Infinix Hot 30 5G review: Best value phone under Rs 13,000

Pros: Good display, Decent main camera, IP rating, stereo speakers

Cons: Charging time, Below-average selfie camera

Infinix is well-known for offering value-for-money smartphones. We reviewed the Infinix Zero 5G 2023 sometime back and it was one of the cheapest Dimensity 1080 phones. Soon after that, we also reviewed the Infinix Hot 30i, which was a bank-for-the-buck device under Rs 10,000. Now, we have a new Infinix phone in the house, the Infinix Hot 30 5G. As the name suggests, it’s a higher-end model in the Hot series and comes with 5G connectivity.

After using the smartphone for more than a week, we have a lot to say about it. In this review, we will delineate the Pros, Cons, and day-to-day experience of using the Infinix Hot 30 5G. Before we get started, have a look at the pricing and specifications of the phone.

Infinix Hot 30 5G review: Design and Display

Straight out of the box, the Infinix Hot 30 5G has a premium-looking design. The Aurora Blue shade has a mix of matte finish on the back barring the camera island. The camera island is sparkling and shiny and it does reflect light. There are two camera lenses on the back placed on huge black surfaces to add to the phone’s design.

The device has a polycarbonate build, where both the back and the frame are made up of plastic. The sides do not help with the grip as much as the back does. But slapping the case that you get inside the box may offer some hold.

There’s a volume rocker and a power button on the right side, which doubles up as a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. There’s a triple slot on the left side, letting you place two nano SIMs and a microSD card. The device has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microphone, a USB Type-C port, and a speaker grill at the bottom. There’s another speaker grille on the top completing the stereo layout.

Coming to the display, it has a punch-hole panel with a modern aspect ratio. As you’d expect for the price, it’s an IPS LCD display sized 6.78 inches. The screen has Full-HD+ resolution and can be set at 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz. There’s also an auto-mode for the refresh rate which is turned on by default. However, the auto-refresh rate reduces the refresh rate in some apps like YouTube. That said,  it’s better to set the refresh rate manually to 120Hz. I did the same and then the experience was fluid.

As for the display quality, the screen on this one is superior to some other panels I’ve seen on previous Infinix phones. It is sharp and bright enough for daylight. In harsh sunlight, it might struggle though. The auto brightness works fine in most cases but whenever I open the Kindle app for reading e-books, it increases the brightness to the maximum. Not sure who’s at fault. Apart from this, the screen overall is good, not too vibrant but somewhere in the mid.

Infinix Hot 30 5G review: Camera

Infinix has offered a dual camera system on the back. The huge camera pupils on top of the camera island hold a 50MP main lens and an AI sensor. I’m not sure why the secondary lens is present since it doesn’t do any specific task, rather it appears to be there as a placeholder. The 50MP Samsung lens does all the magic by offering acceptable images in good lighting conditions. If there are too many light sources in the frame, the device may offer softer images. This needs to be fixed. Otherwise, the camera shutter here is faster than the Hot 30i.

There are several modes like Super Night, Portrait, Beauty, Film, and AI Cam mode (which is the default shooting mode). While photos are fine, the videos aren’t stable at all. However, they as well come out good in terms of quality, provided that there’s good lighting. The device can shoot 1440p videos at 30fps and 1080p videos at 60fps.

It also has features like Bokeh video and Google Lens support within the camera app making it easier to search anything using a picture. The selfie camera on the phone takes below-average pictures. The pictures aren’t that sharp and come out blurry. I feel there isn’t any difference between the selfie camera of Infinix’s entry-level phones (under Rs 10,000) and this one in terms of the selfie.

Overall, for the price, it has a decent main camera. I wish Infinix focused a bit more on the selfie camera as well.

Infinix Hot 30 5G review: Performance

The smartphone has the Dimensity 6020 SoC, which is a new 7nm octa-core chipset. It performs slightly better in some aspects than the Dimensity 810 chipset that we saw in its predecessor, the Hot 20 5G. It has up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. The phone’s day-to-day performance is smooth and I faced no lags or stutters. Even in benchmarks, it performed well.

On AnTuTu, it scored more than 4,00,000 points and no thermal throttling was detected. It also performed well on Geekbench 6 scoring 695 single-core points and 2015 multi-core points. For comparison, the Realme Narzo 60 5G which has the same chipset as the Hot 30 5G, scored 706 single-core points and 1855 multi-core points on Geekbench 6.

As for gaming, this isn’t a gaming device by any chance. However, it can still run games like PUBG in ‘High’ HD settings. Games like Asphalt 9 and casual titles like Subway Surfers are enjoyable on the phone. One thing I noticed is that the phone stays cool most of the time. Even during gaming, it only gets slightly warm.

One of the highlights of the phone is its big battery. The device packs a 6,000mAh mammoth battery that can easily offer up to 2 days of battery, depending on your usage. If you are a heavy user browsing social media all day, watching YouTube videos, binging movies on Netflix, and playing games, expect a day of battery life. Topping up the battery takes some time since it has 18W fast charging. A 33W fast charging solution would have been great since the battery capacity is here massive.

Now about the software. After using a bunch of other phones from different brands, I can say that XOS skin isn’t as heavy as custom skins from other brands. Based on Android 13 OS out of the box, the XOS 13 offers some useful features such as Peek Proof, Kids mode, Hi Translate, Split screen, and others. It also has its own call dialer that can record calls without announcing them.

There’s some bloatware as usual but some apps can be uninstalled, while the rest of them can be disabled. Apart from this, all the Android 13 features are present. Unfortunately, Infinix hasn’t confirmed the software support details of the device. We wish the company offers at least 1-2 years of software support with budget phones like this one.

The Hot 30 5G comes with a dual SIM slot and a microSD card slot for additional storage up to 1TB. The calls of the phone were clear and it offers good 5G speed. It has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5, both aren’t the latest but work and I had no issues with connectivity. Furthermore, it has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is great for connecting wired headphones. The phone has a stereo speaker setup that is loud and clear considering its price.

There’s a USB Type-C port that supports OTG functionality. Interestingly, Infinix has offered an IP53 rating on the phone. It offers resistance to dust and water sprays. While not the best, having ingress protection in itself is a win-win in this range.

For security, the device has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and it works most of the time. It never failed to detect my finger even when there was some moisture on my thumb, which wasn’t the case with Zero 5G that I tested sometime back. Lastly, an added advantage here is the NFC feature that enables tap-and-pay payments.

Infinix Hot 30 5G review: Verdict

The Infinix Hot 30 5G offers a sharp and fluid panel, a decent main camera, and a capable chipset for the price. It also has added advantages like IP rating, NFC, and a 2-day battery. That said, the Infinix Hot 30 5G is easily one of the best 5G smartphones under Rs 13,000 and probably the best-value phone that you can buy.

Other options with similar specs include Vivo T2x and Realme Narzo 60 5G. The former comes with a 60Hz water-drop notch display for Rs 13,000, whereas, the latter has an AMOLED panel but has a smaller battery and is expensive coming at Rs 18,000.