Infinix Note 7 Review: Big Display, Average Battery

The competition in the mobile market is going strong, and there is no quarter to spare. That is why Infinix jumped in with a well-balanced Infinix Note 7 that can give major brands a run for their money. They have tried to put together all the top trends in one single mobile. But if they have succeeded in doing so, we will find out shortly.

The device comes with a lot of promises and a reasonable price point. In the US, it sits at $216, while in Pakistan, the launch price goes to PKR 28,999. So, this is an early mid-range device that seeks to offer high-quality features.

Therefore, without any further “ado,” let’s dive deeper into the new Note 7.

Infinix Note 7 Specifications

• Display: 6.95-inch, 720 x 1640px resolution, corning gorilla glass
• Chipset: Mediatek Helio G70
• OS: Android 10, XOS 6.0
• RAM/ROM: 6GB/128GB | 4GB/64GB
• Camera (rear): 48MP + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) + 2MP (video cam)
• Camera (front): 16MP
• Launch Price: PKR 28,999

Design and Display

Infinix Note 7 design language is fresh thinking. The company seems to have rejected the vertical arrangement of the rear camera and came up with this circular approach that looks premium. We have seen this round-shaped camera design on some Nokia models, and who can forget the Huawei Mate 30 series.

The side-mounted fingerprint scanner also serves as the power key. There are a few hiccups though, let’s discuss them in the performance section.

The device features a plastic body that gives a premium shiny look in all three colors; Forest Green, Aether Black, and Bolivia Blue. The multi-shaded pattern on the rear side makes it more appealing; however, it also makes it a smudge magnet. So, you need to place the silicon protector on if you wish to maintain its unique look. 

Despite the shiny back, the curved edges on the backside provide a firm grip on this huge device that looks arduous to hold with one hand for a longer session; however, it is otherwise. 

All other controls are placed in the usual places except the second speaker, locked near the earpiece.

We hoped to see an HD+ display in this price range; however, the HD screen of 6.95 inches provides 258ppi that does not look enough on the paper for such an enormous size, but in reality, it offers a fantastic viewing experience. 

It’s watery smooth to swipe on; the colors on Display are pretty decent, and the contrast is well within the medium limits. There are no additional display settings for colors and contrast apart from fixing the eye strain and the dark mode. The punch hole notch is not at all intrusive on such a massive screen size; however, it can be deactivated from the settings area. 

The screen quality is good indoors and reasonable outdoors at full brightness. The only exception is using the camera app under the sunlight when it becomes harder to see through it. Gaming and movies are not easier under the sunlight. Overall, the screen gives an immersive experience for whatever content type you display on it.

Performance: Gaming is fun on Infinix Note 7

The phone features a MediaTek 6768 (Helio G70) chipset under the hood manufactured on 12nm technology. It’s a gaming series that, coupled with 6GB RAM, works like a charm. I didn’t feel a burden on the phone even without activating the gaming mode, which is also there to allocate more resources to power-hungry games. 

The phone allows playing PUBG at HD settings and a higher frame rate, which is quite pleasing for game lovers. You might come across tiny frame drops while playing CoD, but it is in no way a severe problem and entirely depends upon your gaming habit. 

Since the screen is only 720, you may not find it too vibrant on PUBG even if you crank up the colors game’s setting area. 

While playing games like PUBG or Asphalt 9, Note 7 does not unnecessarily flush out all the apps in memory which is not the case in its other models. So, you can comfortably switch between game sessions on the fly, though you might feel a slight lag while switching. 

Moreover, the phone has reasonable control over the heating issue, and it doesn’t burn up during gaming sessions. So, in terms of gaming performance, it justifies the gaming chipset.

Infinix Note 7 exceeds the rivals in Antutu benchmarks by a decent margin. It scored 194940, which is better than Samsung Galaxy A51’s 186414 that carries an Exynos 9611 chipset. It even surpassed Honor 9X (181341) and Realme 5i (163563).

The good thing about having two speakers is that if one gets blocked, the other can still keep firing. This phone features two speakers, one at the bottom and the other locked on the top edge. However, we feel that sound quality isn’t as powerful as it could have been with the dual speaker setup. 

The balance between bass and treble isn’t well managed, and loudness is on the lower side as well. However, with a pair of headphones, you can enjoy some amazing sound quality thanks to its built-in DTS sound feature. The preset options for bass and treble are good, but you can also do the custom settings.

The fingerprint scanner on the right side reminds us of the beautiful Honor 20 Pro. However, it can cause you to turn on the device unintentionally due to its natural position. So, if you face such a problem, then it is better to disable it from the settings. Another nuisance is its default behavior of acting as the shutter button inside the camera app, which causes unwanted photo clicks when any of the fingers accidentally slides on the key. This can also be stopped from inside the setting area. 

