I have been using the Infinix S5 for a few weeks and this is my full hands on review. There are 4 variations of the Infinix S5 and the device that I have has 64GB storage and 4 GB RAM.
From my unboxing article I listed all the Infinix S5 variations together with their corresponding prices. Here are those variations again.
Infinix S5
The Infinix S5 has a Quad rear camera setup and there are two choices in this category.
- 128GB storage with 6GB RAM or
- 64GB storage and 4GB RAM – Ksh16,499
Infinix S5 Lite
The S5 Lite has a triple rear camera unlike 4 cameras that the S5 has. In this category there are also two choices of either
- 64GB storage with 4GB RAM -Ksh13,899
- 32GB storage with 3GB RAM -Ksh13,499
The 64+4 variant is available on Xpark for Ksh 16499 while the 64+4/128+6 are available in select Infinix outlets countrywide. The Infinix S5 lite 32+3 and 64+4 will be available exclusively on Jumia for ksh 13,499 and 13,899 respectively from 15th Dec.
Camera Dot In Display
The Infinix S5 is big on specification and when I say that I’m not joking. Take the front camera for example. The front camera is 32MP and is housed within the display. The custom magazine lock wallpapers make the front camera stand out. Like my tweet below shows, the rear quad flashlight really makes the phone case light up in the dark.
That's the Infinix S5 for you pic.twitter.com/clDiKZ4Pzs
— Techsawa (@techsawa) December 4, 2019
Due to the big screen to bezel ratio, the Infinix S5 does not have the front LED flash. Instead of LED flash the S5 has the AI Backlit potrait master. Do not be confused about that fancy jargon. This is another way of saying that the whole screen turns white to illuminate the subject when taking selfies.
Quad Camera
There are four AI cameras at the back of the Infinix S5. This set up consists of 16MP + 5MP +2MP +QVGA cameras and each one has a specific purpose. The main cmera is16MP while the 5MP is used for taking wide angle shots as well as super macro photos and videos.
I will do a full camera review of the Infinix S5 but in the mean time just have a look at this compilation video. It consists of still pictures and videos shot using the Infinix S5.
Adaptive Display
Since the Infinix S5 has a dot in its screen, the user interface is made to interact with this small blank space in the screen. As an example you have already seen the adaptive magazine screen lock wallpaper in my tweet above. There are some Android Playstore applications that are not affected by this camera area but the opposite is also true. For example take a look at this game screen.
The notch area display setting is available in the display settings and in this instance I changed it to hide notch area. Now the score is visible.
Here is a screenshot of the screen setting and as you can see there are two modes namely self adaptation and hide notch area.
Smart Panel
The Infinix Hot 8 and S5 have exactly the same Android operation system as well as functions and one of these function is the smart panel.
A good number of functions can be achieved with the smart panel. If you find it difficult to take screenshots from the drop down menu because of your tiny hands, then the smart panel is here to rescue you. The smart panel can take a screenshot very easily.
The best way to use the smart panel is not to launch an app directly but to do a specific task related to the application. For example the smart panel can be configured to do the following
- Compose a tweet in twitter
- Open front camera for a selfie
- Create contact
- Compose an email
- Shooting TikTok
- Send message to a specific contact
- Open chrome incognito mode
- Go to YouTube trending
So by using the smart panel the user saves time as well as data. The smart panel location can be easily set in the settings. Turning it off can also be achieved.
Battery, Performance And Overheating
The Infinix S5 comes with an impressive 4000mAh battery. This big capacity does justice to the S5 when we consider how big the screen is. While gaming and checking social media for almost 6 hours a day, I only manage to drain the battery to around 16% by around 11pm.
Charging on the other hand takes a long time. Filling the battery to capacity using the provided 2.0A charger takes around 4 hours. Charging for about 30 minutes from a low level can add about an hour of use time.
I have not witnessed any form of overheating while charging. The only heating I have witnessed is while playing heavy games for a considerable amount of time. There is also a considerable amount of heat produced as well during the charging process.
The 2.0GHz quad core processor together with 4GB RAM makes games load much faster and inputs
Conclusion
In conclusion the Infinix S5 is the perfect smartphone with big specifications and an affordable price. Here is a reminder of the specs that I’m talking about, 64GB ROM, 4GB RAM, 4000mAh battery, 2.0GHz quad core processor, 32MP front camera and 16MP main rear camera in a quad configuration setup.
This 6.6 inch smartphone is the cheapest big specs and low price smartphone in the market right now.
But
The App update is still a pain to have. But there seems to be a settings page to change some annoying aspects of XOS. However this page cannot be accessed via the default settings app. The only way to access it is to long press the area beneath the apps in the home page.
If you know about the Nova launcher then you can install it an use it as your default launcher. Other than that the hardware is sturdy and I totally recommend this smartphone.