Infinix S5 smartphone: savings or waste?

And the war between Samsung and Apple lasted for decades. But not so long ago, the Chinese brand Xiaomi joined it and heated the situation to the limit, if only because the prices of competitors are different, and the quality is often the same. Third-party viewers, for example, Infinix from Hong Kong, who presented a smartphone that painfully resembles the autumn novelties, were able to find positive moments in this struggle.

Smartphone S5 (attention to the name!) Will certainly create tough competition for budget models with its simplicity and versatility. If you were looking for a powerful, neat phone, which contains only the most useful and important things without strange bells and whistles that are unlikely to be used, then read carefully!

About company

The brand originates in Hong Kong, and is considered relatively young, only 6 years old. The unpopularity in Russia is due to the politics between the countries, as well as Infinix's focus on the Asian market. It is impossible not to note one interesting fact! All the company's products are manufactured in France, and from there they are exported around the world.

An approximate translation of the name from English sounds like "inspiration". Will it come out after our review?

Appearance

Infinix, with its release, especially resembles a sly schoolboy who copied an essay, slightly changing the details and rearranging the words. Indeed, against the background of Xiaomi and Oppo devices, he looks like a lost brother.

A distinctive feature of the S5 is its impressive dimensions. Neither more nor less, and the diagonal is 6.6 inches. This value is an absolute breakthrough in the flagship category of fall 2019. However, the question arises, how to keep such dimensions in one hand? The brand, unfortunately, does not know the answer.

This is where the miracles end, the general appearance of the model is a picture familiar to the eye. The rectangular case with rounded edges is made of plastic (disguised as tempered glass) and a beautiful glossy finish.

Undoubtedly, shiny surfaces collect prints and dirt in a matter of seconds, but we hasten to remind you that the release belongs to the middle price category and you should not expect the best materials from it.

On the left side of the back is a slender row of 4 cameras, bordered by a silver bezel. Some metamorphoses happened with the fingerprint cut: the traditional round notch was replaced by the square one. And this, in turn, means that covers for the gadget will be limited and not always available. But more on that later!

The front camera, barely noticeable, is modestly huddled in the upper left corner of the phone. On a black screen, the small ball-shaped notch is hard to find.

Despite its size, the weight of the S5 meets world standards - 178 grams. At least the hand won't get tired!

Equipment

The manufacturer decided to surprise customers long before unpacking the device itself. A narrow box in a pale blue shade with an unusual design is vaguely reminiscent of Xiaomi, but oh well. What the Chinese counterpart definitely won't find is a transparent, silicone case included! Infinix solved the problem brilliantly.

The model is presented in two colors: quetzal blue (duochrome, shimmering in neon blue and green) and purple.There is no need to guess for a long time which color scheme the company liked more, because you will not find the purple Infinix S5 in the daytime with fire.

Specifications

Screen

We have already mentioned that the screen diagonal is incomparably large - 6.6 inches. When deciding on such an experiment, a Hong Kong brand must understand the degree of responsibility. What a pity, the smartphone is a budget one, and few people care about the display characteristics.

The user is greeted by an IPS matrix, which, on the one hand, is quite energy-intensive, durable and bright, and on the other hand is cheap and quickly burns out. There are still more advantages than disadvantages, and for easy games, as well as checking social networks and watching movies, its qualities are enough.

The pixel density of the trendy bezel-less display is saddening. Only ~ 266 ppi is too little for such a thug. The picture will be soapy and fuzzy, whatever one may say.

By the way about that! At least the viewing angle of the phone is acceptable. Maybe very few people sin by blackout, but Hong Kong did not miscalculate with the size. Full HD 720 x 1600 resolution. Powerful enough for a cheap device.

Our verdict: the set of values ​​is enough for everyday use.

operating system

Everyone's favorite Android 9.0 or Pie will become the basis for working with S5. The release of the smartphone took place on October 21, but the notes with a further update to 10.0 have not. There is nothing much to lose, because there are not many differences between the versions.

Is that the menu in the phone is quite non-standard and is made according to the canons of Windows Phone in the form of a list.

Let's touch on the performance! The transition between applications is fast, no more than 3 seconds of waiting, and widgets do not slow down the system. The icons are square, medium-sized. The firmware is completely Russified, and you do not need to download anything additionally. Just turn it on and enjoy the smoothness of every click!

