Expanding its Smart series, Infinix has come up with the entry-level Smart 5A smartphone in India. The handset comes with Jio Exclusive offer that effectively reduces its price, and it features a HD+ display, dual rear camera setup, 5,000mAh battery and a MediaTek SoC. The Infinix Smart 5A has been launched in a single storage variant offering 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage at Rs 6,699. It’s available in three colour options – Quetzal Cyan, Midnight Black and Ocean Wave. We had the Quetzal Cyan colour variant for review. Let’s find out whether it’s a smart choice in the ultra-budget segment.
Design
The smartphone is big in size and features a 6.52-inch display, unlike its predecessor Smart 5 that had a slightly bigger 6.82-inch display. It has a plastic body with a gradient back panel which looks good at this price point, although it’ll not give you a premium feel. It’s neither too thick nor too heavy and is controllable with one hand, however it’ll cause a little bit of wrist fatigue if you carry it for long.
Beginning with rear panel, the Infinix Smart 5A sports a dual rear camera setup in a rectangular module that is slightly raised at the left towards the top. There’s a fingerprint sensor in the middle which is a little higher than the ideal position to access. The shiny back panel attracts smudges, however it doesn’t look awkward and will not slip out of your hand. Appreciatively, it also comes with a transparent case in the box, like other Infinix phones.
While the left side of the device features a SIM tray, on the right you’ll find a power button and volume rockers. These buttons are tactile and easy to reach, you don’t need to shuffle your finger to press them. While there’s nothing on the top, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro-USB port, the primary microphone and a speaker grille at the bottom. Catching up with the trend, the smartphone should have come up with a USB Type-C port instead of the micro-USB port, which is becoming obsolete now.
Display
The IPS TFT display of 6.52-inch having HD+ resolution of 1560×7200 comes with a water drop notch at the top. It offers fairly slim bezels at the sides and the top of the screen, whereas it’s a bit thicker at the chin. There’s a dual flash setup at the front, and two LED flashes sit on either side of the selfie camera in the top bezel. The display comes with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and has a peak brightness of 500 nits which is good indoors but might feel somewhat insufficient in the open.
Platform
Unlike its predecessor that had MediaTek Helio G25 SoC, this time it’s Helio A20 quad-core processor to power the Infinix Smart 5A. The SoC is based on a 12nm process. As discussed above, the smartphone offers 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which can be further expanded up to 256GB using the dedicated microSD card slot. The smartphone runs XOS 7.6 on top of Android 11 (Go Edition).
If we talk about the user interface (UI), it has a few customisations along with a number of preinstalled applications, such as AHA Games and Palm Store, which are said to be alternatives to the Play Store. The Palm Store is a bit spammy as it keeps pushing notifications which may irritate you sometimes. However, there are some useful features too, such as WhatsApp mode, which allows data access to WhatsApp Messenger. Besides, you’ll find a smart panel which can be accessed from any screen.
In terms of performance, it’s good for basic usage but may irritate you sometimes, as you’ll have to wait for it to load apps, which may take a little longer. Multitasking on this phone is definitely not that good, and sometimes even the fingerprint sensor and face recognition take a little longer to unlock the phone. But what can you expect at this price point? You’ll have to accept it at Rs 6,699.
Considering its processor and RAM-ROM configuration, it’s definitely not good for gaming purposes, as it takes substantial amount of time to load a graphic-intensive game such as Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). You’ll notice frequent lag and stutter. However, the casual gaming is okay with this phone but not to a great extent.
Cameras
In terms of optics, there’s a very basic dual camera setup on this phone – an 8MP primary sensor and a secondary AI (depth) sensor. Upfront, it has an 8MP selfie shooter in the water drop notch, accompanied by two selfie flashes in the top bezel. The camera app is very simple with couple of options to choose from. Although it has AI scene detection and auto HDR, the slow actions of the camera may upset you occasionally.
Performance-wise, the shots taken in daylight conditions were quite average, as dynamic range wasn’t good and details were missing. Close-up shots were good with decent details but the output in Bokeh mode was average. The shots taken in low-light conditions were below average. There’s no Night mode on this phone.
If we talk about selfies, they are average in daylight and slightly better in low-light, thanks to the dual LED flashes that enhance the output. Video recording too, on this phone, is average in daylight and worth no use in the low-light conditions.
Battery
Having a colossal 5,000mAh battery is definitely the USP of this device. It can easily go on for nearly two days with moderate usage. The 10W charger that comes with it got the phone to 20 per cent after 30 minutes which is not bad. It took more than two hours to charge the phone fully.
Conclusion
The Infinix Smart 5A scores big in just two departments – display and battery which are especially good for children pursuing online education. Its cameras and processor are made for basic usage and you shouldn’t expect more than that. The company should have enhanced its RAM capability to 3GB which sounds better in today’s time. Go for this phone, if you are tight on a budget or if you would like to shift from a feature phone to a smartphone.
