Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus leaked images shows the device from every angle

We already know that Samsung will be launching the Samsung Galaxy S10 series a week before the biggest mobile show, Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, on February 20th. By now a lot of details about the Galaxy S10 series have been leaked including the CAD renders, specifications and case manufacturers renders.

Today, we have the first look of both the Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10 Plus from every angle confirming the earlier design leak and leaving nothing to the imagination. Leaked by German blog AllAboutSamsung, widely known for covering every Samsung news, the live images are of the prototypes of the S10 and the S10+.

As you can see in the images, the Galaxy S10 series will bring new infinity display with the punch-hole design. Samsung is calling that display setup Infinity O. With minimal bezels on the top and a smaller chin on the bottom, the Galaxy S10 line-up will provide an immersive experience.

On the rear, the Galaxy S10 and the S10 Plus will house triple cameras paired with a heart-rate sensor and dual-LED flash, all clubbed together in a wide horizontal rectangular box. The key differences between the S10 and its Plus variant are the larger display size, extra RAM and storage configurations, and dual-front facing punch-hole cameras on the latter variant.

You Might Like: Samsung to launch its first foldable smartphone on February 20th

OnePlus 7 leaked live image reveals notch-less sliding camera design

OnePlus has now become a household name. The company started its operations back in 2013 as a kickstarter project with the OnePlus One and the OnePlus 6T is its best representation of how great an affordable phone can be. After launching the OnePlus 3, OnePlus released a slightly upgraded variant of the same with the moniker OnePlus 3T, and since then its been followed for every new OnePlus device launch.

OnePlus' next flagship will be called the OnePlus 7 and the leaks have started coming in already. The company is expected to showcase the OnePlus 7 smartphone in Q2 of 2019.

The first OnePlus 7 leak comes courtesy of CoolAPK (removed), later reposted by SlashLeaks, a discussion platform where anonymous users share images/details of upcoming devices. The image leaked shows an unknown OnePlus smartphone (on the left) besides the latest OnePlus 6T smartphone (on the right), both in a protective case.

The device on the left happens to have a full-screen bezel-less display with no waterdrop notch as seen on the 6T. The bezels on the edges are also minimal and the right side hosts the alert slider with the power button just below it. It can be clearly noticed that the alert slider has a red paint job, not seen on any OnePlus device.

Samsung to launch Galaxy S10 series and foldable smartphone on February 20th; Everything you need to know

In surprising news, Samsung has officially announced that it will be hosting its first annual Galaxy UNPACKED event on February 20th, 2019 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

The invite blog post does not include the name "Galaxy S10" but it clearly shows number '10' and reads "Welcome to the next generation" followed by another blog post titled "A Journey of Mobile Innovation" where the company talks about how it layered the foundation of the Galaxy S series and plans for shaping the next ten years with the launch of the 10th anniversary Galaxy flagship series smartphone.

In another news, The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung will showcase 'a fully-functional foldable smartphone' at the same Galaxy S10 launch event. The device is anticipated to be called the Galaxy F or Galaxy Fold, based on the name trademarks by Samsung. The Samsung foldable smartphone is in news since 2017 and it's finally happening.

Samsung at its Developer Conference in late-2018 unveiled the Infinity Flex Display, where it gave a glimpse (attached below) of its unfinished foldable smartphone, which more or less looked like a box/book with displays embedded in it. Though it had a protective case on top, the device didn't impress many. We hope Samsung has worked on the design after hearing rave reviews since its demonstration and made it better than the Xiaomi's upcoming foldable device.

Read More: Is Xiaomi working on a dual-sided foldable smartphone? Alleged video leaked

Xiaomi announces Redmi Note 7 with 48MP rear camera for just 999 Yuan ($150)

As promised, Xiaomi today at an event in China has officially announced the launch of the first independent Redmi smartphone, the Redmi Note 7. The newly launched Redmi Note 7 is the successor to the Redmi Note 6 Pro smartphone launched last year.

According to Redmi, Note 7 will be available initially in China and will be offered in three different configurations. The 3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage is priced at 999 Chinese Yuan, which is roughly $150 or Rs. 10,000. On the other hand, the 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage variant costs 1,199 Chinese Yuan (~ $177 / Rs. 12,500) and the 6GB RAM variant with 64GB storage costs 1,399 Chinese Yuan (~ $206 / Rs. 14,500).