Autonomy

The creators called the heart of the gadget the smart processor MediaTek Helio P22, which marks the year since its release. The capabilities of the chipset are tailored to the mid-price category, but not without innovations. For example, it contains the rudiments of neural networks, all developed in the laboratories of Qualcomm. Also a pleasant surprise in the Infinix S5 will be Face ID, migrated from the Iphone, automatic sorting of photos by albums, additional photo editing functions (bokeh, deleting objects) and 8 productive cores. The power of the novelty is quite enough for two-dimensional games and detailed videos. And trusting the promises of the developers that the speed is increased by 40%, confidence in it grows and grows stronger.

Comparison of processors MediaTek Helio P22 and Snapdragon 450 clearly demonstrates that Mediatek is faster than the global competitor. Although it is difficult to look at the Antutu test without tears (75,000 points), when the usual 250, or even all 300 thousand points are unattainably visible somewhere in the distance.

Battery

The smartphone lives thanks to a non-removable 4000 mA battery. Often, batteries with this value come with an ultra-high-speed port, a fast charging function or a high-quality adapter, but we do not see either the first, or the second, and certainly the third. With this state of affairs, the S5 systematically moves down the table of the most tenacious models to the end and staunchly holds on for no more than a day of constant use.

With the mobile Internet the picture deteriorates noticeably up to 12 hours of work, with WiFi up to 18. Non-stop at full brightness, he plays the video for about 10 hours.

The results are not encouraging, you can only play near a free outlet, and this option is not suitable for travelers at all.

Camera and memory

The distribution of power for the Hong Kong brand turned out to be ambiguous.Let's write it off as a strategy, because in the last 2 years blogging has affected all segments of the population, and there is nothing easier than buying a smartphone with a good camera, or better if there are 4 of them (like in the S5), and large capacity (4 GB of RAM will be enough ) for Instagram.

The main camera has 16 megapixels, which is relatively small even for the budget segment. The f / 1.8 aperture with good aperture softens the situation a little.

It sounds harsh, but the camera is downright weak. Lighting, the talent of the photographer, the amount of detail and other factors will play a large role in creating high-quality images, and there will be no real effort from the lens. And night shooting disappears as irrelevant. Even the autofocus and the menu tampered with the Iphone don't save the day. But 3 more contenders for a harsh word await us.

Under the main camera there is a sensor called ultra-wide! It was enough for 5 megapixels and a decent panorama with a wide viewing angle. When it comes to filming, the producers were right, the image of a Hollywood movie will appear in every frame.

Rounding out the list are macro-shooting and newfangled depth of field, to create perspective and the effect of presence, 2 megapixels each. The set is standard, it worked for a shaky 4. Let's see if the selfie camera will correct the position?

Certainly. Infinix is ​​heading for social media and armed with a front-facing camera twice as powerful as the main one! Just imagine 32 megapixels of juicy photos and videos!

Examples of photos:

Where to buy and at what price

The release of the smartphone took place on October 21. In Russia, few people know about Infinix, and accordingly, he did not make a noise (there would be something). The model costs about 10 thousand rubles.

The obscurity of the newbie brand hints to us that there will be no direct deliveries in the CIS, and the last hope is only for intermediaries and Chinese stores.

The purple color is becoming a myth, since it is simply unrealistic to find it. But quetzal blue sounds good too!

Advantages and disadvantages

• Beautiful design;
• Good performance;
• Case included;
• High quality front camera;
• Debugged operating system;
• A good amount of memory;
• 3 slots for 2 SIM cards and SD
• Nice price.

• Poor main camera
• Low pixel density;
• Low battery capacity for available parameters.

The opinion about the new product Infinix is ​​ambiguous. On the one hand, getting used to luxury gadgets for 20-30 thousand, where every microcircuit and every inch of the case speaks about its cost, we completely forgot that budget means unpretentiousness. Cheap? The main thing is that it works!

But the S5 does not just work, it has a large number of innovations and features popular in 2019. The model will especially appeal to lovers of a beautiful wrapper and simple functionality. The smartphone copes with its duties in everyday use perfectly. What to wish for then, for 10 thousand rubles?