The infinix Hot 2 x510 android phone is the latest flagship from Infinix Mobility and it was brought about in collaboration with Google in regard to the Android One project. It’s been over 2 weeks since we got the device and we sincerely apologize if this full review is coming late.
The infinix Hot 2 based on its specs, could possibly be the best budget smartphone currently in Nigeria. The fact that it runs on stock android and would be getting the android 6.0 Marshmallow update when it is rolled out makes it a better option.
Now, you may be wondering, how good is this device? The fact that it is very affordable, can it be considered as a device for everyday use? That’s the essence of this review. We hope to answer all of your basic questions in this review and if you have got anything else you’d like to ask, please be free to use the comment form.
Infinix Hot 2 Key Features
- 5.0 – inch HD IPS display, 720 ×1280 pixels.
- MediaTek MT6580 chipset with quad-core 1.3 GHz processor and 2GB RAM
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, upgradeable to Android M.
- 8 MP Auto focus camera with LED flash, 3840 x 2160 pixels and Video recording of 1080p.
- 2 MP front-facing camera with 2048 x 1152 pixels count.
- Removable 2200 mAh battery.
Main Disadvantages
- Some important Apps are not pre-installed
- The pre-Installed Launcher UI isn’t impressive
- No Quick Gestures
- Unable to toggle between 2G/3G mode
Infinix Hot 2 Review: Design and Hardware
Looking at the design, the phone has some striking semblance with the Infinix Zero X506 android phone. Â The back cover is actually made of plastic. However, there is a really light material that feels like rubber glass attached to the back of the plastic cover.
The volume buttons are placed on the right side of the device which is just above the power button. The charging port is rightly placed at the top of the device which is in the same line as the 3.5mm jack port and of course, we have the camera and the led flash at the back of the device and it’s rightly seated at the top left position.
The smartphone has its speakers positioned at the bottom of the device which is really a good spot. That way, even if the device is placed on a soft object or foam, you can still hear it ring properly. You can see our unboxing of the device HERE (Video included).
One major issue I tend to have with the design is the bezels (See the image above). Considering the fact that the device uses on-screen function keys, one would have expected the bezels at the lower end to be thinner but instead, it is designed as though, soft touch keys were meant to be used.
In my opinion, it leaves a lot of unused space right there in that position.
Another issue that may not seem like a biggy is weight. With infinix releasing Zero 2 which felt really light and impressive, i didn’t expect to see something quite bulky but then, price variation could tell the difference.
Display
The infinix hot x510 smartphone comes packed with a 5.0 – inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 720 ×1280 pixels and a density of 320 dpi. The display is pretty awesome considering the fact that it’s an HD display.
The device comes out of the box with some really nice themes and you can choose to set your preferred wallpaper if you are not satisfied with those that are pre-installed.
Interface
Although I sorta like the interface, I am particularly not impressed with the launcher interface. Tapping the app drawer button brings up the menus with a white background. I honestly do not like the white background. It really doesn’t make it look premium. However, it’s stock android hence, no customization was made.
Going through the play store app made me realize that the device runs on the Google Now launcher but i still cannot understand why the white background instead of a transparent one. Anyway, that can be overridden using a different launcher. In our case, we used the solo launcher, and here’s what we got after a little customization.
Looks much better right??
Software
The Infinix Hot 2 X510 runs on stock android 5.1 Lollipop OS. By stock, we mean undiluted, with no customization from OEM’s or sort which is really awesome. The better part is, the device will be getting the android 6.0 OS when it is launched.
Update: An upgrade to Marshmallow is now available on the smartphone. Interesting in knowing how to upgrade? Here you go!
The basic issue I have in this regard is the nonavailability of some important apps. Apps like the file manager, gallery, video play, and music player do not come pre-installed on the device. Although we have addressed the issue in this post, something out of the box would have been better and stress-free.
Camera
In most cases, the camera quality is what people tend to look out for in a phone. For a budget smartphone selling for less than NGN20,000 (Twenty thousand Naira) with an 8MP back camera and 2MP megapixels front camera specs, you probably won’t be expecting too much. However, the infinix hot 2 back and front camera tend to perform well as images come out quite sharp and clear.
Below are some pictures shot using the back camera at somewhere around 5 PM under a little sunny condition.
The picture quality when shot indoors using the back camera isn’t bad as well. Below is an indoor back camera shot with the lights turned off and the phone’s flash turned on.
Interestingly, i was sorta wowed by the 2 Megapixels front facing camera quality. I shot a picture of my pets with the front camera which i will be sharing with you below. You can see Max smiling and i am guessing he loves selfies lol.
Connectivity
I use more WiFi on the device. However, I used the GLO BIS plan on the phone and that is after I had changed the IMEI to that of a blackberry IMEI. Hence, if you are wondering if that can be done on the smartphone, YES and the process is very easy.
Call quality is good as we could properly make and receive calls without hassles and the headset quality sounds just fine. Internet speed is awesome although I understand that depends on network speed.
My only concern here is the inability to peck network mode on either 3G or 2G. Instead, network mode tends to toggle between 3G and 2G automatically, and understanding the fact that 2G can be pretty slow when watching videos or downloading stuff, it can be pretty frustrating.
However, you can set 2G mode on standby which can help save battery life compared to when in 3G mode or toggling.
Performance
With respect to performance, one of the basic things I will give thumbs up to is RAM Management. Despite opening different apps and having to multitask at different intervals, operations on apps didn’t have to restart everything.
For the past week now, I have had the Google chrome app on and on a particular page. Going back to that page hours after getting involved with other stuff doesn’t restart the page which is really awesome compared to the iPhone whose Safari browser tends to reload a page if you navigate out and without returning back for long.
As expected, we ran an Antutu benchmark test as well as a Geekbench test, and below are the results from the test.
From the left, the first result is of Aututu benchmark, the second is of Geekbench and the third is a comparison between the infinix hot 2 and LG G3.
According to the Aututu benchmark and based on that result, you can see that the infinix X510 performs better in terms of RAM Speed despite the fact that the LG G3 runs on a RAM size of 3GB.
Battery Life
The smartphone comes packed with a removable battery capacity of 2200mah. While that may seem pretty low considering the fact that we are looking forward to better battery capacity, the infinix hot 2 x510 battery still performed well.
I engaged in watching YouTube videos from about 1 AM to about 6 AM and the battery dropped from about 90% to about 30%. What’s more, the device charges pretty fast. Although I have come to realize that the fast charging thing occurs when the device is in the mood lol.
Final Words
The infinix hot 2 is no doubt, an awesome smartphone for the amount it is being sold for. Apparently, most of the issues I had with the device, tend to have a solution. If asked if I could recommend this phone to anyone, in all honesty, I’d say YES.
However, the design of the device cannot be compared to zero 2. The Zero 2 looks more premium and of course, more expensive. I also understand you may be inquisitive about knowing if the device gets hot under intensive use and if the phone has a notification light.
No, the device doesn’t get hot under intensive usage and I think Infinix has been able to curb that issue in their latest devices as none of them seems to be having that issue compared to the initial infinix hot x507.
In regards to the notification light, YES! The smartphone has a notification light and this is what I would say infinix missed in the zero 2 which in turn led to complaints on the unboxing video and post. It’s really nice to see that infinix listens to its customers and that’s what business should be all about.
If you have got any questions in regards to the infinix hot x510 smartphone, please be sure to use the comment session and I will reply as soon as I can.