The pricing of the Redmi Note 7 is very aggressive compared to the other devices with similar specifications. It is the cheapest 48MP camera phone available in the market. Redmi is expected to launch the Note 7 in India and other usual regions in coming months.

Talking about the details of Note 7, it comes in a glass body with a metal chassis. Both the front and back have 2.5D curved edges on its sides and gradient color combinations. The device will be available in three different shades of Fantasy Blue, Bright Black and Twilight Gold, which looks more like Red.

The Redmi Note 7 comes with a 48MP primary rear camera with f/1.8 aperture and Samsung's GM1 sensor (0.8-micron pixels size), paired with a 5MP secondary rear camera. Redmi reveals that the sensor is larger than what's found in typical smartphones, allowing it to capture more light thereby producing clear night shots. On the front is a 13MP camera for clicking selfies. Both the cameras come with AI studio software features.

Honor to launch Honor View 20 with 48MP rear camera, 25MP in-screen front camera in India on January 29th

Honor, like Huawei (its parent company), has been launching amazing smartphones lately. From Honor 10 to the Honor Magic 2, the devices have amazed almost everyone. With the right pricing and great specs, Honor smartphones are a run for its money.

The latest Honor smartphone announced is the Honor View20, which is the world’s first phone with high-definition 48MP rear 3D ToF camera and a front-facing 25MP camera integrated into the display. The View 20 is already on sale in China and will be introduced globally on January 22 in Paris.

Honor India has started teasing the launch of the Honor View 20 smartphone in India already. The "Save the Date" invites are out for the tech media which reveals that Honor will be launching the View 20 in the country on January 29th, just a week after the global launch.

Honor View 20, also called as Honor V20 comes in three color options including Blue, Red and Back, and in two different RAM configurations of 6GB and 8GB, both with 128GB internal storage. Honor has priced the 6GB variant of the View 20 in China at 2,999 Chinese Yuan (~ Rs. 30,700 / US$438), whereas the 8GB variant costs 3499 Chinese Yuan (~ Rs. 35,810 / US$510).

Considering the China pricing, the smartphone will compete head to head with the likes of OnePlus 6T and Asus Zenfone 5Z. The teasers out by Honor confirms that the Honor View 20 will be launched in India exclusively on Amazon India. You can read more about the smartphone design and specs below.

Honor View 20 Design

Honor View 20 is the first smartphone to use advanced nanolithography technology to develop an invisible nano-texture on its body. The fourth generation of nano-vacuum coating and invisible aurora texture process create a vivid and dynamic V-shape color gradient with a gleaming effect on the back of the View 20.

To eliminate the notch and increase the screen-to-body ratio of the V20, Honor developed a new All-View display with an in-screen front camera, which basically is a super small hole with a diameter of only 4.5mm created at the top left corner of the display to house the front-facing camera, thereby increasing the display area. With this notch-less design, the Honor View 20 achieves a stunning 91.8% body-to-screen ratio.

On the rear, the View 20 has dual-rear cameras aligned horizontally at the top left corner with dual-LED flash. The fingerprint scanner is placed on the back top-center and the Honor branding to the bottom. Speaker grills, USB Type-C port and primary microphone are located on the bottom frame, and Honor keeps the 3.5mm headphone jack alive, embedded on the top.

First ever renders of Huawei P30 reveals triple cameras, tear-drop notch, and return of headphone jack

Huawei had an amazing 2018 with the launch of the Huawei P20 Pro and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Both the smartphones performed exceptionally well last year not only in the hardware department but also in the camera department. The P20 Pro even grabbed the crown of the best camera smartphone of 2018 by DxOMark.

To continue the legacy, Huawei is already working on the successor to the P20 and P20 Pro smartphones. Renders leaked by @OnLeaks in collaboration with 91Mobiles reveals the first ever look of the upcoming Huawei P30 smartphone.

As we can see in the renders, the Huawei P30 will house major design changes compared to its predecessor. The front of the P30 will come with a 6-inch Full HD+ OLED display with minimal bezels and a tear-drop notch, similar to the Essential Phone but smaller, housing the selfie camera. Unlike the P20, the Huawei P30 will come with triple rear cameras paired with a dual-LED flash.

