If you wanted a budget smartphone that looked, felt and performed great, it’d be hard to find a better option than something from Infinix. Sister brand to Tecno and Itel, Infinix designs its phones with the hip, trendy smartphone user in mind – and that means somewhat premium quality build and above-average performance on their top smartphone offerings. If you were wondering what these top Infinix smartphones are, then look no further, we’ve gone round to summate the best Infinix smartphones currently in the market for your reading pleasure.
Overall best – The Infinix Zero 8
The Infinix Zero 8 represents everything Infinix as a brand stands for. From the radically bold design to the gaming-oriented specs and modest pricing, it is, for now, a smartphone that’s entirely worth the title of flagship. There’s a lot going for the Infinix Zero 8, but you’ll love it majorly for:
The Gaming centric spec sheet
At the core of the Infinix Zero 8 is a Mediatek Helio G90T processor with a max clock speed of 2.05 GHz. Paired to a Mali-G76 3EEMC4 graphics processor this chip delivers all the performance juice need to handle even the most demanding games – from Fortnite to PUBG the Infinix Zero 8 is well equipped to satisfy all your gaming needs.
Of course, above-par gaming performance translates to above-par performance in every other department as well. MediaTek officially says this processor is 26% faster than competitor offering based on Manhattan benchmark tests, but that’s boring with the Kafkaesque details. What you need to know is that this device is no slouch, expect it to perform just as good as flagships from other top-of-the-line smartphone manufacturers.
The unapologetically bold design
Infinix has gone all blazing guns out with the design of the Zero 8 and the best way to describe the design language of the phone is to say that it’s odd but still intriguing. At the back, there’s a diamond-shaped camera bump that if anything else resembles an asymmetrically placed square. It’s not out of place, but it stands out in many ways. The phone itself is bulky, the bezels are there (you’ll notice them), there’s a prominent chin, and the very noticeable bump just makes everything feel a little bit ‘thic.’
It’s thic in a nice way though, and I’d reckon many will appreciate the form factor of the Zero 8. That said, if you’re a fan of the sleeker things in life, then the Zero 8 might be a little unnerving to look at, operate, and handle.
The complete package it offers
So, aside from being gaming-focused and guaranteed to turn heads, the Infinix Zero 8 also does every other thing you’d expect from a mid-range smartphone, and very well too. The back camera setup is a super impressive 64MP primary wide, 8MP ultrawide, 2 MP macro and another 2MP depth sensor quad configuration. This is very similar to what you’d find on the Camon 15 Premier, so performance should be on the same level. The main camera supports 4K video recording @ 30fps and if you switch to 1080p fps bumps up to 60fps.
At the front, you’d find a dual-cam setup with a 48MP primary lens and an 8MP ultrawide selfie lens. 4K video is also available via the primary 48MP lens as well.
The Infinix Zero 8 screen is a full HD 1080 x 2460 display. Definitely not the best screen out there but still well enough to display very crisp and detailed images and videos. From first impressions, the brightness is okay, and contrast and colour quality seem to check out just fine as well.
Powering everything up is a 4500mAH lithium-ion battery. Infinix also does well to include a 30W fast charger right out of the box.
The phone deffo ticks any checkbox a smartphone enthusiast might have.
Second runner up – the Infinix Hot 9
Read our full review of the Infinix Hot 9 here
Take off the bold and defiant look of the Infinix Zero 8, cut down on the specs (and the price) and what you have is the Infinix Hot 9. Released earlier in April 2020, the Infinix Hot 9 is Infinix’s smartphone offering for the everyday user. This phone will do all the basic things and then some. You’ll especially love it for:
The decent spec list, that’s despite the price
At 58,600 Naira, the Infinix Hot 9 fits the bill of a budget smartphone but even more impressively the hardware goes past what you will find for most other phones in this price range. In brief, 58,600 Naira gets you a 6.6-inch HD 1600 x 720p IPS display with a pixel density of 266 PPI, a MediaTek Helio A25 Processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a 5000mAH battery.
These are numbers that don’t just hold up to the requirements of the average day-to-day Android user, but also to the majority of moderate users as well. With the phone, you can expect to run resource-intensive mobile games like PUBG and Fortnite, albeit at lower settings.
The customizability
Assuming 58,600 Naira is still too much for you to spare at the moment, you can still get the Infinix Hot 9 at a cheaper price for a trade-off in the specs department. Right now, on the Xpark website you can get the Hot 9 in two other configurations, the sister lower specked Hot 9 and the Hot 9 Play.
