The Infinix Note 7 got announced in April and we patiently waited for it. The COVID-19 pandemic has really impacted the smartphone industry in terms of production and supply chains.
After patiently waiting, the Infinix Note 7 is finally in our hands.
We haven’t had the Infinix Note 7 for that long to give you a full review just yet, so we can at least give you some first impressions.
In the Box
Here’s what you get inside the box:
- the device
- 18W power brick and USB cable
- a set of earphones
- Sim ejector tool
- a plastic case
- a screen protector
- warranty, user guide information booklets
Design
The Infinix Note 7 is a premium-looking device that features a colour-gradient back that changes colour when it catches light depending on how you hold it.
You get a quad-camera setup and quad-LED flashlight housed in the circular camera bump.
Coming to the front is the 6.95″ IPS LCD display that has a resolution of 720 x 1640 pixels (~258 ppi density). Infinix calls this display the Infinity O display. The display is Gorilla Glass protected.
At the top bezel is the earpiece and a notification light. At the top left corner is the selfie camera.
At the bottom is the headphone jack, microphone, micro-USB port and speaker.
On the left side is the dual Sim card slot with a slot for MicroSD. The phone supports 4G VoLTE including Faiba’s network.
On the right side is the volume buttons and the power button which also functions as s a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Performance
The Infinix Note 7 comes with an octa-core Mediatek Helio G70 (12 nm) processor with Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU. There are two RAM and Storage options – 4GB or 6GB and 64/128GB of onboard storage respectively which you can expand with MicroSD card.
Our unit has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage.
No Android One on this one. The Infinix Note 7 runs on Android 10 and XOS 6.1. Thumbs up to Infinix for complying with Google to launch a new device with the latest Android operating system, unlike its previous trends.
Performance-wise, the Infinix Note 7 chugs along and handle basic multitasking pretty well. Gaming, browsing the web, taking photos, checking your social media feeds work seamlessly.
Consuming media content is a breeze too as Infinix included DTS Audio processing that coupled with the two speakers(the earpiece complements the bottom flaring speaker) to offer immersive sound.
You’ll definitely enjoy streaming video or music on this phone.
Powering the Infinix Note 7 is a 5000mAh battery and Infinix included an 18W fast charging brick so the phone juices up relatively quick.
In an hour, you can go from 0% to 70% and then another hour to get to 100%.
Cameras
The Infinix Note 7 rocks a quad rear set up in a circular camera bump and a 16MP in-display selfie camera.
The main camera setup includes a 48 MP f/1.8(wide), 2 MP f/2.4 (macro), 2 MP f/2.4, (depth) and a 2 MP, f/1.8, (dedicated video camera)
There are different modes to play around with including Bokeh, Portrait, beauty, AR shot, Panorama, Video and Short Video and SuperNight Mode for low light shots.
You can shoot using the 48MP mode. However, the files will be relatively huge so keep that in mind.
Click on the photos to expand
Here are some shots
Selfies
Beauty
Portrait
Regular shots
Bokeh
SuperNight mode shots
Stay tuned for our full review where we’ll have taken enough supernight mode photos.
The SuperNight mode also enhances photos taken during the day. Here’s how they compare. You’ll notice more details and no overexposure in the latter shots.
Click on the photos and swipe to see all of them.
In most scenarios and given enough light to work with, the Infinix Note 7 takes amazing shots that you can share on social media. The cameras struggle with exposure for both selfies and regular photos.
Stay tuned for our full review with even more photos.
For video, there are two modes. There’s the regular video mode and short video mode. Videos are shot at 1080p at 30fps. Short videos can be shot between 15 second and 60 seconds for sharing on social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram Stories.
Pricing and Availability
The Infinix Note 7 with the 128GB/6GB configuration retails at Ksh 21,399 while the one with 64GB/4GB configuration sells at Ksh 18,099. The Infinix Note 7 Lite sales at Ksh 15,799.
The devices can be purchased at Infinix’s online marketplace, Xpark with free delivery countrywide for all models.
You can also visit their official retail stores who have put up measures to keep everyone safe including its staff and consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking forward
The Infinix Note 7 is a really nice sub-20K smartphone that has so far impressed me with the perfect balance of functionality, design, photography and performance – but how will it hold itself up in the long term?
We’ll find out in our full review coming out very soon.
