Just a little history. The recently launched TECNO Boom J8 is a successor to TECNO Boom J7, TECNO’s first music-centric phone targeted at the growing youth population in the mid-market segment. TECNO says the BOOM series is for youths who love music and want a smartphone that will be a music companion when they leave their houses, cars or Matatu’s.
The TECNO Boom J7 has a 5.0 inch, a 1.3GHz Quad-core processor, has a normal SIM and Micro SIM and is powered by Android 4.4 Kit Kat. Comes with an 8MP main camera and a 2MP front camera with 16GB memory and 1GB RAM for storage and perfomance respectively.
Unlike it’s predecessor, the TECNO Boom J8 comes with a pair of Boom headphones on every purchase of the device. The headphone has an impendace of 32omhs with a sensitivity of around 111dB (decibels) which means they are as loud as a rock concert-around 115dB.
The headphone has an internal microphone which is -42dB for crystal clear recordings or conversations incase you use them for VoIP calls. It uses around 10mW of power and for comfort its plug is around 3.5mm and can be adjusted to fit any size. TECNO recommends they can even be used for professional DJs or VJs apart from personal use.
Inside the box
Aside from the free headphones, the phone’s box comes with the TECNO Boom J8, a charger, a USB Cable, a warranty card, instruction manual and marching flip covers for free. The phone’s battery is non-removable so don’t start breaking the box looking for one.
Display and Design
TECNO Boom J8 is packaged meticulously in a hardened recycled box with the speaker-like box packaging which might be easily confused for a music CD collection rather than an a smartphone. Inside the box, TECNO Boom J8 comes in hardened protective plastic to reduce damages on transit or caused by weather.
The phone’s design is also excellent. Slightly borrowing from Huawei P8, the phone’s 7.35mm ultra thin metalic edge makes it stand out from the crowd.
On the top edge, towards the left, the phone has an earphone plug, while the left edge is meticoulosly clean. The botom edge, the phone has a speaker, a USB port in the middle and a microphone on the right. The edge on the right has the power button and the volume button.
On the top bezel area, a front flash,a light/ proximity sensor, a receiver and the front camera towards the right edge. Down on the display screen, there’s the home button, the menu button and the back button. The phone’s back has a leatherish cover with the Boom logo near the lower edge, the TECNO logo inscribed in the middle and the phone’s main camera and flash on the left side of the cover but at the top.
Under the back cover is a non removable 3000mAh, battery, two SIM card slots on the top right below the earphone plug and MicroSD slot on the top left below the camera.
Specs, OS & Perfomance
Boom J8 comes with its own unique user interface of the HiOS, which promises improved app management options and highly optimized intuitive software features. The first thing we have noticed that HiOS makes TECNO Boom J7 a unique phone with different app layouts and themes unlike the plain Android version.
Key Specs
OS: HiOS (Customised Android 5.1)
Network: GSM/WCDMA/LTE
Band: GSM:900/1800
WCDMA:900/2100
LTE:Band B3/7/20
Dimension: 76.84*153.3*7.35mm
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, BT, GPS
Processor: Quad-core
Display: 5.5″ HD IPS Touchscreen
Camera: 13.0 MP AF Back Camera with Flash
5.0 MP Front Camera with Flash
Storage: 16GB ROM
RAM: 2GB RAM
Micro SD: Expandable up to 128 GB
Battery: 3000mAh
