The Infinix Smart series is improving with every version and providing value-for-money products to buyers looking for an entry-level smartphone. As far as I have seen Infinix phones, try to give an overall package and a well-balanced phone. The company launched the Infinix Smart 8, and they say it has improved display, design, camera, processor, etc. But considering its predecessor, the battery capacity has decreased from 6000 mAh to 5000 mAh. It will be interesting to look at how it performs in terms of battery life. It has a 50MP dual camera, which is less common in this price range. Let’s check out more about this smartphone in this full review.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The Infinix Smart 8 is an all-rounder smartphone for its price. The phone’s 50MP is good too and can get you good clicks in daylight and artificial lighting conditions. Also, the company made a good decision by using Android Go Edition to keep the software smooth with a 90Hz refresh rate. 5G is out of the picture, and I believe entry-level users will not require it as of now.
Design and display
If we start talking about design, then it will not disappoint you; it looks like a smartphone that is priced above 10,000. The punch hole display looks good, and talking about the bezels, they are equal; just the chin is a little bit on the junkier side, and I hope the company can improve in the next version. The boxy design looks good and gives a firm grip on the hands. It weighs only 189 gms and is 8.5mm thick, which is quite decent.
Talking about the back panel is made of plastic and has a textured glossy finish that shimmers in different colours when light falls upon it. It does retain fingerprints but is visible only at certain angles. You also get a hard shell case in the box which you can use to protect the phone from accidental damage. The camera module looks very bold with a dual camera setup with a quad-led ring flash. Overall, the phone looks good in terms of design. In terms of I/O ports, you get a 3.5mm jack, microphone, Type C port, and speaker grill.
If we talk about display, then this doesn’t disappoint. You get a 6.6-inch HD+ display, and the colours are vibrant and accurate, with 500 nits of peak brightness, which is decent for outdoors. The viewing angles of this display surprised me, and they are good at this price. The display comes with a 90 Hz refresh rate, which is good and makes the device feel smooth in day-to-day usage.
You get a single-down-firing speaker that is loud enough but has no depth or bass, which can be improved. For security, it boasts a side fingerprint scanner and face unlock too. Both work decently but take half a second to recognise.
Camera
The phone sports a dual camera setup with a 50MP main camera and a secondary AI lens with a quad-led ring light. On the front, it has an 8MP camera with an LED flash, which also acts as a notification light. Now, when we talk about camera performance, it clicks some good shots in well-lit environments, like during the day and in artificial lighting conditions. The colours are close to natural and punchy, and the photos are vibrant to look at and fairly bright. But you can’t see any depth in the photos, which will make them more attractive. Don’t expect much in low lighting conditions; the company provided flash on both sides, which works decently and makes the subject light up. Selfies come out well in daylight with good natural colours and detailing. There is less detailing and sharpness in low light or when you click indoors. While we can do video recording max at 1080p at 30fps from the front and back cameras, There is no EIS or secondary mic for noise cancellation, and with the lack of these things, the video turns out to be shaky and full of background noise.
Performance and software
The Mediatek G36 Processor has 8GB of RAM, including 4GB of VRAM, and 64GB of internal storage, which can be expanded via a dedicated microSD card slot up to 2TB. As it is an entry-level smartphone, the phone is performing quite decently. General day-to-day tasks like app opening, making and receiving calls, watching videos, and clicking pictures are going well. But when we talk about multitasking or gaming, it’s just average, and according to its price, it’s justified. Like 2 to 3 lite apps, you can use them simultaneously. In benchmark tests, it gave fair results.
Regarding software, it runs on XOS 13-based Android 13 Go Edition, which is a lighter version of Android. You will not see any unnecessary pop-up notifications or ads. Also, no bloatware, but one thing that bothered me was having two apps for the same functions, and we couldn’t uninstall the secondary app. If File Manager and Ai Gallery apps are already first-party apps provided by the company, then why do we need the same Google-specific apps for the same functions? At least give us the option to uninstall them.
A software feature that is sometimes useful—the company calls it “Magic ring”—makes a pill-shaped bar around the punch hole camera sometimes, like when charging the device, when the device tries to detect faces, etc. It’s like an inspiration taken from the iPhone and can be seen on a bunch of other Realme devices as well. Whenever it pops up, it does look cool and gives you a pleasant vibe.
Battery and charging
The Infinix Smart 8 comes with a 5000 mAh battery, and it will easily last your full working day with moderate usage. For light users, it can last more than a full day. Still, I would have loved it if they had retained 6000 mAh, but 5000 mAh is also okay. Thank God we still get a charger in the box in this price range, and we get a 10W charger, which charges the device to 50% in an hour and can take roughly more than 2 hours to reach full capacity.
Reasons to buy
- Good camera in this segment.
- Decent design and build quality
- Good battery backup for daily use
- Good display with a 90 Hz refresh rate
- Reasons not to buy
- Slow charging speeds
- Gaming or multi-tasking is not up to the mark.
Final Verdict
The Infinix Smart 8 does come with lots of tempting features, but considering the other competing smartphones in the same price segment that are under Rs 8,000, it gets tough to survive what others are offering in the Redmi 13C and Poco C65.
At Rs 7,500, the Infinix Smart 8 comes with a better software experience with no ads and bloatware, a somewhat clean Android experience with a 90 Hz refresh rate, and a good-quality display. The 50MP camera takes good pictures in good lighting conditions. On the performance part, the phone may struggle with gaming, but it will stay reliable for day-to-day tasks. The 5000 mAh battery will provide you with enough juice to last a long day, but the charging speed is relatively slow and needs improvement. So if all of this is what you require from a smartphone, then you should go for it.
