Design of Infinix Hot 8
The earpiece is placed right above the notch on the front panel of the Infinix Hot 8 and there is also a soft LED flash strip on the left side which is visible only when the screen is on. It also lights up when the phone is put on charging but it does not work as a notification light.
We have the Cyan colour variant of the Infinix Hot 8 for review, which has a Peacock Blue shade on the top but a Black colour on the bottom. The glossy back panel of the Infinix Hot 8 comes with a glittery finish, and a fingerprint sensor is also provided at the back of the phone for security.
This Infinix handset also has another color variant, Cosmic Purple. On the back panel of this color variant, you will get a glimpse of a dark purple shade instead of blue. However, it seems that the rear panel is made of weak material because it gets pressed even on slight pressure.
The phone gets stained easily, let us tell you that a transparent protective case from Infinix will also be available in the retail box. The power and volume buttons have been placed in such a way that the hand can easily reach the buttons. The 3-in-1 (dual nano-SIM + microSD) tray has been placed on the left side of the phone, while the speaker, micro-USB port and 3.5 mm headphone jack are at the bottom of the phone.
The curved edges give the phone a good grip and it weighs 165 grams. The Infinix Hot 8 is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, yet the phone is not too heavy. But the 20:9 display makes it difficult to use the phone with one hand.
Infinix Hot 8 specifications and software
The dual-SIM (Nano) Infinix Hot 8 smartphone sports a 6.52-inch (720×1600 pixels) HD+ display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a screen-to-body ratio of 90.3 percent. The peak brightness of the display is 450 nits and the colors are well displayed on the screen.
Even though the display is reflective, viewing content on the screen was not too bothersome and the brightness was decent even in daylight. The display of the Infinix Hot 8 is one of the better ones in this price segment. The Infinix Hot 8 is powered by a 2.0GHz MediaTek Helio P22 octa-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM.
There is 64 GB storage for saving photos, videos and other things, it is possible to increase the storage up to 256 GB with the help of microSD card. Talking about Infinix Hot 8 Price in India, the price of Infinix Hot 8 in India has been fixed at Rs 7,999, at this price you will get 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage variant.
Infinix Hot 8 is powered by a 5,000mAh battery and a 10W charger is provided in the retail box. Talking about the camera setup, Infinix Hot 8 has three rear cameras. The back panel of the phone has a 13MP primary camera, aperture F/1.8, 2MP depth sensor and a third low light sensor.
For selfies and video calling, there is an 8-megapixel front camera, its aperture is F / 2.0. The camera hardware of the Infinix Hot 8 is similar to the Infinix Smart 3 Plus. The Infinix Hot 8 smartphone runs on XOS 5.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie.
Our review unit received the September security patch during testing. The UI of the phone is similar to the Infinix Hot 7, Infinix Smart 3 Plus. The phone comes with a lot of bloatware preinstalled including in-house and some third-party apps like XTheme, XClub, AI Gallery, Opera News, ShareChat, Flipkart, Instagram and Facebook.
The swipe-based navigation gestures aren’t very easy to use and often fail to work while gaming or multitasking. XOS 5.0 also has some useful features like WhatsApp mode. There’s also a Smart Panel, which is a customizable widget with shortcuts to frequently used apps and tools.
Infinix Hot 8 performance and battery life
The MediaTek Helio P22 processor on the Infinix Hot 8 works well for basic tasks like web browsing, social media usage, and running basic productivity apps. But the phone starts to slow down as soon as 10 apps or games are running in the background.
Multitasking was slow on the handset earlier but it has been improved with updates. This phone is not for those who need to switch between multiple apps frequently. Heavy apps and games take time to load, normal games like Mario Kart Tour ran smoothly on the handset but PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9 failed to load even after multiple attempts.
If you are looking for a phone to use for day-to-day tasks, the Infinix Hot 8 works well. One thing we liked was that the phone did not heat up while gaming. The Infinix Hot 8 is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that easily lasts all day.
Usage includes gaming, internet connectivity, social media and productivity apps, listening to music for hours with the help of wired earphones. Despite the usage, the phone lasted for a day and a half. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted for 17 hours and 21 minutes.
Infinix Hot 8 cameras
First let’s talk about the camera app. Basic camera modes and controls such as AI Cam, Beauty, Video, Bokeh, and AR buttons are given in a strip above the shutter button. Buttons to control HDR, flash, scene modes, and aspect ratio are given above the viewfinder.
Surprisingly, this Infinix brand phone cannot capture photos in 16:9 aspect ratio. It is worth noting that often the shutter button does not respond for a few seconds after switching the camera mode. Now let’s talk about the photo quality.
Photos taken with the 13-megapixel primary camera in daylight were good. Autofocus was mostly accurate and photos looked vibrant. There was no lack of sharpness when viewing the photos on the phone’s display. Dynamic range was also good but every photo lacked a little sharpness around the edges and corners.
We liked that the phone doesn’t oversaturate the colours of objects. When it comes to close-up shots, the Infinix Hot 8 takes crisp photos with good detail and sharp edges. Bokeh shots captured in daylight had decent subject separation and decent colours but edge detection didn’t work properly.
After taking a picture, the intensity of the blur and the point of focus can be adjusted in the default gallery app. Indoor pictures taken in low light were grainy and had muted colours along with some noise. The dedicated night mode takes slightly better pictures.
The 8-megapixel front camera captures decent images. Selfies taken in daylight were vibrant but skin smoothening was clearly visible. Selfies taken in low light showed grain. The Infinix Hot 8 smartphone is capable of recording videos up to 1080p resolution, but due to the lack of stabilization, the footage is jerky.
Our verdict
The Infinix Hot 8 comes with a competent hardware. However, despite having 4GB of RAM, the phone struggles while multitasking. Redmi 7 And Realme 3i ,Review) with less RAM are better as they have faster processors. The performance of the phone is good provided you are not playing heavy games.
If camera output is your priority and you can live with some performance limitations then the Infinix Hot 8 could be a good choice. If you want to buy a budget all-rounder smartphone that doesn’t slow down and has decent cameras then the Redmi 8A is a good option. Other options include Realme 3i and Honor 8C ,Review) is included.