Introduction - A Lot To Offer
Infinix launched the Zero 8i as their latest offering in the budget segment. The device comes with a matte-finished dual-tone design and Helio G90T chipset for ensuring good performance. It has a 48MP quad-camera setup at the back and dual-selfie cameras. The display is a 90Hz IPS LCD panel with a Full HD+ resolution.
Also Read: How To Buy Smartphone For Your Kids In Budget?
Looking at the spec sheet, the Infinix Zero 8i seems a strong contender in the already crowded budget segment, where we have so many smartphones to choose from. Let us see, how far is it able to win the competition from devices like Poco M2 Pro or Realme Narzo 20 Pro.
Prices in India, Variants, Availability
Infinix Zero 8i is priced in India at ₹15,999 for its sole variant which comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There are two colour options available for the Zero 8i; they are- Black Diamond and Silver Diamond. Infinix Zero 8i is currently available only on Flipkart. Do check out for some awesome deals and offers on Flipkart, as the buy with exchange and the No Cost EMI offer.
Box Contents
A premium silver packaging holds the Infinix Zero 8i inside with box contents as:
- Infinix Zero 8i device
- 18W fast charging adapter
- USB Type-C cable
- Shiny Infinix brand stickers
- Sim ejector tool
- Documentation
- Clear Transparent Case
- Screen Protector
Specs at a glance
Before we talk in detail about Infinix Zero 8i, let’s have a quick look at the key specifications.
- Display: 17.4 cm (6.85 inches) Full HD+ Display, 90Hz refresh rate
- Processor: MediaTek Helio G90T
- Storage: 8GB/128GB
- Software: XOS 7.0 based on Android 10
- Rear cameras: 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + AI Lens
- Selfie camera: 16MP + 8MP
- Battery: 4500 mAh, 33W Quick Charging
- Weight: 210.5 g
- Dimensions: 168.74 x 76.08 x 9.07
Now, let’s move ahead and see what makes Infinix Zero 8i the most stylish budget smartphone.
Design and Build - Most Stylish Ever
Infinix has done a pretty handsome design on the Zero 8i. The dual-tone matte-finished back looks way more premium than a glossy-finish would. It also attracts lesser fingerprints and smudges, which is another plus point. Both the body and the frame of the device are made up of plastic, but the finish of the back panel feels more polished than found on earlier Infinix devices.
The camera module at the back is shaped as a quadrilateral, but it’s not your regular rectangle or square rather diamond-shaped, and it looks quite attractive. The display on this one is huge! It’s a 6.85-inches IPS LCD panel with a pill-shaped cut-out for the dual-selfie camera on the top-left corner. The bezels are thin on both the edges and the top, and an average-sized chin at the bottom. With a weight of over 210gm, no doubt it is a heavy device, owing to its enormous display. There is also the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the screen.
Read More: SmartPhone Buying Guide
For the ports and buttons, we have the speaker grille, 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone and USB Type-C port, all present at the bottom. On the right-hand side, we have the volume rockers along with the power button, which doubles up as the fingerprint sensor. The left side houses the SIM-tray with a dedicated microSD card slot. You don’t get a secondary noise cancellation microphone on this one which should have been there, for a phone priced at ₹16K.
Display - Too Tall For Single Hand Usage
Well, we have seen smartphone displays that are big, like 6.7-inches, but believe me, the display on the Infinix Zero 8i makes even those big display smartphones feel smaller. The 6.85-inch panel on the Infinix Zero 8i is one of the biggest that we see on smartphones in this price range. The FHD+ display has a maximum resolution of 1080 x 2460 pixels with a 392ppi density. There is the now-standard 20:9 aspect ratio and 87.04% screen to body ratio.
Higher refresh rate panels are one of the most sought after specs in the year 2020. When it has already become a must for flagship devices, we’re now even seeing it in lower-priced phones like Poco X3 or Realme 7, and Infinix Zero 8i is in no way lagging behind when it comes to a faster refresh rate panel. The 90Hz refresh rate screen on the Zero 8i provides a smooth scrolling experience, though it still needs some improvement to match the 90Hz display on phones that are priced higher.
Read More: Types of Smartphone Displays
While you are definitely going to enjoy scrolling on the Zero 8i’s display, watching multimedia content is, in itself an immersive experience on that huge screen. The FHD+ panel produces some sharp and natural-looking colours. The viewing angles were above average too. The display did get bright enough and I was able to read and view stuff from the smartphone’s screen even in outdoor lighting conditions. The phone comes with Widevine L3 certification and not Widevnine L1, so while you can stream Netflix and Amazon Prime Video but not in the highest quality, however, Infinix can fix this (if they want) with a software update.
Overall, the display on the Infinix Zero 8i provides a well-rounded experience from the colours to the brightness and even the 90Hz smooth scrolling experience.
Performance
Infinix Zero 8i is powered by the Mediatek Helio G90T SoC. The 12nm chipset paired with the Mali-G76 GPU is powerful enough to handle moderate or even heavy usage quite efficiently. The device was capable of performing even the heaviest of tasks without showing any lags or stutters. Switching through apps, navigating across the UI, looking up options in the settings or editing photos: none were able to slow it down.
