Infinix Smart 7 Review: Upping budget standards
Pros: Good design/in-hand feel, 2-day battery life, Full Android 12 with XOS 12 features.
Cons: Heavy, bloatware, average cameras, No IR blaster.
The smartphone market is surging at a rapid pace in India. A quick glance at the market and you’d see that there are multiple products launching every week. However, most recent releases in the country are mid-range and flagship devices, while there are only fewer budget phones.
When it comes to the under Rs 8,000 price segment, there’s seldom any device that offers “good” specs. Now, there are different definitions of “good” and they change as you move across different price segments. Most devices in this segment cheap out on one or the other features giving you a half-baked smartphone experience.
Infinix recently launched the Infinix Smart 7. It was claimed to offer most features that a user would ask for at the aforesaid price range. Features such as a large display, a gigantic battery, a chip that keeps the phone going, and a full-fledged Android OS. Also, a fingerprint scanner, which is a rarity in this segment — basically a good smartphone experience.
To put all that to the test, I’ve been using the Smart 7 for more than a week, and in this full review, I’ve many things to say about the device. Before we delve deeper, let’s see its price and specs.
Infinix Smart 7 price and specs
| Model | Infinix Smart 7 |
| Model no. | Infinix X6517 |
| Price and variants | Rs 7,499 (4GB/64GB) |
| Colors | Azure Blue, Emerald Green, and Night Black |
| Availability | Flipkart |
| Display size | 6.6-inch water-drop notch panel, IPS LCD |
| Display specs | 60Hz RR, HD+ (720 x 1612 pixels), 500 nits peak brightness, Widevine L3 |
| Protection | NEG Glass protection |
| Security | Rear-mounted FPS, facial unlock |
| Camera setup | Rear – dual cameras, Front – single camera |
| Camera specs | 13MP main, 0.3MP depth | 5MP selfie |
| Video maximum | 1080 at 30fps | Front – 1080p at 30fps |
| Chipset | 28nm Unisoc SC9863A, PowerVR GE8322 graphics |
| RAM and storage | 4GB LPDDR4x RAM, 64GB eMMC 5.1 (Memfusion/MicroSD Card) |
| Battery and charging | 5,000mAh battery + 10W fast charging |
| Audio | 3.5mm headphone jack, mono speakers |
| Operating system | Android 12 OS, XOS 12 |
| Software support | – |
| IP rating | No IP rating |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Fingerprint sensor |
| Network and connectivity | Dual Nano SIM 4G | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2 |
Infinix Smart 7 Review: Design and Display
Unlike previously, this time around, Infinix has improved on the design of the Smart 6 successor. And, you can feel the change when you see the phone or grab it in your hands.
Although the device is a bit bulky at 207 grams, it offers a good grip due to the 3D textured patterns on the back. The back panel is made out of plastic and there’s no framing to the device as such since the plastic back extends toward the sides. The flat sides on the phone make it feel a bit premium, doing away with the tacky and curvy build from last year.
It boasts a square-shaped camera island on the rear holding two camera modules that are larger in size. There’s a dual-LED flash and a fingerprint scanner as well sitting on the camera island.
While the rear design is pretty good, on the front, it features a water-drop notch panel. For the price, such panel design is evident. On the right spine, there’s a power button and a volume rocker. There’s a SIM card tray on the left spine, and it’s a triple slot.
There’s nothing on the top, but at the bottom, it has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, and a speaker grille.
Taking a look at the display features, it has a 6.6-inch IPS LCD display with 500 nits of brightness and HD+ resolution.
For comparison, the Moto E13 and Poco C50, which are the direct competitors to the Smart 7, come with 400 nits brightness.
It is a 60Hz refresh rate panel with NEG Glass protection. I feel the screen is fairly bright but less vibrant for my taste. Watching YouTube videos is a good experience since with the latest update, i.e. firmware version number ‘X6517-V6500AACD-S-GL-230225V464’, the lag for 60fps video playback found in the out-of-the-box firmware version is gone.
Now, the device is able to play videos at 60fps without breaking a sweat, which wasn’t the case for the out-of-the-box XOS version.
It has a Widevine L3 certification so don’t expect to watch movies on OTT apps in the highest quality.
Infinix Smart 7 Review: Cameras
The Smart 7 has average cameras that you may or may not like depending on your current smartphone.
It has a customary dual camera setup on the back with a 13MP main lens and a 0.3MP depth sensor. The setup is assisted by a dual-LED flash to help with low-light shots.
