Just a few days before it's official release, it was our first time in a while to review this upcoming smartphone from Infinix with four "firsts" to start off their 2018 campaign
Here is the Infinix Hot S3. It's their first smartphone with XOS Hummingbird based on Android 8.0 Oreo, with a Qualcomm processor via Snapdragon 430 processor, with 18:9 display aspect ratio and 20 MP selfie camera. For the rest of the specs, you can check our previous article here
Unfortunately, we do not have the official box of the phone but we have the charger, official casing and the phone
The front view has LED notification with red for charging, green for notification alerts and if the phone's already fully charged together with dual LED flash, 18:9 display and 20 MP selfie camera plus the on-screen Android control buttons.
The back has 13 MP rear camera also with dual LED flash, Infinix x HOT S logos and non-removable back cover. The top has 3.5 mm audio jack while at the bottom has single speaker, pin hole microphone and OTG-capable micro USB port.
The left part has dual nano SIM and micro SD slot while on the right has volume rocker and textured power/unlock button
This is the view of the phone with the provided case on. The charger has 5V 2A output with that familiar flat cables from Infinix. For some reason, I was impressed on it's efficacy with 4,000 mAh battery inside, it can fully charge the phone from 0 to 100% in around 2 hours and 15 minutes
It is a new kind of XOS so the screenshots will tell the story. Like in stock Android Oreo, the app drawer button is gone as you will have to swipe from the bottom up. The pulldown menu is now on white background which you can still edit the icon placing. One thing that I still do not like on XOS is exposing all of your apps in the main page - no remove option but only for uninstall. The good side is the number of apps that were supported for the multi-window mode and Freezer app which you can put in your apps that you are only using for a few times and at the same time, that eats a lot of RAM (my fave to put in there is Facebook Pages Manager) The full screen mode can be used on some apps like Asphalt 8 but not that much compared to what I had seen in a ColorOS-powered phones.
The display was good for it's HD+ display and it has quite enough brightness to survive in a bright, outdoor day
With Snapdragon 430 processor, it is a given that this Qualcomm SoC will not gonna let me down in the connectivity department in calls, texts, mobile data, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.
Here are the benchmarks. Good thing that Infinix does not cut off some corners with 7 working sensors including gyro. It scored at over 59,000 on Antutu.
Another thing that I love even in phones with budget Qualcomm processors, it is almost a sureball that it will be good on the sound department and Hot S3 is no exception especially on 3.5 mm. audio jack.
On battery as expected with it's 4,000 mAh battery, the phone survived at over 17 hours on battery video rundown test. Using it on heavy ussage , I can use it for more than a day with over 8 hours of screen on time and mixed usage.
In camera, the rear cam has auto, beauty, and more extensive pro mode (with shutter speed up to 6 seconds, ISO up to 1550). The selfie cam had beauty, bokeh and auto mode. Both cameras have HDR and has 4 modes for both dual LED flash like auto, torch, on and off. The rear cam can do a-ok shots in almost all kinds of lighting conditions. The selife cam is a bit tricky at first as it does not have AF and it has a bit slow image processing time compared to the back camera so you might gonna have a bit blur selfie if you will gonna be careful. As long as you can get the rhythm and the phone's tendencies, you can make a good selfie. If you will gonna make a zoom of your face, definitely it does not have a match with other 20 MP selfie phones but with about twice the price.
Infinix Hot S3 rear camera samples
Infinix Hot S3 front camera sample (normal mode)
Infinix Hot S3 front camera sample with flash auto
Infinix Hot S3 front camera sample with flash (auto) and beauty mode on
In extras, the review unit that I got was based on version V23. I noticed some bugs that for some reasons there were some apps that a snap that uninstalled without a reason like Opera Mini and Lazada Philippines. Throughout the review, I never got a single update. I contacted some people form Infinix Philippines that a version V25 is up on some of their test units although they did not encounter such problems.
Infinix Hot S3 is priced at Php 7,999 starting February 28, 2018 thru Shopee Philippines. The price was a-ok already given for the big battery, more than average sounding on the speaker and thru 3.5 mm. audio jack, good display, true dual SIM support, quite respectable charging, very good battery life and good camera for the asking price. They just need to fix on some of the problems on disappearing and more apps to support on full display mode. I will gonna give Infinix Hot S3 at 3.75 out of 5.
