The Infinix HOT 12 Play has some very big specifications for its price tag. It has a feature that extends the memory from 4GB to 7GB. A big screen with 90Hz refresh rate, 6000mAh battery and for the very first time, a USB type C port.
There are quite some upgrades from the previous Infinix HOT 10 Play. Here is a table to highlight the similarities and differences.
| Spec/Phone | Hot 12 Play | Hot 10 Play |
| Screen Size | 6.82 Inch/173mm | 6.82 Inch/173mm |
| Resolution | 720 X 1640 HD | 720 X 1640 HD |
| Refresh Rate | 90Hz | 60Hz |
| OS | Android 11 | Android 10 |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio P35 (2.3 GHz octa-core processor) | Mediatek Helio G35 (2.0 GHz octa-core processor) |
| RAM | 4GB+3GB ROM | 4GB |
| Extended Memory | Yes. Up to 7GB with MemFusion | No |
| Storage | 64GB/128GB | 64GB |
| Battery | 6000mAh | 6000mAh |
| USB interface | USB Type C | Micro USB |
| Charger | 2.0A | 2.0A |
| Front Camera | 8MP Dot In Display with Flash | 8MP Waterdrop with Flash |
| Rear Camera | 13MP + Portrait AI Dual Camera with Quad Flash | 13MP + Portrait AI Dual Camera with Quad Flash |
| Price In Kenya | Ksh18,499-128+4GB Ksh16,499 – 64+4GB | Ksh15,499 |
The biggest upgrades include a USB Type C port, bigger storage, Extended RAM tech and the 90Hz screen refresh rate.
Performance
The Hot 12 Play’s CPU is an Octa Core 2.30GHz MediaTek MT6765V/CB with a PowerVR Rogue GE8320 Graphical processing unit or GPU in short.
This combined with the Extended RAM makes apps and games launch much faster, makes animations smooth and can hold multiple applications in the background without killing them. This makes switching apps easy, fast and restored to the previous position you were in.
Up To 7GB RAM
The Extended RAM Technology, called MemFusion on the Infinix HOT 12 Play uses part of the Storage as RAM. There are 3 ROM values to choose from namely 1GB, 2GB and 3GB. Combined with the 4GB RAM, you can see that we can get up to 7GB RAM for better performance.
Combined with the octa core processor, I don’t know why anyone would choose anything less than 7GB RAM.
Screen
The HOT 12 Play has a big screen measuring in at 6.82 Inches or 173mm. This screen has a rapid 90Hz refresh rate and is very bright even in sunny outdoor conditions. It is great for watching content and playing games as well.
The only downside of this screen is that its not a Full HD+ screen like the one on the Tecno Spark 8P. The Infinix HOT 12 play has a 720X1640 screen resolution. I guess the rationale here is to save as much battery as its possible. A Full HD+ screen would reduce the battery duration.
Battery
Power Marathon
The power marathon feature in the Infinix HOT 12 Play can add hours of time to the already existing better time provided by the 6000mAh battery. The Power Marathon feature does this by enabling some power saving features and disabling some power draining features.
Here is the list of actions taken by the HOT 12 Play to increase the battery life.
- Enable Dark theme
- Enable Adaptive brightness
- Disable Vibrator
- Disable Action and gesture
- Optimize volume
- Disable wake screen for notifications
- Switch screen refresh rate to 60Hz
Here is a before and after screenshot of enabling Power marathon. Up to 4.7 hours can be added but in this case since I had a full battery, 10 hours were added.
Charging
The charging on the Infinix HOT 12 Play is done via a USB Type C port using the provided 2.0A charger.
This is quite a small charger to fill a very big 6000mAh battery. This phone does not have any fast charging even if you connect it to a fast charger. The charging time to full battery from 0% was coming in at short of 3 hours. That is a lot of time so this is the type of phone that you leave charging overnight. There is no risk of overcharging because the HOT 12 will disconnect the charger one the battery is full.
The 3 pin British standard plug charger is a slim charger with a retractable earth pin. This makes is very easy to transport in your pocket or handbag.
Camera
The Infinix HOT 12 Play has a dual camera set up on the rear. The first camera on the top is a 13MP lens while the other one is an AI lens for portrait photography. As for the front, the dot in display lens is an 8MP lens with Flash too.
Here are a few photo samples.
When it comes to video recording, the max video quality is 1080p at 30 fames per second on both the front and rear cameras.
Conclusion
The infinix HOT 12 play is a great budget performance smartphone with a very big battery capacity. With different prices for the 64GB and 128 GB versions, you get exactly the same specifications and performance.
This phone can be used as a gaming phone, content creation phone or even an every day use phone for social media consumption. The big battery and power marathon feature also makes it a very nice travel companion where charging stations will be few and apart.
Tecno Spark 8P
The Tecno Spark 8P and Infinix HOT 12 play phones have a lot of similarities and I’ll be doing a comparison article soon.
I really like the phone of Infinix hot 12 play in battery capacity of 6000amphs battery