Infinix has been launching a spree of value-for-money devices in 2020. With its latest smartphone, the Infinix Smart HD 2021, the brand has forayed into the ultra-affordable segment in India. The device is focused on the audience who is looking forward to upgrading from a feature phone to a smartphone. While the device packs all entry-level and basic features, it gets the job done for most of the usage scenarios.
The newly launched Infinix Smart HD smartphone offers a great value proposition for its price. It takes on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy M01 Core and Redmi 9A. But, is it the new entry-level king? Let’s find out in this review.
Design and Aesthetics
The Infinix Smart HD is primarily made up of plastic, with a unique V-shaped pattern on its back panel. Thanks to the small screen size, it feels handy and compact. As far as the physical overview is concerned, the device has its power button and volume rockers on the right side, and a 3.5mm jack at the top.
The microphone and charging port is present at the bottom, whereas its speaker grill rests on the bottom right area of the rear panel. The square-shaped camera module looks good too. You can purchase the device in 3 color options, namely; Obsidian Black, Quartz Green, and Topaz Blue. The overall design language does feel like other budget smartphones, but we won’t complain much about it.
Display
The Infinix Smart HD, as the name suggests, sports a 720p display. Its compact form factor houses a 6.1-inch HD+ display. There’s a waterdrop notch present on the top that contains a 5MP selfie shooter. For reference, the Galaxy M01 Core has huge bezels on the bottom as well as on the top, whereas this one has a better screen to body ratio(85%).
The smartphone has a tall body design, with its aspect ratio being 19.5:9. Also, other devices in this price range have an HD+ display, so we ought not to complain here. Though media consumption on the Infinix Smart HD isn’t great, this is the case with every other entry-level smartphone, right?
You can use it as a secondary smartphone, thanks to its compact body, and a massive 5000mAh battery.
Performance
The device is powered by the Mediatek Helio A20 Quad-core chipset, which is clocked at 1.8 GHz. The 12nm SoC performs decently and manages to serve in day-to-day tasks. The device is perfect for first-time smartphone owners, for students who need a device with a humongous battery for long zoom sessions and for casual internet usage.
On the software front, the phone runs on XOS 6.2 based on Android 10. The device has a fingerprint scanner on the back along with face unlock capabilities.
We ran a few benchmark apps such a Geekbench and Antutu and here are the results of these. The scores are quite decent for a budget device.
The device is fueled by a massive 5000mAh battery along with 6 Watt charging. There’s a Micro USB port for charging, which feels pretty outdated in 2020, but is at par with the competition.
The overall performance of the device is quite decent, the Mediatek Helio A20 with Android Go powered XOS gets the job done.
Here’s our Gaming Review of the Infinix Smart HD 2021. Surprisingly the Call of Duty and Free Fire performance was quite decent which was something we didn’t expect.
Good Phones are Getting Cheap, Cheap Phones are Getting Good.
Cameras
The Infinix Smart HD 2021 features a single 8MP rear camera sensor, with loads of AI features loaded in the camera app. As mentioned earlier, the Infinix Smart HD boasts of a 5MP selfie shooter on the front. The rear camera module is square in shape and looks like a dual or triple camera setup but in reality, it’s a single-camera setup, the other placeholder states the AI camera branding and the third cutout is for the LED flash.
Honestly, we didn’t have any expectations from the camera department and when we fired the camera app for the first time, the images preview in the viewfinder looked kinda grainy. But all thanks to the AI capabilities the final results were much better and looked quite good in bright daylight conditions. The camera is just fine but considering the price of this device you can’t ask for more.
Here are some of the camera samples that we shot during the day time. The shots are not bad in bright daylight conditions.
Verdict
So, is the Infinix Smart HD the new entry-level king?
The smartphone is a pretty solid offering from Infinix and packs some great features such as the hefty 5000mAh battery and a fingerprint scanner. This is definitely far better than the Samsung Galaxy M01 Core that we used earlier. For the Price of Rs. 5,999 you can’t ask for more and at this lowest end of the price bracket this is the best you can get and gets the job done.
However, you can extend your budget you can consider buying the Realme C11, which packs a better camera setup, a polished software experience, and a much more powerful Helio G35 chipset. But if your budget does not allow you to go for the same, the Infinix Smart HD smartphone is a great option to go for. Overall, it won’t disappoint you and will serve you with great battery life as well.
Pros
- Impressive Design and Build Quality
- Android Go Powered OS
- Humongous Battery
- Pricing
Cons
- Provided Charger is Slow (6W charger to charge 5000mAh Battery)
