Infinix Hot 10T vs Samsung Galaxy A12: Comparison Review

The budget smartphone market has gotten really competitive. They’re getting really good and really affordable.

In this comparison review, we put the recently launched Infinix Hot 10T and the Samsung Galaxy A12 together and figure out which one brings more value to the table.

Design

Right from the start, the Infinix Hot 10T and the Samsung Galaxy A12 come in different sizes.

Samsung Galaxy A12 vs Infinix Hot 10T back cameras

Samsung Galaxy A12 vs Infinix Hot 10T displays — Samsung Galaxy A12 vs Infinix Hot 10T back cameras

The Infinix Hot 10T ships with a 6.82″ display while Samsung Galaxy A12 has a 6.5″ display.

Other than the size difference, Infinix Hot 10 has a 90Hz refresh rate while the Samsung Galaxy A12 comes with the regular 60Hz.

It was great having that velvety smoothness with the high refresh rate when browsing the web, scrolling social media and playing games.

It is worth nothing that both have 720p resolution.

The Infinix Hot 10T’s display is more saturated while the Samsung Galaxy A12 has a brighter display.

You’ll enjoy using the display of both displays but the Infinix Hot 10T has stereo sound thanks to the earpiece at the top bezel that works in tandem with the bottom speaker to offer an immersive multimedia experience.

At the bottom, we have a micro-USB charging port, a headphone jack, microphone and mono-speaker grille on the Infinix Hot 10T.

Samsung Galaxy A12 on the other hand has the same except that for a micro-USB port, we have a Type-C port.

We have a dual-sim slot with an additional slot for microSD for expandable storage.

Both have beautiful backs with the Infinix Hot 10T coming in various colours including Morandi Green, 7° Purple, 95° Black while the Samsung Galaxy A12 comes in Black, Blue and Red.

We have a rear fingerpint reader at the back of the Infinix Hot 10T while the A12 has a fingerpint reader embedded in the power button.

Both also have face unlock.

Both smartphones have a camera bump in the top left corner at the back.

Infinix Hot 10T has a 48MP triple camera setup that includes an additional 2MP depth sensor and complementary AI lens.

Samsung Galaxy A12 also has A 48MP main camera with a 5MP ultrawide, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor.

Both have a a quad-LED flash too.

In terms of design, both are fantastic devices with their cons and prons.

It all depend on your preferences, if you like big phones, then the Hot 10T is the pick for you while if you like relatively compact smartphone, then the A12 is one for you.

Software Experience

Infinix Hot 10T comes with Android 11 and XOS 7.6 while Samsung Galaxy A12 ships with Android 10 and One UI 2.5.

Android 11 features new privacy and security features including improved handling of app permissions for the camera, microphone, and location, scoped storage, and auto-reset permissions for apps you haven’t used in a while, Nearby Share, ability to pin apps in the share menu and scheduled dark mode, powerful media controls, seamless updates, Multitasking pane, improved autofill, suggested apps, biometric authentication, among a host of other useful features.

XOS 7.6 brings features like Social Turbo, Game Mode, Peek Proof, Theft Alert, tweaks to the graphical user interface, XClone, among others.

XOS 7.6 sadly still has unnecessary pre-installed apps which can be uninstalled, at least for most of them. You’ll get pesky ads asking you to install suggested apps.

Android 10 comes with system-wide dark mode, Focus mode(a compliment to Digital Wellbeing), new gesture navigation systems, boosted privacy, security and notifications (Grouped silent notifications)controls, better location permissions, Google Assistant “handles”, native screen recording, native desktop mode, QR codes to connect to Wi-Fi plus more features.

OneUI 2.5 improved existing functionality from the previous user interface.

One UI 2.5 now supports Android 10 navigation gestures with third-party launchers, audio bookmarks, new preset- time and location based reminders, improved camera features, Wireless DeX, improved Samsung Notes, improved samsung keyboard, improved Samsung messages among others.

You’ll enjoy using both smartphones. Infinix Hot 10 offers the latest software seeing that Android 11 is Google’s latest mobile operating system.

On the other hand, One UI is less pesky than XOS 7.6 and I enjoyed using it more.

Performance

Perfomance-wise is where the lines start getting clear.

In terms of specs, Samsung Galaxy A12 has Helio P35 processor and PowerVR GE8320 with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.

Infinix Hot 10T has Helio G70 processor and Mali G52 coupled with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.

Performance is top notch for both phones when handling low to medium tasks. When you throw in heavy workloads is when the difference becomes visible.