The fingerprint scanner, which was included in the front home-button on the P20, is now moved under-the-display on the Huawei P30, which is a welcome change as many manufacturers are already moving towards in-display fingerprint scanner.

On the right frame, we have the volume rockers followed by the power button. The bottom hosts the speaker grill, USB Type-C port, antenna bands, primary microphone and the return of the 3.5mm headphone jack, which was missing from last years line-up.

Motorola's Moto Z4 Play is coming soon with water-drop notch, in-display fingerprint scanner and Moto Mod support

Motorola started the Moto Z series including the Moto Z, Moto Z Force, and Moto Z Play, back in September 2016. The unique element of the Z family is the support for Moto Mod, which basically is case-like accessories that are attached to the rear of the Moto Z smartphones via a series of magnets to provide additional functionality.

The Moto Z family was then succeeded by the Moto Z2 family in 2017 and the latest is the Moto Z3 family launched in 2018. Continuing the legacy, Motorola will be launching the successor to the Moto Z3 Play smartphone soon.

Popular leaker @onleaks (Steve Hemmerstoffer) in partnership with CompareRaja has leaked the first 3D renders of the upcoming Moto Z4 Play smartphone. Do note that the renders shared aren't the official renders created by Motorola, rather are based on the internal information obtained by Hemmerstoffer.

Moto Z4 Play Design

Let's start with the design of the Moto Z4 Play. As we can see in the renders Motorola will finally adopt the water-drop notch style but will implement it similar to the Essential PH-1 Phone. The Motorola branding has been removed from the front-bottom of the Z4 Play compared to its predecessor.

The backside will house a single rear camera with LED flash just below it. Both of which will be placed inside a circular pattern, a Motorola trait. The Motorola branding dimple sits in the center and the Moto Mod support on the bottom. We are expecting Z4 Play to support the upcoming 5G Moto Mod.

Is Xiaomi working on a dual-sided foldable smartphone? Alleged video leaked

Smartphones are getting crazy every year. A few years back phone manufacturers were focusing on eliminating the bezels around the screen so that users get a more screen-to-body ratio. Also, today an ideal smartphone screen-size is anywhere between 5.8-inches to 6.3-inches, which previously used to be tagged as phablets.

Now, in 2019, the trend will be to bridge the gap between a tablet and a smartphone, by making the tablet foldable. Korean giant Samsung is working on producing a foldable smartphone for many years and it also showcased the same last year in November. Honestly, that particular Samsung foldable smartphone was more like a brick.

Out of the blue, highly recognized leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Twitter shared an alleged video of a foldable smartphone today, which according to his source is made by Xiaomi. So, is Xiaomi indeed secretly working on a two-sided foldable smartphone?

As you can see in the video below, its a tablet-sized device which can be folded from both the sides to change its form factor. The bezels on the top and the bottom are minimal, but the device definitely appears thick after getting folded as a smartphone.

The UI, which does match to Xiaomi's proprietary MIUI 10 looks responsive and also blends quite fast depending on the number of folds. One fold and the device turns into a box-shaped device and two folds turn it into a smartphone.

Blass is not sure about the authenticity of the video or device, but if true, Xiaomi could be one of the many companies to launch a foldable smartphone later in 2019. The current list of companies planning to launch a foldable smartphone includes Samsung, Huawei, Lenovo.

Xiaomi's Redmi will become an independent brand, first phone with 48 MP camera launching on January 10th

Xiaomi is a known brand worldwide because of its Redmi series devices and flagships series like the Mi, Mi Note, and Mi Mix. The company is highly recognized for selling phones with mid-to-high-end specs at a very cheap price sold under the Redmi brand.

The Redmi series started off with the Xiaomi Redmi smartphone in July 2013. Since then the line-up has grown extensively and the latest devices include the Xiaomi Redmi 6 and the Redmi Note 6. Both of which are doing extremely well in the markets like India, Indonesia, and China.

Today, in surprising news, Xiaomi on Weibo and its official website have announced that it will be separating the Xiaomi and the Redmi brand, making both as an independent marque. This isn't the first time a brand is making a line-up as an independent brand, Huawei did the same with its Honor series way back in 2013.

