Infinix Smart 8 Pro Review: Stylish with a Great Camera, But Lacks Speed

Infinix Smart 8 Pro Review: TechLekh Verdict

The Infinix Smart 8 Pro has a good design for the price. The display supports a 90Hz refresh rate, which is a nice feature.

The positive points of the phone are its battery life and the surprisingly good camera. The battery life is great, but the 10W charging speed is extremely slow. For an entry-level phone, the photos it takes are commendable.

However, due to its performance, it’s difficult to recommend the Infinix Smart 8 Pro. The similarly-priced Redmi 13C has much better performance.

Infinix

launched two more devices in its Smart 8 series: the Infinix Smart 8 Pro and the Infinix Smart 8 Plus, in March 2024, both of which are entry-level devices.

Interestingly, even with the “Pro” suffix, the Infinix Smart 8 Pro is the cheaper option, priced at Rs. 12,999 for the base 64GB storage variant, while the 128GB model costs Rs. 13,499.

This is an entry-level smartphone, yet it features a 90Hz display, a 50MP camera, and a fingerprint sensor. But how does the phone perform in real-life tests? Should you buy the Infinix Smart 8 Pro?

I’m Pranish Khadgi, and this is my Infinix Smart 8 Pro review, where I’ll be sharing my experience with the phone.

ALSO READ: Best Phones Under 15000 in Nepal (July 2024 Updated)

Infinix Smart 8 Pro Review

Design

• 163.60 x 75.60 x 8.5 mm
• 189 g
• Dual SIM

The design of the Infinix Smart 8 Pro looks like a cheap copy of the iPhone with its large squircle camera module featuring three camera circles arranged in a triangle. Of these, two are the camera sensor, while one is a flash.

The back panel and the frame are made of plastic, but they feel good. It has a modern, boxy design, and the front has a punch-hole cutout, which is impressive for the price.

Another useful yet rare feature is its notification LED light above the screen. It lights up when charging or receiving notifications.

As for the ports and buttons, it has a power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor, which works well, and volume buttons. The SIM card tray is located on the left side, while the bottom houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, a mic, a USB-C port, and a speaker.

ALSO READ: Redmi 13C Review: Still the Best Entry-Level Phone!

Display

• 6.6 inches IPS LCD
• 720 x 1612 pixels
• 90Hz refresh rate
• 500 nits (typ)

The Infinix Smart 8 Pro features a 6.6-inch IPS LCD display with an HD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate support. The display is not very sharp, but this is mostly unnoticeable to untrained eyes.

The display quality is mediocre but passable. The 90Hz refresh rate does make the display feel smoother. However, the display lacks sufficient brightness and may be difficult to see on a bright, sunny day.

Performance

• Mediatek Helio G36 (12nm)
• Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A53)
• PowerVR GE8320
• 4GB RAM, 128GB storage

Under the hood, the Infinix Smart 8 Pro is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G36 chipset and comes with 4GB RAM. Storage-wise, there are two variants: 64GB and 128GB. I have the 128GB one.

The phone is responsive, but the UI animations do not feel smooth. There are a few occasional noticeable lags, and the loading time is a bit longer when opening an app. However, it is sufficient for basic tasks like using social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Gaming

The phone can handle light games quite well, such as Clash Royale. However, when it comes to heavy games like PUBG Mobile, it is extremely difficult to play on the Infinix Smart 8 Pro.

PUBG Mobile is practically unplayable. It only supports a medium frame rate and lags heavily. The performance is so poor that it is frustrating to play such games on it.

Surprisingly, the Infinix Smart 8 Pro also supports a gyroscope, but as expected, the delay is so high that it is basically useless.

By now, it should be clear that the phone will not be able to handle Genshin Impact. Forget playing; you cannot even download the app because it’s unsupported.

Similarly, even benchmarking tests we do that include Geekbench 6, 3DMark Wild Life, 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, and Antutu 10 are not supported.

Camera

• Rear Camera: 50 MP, f/1.9, (wide), AF
  • 0.08 MP, (auxiliary lens)

• Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.0

The rear has a 50MP main camera and a gimmicky secondary “AI camera.” On the front, it has an 8MP selfie camera.

Main Camera

I find the photos from the main camera to be surprisingly impressive considering it is an entry-level phone. It struggles a bit to properly expose shadows, but the colors are good and the overall photo looks great in good lighting conditions.

When the light drops, noise in the images becomes apparent, and the detail appears soft, but the night photos are decent.

Portrait mode is also adequate. The subject separation does not have good precision, but the phone properly exposes the face.

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Front Camera

The front camera is also not bad. The detail is good, and it does not aggressively beautify the face, which is common in budget phones. However, if you prefer, it has a beauty mode to help you hide facial imperfections, but it makes the photo softer.

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Videos

• 1080p@30fps

The phone can shoot videos up to 1080p at 30fps. The footage is very shaky, and the quality is average at best. It is a typical, mediocre video from an entry-level phone.

Battery and Software

• 5000mAh, 10W charging
• Android 13 (Go edition)
• XOS 13

The battery life of the Infinix Smart 8 Pro is solid, thanks to the 5000mAh battery capacity. It lasts a whole day. When it comes to charging, it only supports 10W, which is very slow. It takes hours to charge fully.

The software is also pretty basic. It runs on Android 13 topped with Infinix XOS 13. It’s an older OS; Android 14 devices are easily available in the market.

For notifications, you can swipe down from the left corner, whereas swiping down from the right corner shows quick settings. The OS comes with some bloatware, including two browsers and two app stores, which are unnecessary additions.

Infinix phones also have an app called Freezer. If you put apps in the Freezer, they will not run in the background. Additionally, the photo gallery app is named “AI Gallery.” It’s a normal photo gallery app, but unlike others, if you delete a photo, it will be permanently deleted and will not go to a recycle bin where you can recover photos/videos within a certain number of days.

The phone also has customizable gestures. One handy feature is that when you swipe up using two fingers, hidden apps will appear, allowing you to hide apps. You can change gestures and their actions in the settings.`

So, this is my Infinix Smart 8 Pro review. What do you think about the phone? If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments!