Infinix Hot 7 Pro Review: Most Affordable Smartphone With 6 GB RAM

Specifications

• Model Number - X625D
• Model Name - Hot 7 Pro
• Display Size - 15.72 cm (6.19 inch)
• Resolution - 720 x 1500 pixels
• Operating System - Android Pie 9.0
• Processor Type - Helio P22 (MTK6762)
• Internal Storage - 64 GB
• RAM - 6 GB
• Expandable Storage - 256 GB

 

Design

The design of the Infinix Hot 7 Pro will remind you of the Redmi Note 6 Pro. The device has a semi-metal unibody design along with polycarbonate bands on the top and bottom of the smartphone, which acts as network antennas. The entire front of the phone is covered with display which somewhat resembles to that of an iPhone X-like notch and a bezel on the bottom portion.

Unlike most of the budget smartphones with a fake iPhone X like notch, the Infinix Hot 7 Pro has a use case for it. The notch uses the dual front-facing camera and a front-facing LED unit, which does help in low-light selfie photography.

The micro USB port, speaker grill, and the headphone jack are at the bottom portion of the smartphone. The power button and the volume button are on the right side. The power button comes with a unique texture, which helps to distinguish it from the power and the volume buttons.

Display

The Infinix Hot 7 Pro has a 6.19-inch IPS LCD screen with HD+ (720p) resolution, protected by 2.5D curved tempered glass. The device offers 88% screen to body ratio and 500 nits of peak brightness, which makes the display visible even in the direct sunlight.

The touch is very responsive, and the device does feel premium, thanks to the iPhone X-like notch. If you are looking for a smartphone with a notch display (some users does consider notch as a premium feature) under Rs. 10,000, then the Infinix Hot 7 Pro is the one device that you should consider.

Camera Performance And Features

The Infinix Hot 7 Pro in total has four cameras (two on the back and two on the front) and the device has been touted as the Ai quad-camera smartphone. The primary camera setup at the rear side consists of a 13 MP primary sensor and a 2 MP depth sensor. At the front, the device again features an identical camera setup with an LED flash.

The primary camera boast features like bokeh effect, AI camera, beauty mode, and 1080p video recording. In good lighting conditions, the Infinix 7 Pro can capture some great shots, which offers a lot of details and less noise. However, in the indoor environment, the camera does struggle a bit, and the images captured look a bit noisy.

Same goes for the selfie camera as well. Thanks to the dedicated 2 MP depth sensor, the front-facing camera can take some good looking portrait photos and it also supports 1080p video recording. The camera performance of the Infinix Hot 7 Pro did impress me. However, the camera UI needs a lot of improvements. Do note that, it does take a couple of seconds to process an image. If you don't have steady hands, then the images might come out blurry.

CPU Performance And Benchmark

The Infinix Hot 7 Pro is based on the MediaTek Helio P22 SoC, which is based on 12nm architecture. The chipset is clubbed with 6 GB of LPDDR3 RAM with 64 GB of eMMC 5.1 storage solution. The device offers around 52 GB of storage, and there is an option for storage expansion via microSD card, albeit, you have to sacrifice the secondary SIM card slot for the same, as the device comes with a hybrid SIM slot.

On AnTuTu, the device scores 79546 points and on Geekbench the chipset scores 816 points on single core and 3805 points on multi-core performance. These benchmarks indicate that you can play casual games like subway surfer and Temple Run with ease on the phone. However, if you are considering to play graphics intensive games like PUBG or Asphalt 9, then you need to crank down the graphics to low settings to get good gaming experience.

Networking And Connectivity

The smartphone has a dual SIM card slot with support for 4G LTE and VoLTE on both SIM card slots. The phone also offers support for dual channel Wi-Fi (802.11/n and 802.11/ac) with Bluetooth 4.2.

I did not face any issues with the download speeds or the cellular reception on the smartphone. Having support for 5GHz Wi-Fi also helps you to connect to faster Wi-Fi networks to stream HD content on YouTube and download apps and games.

Battery And Charging

The Infinix Hot 7 Pro comes with a 4000 mAh battery with standard 10W charging support via micro USB port. The device does take around 2.5 to 3 hours to charge from 0 to 100%. As per the battery life is concerned, the device can easily last an entire day for heavy users, and for normal users, it can offer two-day battery life on a single charge.

The battery life is on par with the devices like the Redmi Note 7 and the Redmi Note 6 Pro, which have an identical battery size. I hope that the next generation Infinix Hot Pro smartphone will offer fast charging and a USB type C port, which elevates the smartphone experience.

Software And Customization

The Infinix Hot 7 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie OS, which is the latest OS from Google with X OS 5.0 skin on top. It offers a great set of customization with features like face unlock the ability to install third party themes and a lot more.

The good things about the software of the Hot 7 Pro end here, as the smartphone comes with a ton of bloatware apps, which not only consume battery and other resources, they will also slow down the phone over time. For some strange reason, there is an app named AIbox on the notification panel, and there is no way to disable the app or even hide from the notification tray.

The built-in launcher on the smartphone is not great, and I ended up testing the phone by installing the Nova Launcher. The overall software experience on the Infinix Hot 7 Pro feels unpolished and needs a major design overhaul.

Verdict

For the asking price of Rs. 9,999, the Infinix Hot 7 Pro offers a great set of hardware, good looking design, and decent performance. However, its the software that comes in between. It packs in a lot of junk apps, it is unresponsive, and definitely one of the least functional UI in my opinion.

Even with a lot of tweaking, I was unable to change some software features of the smartphone, which is a great let down, considering the smartphones from the competition, which offers less clutter. Instead of X OS 5.0, the company should have launched the smartphone with stock Android UI.

If you are looking for a smartphone that offers great hardware (dual cameras, 6 GB RAM, 4000 mAh battery) and you don't care about the software experience, then the Infinix Hot 7 Pro could be a great choice. If you are looking for a cleaner software experience, then pick something from Nokia or Motorola or Realme or even Xiaomi.