The announcement was shared along with a teaser image with "Redmi" keyword in the center followed by some text at the bottom in Chinese which reads "New independent brand, Xiaomi Redmi Conference." A closer look at the teaser reveals the number 4800 in the shadows of the Redmi keyword. The number points towards Xiaomi launching the first smartphone under Redmi brand with 48 MP camera.

This aligns with the teaser shared by the Xiaomi president Lin Bin back in December 2018, showing a part of an unannounced smartphone with the text "48MP Camera". Rumored to be the Redmi Pro 2, the device is expected to come with a 5.84-inch display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor and 48 MP rear camera with 4-in-1 pixel combination technology.

Nokia 9 PureView promo video leaked; reveals Penta-camera setup, in-display fingerprint scanner

Smartphones with an inbuilt camera was a game changer. And 10 years down the line, the development of cameras in smartphones are huge, as they are giving strict competition to the DSLRs. With the advancements in the camera sensors for smartphones, the number of sensors in the same is also increasing. Dual-camera phone was a trend in 2016, and 2018 brought phones with triple-camera setup and even a four rear-camera sensor smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy A9.

In 2019, Nokia, resurrected by HMD Global, is said to be the world's first smartphone vendor to launch a phone with Penta-camera setup (5 rear camera setup). Dubbed as the Nokia 9 PureView, the smartphone details have been leaked already, but today we have the first ever promo video of the Nokia 9 PureView revealing itself in its full glory.

Leaked by the good folks of MySmartPrice, the Nokia 9 PureView is said to be unveiled in the last week of this month (January 2019). The promo video (embedded below) not only confirms the Penta-camera setup but also reveals many key features of the smartphone.

By @evleaks

Starting with the camera setup, the 5 cameras on the Nokia 9 PureView will come with ZEISS optics. All the five rear sensors will work simultaneously and users can take advantage of it in different lighting conditions, especially low-light. With 5 cameras, Nokia is claiming that the device can capture 10 times more light than any other regular smartphone camera sensor.

Exact details of the camera sensors like megapixel count, aperture, sensor type are yet unknown, but we can expect it to be similar to the Galaxy A9. The promo video does reveal that the users will be able to adjust the depth-of-field of the photos after a shot has been taken within the Google Photos app.

Vivo X21, the first smartphone in India with in-display fingerprint scanner launched for Rs. 35,990

Smartphone tech has evolved a lot in the past couple of years. Not only in terms of design, but there's a huge upgrade in terms of security too. Back in 2016, phones were launched with big bezels on the top and below the display and today, the trend is all about including a notch.

Similarly, no one expected phones with a fingerprint scanner until Apple launched the iPhone 5s in 2013 with Touch ID. Since then smartphone companies started focusing more on the security aspect of the device and now we see phones with a dedicated fingerprint scanner, a Face ID, an Iris Scanner, and even software based face unlock.

So, what's next when it comes to security in a smartphone? Phone with an in-display fingerprint scanner? Sounds cool right?

Vivo is the first vendor in the world who has taken an initiative towards launching a phone with an in-display fingerprint scanner, and the first commercially available Vivo smartphone with this tech is the Vivo X21. The Vivo X21 was announced back in March 2018, as a successor to the Vivo X20, in the Vivo's X series of smartphones.

Vivo X21

Today, Vivo has officially announced the launch of the Vivo X21 in India. Priced at Rs. 35,990, the Vivo X21 will be available for purchase online exclusively from Flipkart starting today in Black color. The X21 will also be available from brick-and-mortar stores and Vivo's own e-store.

If you purchase the Vivo X21 from Flipkart you get an extra Rs 3,000 off on exchange price, 5% cashback on SBI credit and debit cards, and No cost EMI on most credit cards as an introductory and exclusive offer. Now, let's talk about the device in detail.

Starting up with the design and build, the Vivo X21 looks exactly similar to the Vivo V9 but has a high-quality build material with 3D glass back cover. On the front is the AMOLED display with a notch on top, and minimal bezel on the bottom. Flipping over we see the dual-camera setup on the left top corner with Vivo branding in the center. Volume and power button sits to the right side of the X21, with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge, and a micro USB port with speaker grills on the bottom.

