This Infinix HOT 50i has started the HOT 50 lineup with a bang. In my opinion, it is the perfect first-time owner smartphone. Great for those who will be finishing school this year and college students as well. This is because it has just the right price, design and specifications. These are things that the competition simply doesn’t have. For example, the device I have comes with 6GB RAM which is expandable to 12GB and there will be versions with 256GB internal storage. This is on top of the big display with a very high refresh rate of 120Hz with a punch hole front camera instead of a notch.
Watch my full vide review on YouTube below.
Accessories
The price of the new HOT 50i is 13,700 Kenya shillings. This is around 105 US Dollars. Let’s do a quick unboxing. The accessories include a rigid phone case, 18-watt charger, USB cable, hands-free headset and a SIM Ejector tool. The screen protector is already applied to the display. As you can see, Infinix is always generous with their accessories.
Design
I have the Sage Green version that has this very smooth and glitter like back cover. I like how these two lines move with the light. Infinix has adopted this new cube shaped camera modules which look great. They don’t stick out too much at the back so the phone is comfortable in your pocket. The buttons are almost flush with the edges. You can’t even tell that there’s a fingerprint scanner on the power button. It’s also very fast.
At the bottom is the audio jack, mic, USB Port and the speaker. The other speaker is located at the top for a dual speaker setup. I have a sound test in the gaming section later. And lastly the SIM tray can hold two Nano SIM cards and an SD card.
The HOT 50i comes equipped with an IP54 certification to protect against dust and water splashes. It also has the Wet & Greasy Touch Precision technology allowing users to use the phone even when their hands are wet or greasy.
Display
At the front is the 6.7 Inch (170mm) HD+ LCD display with a punch-hole camera. This camera hole has been utilized for the dynamic bar. It can display the music you’re listening to show the charging status, display incoming calls among other things. It does this without interfering with the whole screen.
This display is bright even in outdoors situations and the high refresh rate was a shocker even to me. That is because at the moment only midrange and premium phones have 120Hz refresh rate displays. Anyway this gives the phone that feeling of smooth animations that you can get on premium devices.
Performance
When it comes to performance, the HOT 50i is powered by the MediaTek Helio G81 octa-core processor. The official RAM is 6GB which is a lot for a phone by the way. It can be extended to a further 12GB by utilizing the storage. I have the 128GB version by the way. These are the other memory variations of the Infinix HOT 50i. We’ll just wait and see if the 256GB will show up in retail and online stores.
I enjoyed playing simple games on this device. It’s not heavy and the speakers are indeed loud. For the gamers you’ll be delighted to know that the HOT 50i has a gyroscope and game rotation sensor.
Camera
The main 48MP IMX582 lens, below that I believe that is an AI lens. Next to that are the two flash lenses. At the top is the camera flash. Below that is the bright flashlight that can be turned ON from the drop down menu here. It produces a more focused light than the camera flash that produces its light in a broad pattern. This focused light can illuminate up to 5 metres. At the front is an 8MP lens that also has LED flash. The main camera produces nice photos as does the front camera with selfies. The maximum video recording quality is 1440p or 2K at 30fps.
Battery & Charging
Finally, the battery and charging. The HOT 50i has a 5000mAh battery and comes with an 18-watt charger. In my charging experiment I got up to 12% in 10 minutes, 33% in half an hour and full battery capacity in 1 hours and 48 minutes. I honestly expected it to cross the 2 hour mark so that was impressive of the 18 watt fast charger.
The HOT 50i also features bypass charging. This means that the phone can be powered directly if plugged in so that you can continue your gaming or video watching session. I could last a day to 2 days with the same charge with moderate everyday use. While gaming and watching a lot of videos, the battery could last me a day.