Infinix Hot 10T handled heavy gaming and multiple app switching with no lag whatsoever.

Graphics heavy games like Asphalt 9 Legends, NFS No Limits, Dead Trigger 2, Atomas, Among Us, Critical Ops, Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition, Two Dots, Alto’s Odyssey, and Ninja Arashi 2.

PUBG Mobile could play with its highest settings allowed such as High Frame option(it averaged around 118fps) and HD Graphics.

On the Galaxy A12, only light games could play with no graphic slowdown.

Other games had to use the medium graphic settings to enjoy gameplay. For PUBG, I had to settle for Medium frame rate setting and Balanced Graphics setting.

When I was multitasking, the A12 would restart apps and it could be inconvenient for most people.

Both phones handle tasks pretty well. It is when you push them to the edge with heavy workloads.

Infinix Hot 10T wins this as its the perfect workhorse.

Battery Life

Both smartphones come with 5000mAh batteries. Infinix Hot 10T has 10W charging with a micro-USB port while Samsung Galaxy A12 has 15W charging with Type-C port.

Both take close to 3 hours to fully juice up so you’ll have to take your time when they need to be charged.

Both smartphones offer excellent battery life. On light use, I was getting 7 hours of screen-on-time on the A12 and 8 hours on the Hot 10T.

On heavy use, I was getting 5 hours with the A12 while the Hot 10T gave me 6 hours. And this is with the smartphone’s 90Hz refresh rate enabled.

You won’t have to worry about battery life with both smartphones.

Cameras

This is the part you’ll have been waiting for. It’s impressive how good budget smartphones have gotten so good especially with photography.

You now don’t have to break bank to get a good camera-smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy A12 has an 8MP selfie camera in the notch while the Infinix Hot 10T has an 8MP selfie camera.

At the back both have 48MP main cameras.

Both smartphones take decent selfies – which you can share on social media.

Infinix Hot 10T selfie 3 — Infinix Hot 10T selfie 1

In challenging scenarios, they both struggle with exposure.

For portraits, I liked the blur on selfies taken by the A12 more than the ones taken by the Hot 10T.

Samsung Galaxy A12 portrait 2 — Infinix Hot 10T portrait 2

It’s worth noting that both offer the ability to change the level of blur you want.

Even lowlight selfies and portraits are pretty good.

Samsung Galaxy A12 lowlight selfie 1 — Infinix Hot 10T lowlight selfie 1

When it comes to the main camera, the Infinix Hot 10 has more saturated photos when compared with the A12.

Samsung Galaxy A12 regular shot 1 — Infinix Hot 10T regular shot 1

You also have the option to shoot 48MP photos too with the Hot 10T.

The A12 has a 5MP ultra-wide that comes in handy when shooting landscape photos which gives it an edge.

Samsung Galaxy A12 regular shot wide 5 — Infinix Hot 10T regular shot wide 5

However, there’s still distortion at the edge.

Also, the A12 handles exposure pretty well.

Both phones also perform very well even when the sun sets. Infinix Hot 10T has a SuperNight Mode to help take shots even in the most challenging lighting scenarios.

A12 also handles lowlight pretty well.

Competition here was really tight. Most lowlight photos taken by both smartphones were really impressive.

Infinix Hot 10T SuperNight Mode 19 — Samsung Galaxy A12 lowlight 19

It was great to see how Infinix’s SuperNight Mode really made night shots pop when compared with its rival.

In terms of photography, the Infinix Hot 10T and Samsung Galaxy A12 are worth your money. Both are very versatile with creative modes to play around with.

In terms of video, the A12 can shoot 1080p at 30fps for selfie videos and regular videos.

The Hot 10T takes the upper hand with its ability to shoot 2K video for both selfies and videos.

Infinix also added video bokeh mode for both front-facing and main cameras.

Conclusion

Both Infinix Hot 10T and Samsung Galaxy A12 bring a lot to the table, especially in the budget segment.

Infinix Hot 10T offers better value per cost when compared to the Samsung Galaxy A12. You are getting a huge 6.8″ display with 90Hz refresh rate, a relatively fast processor and running on the latest software that offers excellent performance, better battery life, a more well-designed and attention-grabbing look and relatively consistent camera performance, especially for video and lowlight photography.

Infinix Hot 10T starts selling from Ksh 15,499(4GB, 64GB) and Ksh 17,499(4GB, 128GB) while the Samsung Galaxy A12 starts selling from Ksh 16,500(4GB, 64GB) and Ksh 18,000(4GB, 128GB).