Talking about the fingerprint scanner, the star of the show, Vivo has included it beneath the display. As you can see in the images, the fingerprint sensor is located on the lower-center of the display, exactly where our thumb rests. The sensors work only in the limited area, which lights up to give you an indication where to rest your finger/thumb for unlocking.

   

Vivo X21 Fingerprint Location

In terms of performance, the fingerprint scanner is pretty good. Setting up a fingerprint is easy by just tapping the limited area of the sensor on the display lightly at first followed by some slightly deeper press. The unlocking takes around a second, which is good in my opinion for the technology. Vivo has announced that it will constantly improve the speed of unlocking with regular updates.

Vivo has also included a face unlock feature for convenience, which according to them 3D maps the face using IR fill light included inside the front-facing camera sensor. Vivo is calling this feature Face Wake 2.0.

You can find the detailed specifications sheet below:

Vivo X21 Specifications

• 6.28-inch 19:9 Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with 2280x1080 pixels resolution and 402 PPI density, P3Color Gamut Display
• 2.2GHz 14nm Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AI Engine SDM660 processor
• Adreno 512 GPU | 6 GB RAM
• Android 8.1 Oreo with Funtouch OS 4.0
• 12MP primary rear camera with LED flash, f/1.8 aperture, 1/2.5" sensor, 1.4µm size, Dual Pixel PDAF, AI Face Beauty, HDR Mode, Shot Re-Focus, 4K UHD Recording, AR Stickers
• 5MP secondary rear camera with f/2.4 aperture, phase detection autofocus
• 12MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture
• 128GB internal memory with up to 256 GB expandable using a microSD card
• Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• 3200 mAh battery with fast charging (microUSB 2.0)
• Dimensions: 154.45 x 74.78 x 7.37 mm | Weight: 156.2g
• 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz) dual-band, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 5.0 A2DP LE, A-GPS, GLONASS
• In-display Fingerprint Scanner, Face Unlock, AK4376A Hi-Fi audio chip, Vivo XE710 Hi-Fi Earphone

It's good to see Vivo launch the Vivo X21 in the Indian market. Competing head-to-head with the newly launched OnePlus 6, the Vivo X21 has an upper edge because of the real innovation of an in-display fingerprint scanner when compared to the OnePlus 6 which is more or less the same like its predecessor.

But, in India, the brand value does matter, and OnePlus definitely wins over Vivo. Time will tell whether Vivo was able to beat the OnePlus 6 in terms of sale of the Vivo X21. I will be reviewing the Vivo X21 soon. If you have any questions regarding the device, do let me know in the comment section below.

   

   

OnePlus 5T with 6-inch 18:9 display, bezel-less design officially launched starting at Rs. 32,999

OnePlus launched the OnePlus 5 earlier this year in June with a design similar to the iPhone 7 Plus and flagship like specifications. The OnePlus 5 is an awesome smartphone and is indeed the best Android smartphone anyone can buy today under Rs. 40,000. But, the area where OnePlus lost its points this year was in the design and the display.

2017 had brought a whole to a new experience on smartphones with the introduction of 18:9 display providing bezel-less look the device. We now have an 18:9 display ratio smartphone from many vendors already like LG, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei and more.

OnePlus launched OnePlus 3T last year with minor spec update. Following the legacy, OnePlus today has officially announced the OnePlus 5T smartphone, which follows the recent trend of 18:9 display, providing a whole new front design compared to its predecessor. Other than the display, design, and secondary rear camera, rest everything inside the OnePlus 5T remains similar to the original 5.

According to OnePlus, the OnePlus 5T will be available in midnight black color variant initially. Like the OnePlus 5, the 5T will also come in two variants, one with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage and the other with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The prior has been priced at the US $499 / Rs. 32,999 in India and the latter will cost US $559 / Rs. 37,999. The Indian pricing is exactly similar to the Indian launch price of the OnePlus 5. Poor OnePlus 5 owners :(

OnePlus has also revealed that there will be a flash sale of OnePlus 5T on Amazon India on November 21st with official sales starting November 28th.

Razer Phone officially launched with 120Hz display, 8GB RAM; priced at $699

In the past 5 years, smartphones have gained a lot of recognition, especially among camera vendors, telecom operators, and laptop manufacturers. RED has already confirmed its entry into the smartphone market and today Razer, widely known for making beast gaming computer hardware has officially entered the smartphone market with the launch of its first Android smartphone called just the Razer Phone.

This comes months after Razer acquired smartphone start-up NextBit back in January. The Razer Phone highly resembles the NextBit Robin in terms of design. It will be available in two editions, the standard edition will have a chrome Razer logo on the back and the special edition will house a neon-green traditional Razer logo.

Talking about the pricing and availability, Razer has priced the Razer Phone at US$699, which is approx Rs. 45,075 INR, far less than the recent flagships from various manufacturers. The Razer Phone will go on sale in North America and Europe starting November 17th. Pre-orders are already live. The special edition Razer Phone, mentioned above, will be limited to 1337 units.

Save More with Flipkart's Big Billion Day Sale

The festive season in India is one of the busiest months of a year and with just a few days away from Dussehra, people are looking for places where they can clothe, gifts, puja essentials, home décor products and more. Buying all these can be an expensive affair and hence we suggest, you turn to Flipkart.

Flipkart has initiated its Big Billion Day Sale that is going to officially begin on September the 20th and conclude on September the 24th. With its tagline of ‘Ab Mehengai Giregi’, this sale focuses on making products affordable for all.

The offers and discounts provided by Flipkart in this year’s sale will be applicable on major categories. While Fashion, TV & Appliances, Home & Furniture will see a drop in the price from 20th September to 24th September, Mobile, Electronics & Accessories, will become a part of this sale from 21st September until the very last day of the Big Billion Day Sale i.e, 24th September.

Infinix Note 4 Detailed Review - New Smartphone Brand Worth Considering

India is a big market for every smartphone manufacturer, be it the domestic vendors or the international players. A lot of Chinese smartphone vendors have already made its way in India and recently a new Hong-Kong based smartphone manufacturer called Infinix has stepped in the Indian market.

Infinix was founded in 2012 and is owned by Transsion Holdings. Infinix has begun its journey in India by introducing two global range of smartphones – Infinix Note 4 and Infinix Hot 4 Pro. Both the Note and Hot series are marketed as under budget-segment devices.

Infinix has priced the Note 4 at Rs. 8,999 and the same comes with mid-range specifications, giving tough competition to many other smartphones within the same price bracket.

So, is Infinix Note 4 worth investing in and does it stand-up well against the likes of the Xiaomi devices? Let’s find out in this detailed review.

Infinix Note 4 Specifications

• 5.7-inch Full HD IPS LCD display
• 1.3GHz 64-bit Octa-Core MediaTek MT6753 processor
• Mali-T720 GPU | 3GB RAM
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash
• 8MP front facing camera with LED flash
• 32GB internal storage with microSD card support
• 4300mAh with fast charging
• 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
• Dual-SIM, 3.5mm Audio Jack, Fingerprint Scanner
• Dimensions: 159×78.8×8.4mm | Weight: 198g

Box Contents

The box packaging of the Infinix Note 4 is simple with the brand and device name on the front and casual device details on the back. Infinix is shipping the Note 4 with following contents – Note 4 itself, a USB cable, a travel adapter, user manuals, a TPU plastic case and a screen protector. (Buyers get the Blue box and following contents)

Design & Build Quality

There’s nothing great in terms of the design uniqueness of the Infinix Note 4. It’s like every other smartphone you see in the market. Though, Infinix has spent some time in making the Note 4 design a differentiating factor by using a metal paint on the rear of the smartphone.

The back-panel design of the Note 4 is quite impressive at a first glance as it seems to be made of glass. It is curved from both sides and also has slimmer tapered edges. The chassis is made of sturdy metal and rest everything is plastic.

Infinix has covered the back panel of the Note 4 with some protective film, which the company claim is added to heal minor scratches. I’m not sure about the real-life functionality of that film, but it’s good to have that film as it provides grip and alters fingerprints.

On the front of the Note 4, you get a huge 5.7-inch display with a sensor, LED flash, earpiece and a front facing camera above it and a fingerprint scanner embedded inside the home button below. It’s a physical home button and needs a press to unlock the device when the screen is off. When the device is active, the fingerprint scanner acts on a single touch. The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate.

The recent apps menu and the back button are placed on the either side of the button. The bezels on the front are big. Volume rockers and power/lock button are both placed on the right side of the Note 4. The buttons are very soft and easily clickable, because of which the device at times automatically triggers “Emergency Number”. Unfortunately, there’s no way to disable this feature.