When it comes to gaming, the Helio G90T has an upper-hand due to its enhanced graphic core. I played Call of Duty at max settings and the device was able to deliver an impressive performance. You can play almost all popular android games like Asphalt 9, Genshin Impact or any other, without experiencing any frame drops or lags and thanks to the 90Hz panel, the gameplay experience was way smoother for games supporting higher frame rates.
Software
For the software part, Infinix Zero 8i comes with XOS 7 which is based on Android 10, just like its preceding version, the XOS 6 Dolphin. There are hardly any noticeable changes done to the UI except for some minor retouches to the default app icons and the settings page. There is a swipe-able card that directly navigates you to different settings of your phone, instead of manually finding for that particular menu.
Some of the newly added features include the video ringtone, with which you can set up a video as a caller ID, there is this new smart scanner, that can scan anything ranging from QR codes to scanning and translating over 40 different languages, that too in real-time and some others.
Aside from those, the rest of the UI is pretty similar to its previous versions. The device comes with a truck-full of bloatware apps that come preinstalled and you still get those annoying ads across the entire UI like every other Infinix smartphone.
Cameras
Infinix Zero 8i features a quad-camera setup with a 48MP primary lens, an 8MP Ultra-Wide, 2MP Depth Camera and an AI sensor. The dual front-facing camera houses a 16MP primary and an 8MP Ultra-Wide snapper.
The images shot in daylight come out good with enough details and wide dynamic range. The colours looked true-to-source with good contrast levels. The HDR mode adds up more details and sharpness to the images. You can toggle the auto-HDR on and off, but turning off the AI scene detection is not possible. As for the Wide-Angle lens, the images shot are fairly detailed in the centre but the focus is very soft around the edges. Colours also, look quite dull as compared to the primary camera.
The details drastically decrease as the surrounding light drops down. There is a dedicated Night Mode in the camera app for enhancing the low-light photography experience and it does add some slight improvement. At the expense of some fine details, you will get much brighter photos and the colours are better than washed out.
The 16MP primary selfie camera captures some well-detailed images but I noticed that the background gets overly exposed especially in outdoor lighting conditions. However, upon switching to the ultra-wide selfie lens, I did not notice the exposure problem and the images looked fairly decent with good contrast and colours. The Portrait mode selfies come out good with accurate edge-detection and good background blur.
Video recording maxes out at 4K 30fps for the primary camera. Infinix has really done a fine job with the stabilisation in video recording. Both the back and the front camera records quite stable footage even while I was moving around and recording.
Battery
The battery on the Infinix Zero 8i is a 4,500mAh cell which keeps the phone running for almost an entire day on light to moderate usage. I was able to get 5 hours of screen-on time, on average, with the Zero 8i which is decent enough for a phone in this price range. However, extended gaming sessions will definitely put a dent in the battery life, especially with the 90Hz refresh rate option toggled-on.
Zero 8i supports fast-charging up to 33W, but surprisingly the charging brick that you get with the box is only 18W, so you have to spend some extra bucks, to buy one if you want that 33W fast charging speed. I used the Poco M2 Pro’s 33W charger to test the charging speed, and it was able to charge the device from zero to 100% in about 1 hour and 20 minutes, while a 35-minute charge fills 50% of the battery.
Audio, Connectivity, Biometrics
The audio department is where most budget devices perform average or below average, and the Infinix Zero 8i is no exception. There is only a solitary bottom-firing speaker and no hybrid setup in the earpiece as the second speaker. Well, loudness was more or less decent and the phone was loud enough to be heard while you were sitting in your room. The output is clear at low and even at mid-volume, but gets muffed up at max volume. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack present at the bottom of the device and the audio output from the jack is quite decent.
The earpiece on the Infinix Zero 8i has a good quality output and I never had any issues, hearing from the other party while on a call.
Infinix Zero 8i supports dual SIM (nano-SIM) with 4G enabled on both the SIMs. Almost all connectivity options are present in the Infinix Zero 8i like – dual-band Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi calling, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C 2.0 and USB On-The-Go. GPS support with A-GPS and GLONASS is present. Other sensors included in the Zero 8i are- light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer, compass and gyroscope.
For security, the Zero 8i accommodates a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that doubles up as the power button and it works really fast. You just have to place your finger or your thumb and boom the phone gets unlocked in almost a wink. There is also the Face Unlock option and it detects your face almost instantly and accurately in most scenarios. As usual, you can set up a 6-digit secure password or pin.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- A great combination of 8GB RAM with 128GB storage
- Most Stylish and modern design in the segment
- Impressive FHD+ 90Hz refresh rate display
Cons:
- No 6GB RAM variant
- People are still reluctant to spend above 10k on a brand like Infinix
Infinix Zero 8i is a feature rich phone. It flaunts a premium design, an old but capable chipset, an FHD+ panel with 90Hz refresh rate and decent cameras. However, it still has some issues as they were with the previous Infinix models like those annoying advertisements and app recommendations within the UI. The cameras still need some improvements and the audio output doesn’t impress either. But overall, it’s a good package and you can definitely consider it if you want a gaming smartphone on a budget.
As for the alternatives, the Poco M2 Pro can be another good option with a bigger battery and slightly better cameras. The Realme Narzo 20 Pro can also be a good alternative with the Helio G95 chipset and an equally good 90Hz refresh rate display.
