Smartphone Infinix S5: savings or waste?

And the war between Samsung and Apple lasted for decades. But not so long ago, the Chinese brand Xiaomi joined it and escalated the situation to the limit, if only because the prices of competitors are different, and the quality is often the same. Third-party viewers were able to find positive moments in this struggle, for example, Infinix from Hong Kong, which presented a smartphone that painfully resembles autumn novelties.

Smartphone S5 (attention to the name!) will certainly create tough competition for budget models with its simplicity and versatility. If you were looking for a powerful, neat phone that contains only the most useful and important things without strange bells and whistles that you are unlikely to use, then read carefully!

About company

The brand originates in Hong Kong, and is considered relatively young, only 6 years old.Unpopularity in Russia is due to the policy between countries, as well as the focus of Infinix on the Asian market. It is impossible not to note one interesting fact! All products of the company are produced in France, and from there they are exported around the world.

An approximate translation of the name from English sounds like "inspiration". Will he get it after our review?

Appearance

Infinix, with its release, is especially reminiscent of a cunning schoolboy who copied the composition, slightly changing the details and rearranging the words. Indeed, against the background of Xiaomi and Oppo devices, he looks like a lost brother.

A distinctive feature of the S5 is its impressive dimensions. Neither more nor less, and the diagonal is 6.6 inches. This value is an absolute breakthrough in the fall 2019 flagship category. However, the question arises, how to hold such dimensions in one hand? The brand, unfortunately, does not know the answer.

This is where the miracles end, the general view of the model is a picture familiar to the eye. The rectangular case with rounded edges is made of plastic (under the guise of tempered glass) and has a beautiful glossy finish.

Undoubtedly shiny surfaces collect fingerprints and dirt in a matter of seconds, but we hasten to remind you that the release belongs to the middle price category and you should not expect better materials from it.

On the left side of the rear panel is a slender row of 4 cameras, bordered by a silver bezel. Some metamorphoses happened with the fingerprint cutout: the traditional round notch was replaced by a square one. And this, in turn, means that cases for the gadget will be limited and not always available. But more on that later!

The front camera, barely noticeable, modestly huddled in the upper left corner of the phone. On a black screen, a small globular cutout will be difficult to find.

Despite the size, the weight of the S5 complies with international standards - 178 grams. At least your hand won't get tired!

Equipment

The manufacturer decided to surprise buyers long before unpacking the device itself. A narrow box in a soft blue hue with an unusual design is vaguely reminiscent of Xiaomi, but oh well. What the Chinese colleague definitely does not have is a transparent, silicone case in the kit! Infinix solved the problem ingeniously.

The model is presented in two colors: Quetzal Blue (a duochrome color that shimmers in neon blue and green) and purple. No need to guess for a long time which color the company liked more, because you won’t find a purple Infinix S5 in the afternoon with fire.

Characteristics

Screen

We have already made a reservation that the diagonal of the screen is incomparably large - 6.6 inches. When deciding on such an experiment, the Hong Kong brand must understand the degree of responsibility. What a pity, the smartphone is a budget one, and few people care about the characteristics of the display.

The user is met by an IPS matrix, which, on the one hand, is quite energy-intensive, durable and bright, and on the other hand, cheap and quickly fading. Still, there are more pluses than minuses and for light games, as well as checking social networks and watching movies, its qualities are enough.

The pixel density on the fashionable frameless display is sad. Only ~266 ppi is too little for such a thug. The picture will be soapy and fuzzy, whatever one may say.

Speaking of which! At least the viewing angle of the phone is acceptable. Maybe few people sin by dimming, but Hong Kong did not miscalculate with the size. Full HD 720 x 1600 resolution. Powerful enough for a cheap device.

Our verdict: the totality of values ​​is enough for everyday use.

Operating system

The basis for working with the S5 will be everyone's favorite Android 9.0 or Pie. The release of the smartphone took place on October 21, and there are still no marks with a further update to 10.0. There is nothing much to lose, because there are not many differences between the versions.

Unless the menu in the phone is rather non-standard and is made according to the canons of Windows Phone in the form of a list.

