Infinix Zero 3 (X552) Full Review

Also read about Infinix Note 3 X601

I have had the Infinix Zero 3 for a few days now. And I know people really want to know more about this device. If you’ve been following me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook you’ve definitely seen the photos I have been sharing and now here’s your full review.

I will start by saying that I got a review unit from Infinix Kenya for this.

The Infinix Zero 3 is one hell of a beautiful device. I am serious. Yes it is plastic. Yes plastic is not premium blah blah, but once you touch this device you’ll understand what I am talking about. Kwanza the back is so nice, it feels so smooth and so premium.

This is what you get for Ksh. 18499:

• A 5.5 inch full HD display (1080p) smartphone
• A 3030mAh battery
• 20.7MP back camera and 5MP front camera
• 3GB RAM with Helio X10 64bit Octo-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz… man!
• 4G/LTE network support

Let’s start with design:

Many people say software first before design but when everything is almost the same across all phones in terms of software what people look next for is design.

The phone is well-built with premium-like layers (they appear to be on top of one another) that feel so good to hold. The back is smooth and clear and shiny. Around the phone they used a metal-like shiny material and the edges are strong, sharp, slightly raised and chamfered.

You can hold the device and just caress it for sometime while enjoying its design and build quality. Somebody somewhere spent their time well building this. A friend of mine told me she’s looking for the designer of this phone…

Display:

The screen resolution is 1080p and honestly you feel it if you, like me, are moving from 720p displays. It screams in your eyes. The colours are warm and brilliant and watching, reading or gaming feels, genuinely, incredible.

Software:

The phone comes running Android 5.1 Lollipop. Like the Hot Note X551, which has served me ever so well, it receives frequent software updates aimed at making it better.

The soft keys don’t have any extra customisations to choose how you’d want them to appear and I didn’t like that. However you can, under settings -> display, add the virtual dropdown function that gives you one extra key to help you hide the soft keys when they are a distraction. I really wish this could be done better but it’s all cool all the same.

You can customise the LED light notifications to show what blinks and when for example when charging or when there’s a text or when battery is low etc.

There are also the usual X apps: Xthemes, Xcontacts, Xclub and Xender.

Plus, I must mention this, there’s HotKnot which allows you to send data across similar phones when the screens of the phones touch.

Speed and Performance:

I even posted a YouTube video about this. This phone is FAST. Period.

“There’s 3GB RAM and an Octo-core 64 bit processor at 2GHz! What the hell? And at this price?” That was my reaction.

Nothing lags. Nothing is slow. Nothing makes you angry. You can open as many apps as you want (even big games) and shift very easily between them like you’re changing cards.

Watch the video here and see for yourself.

If you want to play games without being annoyed with the quality and the constant phone lag, get a 3GB device with such a processor.

Storage:

There’s 16GB on-board but you can expand this with an external SD card.

I really wish there was the option for 32GB, 64GB or 128GB models. But maybe the fact that you can expand storage up to 128GB means this model is as good as any amount of storage you’ll ever need.

Audio:

Yes this phone doesn’t come with earphones.

When you open the box you’ll find what I am calling a modular charger. Meaning the charger can be broken down into pieces and used depending on one’s preferences or county.

Instead of all this, we would have preferred earphones, wouldn’t we? But anyway…

This phone has good audio. At first I was like maybe there are no earphones because the audio is bad. But I took a listen using very good headphones (not Beats nkt) and I was amazed.

If you are getting this device you try out the audio and tell me. Infinix claim the device supports Hi-Fi grade audio and though I can’t quite prove that with my quality of MP3s, I am not disputing it any bit.

Battery:

You know what… 3030mAh battery is no joke.

Before TECNO and Infinix we had been subjected to 1200 to 2000mAh batteries. And we had to deal with it. Yes both the named still have phones with bad batteries but we’ve made quite significant strides. Like the Hot Note’s 4000mAh battery.

When you’re moving from a 720p 1GB RAM phone with 4000mAh battery to a 1080p 3GB phone with 3030mAh battery you must surely expect a difference. And there is. But not as I had thought.

On the Zero 3, I can get up to between 4 and 5 hours screen-on time which is saying something considering I am still pretty much addicted to the device and I don’t put it down a second.

But I must say that I haven’t tested battery life on 4G networks. I don’t know how fast or slow the battery drains on 4G.

Cameras:

And now to cameras. I know. This should have been the very first thing I talked about right. LOL. I mean 20.7MP!

And yes I have talked about it. A whole post is over here.

The back camera has two dual flash they are calling true tone flash. Simply, there’s a yellowish flash and a whitish flash which do their magic to give you “sun-kissed skin” even in dark rooms.

The front camera is 5MP and it also has a brilliant (brilliant as in bright) flash. The front camera has face recognition and a nice focus to it.

Both cameras are amazing. Read the full camera review here.

Extras:

As usual there’s double tap to wake and to sleep. The other gestures like C to wake to camera are also there.

In case of low power you can activate Ultra saving mode which shuts everything except the dialer for calls, messages, notes, clock and calculator.

Cons:

• The phone slightly heats while using and while charging. For charging that’s not bad. But for usage, we need some software upgrade to check it. It’s not like it heats a lot. But you definitely feel it get a little warm
• And can we get phone cases please? The device is extremely smooth and slippery and one dread you’ll live with is the fear of it falling down. Plus as you’d expect it is a fingerprint magnet.
• This is a con to some people: You can’t open it up anywhere. It is a brick. Meaning non-removable battery.
• Read my post titled “Problems with the Infinix Zero 3“

Would I recommend this phone? Totally.

Like I said when the year begun on “My 2016 Tech expectations“, this is the year we will see very high end features on affordable and low end phones. This is a flagship killer device. One I would totally buy!

Tell me what you think on the phone and camera in the comments sections below.

If you want to buy this phone

• Click here if you’re in Kenya to buy from Jumia Kenya
• Click here if you’re in Nigeria to buy from Jumia Nigeria

Also read Patchworkoftips.com full review of the Infinix Zero 3. Emmanuel has a very nice post on everything about the phone.

Read 7 things I love about the Infinix Zero 3