Infinix Note 10 Review: Having potentials to take on heavyweights in the market

HomeReviewsInfinix Note 10 Review: Having potentials to take on heavyweights in the market

Infinix seems to be on a roll nowadays with back to back launches that received rave reviews in the recent past. Following the successful roll-out of gaming-centric Hot 10S with an upgraded Helio G85 processor, Infinix has now upped their game with Note 10 and Note 10 Pro smartphones with features and specs that could give other brands a run for their money. Although the Infinix Note-series has always been a hot cake for the brand, it’s even better this time, keeping up with the trend and having the capabilities to take on heavyweights like Xiaomi, Realme, Samsung and Vivo. While the Note 10 starts at Rs 10,999 for the 4GB + 64GB variant, we have got the 6GB + 128GB model priced at Rs 11,999 for review. Let’s find out where it stands in the highly competitive segment.

Design

We had the 7 Degree Purple colour variant, which looks really nice, rather premium, if we look at its dual-tone design on the back with a gradient finish and stripes pattern and having a beautiful shade of light purple around the edges. The Infinix Note 10 is made of polycarbonate, similar to the Hot 10S, however it doesn’t look cheap and inferior unlike many other smartphones in the given price bracket. It catches no fingerprint smudges on the back.

There’s a protruding rectangular camera module on the top left and Infinix’s branding at the bottom of the back panel. At the front, you get a hole-punch display with slim bezels and a slightly thicker chin, which looks fine with the display size as big as 6.95-inch. There’s a SIM-tray on the left side of the device, whereas on the right you get the volume rockers and the power button with integrated fingerprint sensor. While there’s nothing on the top, the bottom of the phone features a Type-C port, a mic, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker grille.

Although it’s reasonably a good phone to look at, the Infinix Note 10 is bigger in size, but it is easier to hold in your hand as the back curves and melts over the edges. Neither is it too heavy. The large size may make this phone difficult to use for many as it’s definitely not good for one hand operation but those who prefer big displays for watching videos, playing games and taking online classes would fall in love with this phone.

Display

The Infinix Note 10 sports a 6.95-inch Full HD+ Super Fluid display with a screen resolution of 1080×2460 pixels, and a refresh rate of 60Hz which definitely is a bit of disappointment as phone lovers now look for 90Hz refresh rate, a standard trend now. It comes with a touch sampling rate of 180Hz, which helps in making the screen more responsive.

Taken as a whole, the display is decent and does feel a little more responsive than other 60Hz panels. In terms of brightness, the handset has an impeccably bright display for indoor usage, but it’s a bit difficult to use under direct/bright sunlight. The display brightness is not a problem under a shade or low light conditions. If we talk about colour accuracy, it’s an insignificant issue unless your main priority is a good display. Anyway, you would love watching videos and movies on this phone, thanks to the size of the display which dominates other aspects of the screen.

Platform

The smartphone uses the MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core processor, paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage and Mali G-52 MC2 GPU. It runs XOS 7.6 which is based on Android 11.

Performance-wise, the Note 10 showed no sign of slowing down while multi-tasking or switching apps. It was able to handle day-to-day tasks – such as browsing social media and other internet activities – and other more stringent processes like gaming with ease. Although it heated up a bit during gaming, the Infinix Note 10 didn’t affect the performance of the device, especially in terms of running the game or in terms of switching apps. Using the smartphone was a pleasant experience over all.

On the flipside, the smartphone comes preloaded with a lot of bloatware and many rather needless UI features that you’ll open by mistake and they will irritate you. There are lots of ads and notifications turned on by default on XOS 7.6 and dismissing the notifications also takes some getting used to as they are only dismissed by swiping right.

Interestingly, the Infinix Note 10 also comes with dual speakers with DTS surround sound that enhances your listening experience while watching movies or playing games like never before, at this price point. It’s a treat for users who are looking for a smartphone, especially for media consumption, thanks to the deadly combination of dual speakers with 6.95-inch screen.

Cameras

The handset packs a triple rear camera setup which includes a 48-megapixel primary shooter, a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel portrait lens. There’s no wide-angle lens on this phone. On the front, it comes with a 16-megapixel selfie snapper. In terms of performance, the camera clicks good pictures in daylight conditions and outdoors. The portrait mode on the smartphone is quite good and maintains focus on the subject very well. Likewise, the AI does a decent job in blurring the background and trimming the edges of the subject. The camera is fairly decent in lowlight conditions as well, and clicks good pictures for your social media posts.

The front camera also performs well and comes with features like portrait mode and beauty mode. It also supports Super Low Light mode. It clicks good pictures/selfies in well-lit environments and is also good enough for video calls. The video quality is decent and is good enough to make basic videos for posting on social media platforms.

Keeping up with the trend, the camera app on the Infinix Note 10 has a short video feature that puts filters on videos and captures a maximum of 30-second clips. It’s an exciting feature for those who are on the short video platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, MX TakaTak, JL Stream, to name a few.

Battery

The battery life is quite impressive and it excels in this department. The device went easily over a day on heavy usage like gaming and watching videos. It gave over 48 hours of backup on light to moderate usage such as browsing social media, listening to music and doing other internet activities on phone. Unlike its pro variant which has 33W fast charging support, the Infinix Note 10 comes with only 18W charging speed. Although it’s a nice upgrade from its precursors, the all-new Infinix phone took almost two and a half hours to charge fully from zero.

Conclusion

The smartphone has got a pleasing design but it’s a little too big in size, however it’s an excellent device for watching videos, online learning and gaming, owing to the 6.95-inch display. It’s fairly good for multitasking and switching between apps. The smartphone justifies its price, if we look at its processor, cameras and other specs. The charging time is an issue, which the company should take note of in future. Bloatware is also a problem over here but one can manage it effectively.

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