Let's talk about performance! The transition between applications is fast, no more than 3 seconds of waiting, and widgets do not slow down the system. Icons are square, medium size. The firmware is completely Russified, and you do not need to download anything extra. Just turn it on and enjoy the smoothness of every click!

autonomy

The creators called the smart processor MediaTek Helio P22, which marks the year from the date of release, the heart of the gadget. The capabilities of the chipset are tailored for the middle price category, but not without innovations. For example, it contains the rudiments of neural networks, which are being developed in full in Qualcomm laboratories. Also a pleasant surprise in the Infinix S5 will be Face ID, migrated from the Iphone, automatic sorting of photos into albums, additional photo editing functions (bokeh, deleting objects) and 8 productive cores. The power of the novelty is quite enough for two-dimensional games and detailed videos. And trusting the promises of the developers that the speed is increased by 40%, confidence in it is growing and getting stronger.

Comparison of MediaTek Helio P22 and Snapdragon 450 processors clearly demonstrates that Mediatek is faster than the global competitor. Although it is difficult to look at the Antutu test without tears (75,000 points), when the usual 250, or even all 300,000 points are inaccessibly visible somewhere in the distance.

Battery

The smartphone lives thanks to a non-removable 4000 mA battery. Often, batteries with this value are accompanied by an ultra-fast port, a fast charging function, or a high-quality adapter, but we do not observe either the first, or the second, and certainly the third. With this state of affairs, the S5 systematically moves down the table of the most tenacious models to the end and steadfastly holds on for no more than a day of constant use.

With mobile Internet, the picture noticeably worsens up to 12 hours of work, with WiFi up to 18. Non-stop at full brightness, it plays video for about 10 hours.

The results are not encouraging, you can only play near a free outlet, and this option is not suitable for travelers at all.

Camera and memory

The distribution of power in the Hong Kong brand turned out to be ambiguous.Let's write it off as a strategy, because in the last 2 years blogging has affected all segments of the population, and there is nothing easier than buying a smartphone with a good camera, and it is better if there are 4 of them (as in S5), and a large capacity (4 GB of RAM will be enough ) for Instagram.

The main camera has 16 megapixels, which is relatively small even for the budget segment. The f/1.8 aperture with good aperture softens the situation a bit.

It will sound rude, but the camera is frankly weak. Lighting, the talent of the photographer, the amount of detail and other factors will play a big role in creating high-quality images, but there will be no real effort on the part of the lens. And night shooting disappears as irrelevant. Even autofocus and a menu spoofed from an Iphone don't help the situation. But we are waiting for 3 more contenders for a harsh word.

Under the main camera is a sensor called ultra-wide! It was enough for 5 megapixels and a decent panorama with a large viewing angle. As for video filming, the producers did not fail, the image of a Hollywood movie will appear in every frame.

Rounding out the list are macro shots and newfangled depth of field to create perspective and presence, 2 megapixels each. The kit is standard, it worked out for a shaky 4. Let's see if the selfie camera will straighten out the situation?

Undoubtedly. Infinix has chosen a course for social networks, and armed with a front camera twice as powerful as the main one! Just imagine 32 megapixels of juicy photos and videos!

Photo examples:

Where to buy and at what price

The release of the smartphone took place on October 21. In Russia, few people know about Infinix, and accordingly, it did not make any noise (it would be something). The model costs about 10 thousand rubles.

The obscurity of the newcomer brand hints to us that there will be no direct deliveries to the CIS, and the last hope is only for intermediaries and Chinese stores.

The purple color goes into the category of myths, since it is simply unrealistic to find it. But Quetzal Blue sounds good too!

Advantages and disadvantages

• Beautiful design;
• Good performance;
• Case included;
• High-quality front camera;
• Debugged operating system;
• A good amount of memory;
• 3 slots for 2 SIM cards and SD
• Nice price.

• Bad main camera;
• Low pixel density;
• Small battery capacity for the available parameters.

The opinion about the new Infinix is ​​ambiguous. On the one hand, getting used to luxury gadgets for 20-30 thousand, where every microcircuit and every inch of the case speaks of its value, we completely forgot that the budget means unpretentiousness. Cheap? The main thing is that it works!

But the S5 does not just work, it has a large number of innovations and chips that are popular in 2019. The model will especially appeal to lovers of a beautiful wrapper and simple functionality. The smartphone copes with its duties in everyday use perfectly. What do you want for 10 thousand rubles?