Infinix HOT 30 5G: Price in India
The Infinix HOT 30 5G has been launched in two RAM and storage options. The base variant gets 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, which is priced at Rs 12,499 and the top model includes 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which is priced at Rs 13,499. The smartphone comes in two color variants – Aurora Blue and Night Black. We had the 8GB RAM variant (Aurora Blue color) of HOT 30 5G for review. Let us tell you that the new handset has been launched at almost the same price at which HOT 20 5G was launched last year.
Infinix HOT 30 5G: Design and display
Infinix has paid good attention to making the new HOT 30 5G attractive. Compared to the previous HOT 20 5G model, some changes have been seen in it, such as the sensor in the camera module is now fitted inside a large ring and a hole-punch cutout has been given in the front. For selfie lovers, the company has fitted an LED flash between the top frame and the display, which is placed behind the bezel, so that it is not visible. The back panel has a frosted glass-like finish with a gradient pattern, while the panel is made of polycarbonate. At the same time, the frame has a chrome finish, but plastic has been used in it. The good thing is that despite being a budget segment smartphone, thin bezels are seen in HOT 30 5G and the chin has also been kept relatively low.
The power button is placed on the right side of the frame along with the volume rockers. The power button comes equipped with a fingerprint sensor. The placement of all the buttons is good, so I did not have any difficulty in reaching them while using them with one hand. At the same time, the triple slot SIM tray is included on the left. The frame has a Type-C port, speaker grill, microphone and 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom, while a secondary speaker is included for stereo sound at the top. Here you do not get a secondary mic for noise cancellation. Overall, the smartphone looks good at first glance for the price. However, with a thickness of 9.1mm and a weight of 215 grams, the phone feels chunky. Especially, users with small palms may feel a little uncomfortable while using it with one hand. The good thing is that despite being affordable, the smartphone is equipped with an IP53 rating, which will help you avoid the worry of the phone getting damaged due to dust and a little water splash.
The HOT 30 5G gets a 6.78-inch full-HD+ IPS display, which supports 120Hz refresh rate. The display performance is good, with both scrolling and transitions in the UI feeling smooth. Infinix claims that the display supports 240Hz touch sampling rate, which is detected during gaming. The high touch sampling rate improved the experience while playing games like BGMI, COD: Mobile. The display supports a peak brightness of 580 nits. The company says that it has a DRE (Dark Region Enhancement) feature, which will make it easier to read text on the display even in sunlight. However, I had some difficulty reading text in direct sunlight conditions.
The display is large, which will make it suitable for those who stream more content. Talking about quality, the display is sharp and HDR performance is also good. I find the colors a bit oversaturated. There is no option to change the color profile here, but you can set the color temperature between cool, warm and warm. The display comes equipped with Widevine L1 certification. Overall, the performance of the display is good for content streaming.
Infinix HOT 30 5G: Specifications and Software
The Infinix HOT 30 5G gets a MediaTek Dimensity 6020 chipset, which is also included in the recently launched Realme Narzo 60 5G. The smartphone comes equipped with 14 5G bands to ensure good 5G connectivity. This includes dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC and GPS. The phone comes with stereo speakers, which are loud. Another nice addition is the triple slot SIM tray, which can accommodate two SIMs as well as a microSD card. It has a large 6,000mAh battery, which supports fast charging up to 18W. The charging brick is available in the box as well as a Type-C cable. The phone comes with a USB Type-C 2.0 port.
The Infinix HOT 30 runs XOS version 13 based on Android 13. On first boot, you’ll find the phone filled with a number of native and third-party apps. Many of these apps are probably the first ones you install on a new phone, but if you don’t want to use them, you can easily uninstall them. The good thing is that apart from a few notifications from the Palm Store, no other app spammed me with notifications during my usage. The UI is simple, with an app drawer and scrolling down from one edge of the screen brings up the notification panel and the shortcut panel from the other. Swiping right from the homescreen brings up the feed panel, where details like workout data, phone usage, recent apps are visible. There are several widgets to choose from, one of which is called ‘Suggestions’, which gives you several options by swiping right inside a box, such as recent apps, schedule, to-dos. It also keeps giving you suggestions like rain alert, steps, alarm, dual clock.
Infinix HOT 30 5G: Performance and Battery
The HOT 30 5G performs well in everyday tasks. Thanks to the Dimensity 6020 chipset, the phone handles multi-tasking, social media browsing and app loading well. The app installation process was also fast. Despite having 8GB of RAM, RAM management was very poor. Even with a few apps running in the background, every minimized app was reloading after a short time.
