Infinix Smart 8 HD Review: The most basic Android Go smartphone
Infinix aims to offer basic features in a segment that doesn’t have many options in the mix.
Infinix makes decent smartphones in the sub-Rs 10,000 price range and offers pretty good hardware with them too. The brand launched the Infinix Smart 7 HD in April last year and has now revamped the model with the latest Infinix Smart 8 HD. The new phone comes with a slightly revised look and packs 3GB of RAM instead of 2GB on last year’s Smart 7 HD. We have tested the device thoroughly and in this article, we will tell you whether this entry-level smartphone is value for money or not.
Infinix Smart 8 HD Price in India
The Infinix Smart 8 HD is priced at Rs 7,990 and comes with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage. It comes in four colour options – Crystal Green, Timber Black, Shiny Gold and Galaxy White. We got the Crystal Green colour option for our review. In the box, you will find the smartphone, a clear case, a charging brick, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C charging cable, a user manual and a SIM ejector tool.
Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Design
The phone looks pretty similar to its predecessor. The matte back panel barely features the Infinix logo, and the camera module protrudes quite a bit from the matte polycarbonate side rails. The main difference between the Smart 8 HD and the 7 HD is the texture on the back panel. Instead of a textured polycarbonate back panel, you get this unique shimmery design. The phone uses a side-mounted fingerprint reader instead of the rear-mounted one used on the 7 HD. Despite the heavy use of polycarbonate, the Infinix Smart 8 HD feels good in the hand with flat sides and a thickness of 8.5mm.
Infinix Smart 8HD Back Panel Infinix Smart 8HD Back Panel
The Infinix Smart 8 HD looks very different from its predecessor.
Weight distribution is good, and at 184 grams, it doesn’t feel bulky. For a short time, I used this smartphone as a secondary smartphone, and I had no problem carrying it in the same pocket as my daily smartphone. The Smart 8 HD’s bezels are quite thick, but that’s not a problem considering the price. The front camera uses a punch-hole cutout, which is refreshing for an entry-level smartphone. However, there is no official IP rating or splash resistance, so it’s not wise to take it swimming. A dedicated microSD card is included, making it a good choice for those who want more storage space but need to use two 4G SIM cards.
Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Specifications and Software
The smartphone is powered by the Unisoc T606 SoC, an entry-level processor that can handle light tasks with ease. You can use the smartphone for daily VoIP calls, checking emails, replying to texts on WhatsApp, and light website browsing. I had a second 4G SIM card inserted while I was carrying the device and the reception was good. The internet speeds are not as fast as 5G-enabled devices, but considering it is a 4G smartphone, it works well enough.
For a smartphone in this price range, it is good to see the phone moving to a USB Type-C port instead of the usual micro USB port. It has a fingerprint reader on the side, which is a nice feature at this price range. Face unlock is also available, but we don’t recommend it as it is not secure. The Infinix Smart 8 HD is powered by a 5,000mAh battery and can be charged using the included 10W charger. It runs on Infinix’s XOS 13 based on Android 13 Go. It uses a Dynamic Island-like feature that Infinix has named Magic Ring, but it has limited functionality. The brand has not made any promises regarding future software updates, which may be a bit worrying for those who want to keep the smartphone for a long time.
Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Performance
Being an entry-level device, our expectations on performance were not very high. Nevertheless, we ran all the required benchmarks on the device and the scores were decent for a smartphone in this price range. It scored 2,32,007 in AnTuTu v10.2.1 , 379 in single-core and 1,322 in multi-core tests in Geekbench 6. The Infinix Smart 8 HD sports a 6.6-inch HD+ LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate which seems new in this price range, while Xiaomi’s Redmi A3 offers the same. The display shows colors well when viewed from the front, but colors start to wash out when viewed from an angle. Indoors, the brightness levels of the smartphone are adequate with a peak brightness of said to be 500nits . But, when you take it outdoors, the display is quite disappointing.
Infinix Smart 8HD Display Infinix Smart 8HD Display
The Infinix Smart 8 HD’s display is barely readable outdoors.
The smartphone’s bottom speaker offers acceptable sound quality despite having very little bass. When played at maximum volume, it can sound sharp and volume adjustments will be required to improve clarity during playback.
Android 13 Go edition is quite lighter than the full version, which works in the smartphone’s favour quite a bit. The smartphone did not feel slow or lagging while scrolling through the UI of the smartphone, but it is a bit slow to launch third-party apps. Despite the price, the performance of the Infinix Smart HD 8 is quite good. It is not a gaming device but it can handle basic casual games without any issues. Subway Surfers ran well without any lag and the touch response rate of the smartphone was also good.
Considering it is an entry-level processor, I was surprised to see the phone heat up after just 15-20 minutes of playing casual games. There are also heating issues while using the camera app, but everyday tasks like web browsing and using messaging apps like WhatsApp work just fine.
The phone achieved a respectable 20 hours and 10 minutes in our battery loop test. After a full day of use, including calls, streaming videos, and even taking photos with the default camera app, there was about 30% battery left at the end of the day, which is decent for a phone in this price range. In our battery charging test, the phone charged just 4% in 30 minutes, 27% in an hour, and was fully charged in 3 hours. This may seem a bit slow, but most phones in this price range perform similarly.
Infinix Smart 8 HD review: Camera
The Infinix Smart 8 HD sports a dual rear camera setup with a 13MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture and a 0.08MP secondary camera. The smartphone uses an 8MP camera for selfies. The camera UI is simple and without any fancy features. It offers basic photo and video controls as you would expect on an Infinix smartphone.
The Infinix Smart 8 HD has one user-accessible camera.
The 13MP main camera takes decent images even in sunlight, and although it takes a second for the final image in the gallery to appear, the result is very different from the image you see in the Camera app’s viewfinder when you take the shot.
The camera does a lot of processing in the background, but the results are average. Images have good saturation but lack detail resolution. I took a few shots of moving and still objects in sunlight and the results were satisfactory for a smartphone in this price range. The camera handles backlit situations well in portrait mode and has decent edge detection, which is typical for a smartphone in this price range.
The phone uses 2x digital zoom and a lot of processing to produce softer images, but in enough light you can take serviceable photos. As expected, the phone struggles with low-light photography.
Daytime photo taken with 2x digital zoom
The night mode gives you clearer images and decent colors. One thing that caught my attention is that you can’t set the exposure when using the dedicated night mode, which can lead to bad photos and you having to retake them. In other words, the low light performance is not what you would expect from a smartphone in this price range and is not reliable at all.
Night mode photo from the main rear camera
The Infinix Smart 8 HD’s front camera doesn’t perform well in low light.
The 8MP selfie camera is adequate for daytime shots. Photos taken are sharp enough with a good level of detail. The front camera struggles quite a bit in low light, taking noisy and blurry images. The Infinix Smart 8 HD can shoot videos up to 1080p 30fps with the main camera. If you stay still, the results are mostly good. If you start moving or panning, the video shakes a lot and becomes unusable. Video performance in low light is not great, and recorded videos are very blurry and noisy. The front camera takes pretty good daytime shots in both moving and stationary situations, which is a plus.
Infinix Smart 8 HD Review: Verdict
The Infinix Smart 8 HD is a good device if you want a second phone with a long battery life and you are on a tight budget. However, it has some drawbacks like very slow support for 10W charging, poor camera performance in low light, unreadable outdoors and very limited viewing angles. So, it is good for calls and basic app usage, but not much more. There is no doubt that there is not much choice in this price range, but Xiaomi offers something similar with the Redmi A3 starting at Rs 7,299. It has a better processor, more RAM variants and a 90Hz refresh rate display. You can also consider the Redmi 13C (starting at Rs 7,699), which is a little more expensive but has a better display and cameras.
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