Benco V91c Review: Attractive Design, Underwhelming Camera

Benco V91c Review: TechLekh Verdict

The Benco V91c is a typical entry-level smartphone with an average performance. While it boasts an attractive, clean, and modern design, the camera experience leaves much to be desired.

In terms of performance, it’s decent for its price range, and the display is adequate. However, the colors tend to appear somewhat dull, which might be a drawback for some users.

The Benco V91c is a stylish smartphone with a decent display, but its main camera performance falls short.”

The recently launched Tecno Spark Go 1 is a more compelling alternative, offering superior performance and a better software experience at an affordable price.

Benco offers a lot of smartphones in the entry-level segment. And recently, they launched the most affordable phone from Benco’s V series, Benco V91c.

Benco V91c price in Nepal is Rs. 12,999 for the sole 4GB/128GB variant. It comes in two colorways: Rainbow White and Space Grey.

Benco V91c is a dialed-down version of the Benco V91, launched in early 2024. While the specs remain similar, the V91c has a revamped design language.

Is it good enough to be a serious budget contender? Let’s find out. I’m Anmol Shrestha, and this is my Benco V91c review.

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Benco V91c Review

Good Design

• 162.94 x 74.69 x 8.99 mm
• 193 g

The Benco V91c brings a notable design refresh compared to its predecessor, the Benco V91. The most striking change is the switch from a circular camera module to a square one, similar to the iPhone camera design.

Despite its budget-friendly price tag, the V91c provides a premium feel. The plastic build is impressively sturdy, offering a comfortable grip and an overall refined aesthetic that punches above its weight.

For ports and buttons, the power and volume buttons are on the right side of the phone. The power button doubles as a fingerprint sensor, offering a reliable unlocking experience.

Bencvo V91c has a sleek and appealing design.

On the left side of the Benco V91c, you’ll find a dual SIM slot accompanied by a dedicated microSD card slot, allowing for expanded storage. The bottom houses a speaker, a USB Type-C port, and a microphone, while the top is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a secondary microphone for enhanced audio quality during calls.

Impressively, for a phone priced at Rs. 13,000, the Benco V91c sports minimal front bezels and a modern hole-punch design, elevating its aesthetic appeal and making it stand out in its price segment.

Average Performance

• UNISOC T606 (12nm)
• Octa-core (2×1.6 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.6 GHz Cortex-A55)
• Mali-G57
• 128GB 4GB RAM

The Benvo V91c is powered by the Unisoc T606 chipset. It is a decent chipset for entry-level smartphones, already proven by the likes of Tecno Spark Go 2024.

V91c boasts decent performance for the price.

An entry-level smartphone is not gonna be fast and smooth. It will take time to load apps and it will be a bit slow when scrolling in-app. That’s exactly how you can describe the performance of Benco V91c.

In benchmark tests like ANTUTU 10, GeekBench 6, and 3DMark WildLife, the Benco V91c performs decent, just underperforming the Unisoc T615 found in the Teco Spark Go 1. Similarly, it does fine in gaming performance but it is not the best bang for the buck option.

Gaming

In my testing, I played PUBG Mobile with “Smooth” graphics and “High” fps setting. I got an average FPS of 24.22 in 30 minutes of gameplay. For an entirely level phone, that’s not a bad number.

In comparison, Tecno Spark Go 1 with Unisoc T615 performs much better with significantly higher average fps. Furthermore, it is cheaper than the Beno V91c, making it a better gaming option.

In conclusion, the Benco V91c is not a bad performer, but competitors have better performance than the Benco V91c.

Poor Main Camera

• • Rear Camera: 13MP (main), f/2.0
    • 2MP (macro)

• Front Camera: 8MP

The camera experience on the Benco V91c leaves much to be desired. It features a 13MP main sensor accompanied by a 2MP macro camera and an auxiliary AI lens. On the front, there’s an 8MP selfie camera.

Poor Main Camera

The main issue with the camera is its slow focusing time. It often takes a while to lock onto subjects, and at times, it fails to focus correctly. Additionally, the color reproduction is inconsistent, with images occasionally appearing overly saturated or, conversely, dull.

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Portrait Mode

The same story continues in the portrait mode, it fails to focus the subject occasionally and even when the subject is in focus, the background blur looks unnatural.

Furthermore, portrait photos often display strange artifacts, and the colors appear inaccurate.

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Front Camera

The selfie camera performs relatively better than the main camera. While the detail is average, the color is good enough for a budget phone. However, it struggles in HDR scenarios resulting in washed-out highlights and colors.

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Videos

• 1080@30fps

The Benco V91c supports video recording up to 1080p at 30fps from the main camera. Like the photos, the videos are poor with low detail and low sharpness.

The video looks flat with lots of noise and crushed shadows. The color reproduction is not good either and the videos are very shaky.

Overall, the camera of the V91c is poor. Though it is an entry-level smartphone, the camera quality needs improvement.

Decent Display

• 6.56 inches IPS LCD
• 720 x 1612 pixels
• 90Hz refresh rate
• 500 nits (peak)

Benco V91c rocks the same 6.56-inch IPS LCD panel as the Benvo V91. It also sports a 90Hz refresh rate and 500 nits peak brightness

The IPS panel is decent with good enough colors. As expected from an entry-level phone, the color reproduction is a bit muted. While the 720p display is quite common in this segment, I found V91’s panel sharp enough for social media and YouTube videos.

The display panel is sharp but i found colors to be a bit dull.

That said, the 500 nits peak brightness is not good enough for comfortable viewing under direct sunlight. It is not as bad as it sounds, but users will face difficulties under bright sunlight.

What’s particularly commendable is how the phone maintains a consistent 90Hz refresh rate across most apps when set to 90Hz, a feature that’s often absent in smartphones within this price range. Even some top brands like Redmi have missed the mark here, making the V91c’s optimization stand out even more in this segment.

Battery and Speaker

• 5000mAh
• 18W wired charging

Benco V91c boasts a decent 5000mAh battery and 18W fast charging support, an upgrade from V91’s 10W charging. However, you only get a 10W charger in the box. So, what’s the point of 18W fast charging support?

For the price, V91c has a good battery life.

The 5000mAh battery in tandem with the low power consumption chipset can easily provide 2 days of battery life under moderate usage. I was getting around 6 hours of screen time during mixed usage which included an hour of gaming.

The single speaker of Benvo V91c is decent; it is loud enough, but the sound quality is average.

Software

• Android 13
• INONE UI

The V91c runs on Android 13 along with INONE UI, the same as the Benco V91.

It’s dissapointing that Benco hasn’t offered Android 14 out of the box.

The INONE UI on the Benco V91c remains largely unchanged, offering a barebone interface with minimal customization options. However, credit where it’s due: the phone is almost entirely free of bloatware, which is a big plus as it feels fast and clean.

While the overall software experience doesn’t differ much from previous Benco phones, the brand has introduced a new feature called Smart Window. This feature adds animations for face unlock, charging, and background phone calls in the hole-punch region of the screen. It’s a nice touch, but beyond that, the UI remains fairly basic.

In summary, while the software experience isn’t bad by any means, Benco could certainly do more to improve customization options for users who want a more personalized interface.

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So, this is my Benco V91c review. What do you think about the phone? If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments!