Android One: Infinix Hot 2 X510 Full Review

Never trust Kenya Power. Never trust Airtel Kenya. That’s my lesson this week. And why this post has come far too late than I had planned earlier.

So you want to know about the Infinix Hot 2 X510? Yes! The first Android One in Africa. If you don’t understand what Android One means follow this link. I have a comprehensive post.

I ordered the Hot 2 from Jumia at Ksh. 8,999. But the total cost later on was Ksh. 9224 since I put a POSTA as my preferred pick-up point. Lesson: Never use POSTA to pick up your purchases from Jumia. It’s messed up.

Design:

The Infinix Hot 2 is a pretty device. Especially when it is white! I know many have compared its back to Sony devices but one thing you should know is that it is made of plastic. The back is shiny and sleek and the design has made very many people interested.

The front of the phone appears to be somewhat ugly for me. The bezels are humongous. If only the phone didn’t have on-screen keys such that the lower bezel would house the soft-keys… That would have been a plus for me. But with such huge (and useless) bezels, I have my reservations. I don’t know about you. This however doesn’t take away the general beauty of the phone.

The speaker is at the bottom of the phone. The charging port and earphone jack are at the top. Both the power button and volume keys are on the right side of the device.

One more thing everyone will love about this phone is this: LED Notification light. Yep!

When charging, the LED Light will be red and will turn green when full. When you receive a message while the phone screen is off, the notification light will blink red until you see your notifications. Who wouldn’t love that?

Is there a phone running new versions of Android that has LED notifications at that price?

Display:

The manufacturer says the phone has a 720p resolution. I agree. But I have an issue with brightness. I think the panel is different from the Infinix Hot Note panel. Because you have to set the brightness a little higher for you to see clearly. At full brightness, you will still have issues while outdoors.

The colours are alive. And this is a big leap if you’re moving from the original Infinix Hot whose display was not that good.

Android Out of the Box:

This is a pure Android Phone. Inasmuch as that should be the biggest thing about this phone, it is somewhat a drawback. Why do I say this?

• There’s no Gallery. You either download or use Photos.
• There’s no File Manager! I had to download a file manager. I don’t know why but I feel this shouldn’t be the case.
• No shortcuts for Rebooting and Sound Profiles. When you hold down power button, you only get one option; to shut down phone. Usual sound and reboot options are missing.

The only non-Google apps the phone comes with are Jumia and Carlcare.

When setting up the phone, you can either set it up as a new device or you can restore apps from one of your previous devices. So if you’re making a complete move from your old device, just make sure you back up everything to Google and you’ll have everything appear on your new phone. You know you need Wi-Fi for this.

On this phone you can have more than one user and there’s even guest mode. Which is good. For example you want to give someone your phone and you fear they might get nosy, put it on guest mode.

Cameras:

The only camera app on this phone is the Google Camera which I still have my issues with.

It has never appealed to me. When I compared my Infinix Hot Note’s stock camera app to Google camera I noticed quite a huge difference. Which is why I am not finding the photos on this phone that awesome.

The back camera is 8MP. And if you can find a way of having another camera app, preferably one from the Hot Note, I think you can have better quality photos.

The front camera is 2MP.

Performance:

This phone is good. That’s it in terms of performance. You can smoothly switch between apps. And I am saying this with a lot of confidence for normal users. If you want to stress this device with a lot of heavy applications and games, it probably won’t perform.

There’s 1GB RAM and a Quad Core 1.3Ghz Processor. I hear there are 2GB RAM models. Is the 2GB RAM model available in Kenya? Anyone?

Battery life:

Am I the only one experiencing a slight heating in the back of the phone? Please comment if you’ve had the same issue.

The battery is 2200mAh. It cannot take you through the day if you’re always on your phone, like I am. But it can last you a full day, or even more, if you use it ever so slightly and on Wi-Fi.

I still believe there’s a lot to be desired by the phone’s battery life whenever you try using 3G. For example at 42% the phone says about 1hr 37 minutes to go.

There’s no fast charging. So you have to patiently wait for the 100% mark.

There are no power saving modes as we’ve seen on other Infinix’es. The only power saving feature is the one from stock Android and to be honest, it does almost nothing.

Extras:

The phone has 16GB internal storage. There’s a memory card slot too.

It is a dual-SIM phone. Both slots are Nano sized so you have to cut both SIM cards.

Battery is removable.

Opinion:

Is this a good phone at the price? Totally!

How do I compare this phone to:

1. Samsung Galaxy J1: The only good thing about the J1 is 4G. This phone beats the J1.
2. Infinix Hot Note: What the hell? No comparisons here. The Hot Note is on another level!
3. TECNO C5: Mmh depends on how you use your phone.
4. TECNO Boom J5 and J7: Beats both according to me.

I think the problems with this phone can be solved. You can download a gallery app and a file manager. You can get a good camera app. And you can use your phone slightly to save battery.

Plus you’ll be receiving every new version of Android for the next two years! Meaning Android Marshmallow will be on your phone very soon.

Please leave your thoughts and comments on the phone below. Tell me what you think, hate or like about the device.

Click here to directly buy this phone from Jumia. 

Update: Infinix Hot 2 vs Snokor Rocket Z5000