Infinix Note 4: Glorified or Simplified?

At A Glance:

Display Size: 5.7 inch

CPU: 1.3 GhzOcta-core MT6753

CPU Cluster 1: ARM-A53 @ 1.5 Ghz

CPU Cluster 2: ARM-A53 @ 1.3GHz

CPU Bit: 64-bit

Heterogeneous Multi-Processing: Yes

Fingerprint: Yes (Front)

Internal Memory: 16 GB

Micro SD: Yes

Rear Camera: 13 MP

Secondary Camera: 8 MP

LED Flash: Yes (Front and Black [Dual Tone])

Battery Capacity: 4300 mAh (fixed)

Unmasking

There is a certain je ne sais quoi about Infinix phones – and their manufacturers know this.

Infinix has seemingly decided to stick with its current target market, and the dividends seem to be paying off. If you walk casually across the streets of major towns, campus and college students are almost always certain to have three things wherever they go: Earphones, junk food and an Infinix phone.

Infinix has become the go-to brand for budget-fixed lower and middle class citizens aiming to be socially relevant and technologically adept.

Let’s start with some good news. Infinix has launched a never-seen before feature in the Infinix line of production – a stylus pen (X-Pen). Spoiler alert – wait for it – it is only available for the Infinix Note 4 Pro.

Why Infinix, why?

The Note 4, & the Note 4 Pro will both run on Android 7.0 (Nougat) XOS 2.2 version with regular OS update on the works. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, or so it seems.

With its trademark big screen size, it is a surprise that the Note 4 is 5.7’, 3’ shy of its predecessor – the massive 6.0’ Note 3.

That’s not all. The screen packs 1920 by 1080 pixels, otherwise know as full HD with a 2.5D curved glass. Yes, the behold the era of vivid colors. Careful, you might get staring addiction.

The Infinix Note 4 comes in black, blue and gold, or if you are enthralled by marketing lingua franca: Milan Black, Ice Blue and Champagne Gold.

There is nothing flash worthy about the 13MP back camera with dual LED flash and a front 8MP camera – that’s not to say the girls will be unimpressed – if anything, they will need an extra memory stick for all the countless photos they will be taking.

Speaking of memory, the phone sports 2GB RAM with 16GB built-in storage respectively and support of up to 128GB via a microSD memory card. Spoiler alert: To add a memory card, you have to sacrifice the SIM2 slot.

(The Infinix Note 4 Pro is offering 3GB RAM and 32GB built-in storage with some other feature boost.)

Infinix Note 4 is powered by a Mediatek MT6753 chipset offering a 1.3GHz octa-core processor. Hello multi-tasking. Goodbye lagging.

Powering the phone is a 4300mAh battery which, despite being 200mAh less than its predecessor, is (un)surprisingly better.

Add to that that it can super-charge up to 45% in 30 minutes thanks to the new XCharge feature and we have a keeper, but especially for the ladies.

For the men, by the time you are done watching Arsenal beat Manchester United, the battery will be full, raring to go.

With the help of XPower, the Infinix Note 4 can give you a standby time of up to 2 days on normal usage and up to 1.5 days on heavy usage.

Music addicts will definitely be happy to hear that with only 5 minutes of charging, you can get up to 6 hours of offline music listening. Now that’s music to my ears.

The finger print sensor is no longer a ‘wow’ factor and for the Infinix Note 4 it acts more as an auxiliary feature than a basic need. You can add up to 5 fingerprints and the only admirable function feature is that it can secure apps with XHide and in addition, can be double pressed to activate the camera. Now here’s some good news to the freaks, with XHide, you can even lock your nudes – but of course you already knew that.

While you can easily swipe away the unwanted notifications from your screen, it so happens that I am having trouble with the lining of as I have not figured out how to disable accessing the notification tray from the lock screen.

Verdict

At only KES 14,000 the Infinix Note 4 issa steal.

It throws the spanner into the works with its disappointing 2GB RAM but when push comes to shove, it proves its might with its features.

The Infinix Note 4 isn’t exactly a revolution in the phablet industry, but for its price, it’s worth every single cent.

But don’t take my word for gospel truth. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

For only KES 14,000 you can have the final say.

NB: Ifyou have a few more thousands to spare, I wouldn’t mind holding out and throwing the cash to its much bigger sibling, the Infinix Note 4 Pro set to launch in August.