the payment is via PesaPal. I didn’t like that the store has a lot of Nigerian as compared to Kenyan music, but that is something that can be changed in the future.
Boom Maxx
Boom Maxx is the official Music Equalizer on the Tecno Boom J8. Its strange to have an equalizer as a different app from the music app but it really has some more sound settings than an ordinary music app. A part from the recommended sound settings that you can see on the featured image, this is what you get when you try to add custom settings.
When you swipe left from the home screen you will open a graphical representation of the Music Playing on sort of an LP rotating with the cover photo rotating in the middle. If you watched the video above you would see what I exactly mean.
Pulsating Light and Gesture Controls
The Pulsating light at the bottom of the screen lights up to match the beat of the music. The same light is also used as a notification light for messages, missed calls and charging.
With the Tecno Boom J8 you can play music from the blank screen using these gesture moves.
- Play music by drawing a line from top to bottom.
- Do the opposite and the music will pause
- Play Next Music by drawing line from left to right
- Do the opposite and the previous track will start playing
- Draw an M for the Boom Player Music App to open
Operating System and Processor
A 64-bit Quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A53 Mediatek processor powers the Tecno Boom J8.
I had announced that the Tecno Boom J8 will come with the HiOS operating system based on Android Lollipop 5.1. Well that’s true and believe me the HiOS will need another whole article just to fully explain it. But here are the highlights:-
Update:- A Review of Tecno HiOS
- Quick accelerate app that clears memory for an even faster phone
- Mobile cleanup that deletes unusable system logs that just use the storage
- Calls do not block your screen and
- Better looking app icons
RAM And Storage
The Tecno Boom J8 surprisingly comes with 2GB RAM which does justice to this phone. The storage space is the same we are used to, 16GB of which 9GB is left for the user. But don’t worry since this is expandable to 128GB.
Camera
I took this photo using the Tecno Boom J8 and I admit it is pretty good. The main camera is 13MP and the Front camera is also very generous with 5MP. Both cameras have Flash and the Front Camera can be triggered with the 2 finger gesture for great selfies. The camera app does not have a settings tab for setting the quality and size of the picture, so the photos shot on the main camera are pretty huge.
Network, Technology And Battery
Network: GSM/WCDMA/LTE (4G)
Band: GSM:900/1800
WCDMA:900/2100
LTE:Band B3/7/20
SIM Type : Dual SIM (Micro SIM, dual standby)
3000mAh Non removable battery