Here we bring to you a detailed review of the recently launched Infinix Smart 2 Android smartphone. Infinix decided to give a refresh to the smart series which debuted in 2017 and this time we have smart 2 and Smart 2 pro which are obviously successors to the Infinix Smart from last year. In this review, we are going to look at everything the Smart 2 has to offer if it’s actually worth your money and more.
If you prefer to watch a detailed video review, then below is the full Video Review of the Infinix Smart 2. Otherwise, you can scroll down to continue with the text review herein.
It wouldn’t hurt to know that the Smart 2 is a budget 5.5-inch smartphone running on the Go Edition of the Android 8.1 Oreo. This means that the operating system has been stripped down to efficiently run on this hardware considering the specs. More so, there are select apps for Android devices running the Go Edition of Android on the Playstore some of which include a stripped down version of Youtube and more.
This device features all the bells and whistles you’d ever think of in a smartphone and that’s one reason a select audience might have to pick this device. Just to experience whatever you might get from the Flagships, though it might not really come with the best representation of the features, it does have them on.
Design
The design on the Infinix Smart 2 is something I wouldn’t lie about, despite the fact that this device didn’t really impress me specs-wise and also in performance, the design is simply amazing and I actually fell for this.
Let’s talk about the buttons and ports first off. To the right of the Infinix Smart 2 are three buttons (the Volume down and Volume Up buttons) and the power button. Taking a look at the left side, you’ll see that there is no opening whatsoever.
To the bottom, you can find the 3.5mm jack port for your audio headphones, an opening for the mouthpiece and the Micro USB 2.0 port for charging up and data transfer.
The back houses the camera set with Dual LED flash for your low-light pictures. Also at the back, you get to see the fingerprint sensor and the Infinix branding.
As much as this device’s battery isn’t removable, the back can be opened to reveal the slots for the Dual SIMs and MicroSD Card. Expandable memory is one thing every smartphone should have right now.
Taking a look at the front, you see the 5.5-inch HD (18 by 9 aspect ratio) display with the front-facing camera and it’s LED flash at the top of this device. We are going to talk about the cameras on this device in a bit.
One thing I dislike about the design on the Smart 2 is the placement of the speaker grills. At the position of the speaker opening, one would accidentally block the audio output a lot of times while using this smartphone.
Generally, the Infinix Smart 2 is a nicely designed smartphone made mostly of plastic parts and as a result feels light and clean hold.
Camera
Anyone who wished to buy the Infinix Smart 2 definitely wants to know the performance of both the 13MP rear camera and the 8MP selfie camera. One straight and honest I’ll love to say here is, despite the high number of pixel ratings these cameras pack up to themselves, the image quality wasn’t that great.
Taking photos in low light with the smart 2 is actually the worst thing to ever do. I mean, low-light pictures turned out to be unusable.
But if you have a well-lit environment, you might still go with the camera, but it lacks a good dynamic range.
Now, don’t actually take my word for it. Here are a couple of photos from the camera of the Infinix Smart 2. Check them out and see for yourself if this a camera that you’d love to use. But hey, remember this device is barely $95 (N33,500).
Below are pictures from this camera
Performance
Obviously, at the price at which this device is sold, you wouldn’t be expecting any extraordinary performance. The Smart 2 comes out of the box with Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition) which is a stripped down version of Android that handles smooth operations of the operating system on lowly specced hardware.
This device features a 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM on a Quad-Core MediaTek MT6739 processor. Hence handling basic tasks with this processor coupled with Android Go Edition is as smooth as one can get. But when it comes to heavy multi-tasking and playing intensive games on this device, it totally fails in this regard.
For those of us who love metrics, after running Geekbench, here is the result we came up with.
Battery
Battery capacity on the Infinix Smart 2 is 3050mAh. As much as you might want to think this isn’t an ideal battery capacity for a 5.5 inch smartphone in 2018, you should also consider the fact that this display’s resolution isn’t even up to full HD, hence we are not getting to power a huge number of pixels, more so, considering the fact that we have Android Go Edition is also a plus for the battery life. The battery on the Smart 2 definitely did last my average usage of the phone every single day. This might be for the fact that I didn’t do any heavy games or perform heavy tasks with this smartphone.
Summarily, the battery life it is quite good and is one reason you might want to get this device. More so, it’s worth knowing that it took me about 1.5hours to get it fully charged.
Other Features
This device has the fingerprint sensor, FM radio, pattern and Face Unlock which are some of the most sort after features on Android phones these days. Remember at the beginning of this review, I mentioned this device being an all-rounder smartphone, even though it might not be the kind in those categories it covers.
Infinix Smart 2 Price
The Infinix Smart 2 retails for N33,500 in Nigeria which is roughly $95 in Nigeria. I actually got mine from Jumia and you can make use of the Buy link above to get the Smart 2 at the cheapest price.
Verdict
I wouldn’t recommend the Infinix Smart 2 Android smartphone to anyone who wants a serious deal out of a smartphone. Will you do much of taking pictures, gaming or want a perfect display from a smartphone? Then this isn’t a device. But if you need an entry-level device to buy for someone who wouldn’t need all those (maybe a child or an elderly), then the Infinix Smart 2 device is one I can readily recommend, not basically for an outstanding feature, but for the price. One thing I think you should know is the fact that there are also other similar specced Android devices from other brands at even cheaper prices such as the iTel P32 and iTel S13. You can check out our review on those smartphones also.