Budget smartphones have come a long way and now have features that have trickled down from their midrange and flagship counterparts. The best example is the Infinix Note 12i which comes loaded with green flags and a high spec-to-price value – setting the bar for smartphones under 20K in the country.
The Infinix Note 12i is the entry-level device in the Note 12 series that includes the regular Note 12, Note 12(G96), Note 12 VIP and the Note 12 Pro 5G. Even though the Note 12i is the smallest sibling it proves its mettle in the Note 12 series.
Inside the box you find:
- a transparent TPU case
- a pre-applied screen protector
- an 18W fast charger
- and a type-A to Type-c cable
- a pair of earphones
- XPARK booklet
- Care+ cover
- customer service card
- XCLUB Join Club Card
- sim ejector tool
DESIGN
The Infinix Note 12i comes in at 198 grams but is very light and we got our unit in this beautiful Snowfall White which will attract the attention of people around you. It has a matte-like finish at the bottom which makes it less slippery and more comfortable to use with one hand.
The top half is glossy with a camera island on the left.
You get a type-C charging port, microphone, and headphone jack at the bottom. On the right side are the volume rocker and side-mounted fingerprint reader embedded in the power button making it less of a hassle to get into the phone. The reader is fast but you can use face unlock also for biometric login.
Infinix Note 12i is an affordable smartphone with a striking design.
On the left side is the slot for dual nano-sim cards and expandable storage.
The bottom-facing speaker and the earpiece pumps out plenty of sound. The speakers absolutely suffice not only for casually streaming music but also when you’re settling down to watch a movie.
The front sports a selfie punch-hole cutout. This is a 6.82″ LCD display and it’s a snappy panel at a 90Hz refresh rate. It gets bright enough outdoors and this is a nippy screen which delivers very smooth performance when scrolling within apps or moving around the user interface.
This phone has a nice chassis and represents a huge improvement in the overall quality and feel of the phone.
PERFORMANCE
Under the hood, we have a Mediatek Helio G85 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. You can expand both – with the additional 3GB of virtual RAM and there’s a slot for expandable storage via a microSD card.
Infinx Note 12i runs on Android 12 and XOS 10.6.
Infinix’s XOS 10.6 comes with its RAM Expansion feature, Storage Optimizer, Smart Scenes, Master of Language(MOL), AI Gallery, Visha Player, XArena, and Privacy Guardian among others.
Turning to performance, the phone absolutely flew through every app I threw at it. It is one of the speedier phones in its price range. The phone felt fluid and fast with no lag, and performance was smooth across the board including running demanding games like Asphalt 9: Legends, Ninja Arashi 3 and Call of Duty Mobile at their highest frame rates.
Infinix Note 12i has surprisingly robust performance
Android 12 has features like the updated privacy dashboard, revamped new widgets, direct share, scrolling screenshots, enhanced privacy indicators, smarter auto-rotate, redesigned power menu, redesigned lock screen, share Wi-Fi passwords with Nearby Share, and more.
Overall, the performance is great for the device and it won’t struggle with daily usage.
CAMERAS
Infinix Note 12i has a 50MP main camera with an additional 2MP depth sensor and QVGA camera.
We have an 8MP selfie camera in the cutout.
In the photography department, the 12i shoots solid photos and videos – it will hand in good-to-great-looking results most of the time even in low light. It handles selfies reasonably well too.
Here are some samples:
Selfies and Portraits
Regular Shots
Night Shots
Video capture is limited to 1440p 30fps for the front and main cameras.
Infinix Note 12i takes much better shots than I expected
Overall, the camera setup remains highly competent for a phone in this price range.
BATTERY LIFE
Infinix Note 12i has a 5000mAh battery and supports 18W fast charging. That’s enough juice to last you a full day of use.
I recorded over six hours of screen-on time with moderate usage, enough for a full day of emails, web browsing, and consuming content. I was even able to push two full days on light use – you can’t ask for much more than that from a smartphone under the 20K price range.
VERDICT
The Note 12i is clearly an improvement and would make for a fine purchase and the upgrades make it an enticing pick when put against its rivals in the same price range like the Redmi 10C, OPPO A55, and realme C35. Compared with the rest, the Note 12i ships with the latest Android version, a relatively faster processor, higher video recording capability, a better display with higher resolution and an even higher refresh rate making it one of the best performance smartphones under 20K in the country.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
Infinix Note 12i goes for Ksh 19,999. It is available offline at the company’s retail stores countrywide and online too at XPARK – their official online store and other online e-commerce partners.