Talking about benchmarks, the Infinix HOT 30 5G scored 382,089 on AnTuTu. On Geekbench, it got a single-core score of 699 and a multi-core score of 2020. On the other hand, in GFXBench’s Car Chase, Manhattan 3.1 and T-Rex tests, it scored 12 Fps, 21 Fps and 52 Fps respectively. All the scores put the HOT 30 5G in line with its competitors.
The new chipset is not made for heavy gamers. While casual gamers can enjoy graphics demanding games, they may experience some lag in these games. I played mobile games like Call of Duty: Mobile, BGMI and Asphalt 9 on the smartphone, which ran on medium graphics settings by default. Their loading time was high and I also faced frame drops and lag at times during gameplay. However, it did not spoil my gaming experience. The high-touch sampling rate helped well in games like BGMI and COD: Mobile. Thanks to the loud stereo speakers, you will not need earphones for many games. Another good thing was that the smartphone did not heat up even after playing BGMI continuously for about an hour.
The biggest highlight of the HOT 30 5G is its large 6,000mAh battery, which claims to offer long backup. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted about 17 hours, which is a good time. With everyday use, such as a few hours of video streaming, a few hours of using social media apps and half an hour of gaming, the phone easily lasts more than a day. However, the lack of 18W charging support with such a large battery was a bit disappointing. With the bundled charger, the phone charged up to 28 percent in 30 minutes and it took about two hours to fully charge.
Infinix HOT 30 5G: Camera
The Infinix HOT 30 5G has a dual rear camera setup, which includes a 50-megapixel primary sensor equipped with an f/1.6 aperture and another AI camera sensor for depth. It also has a quad LED flash at the back. For selfies and video calling, the front includes an 8-megapixel sensor with dual LED flash.
The main sensor takes good pictures in daylight. The pictures were sharp and had a lot of details. At the same time, the colors also appeared natural in the pictures taken in daylight. However, the dynamic range performance was a bit disappointing. In some shots, the background was overexposed, while in some the highlights were looking suppressed, but this happened only occasionally. The camera tested the edges of the subject well, due to which the bokeh looked natural in most portrait shots. The setup may lack a macro mode or camera, but the shots taken in daylight on 50MP mode come equipped with good details, which you can crop.
Top to Bottom: Primary Camera
The primary camera also performs above average in low light. Indoors, noise is visible in the viewfinder while taking pictures, but the noise was removed with software processing after capturing the shot. However, this sometimes washed out details from the picture. The dynamic range was not consistent in the pictures even in low light. Colours were also oversaturated in the pictures. However, with basic editing, the low-light pictures were ready to go on Instagram.
First: AI Camera, Second: Super Night Mode
If you are not happy with the night shots on the default mode or you are clicking pictures at night in a place with artificial light, you can use the Night mode, which significantly improves the photos by enhancing the dynamic range, details and sharpness.
Selfies taken in daylight were good. There was a natural tone on the face and there was no lack of details in the pictures. Edge detection was also accurate in portrait mode. At the same time, shots taken with artificial light at night were also above average. If there is a lack of light, then the dual LED front flash present in it compensates for it. Shots can be improved to some extent with flash. Although noise was captured in the shots at times, but most of the shots were good with dynamic range. Night mode was not available in selfies.
Both the front and rear camera sensors can record videos at a maximum of 2K 30fps. Videos captured with daylight and indoor light were average. There was no lack of details in the video, but the shots were quite shaky. Jitter was also seen in the viewfinder as well as the captured videos. A bokeh feature has also been added to the camera app, which works to add blur behind the subject in the video, but here the bokeh effect looks quite artificial due to poor edge detection.
Infinix HOT 30 5G: Should you buy it?
Infinix has 5G It offers a good balance between price and hardware specifications. The presence of stereo speakers along with a large display and a big battery make it an ideal device for content streamers. At the same time, the MediaTek Dimensity 6020 chipset makes it a good option for casual gamers at this price. IP53 rating and dual-band Wi-Fi are good additions at this price. In terms of design too, the smartphone keeps pace with its competitors.
However, the big battery and 18W charging are definitely less in keeping with the trend. Still, at a starting price of Rs 12,499, the Infinix HOT 30 5G comes with a good set of hardware that is a bit hard to find on other smartphones in this price range.
If you can compromise with average low-light camera performance and relatively slow charging, the Infinix HOT 5G is a good option in its segment.