As it is with all Infinix phones, there’s the AI Cam as the default camera mode. It clicks decent images if you keep your hands steady and if there’s plenty of light available. However, in sharp lighting, for instance, in the sharp sunlight, the images do tend to get spoiled sometimes.
Infinix hasn’t offered all the camera features on the Smart 7. For starters, there are only three modes other than the default AI Cam mode, which are Beauty, Portrait, and Panorama.
It misses on a Night mode and my favorite Sky Shop, which I adored on the much pricer Infinix Zero 5G Turbo 2023.
The 5MP selfie camera clicks soft images and using the beauty mode makes your skin tone even softer. But there’s a selfie flash on the phone, which makes the selfies acceptable. Kudos to Infinix for giving a front flash.
As for videography, it has a maximum of 1080p 30fps support. The video is just average but that was expected for the price.
You can have a look at all the images and videos in full quality here.
Infinix Smart 7 Review: Performance and Battery
The Infinix Smart 7 is clearly not a performance-centric device for the price it retails. However, in day-to-day ‘light’ usage, it performs well. Jumping from one app to another is fast, probably because the speed of the animations on the phone has been tweaked.
It isn’t a gaming phone by any chance, but it can handle games like Asphalt 9, Subway Surfers, Clash of Clans, and other similar titles. I tried playing New State mobile on the device and in low settings and it wasn’t a good experience, although the game did run with several hiccups.
I wouldn’t suggest playing heavy titles on the device since the chip inside the phone is Unisoc SC9863A, a 28nm octa-core chip (the same as the predecessor).
Interestingly, the device comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. This is rare at this price point since most phones in the segment have base 2GB or 3GB of RAM with 32GB of internal storage.
And by the way, there’s 3GB of Memfusion support, which is nothing but virtual RAM. It also has a dedicated microSD card slot for additional storage of up to 2TB.
One of the major prowesses of the Smart 7 is the battery. It packs a mammoth 6,000mAh battery that doesn’t die easily. I tried playing games, kept playing YouTube videos, and shot multiple photos from the camera app — but even with all that for hours, the battery percentage was way above 50 percent.
It is easily a 2-day phone on heavy usage and it can last for more days if the usage is only WhatsApp and calling. Sounds perfect for elderly people, doesn’t it?
However, charging it to the brim wasn’t quick, although it has a USB Type-C port and 10W charging support. The 10W charging brick inside the box takes nearly three hours to fully charge. But that also means that you can keep it for charging overnight and plug it off in the morning.
Infinix Smart 7 Review: Software
Out of the box, the device runs Android 12 out of the box with XOS 12 on top. And no, this isn’t the Go Edition OS. Rather, it’s the full Android version, which is rare at this price.
It does have some bloatware and comes with Palm Store, Hi Browser, and other proprietary apps. But these apps can be disabled so that they don’t keep sending you spam.
Bloatware aside, whether you like it or not, XOS is all about features. It comes with Peak Proof, Dark Mode, Eye Care, Theft Alert, Kids mode, and other useful features.
I feel the Peak Proof mode is pretty handy when outdoors as it doesn’t let others see what I am doing on my phone. Furthermore, Infinix’s own dialler allows for call recording, a feature that many users demand.
Update-wise, there’s no promise from the brand but we expect Infinix to at least update the device to Android 13 in the coming months.
Infinix Smart 7 Review: Connectivity and extras
The Smart 7 has dual-SIM 4G connectivity and I’ve had no issues with calling on the phone. The calls were clear and it has a good network reception. The device only supports 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and has Bluetooth 4.2 support.
Infinix has offered a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and support for facial unlock at this price point, which is commendable.
The fingerprint scanner works 7 out of 10 times, but the facial unlock, for some reason, gets disabled automatically. Most times, it told me to put the password manually for “Due to security restrictions”.
There’s only a single speaker on the phone, that’s located at the bottom. It’s loud but can easily get muffled when playing games in landscape mode. The inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack is useful since at this price range, many would be leaning toward wired earphones.
Infinix Smart 7 Review: Verdict
The Infinix Smart 7 is firepower when compared to similarly priced phones in the segment. It’s upping the standards in the under Rs 8,000 segment by offering a beautiful design that doesn’t look tacky, a massive battery that offers 2 days of usage, and many software features.
Overall, it’s a good device for light phone users. It can also be a good secondary phone, thanks to its battery life and storage expandability.
Takeaways for the brand
Infinix, however, needs to address a few things here. First is the bloatware – Ostracize it, please. Next up, the chip – it could have been something new, like a 12nm Unisoc or MediaTek’s Helio for that matter. Then, an IR Blaster – it’s a feature that I adore and expect Infinix to add to all of its devices.
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