Infinix has launched an entry-level phone Infinix Smart 9 HD in India. The phone is priced at Rs. 6699 and looks really good. The company also has some bold claims about the phone. In this detailed article, I will give you a review of Infinix Smart 9 HD. If you are looking to buy this phone, keep reading to know more about Infinix Smart 9 HD.
This phone feels surprisingly sturdy. It has a plastic build with flat edges, a Glass Finish Back, and a color-matched frame. The smartphone looks good and stands out.
The phone has a large display with a hole punch for the selfie camera. It has thick bezels but that’s acceptable for a budget phone. It has volume rockers and a side button on the right. SIM card tray is on the left where you can include two SIM cards and a microSD card. The base side has a headphone jack, USB-C port, and speaker grill. On the back, it has a squircle camera module with two camera sensors and two LED flash. The smartphone is comfortable to hold and easy to use with one hand. It carries a weight of 188 grams and has a width of 8.35mm.
If I talk about durability, Infinix claims it’s been drop-tested 250,000 times and has passed the 6-sided drop protection test. Something to give you peace of mind. And the phone also feels durable. The IP54 rating also makes it splash and dustproof.
Overall, this phone stands out with its beautiful and durable design in this segment.
The phone comes with a 6.7-inch HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a good one at this price point. The display seems good for watching videos and other content. The panel has 500 nits of brightness, not very bright, but sufficient for outdoor usage.
It also has a twin speakers setup with DTS sound processing. And the sound output is loud. Not very detailed, but good for watching movies and social media content on the phone.
The phone packs MediaTek Helio G50 chipset which has an octa-core processor with a 2.0GHz clock speed. It’s built on a 12nm process that is older but still efficient for budget phones. The phone efficiently handles basic functions and everyday apps. Users may notice slightly longer loading times and a minor delay when switching between apps, but overall, the device provides a responsive and enjoyable experience for its price. The smartphone also has 3GB LPDDR4X RAM and supports up to 3GB of virtual RAM. The IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU can handle casual gaming and basic graphics processing. You can play less demanding games and casual games comfortably on this phone.
You get 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage and the storage is expandable up to 1TB.
Smart9 HD runs XOS 14 which is based on Android 14 Go. Since the UI is based on Android 14 GO, it is optimized to run smoothly on entry-level smartphones with limited resources. The phone comes with a few bloatware, but the count is low and you can uninstall these apps. The UI has a notable feature called Dynamic Bar that shows charging animation, Face unlock animation, and call information around the selfie camera. You also get themes, wallpapers, and other customization options. And, Gestures for getting things done quickly.
The phone has a dual camera setup with a 13-megapixel primary camera and a secondary depth camera. It also has a dual flash setup that includes a normal flash and the segment’s first Zoom flash. The normal flash works in regular low-light photos. However, the dedicated zoom flash helps the camera’s zoom functionality. When you zoom in on a subject, the light from the zoom flash helps to maintain focus and clarity. For selfies, the phone has 8 megapixels front camera with a front LED flash for low-light selfies.
The rear camera performance in daylight is good. Although it doesn’t capture many details, photos are sharp with good colors. However, the camera struggles in low light. Obviously, you cannot expect much from the camera of a budget phone. The selfie camera is also good in broad daylight but struggles indoors and in low light.
Now let’s have a look at some of the camera samples.
The phone can record 1080p 30fps videos from the rear camera. Due to the lack of any stabilization, videos turn out to be shaky. It can record 1080p 30fps videos from a selfie camera and the same results here.
This phone doesn’t support 5G and there’s also no other 5G phone priced less than Rs. 7000. So, it is not a disappointment. You get 4G, WiFi 5, and Bluetooth 5.2. The fingerprint sensor is on the side button and it works well.
It packs a 5000mAh battery that can provide you a full day of battery backup. There’s also a Power Boost feature that can further extend battery backup. You also get Ultra-Power saving mode with options to customize the power saving mode. Smart9 HD supports only 10W charging and takes more than 2.5 hours to charge.
Wrap Up
Infinix Smart 9 HD seems like a good entry-level smartphone. It offers a beautiful & durable design, a good display, decent performance, and a long-lasting battery. However, low light camera performance could have been better and charging is slow. But these are only minor compromises considering the price of the phone. At just Rs. 6700, Infinix Smart9 HD is a good phone to consider.