There’s nothing on the left side of the Note 4. Speaker grills are at the bottom accompanied by a microUSB port and a primary microphone. The 3.5mm headphone jack is placed on top. Talking of the back, it’s removable and houses a camera module on top center with dual-LED flash just below it. The Infinix branding is in the middle followed by the Note branding.

Underneath the back cover, the first thing you will notice is the 4300mAh battery sealed tightly with dual-SIM slots (nano-type) and a dedicated microSD card slot.

Overall the build quality of the Infinix Note 4 is quite premium. The Note 4 is 8.4mm thick, the reason being the battery size and weights 198 grams, which is one of the biggest drawbacks of the device. I personally like the build quality of the Infinix Note 4.

Pros	Cons
Premium Build	Heavy

Display

The Infinix Note 4 comes with a 5.7-inch Full HD display with a pixel resolution of 1920 x 1080p. The display is of IPS LCD type and is the best I have ever seen on a budget smartphone. According to Infinix, the display included inside the Note 4 is from SHARP and has 85% NTSC Color Gamut.

Talking of the display performance, the color reproduction is very good producing natural and vibrant colors. Viewing angles are good with a very minimal color shift from a certain angle. Also, the brightness level of the Note 4’s display is very nice with text viewable under direct sunlight.

On top of the display is a 2.5D curved glass of unknown manufacturer, which attracts fingerprints. The display might be prone to scratches, so Infinix is shipping the device with a screen protector, which works out well, though it’s better to invest in a tempered glass.

Watching videos is good as text and images appear sharp. The darks are produced well too. The display is reflective at times but manageable.

Pros	Cons
Full HD Resolution	-
Color Reproduction

Software

One of the biggest drawback when it comes to budget smartphones is the Android version it is running on. Surprisingly, Infinix has stepped up the game by launching the Note 4 with Android 7.0 Nougat onboard.

Though Android 7.1.1 is the latest version of Android, it’s still good to see Nougat running on the Note 4. Like every other Chinese vendor, Infinix also has its own customized skin on top of Android, which it calls the XOS.

The Infinix Note 4 runs on Chameleon 2.3 version of the XOS which brings a lot of features. Infinix has tried to keep the interface of the XOS as simple as possible. Unlike other manufacturers, the XOS comes with an app drawer, which can be accessed easily by swiping up from the homescreen.

      

      

Besides having an app drawer, all the apps are placed on the homescreen like iOS and there’s no way to remove those shortcuts from there. It would have been great if Infinix added the functionality to remove apps shortcuts from the homescreen.

Moving ahead, the XOS comes with a theme engine which allows users to customize the overall look and feel of the UI. There are a couple of XOS dedicated apps like XAccount, XCloud, XClub, XHide, XManager, XSecurity, XShare, and XTheme, all of which can’t be uninstalled but can be disabled.

Other proprietary apps which can’t be uninstalled include MagicMovie, Notes, Power, User Guide, and Weather. The Infinix Note 4 is no exception, as it also comes with dozens of bloatware apps, but with the facility of uninstalling them. One app which irritated me the most was TouchPal 2017 keyboard. I will recommend uninstalling that app first when you get the device.

Swiping down from the top brings notification panel with quick settings, which is customizable. Settings are similar to stock with no extra added functionality other than Gesture & Smart Motion which brings Tap to Wake, Quick Start, One-hand mode, 3-finger screenshot and wake to unlock features. Multi-window is also present.

      

      

You can set the icon size on the homescreen along with desktop grid size by going to Menu settings after long-pressing any empty space on the homescreen. XOS also provides an auto-app arrangement and Smart Arrange setting.

Besides having so many features and functionalities, the Infinix Note 4 was running smoothly most of the time. RAM management is very nice as I was able to keep more than 9 apps running in the background without killing any activity. You might notice a slight delay while opening heavy apps, but it's ignorable.

Overall, I like the user interface of the XOS as its simple and not complex like what I see on other Chinese branded smartphones. One key feature of XOS is that it moves unused apps automatically into Freezer, which when used will never keep the app in memory until and unless you unfreeze it.

