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Infinix has unveiled its new budget offering in the form of the Hot 20 5G, priced at Rs. 11,999. The company has recently been very active in terms of value-for-money devices in several segments of the mobile market. What makes the device stand out is not just its 5G capabilities but the inclusion of MediaTek’s Dimension 810 under the hood. The smartphone stacks up on paper, but how well does it perform in real-world use? Let’s find out in this full review of Infinix Hot 20 5G.
judgment
When it comes to many smartphone experiences like performance, build and battery life, the Infinix Hot 20 5G is a capable phone. However, if image taking prowess is your priority, there are better options in the market.
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The exterior of the phone resembles some Infinix phones of the past. With its unibody polycarbonate build, two-tone finish and textured back panel, the Hot 20 5G doesn’t instantly stand out from the sea of budget phones. Sure it sounds structured with no flex around the chassis, but that’s usually the case with most phones. The standard power button cum fingerprint sensor combo is on the right side while the USB Type-C port, speaker grill and 3.5mm headphone jack are at the bottom. Two huge camera rings protrude slightly from the top half to pair with the LED flash module on the side. Overall the Infinix Hot 20 5G looks pretty standard for a budget phone and that’s a good thing.
Moving on to the display side of things, the Hot 20 5G sports a 6.58-inch FHD+ LCD panel that can refresh at 120Hz. The screen is decently bright in outdoor conditions, but viewing angles aren’t the best. Unfortunately, the color profile can’t be adjusted in the settings menu, and you’ll have to settle for a slightly bluish tint to the screen. The 120Hz refresh rate works well for the most part but stutters a bit when browsing Facebook. For OTT consumption, the device only has Widevine L3 certification for HD content on Netflix, Amazon Prime and more. Finally, the device uses a dated waterdrop-style notch design with chunky bezels on all sides that intrude into the screen real estate.
As for the optical hardware, the phone has a 50MP primary camera and for some reason, the QVGA camera doesn’t do much. Daylight shots from the device are adequate with satisfactory overall detail and dynamic range. Autofocus is slow when going for close-up shots but shutter speed is fast. Colors are a bit more saturated than I like, but some people may find that attractive. Apart from that, the phone does average portrait mode shots with spotty edge detection. The device lacks ultra-wide or macro shooting capabilities.
The phone’s low-light photography leaves a bit to be desired. When there isn’t enough ambient lighting, photos become too grainy and soft. Getting good focus also becomes a problem, but the unique Super Night mode adds a lot of exposure to the shot without improving detail. For the 8MP selfie camera on the front, the photos clicked are reasonably good with details but fail to handle the exposure in the background.
The performance USP of the Infinix Hot 20 5G is thanks to the Dimensity 810 SoC. The 6nm SoC can handle medium to heavy tasks with relative ease, allowing the user to operate multiple apps without lag. I ran a few benchmarking apps and was satisfied with the scores. The CPU maintains an impressive 92 percent of its peak performance so the phone doesn’t throttle under constant load. I ran PUBG: The New State On the device and it was able to deliver 60fps in HD graphics, which I think is worth the price. The phone comes with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB of internal storage with another 3GB available as virtual swap memory. There is also a dedicated microSD card slot to increase the device’s capacity by 512GB.
5G will roll out across the country in phases and when you get your location service, the Infinix Hot 20 5G can support it. There is currently no 5G tower in my area but I tested the 4G LTE capabilities on the device and was satisfied. The fingerprint sensor works as expected, but the bottom-firing speaker is a bit thin. The device runs on Infinix’s proprietary XOS V10 based on Android 12. Bloatware issues throughout the UI as well as redundant use of the term AI in stock apps. Also, Infinix doesn’t have the best track record for software updates, so there’s that.
Battery-wise the phone houses a 5,000mAh cell inside the device, which supports 18W charging. During my usage, the Hot 20 5G delivered around six to seven hours of screen-on time. It also includes one hour of gaming along with streaming Netflix and YouTube. It takes around three hours to fully juice up the phone so the charging speed is a little necessary.
Final judgment
The Infinix Hot 20 5G performs well and also benefits from 5G capabilities. The phone has good battery backup and has a sturdy build. While it doesn’t impress in the camera and software departments, users who prioritize processing capabilities should find the Hot 20 5G more than adequate for their needs.
Editor’s Rating: 3.5 / 5
Pros
- Solid construction
- Good performance
- Long battery life
Disadvantages
- Cameras could be better
- The waterdrop notch feels dated
- Bloatware