The second variant of the regular Hot 9 comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. At 52,700 Naira, you save about 6,000 Naira if you opt-in for this option.
The Infinix Hot 9 Play is also similarly priced at 52,500 Naira. However, the spec sheet is a bit distinct from the two. You get a better 6000mAH battery, a nicer full HD 1080p display, and 2GB of RAM mated to a 32GB storage. On the downside, the Infinix Hot 9 Play comes with a stripped-down version of Android 10 called the Go Edition, and a dual-camera setup with a main 13MP camera, as opposed to the quad camera 16MP setup on the regular Hot 9.
Third runner up – The Infinix Note 7
Long story short – if you need the Infinix Hot 9 but in a bigger form factor, with a larger screen then the Infinix Note 7 was precisely made for you. There’s not so much about this phone that’d make the headlines. However, it checks out as a handy phablet that’s capable of doing ‘phablet stuff.’ You’ll love it for:
The big display
The Infinix Note 7 comes with a huge 6.9Inch screen, and that’s to be expected given the ‘Note’ designation. If you’re in the market for a device you can use to read, watch videos or complete any other productivity task; then it’s well worth consideration. The only problem is that the display quality doesn’t really match the screen size. – the Infinix Note 7’s display is only a 1640 x 720p HD panel with a pixel density of 258 PPI.
You’ll find it to be grainy and not all that sharp if you look close enough, but a PPI of 258 is still well within the limits of acceptable, especially at this price point.
The big battery and fast charge options
A 5000mAH battery powers the Infinix Note 7, and spec-wise the device has support for fast charging although it doesn’t ship with a fast charger from Infinix. You get the regular power brick. 5000mAH is a lot even by today’s standards, and I’d say right off the bat that this is a device that’d last more than a day on full charge provided you don’t do any heavy lifting.
The camera setup
At the back of the Note 7, you’ll find a 48MP main camera, 2MP Macro lens, 2MP Depth sensor and a QVGA night optimizer lens. This all combines to form a quad-camera setup that does pretty well for an Infinix device.
If you’re familiar with the Tecno Camon series, you will notice that this setup is strikingly similar to what you’d find on some variants of the Camon 15. That’s all to say that the camera quality here is comparable to what you’d get on the famed camera-centric Camon line up.
The surprisingly decent build
Polycarbonate is the chosen material for the Infinix Note 7, and while that’s just fancy terms for plastic, this phone looks and feels very good on the first impressions.
The phone itself comes in three colour options – black, purple and green. The finish is dual-toned, so for whichever colour you get there’s going to be a matte brush look paired to a glossy finish on the back. It makes for a nice effect and if anything gives the phone that fair bit of sophistication.
Fourth runner up – The Infnix Smart 5
Of all Infinix smartphones on this list, the Infinix Smart 5 is the least priced at 39,500 Naira. The pricing of this phone pretty much sums up its nature – it’s the budget smartphone of budget smartphones, and as you would expect, it has correspondingly budget budget like specs to match. You’ll, however, love it for:
The price, obviously
39,500 Naira, that’s how much you have to pay to get the Infinix Smart 5 in your hands. For a device that ships with a HD screen, a fingerprint sensor and 32GB of storage that’s something of a steal in today’s market.
You do have to settle with the Go Edition of Android 10 and a what’s quite frankly a poor camera setup.
The large battery
Large battery capacities are something of a theme for Infinix phones, and the Smart 5 doesn’t disappoint. Inside the Infinix Smart 5 is a 5000mAH battery that Infinix say will go a full four days with moderate use, all thanks to their ‘intelligent power-saving tech.’ Hard to believe anyway, but what’s assured is that this phone will get you through a full day provided you don’t run too many power-intensive apps.
It’s also worth noting that there’s no mention of fast charging support for this device. So, expect to wait long hours for your Infinix Smart 5 battery to get up to full charge.
A good build, for the price
Even though it costs significantly less, there’s little difference to notice between the Infinix Smart 5 and other smartphones in the Infinix lineup. The build is the same polycarbonate design you find on the Infinix Zero 8. While you don’t two-tone graded finish you’d find on the latter, the Smart 5 still packs all of that signature glossy and glitzy Infinix design language. Quite simply, it looks more than it costs.
Which phone will you get?
The answer to that question is mostly down to your budget and preference. But, as is evident from this guide, there’s an Infinix smartphone for every Nigerian smartphone user category. As Infinix continues with its habit of churning out smartphones in droves, expect that this guide will be updated to showcase the best phone offerings yet from the brand.
All Images courtesy of Infinix on Instagram