Battery Life

The 5000 mAh battery is all the rage these days, and this device features it in addition to Supercharge 3.0. The 18W fast charger in the box can charge the phone in 2 hours and 25 mins. 

It is faster than Infinix’s own Hot 8 and Realme C3, but it is still marginally behind Vivo’s Y19 that took 2 hours and 13 minutes. 

In our video-loop battery drain test, the phone fully discharged in 13 hours 24 mins. 

We can simply call it an average battery drain performance. 

It drains around 15% of the battery in an hour of the PUBG session. If you are a gaming maniac, keep in mind that the battery would last 6 to 7 hours during online gaming sessions. However, for regular users, the phone can easily last one and a half-day or even beyond if the usage isn’t aggressive.

Check out our ranking of the best mobile phones with the longest battery life

Find out below how the battery responded on different apps using the 4G network.

Camera isn’t a complete disappointment

Infinix Note 7 offers us a quad-camera set up in a circular arrangement, making it look similar to the Nokia 7.2. The primary camera is 48MP, a 2MP macro lens, a 2Mp depth sensor, and a 2MP dedicated video camera.

I should tell you that the dedicated video camera is only available on the 6GB/128GB version.

Whereas on the front side, there is a 16MP selfie camera inside the punch hole.

The default “AI CAM” mode takes 12MP images unless you switch to the full 48MP from the toggle key. The photos taken at 12Mp are decent enough with natural color reproduction and a fair amount of detail. Look at the following image that looks to have details consistently everywhere. It is covering a good dynamic range. A close look reveals the noise level, which is visible more on the edges part. 

The 48MP shot of the same scene shows a lot more detail than the standard version. You can see more noise everywhere, but there seems no significant difference in colors, contrast, or dynamic range.

The camera allows zoom up to 8X that works well in the daylight. At 2x and 5x, the loss in detail doesn’t look significant; however, beyond that, it is not much promising.

Infinix Note 7 claims quite high about low light photography. Take a look at the following shots, where standard mode and 48MP mode aren’t of much help. 

The image looks to have blown out and carried a lot less detail. On the other hand, the Super Night mode does the job but not as promised. The photo in this mode looks quite colorful and decently handles the light sources. 

With good ambient light at night, standard mode overexposes the scene and kills lots of required details to brighten everything, whereas the HDR mode does help to avoid compromises. I would suggest using either HDR or Super Night mode wherever the light is too strong.

Infinix Note 7 is good with taking bokeh and super macro shots in the good light. For bokeh, you can alter the F-stop value for controlling the intensity of blur that works equally good for human and non-human subjects. 

Images are rich in colors, and the phone seems to work decently with edges detection. Whereas the super macro shots due to its 2MP lens provide very few details, it is worth trying with sound grip. It might take a bit of practice, though, and workable only in the right light.

Selfies and portraits are usually overexposed in the daylight, which seems challenging for the camera. We found the backgrounds blown out in most of the cases on sunny days. To brighten the faces, the camera treats everything in the scene alike, and the results are a little overexposed and overly-treated skin in images. 

The phone offers quite a bit of beauty modes for furthering skin beauty and handling body shape. Its quad flash on the rear side is quite strong at night, that even the pitch dark situations cannot spoil the portraits.

In video recording, Infinix Note 7 can record videos at 1080p with image stabilization. The result, as shown in our camera test YouTube video, is significant. With stabilization turned on, the videos are very stable and transition smoothly. Plus, the slow-motion videos recorded at 720p are also good using its advance AI; however, the slow-mo video quality isn’t on par with standard video.

Take a look at the Infinix Note 7 camera test video.

Verdict

Infinix Note 7 is a reasonably priced phone that can give you an immersive display experience where its 720p resolution doesn’t look unacceptable. It can be an attraction for those who like a bigger screen for movies and gaming.

The two-speaker should be sufficient for most people in a less noisy environment, but they are not as good with sound quality as it comes after putting on the headphones.

The gaming chipset does not show a noticeable weakness and coupled with some built-in optimization tools, multi-tasking should not be a problem.

The 5000 mAh battery may not be as long-lasting as some of the Vivo and Samsung Galaxy A series phones we have tested, but it looks on par with some of the average phones on the market.

48MP mode and stabilized videos are the major attractions. The daylight images are good in quality, but for the night, it heavily relies on the Super Night mode for some great-looking pictures, but it isn’t a perfect option for moving objects.

Overall, it’s a great package with a taste of everything.

Alternative

If you are looking for a phone which can provide a better camera and battery performance by not deviating too much from the price of the Infinix Note 7, you should consider choosing Xiaomi Redmi Note 8. In terms of better performance, especially in gaming, the Realme 5i can be suitable as well as a less expensive alternative