Pros	Cons
Simple and Smooth UI	Bloatware (which can be uninstalled)
Freezer feature
RAM Management

Camera

The Infinix Note 4 comes with a 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and PDAF. The front facing camera house an 8MP sensor with LED flash. Both the rear and the front cameras are capable of shooting videos in 1080p@30fps.

The rear camera is capable of producing very good images under natural lighting conditions. But at times whites are over exposed and so are the clouds. The HDR feature is available which brings sharp and clear images with clouds captured perfectly. HDR is not suitable in all conditions, as some images turn out good with HDR and some without it. You can check out the camera samples in below album.

      

      

The UI of the camera app is simple with the shutter button on the front. Swiping left brings camera quick settings like HDR, Guidelines, Level, Timer, Gesture Shot, Smile Shot and Touch Capture. Swiping right brings enhanced camera modes like Professional, Face Beauty, Night, Panorama, PIP, and WideSelfie.

Talking of selfie, the images are decent and not that great. Under good lighting conditions, the selfies turn out good with sharpness. Color reproduction in both front and rear cameras are not up to the mark, as the viewfinder shows accurate colors but after the image is processed the colors are a bit exposed, but it does not hamper the overall image.

If you are looking for low-light performance, then both the cameras perform well. The images clicked using the rear camera in low-light aren’t that sharp and contains noise but is better than its competitor smartphones. For selfies, the front camera performs similarly to the rear camera. The front LED flash does help in enhancing up the selfies.

Infinix Note 4 Review Camera Samples

Considering the price tag, overall the camera of the Infinix Note 4 is good.

Pros	Cons
Images under Natural light	Lowlight Videos
PIP and HDR mode

Performance

If you are expecting something great in gaming performance, then the Infinix Note 4 is not for you.

Infinix Note 4 house an octa-core 64-bit processor from MediaTek modeled MT6753 clocked at 1.3GHz. Paired with the processor is Mali-T720 GPU for all graphic activities. The Note 4 has 3GB of RAM and includes 32GB of internal storage with dedicated microSD card slot for expansion.

The performance of the Note 4 is quite good, but it lags when it comes to high-end apps especially gaming apps. Daily-driver apps are smooth with minimal delay in opening, but games like Asphalt 8 can’t be played in extreme high settings. Lowering the performance of the game to mid helped a bit.

Frame drops are noticeable. Mid-graphic games were running smoothly including Dead Trigger 2. Opening games need patience. Lag is not common and happens once a while, that too during heavy usage.

      

The Note 4 has an old school MediaTek MT6753 processor, but that does not hamper performance. RAM management as mentioned above is good with around 1GB RAM always available.

Pros	Cons
Smooth & lag-free day-to-day performance	Gaming

Battery

One of the best parts of the Infinix Note 4 is its battery. The battery of Note 4 is extraordinary. On paper, the Note 4 comes with a huge 4300mAh battery and it keeps the device running easily for two days on normal usage.

Even if you are a heavy user, the Infinix Note 4 will last for more than a day. With 4300mAh battery, charging is a big issue, but Infinix has included fast charging support inside the Note 4 and it is truly fast.

If you use the proprietary wall adapter and USB cable, the Infinix Note 4 will charge completely from 0 to 100% in around 2 hours, using third party charger will increase the time by 150%.

Pros	Cons
Battery Backup	-
Fast Charging

Verdict

Infinix is a new brand in India and with the Note 4 it does stand up head-to-head against the already established brands in the budget segment like Xiaomi and Motorola.

The Infinix Note 4 has many improvements over its competitors like huge Full HD display, amazing battery performance, build quality, software, and camera. Some areas where the device lacks a bit is the old school processor and gaming performance.

As an introductory offer, the company is providing one-time free screen replacement within the first 100 days of purchasing the Note 4 along with 84GB data with no daily limit for 84 days on IDEA network. Infinix already has over 850+ service touch points across the country.

I will personally recommend the Infinix Note 4 if you are looking for a budget smartphone, with no main focus on gaming. Also, an old school processor can never decide the fate of a smartphone, as day-to-day and user-to-user performance varies.

You can buy the Infinix Note 4 exclusively from Flipkart in Milan Black, Champagne Gold and Ice Blue colors for Rs. 8,999.

Infinix Note 4 from Flipkart