Although she is no longer active in France, the Infinix brand continues to fuel the African and South Asian market of mobile telephony. Its new large format PHABLET is called Note 2. It is powered by Android 5.1 and XUI overlay. First impressions.
The Infinix brand arrived in 2013 with global ambitions assumed, has clearly lowered the sail in France, because the competitive pressure is very strong. She focused on high-potential markets, such as Africa and Southeast Asia, two areas where Chinese brands settled gradually.
This is Nigeria, for example, that we find on the shelves the Note 2, large format new phone we had the chance to take control. The model is sold for a sum relatively contained by the criteria of our European market 190 euros in its version of 4G and 165 euros in its 3G version. The Infinix Note 2 is also available in Kenya, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Ghana and the Senegal
Everything is great … even the pixels
For the money, you have a very large 6-inch smartphone. Specifications are very common, as you can see:
- dimensions: 159.5 x 82.5 x 9.3 mm
- Weight: 194 grams
- Screen / size ratio: 75%
- IPS 720p 6-inch screen (resolution of 244 pixels per inch)
- MediaTek MT6753 chipset with eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.3 GHz
- ARM Mali T720 GPU
- 1 or 2 GB RAM
- 16 GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD)
- 4040 mAh battery (non-removable) supports fast loading
- supports LTE category 4 (optional), WiFi n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS (GLONASS), DLNA, FM radio, dual SIM
- 13 megapixel camera sensor with LED flash, phase-detection autofocus and laser compatibility Full HD video
- 2 megapixel webcam with backlit sensor
- Android 5.1 with Lollipop XUI interface
Two small remarks on this data sheet: First, the weight of the phone: 194 grams. Which is a lot. It could have been even more with a structure with premium components. The second point concerns the screen resolution: 720p. It’s a shame not to have gone up to 1080p, although MT6753 would have had more difficulty to fully manage the Full HD. Because with a resolution of 244 pixels per inch, it’s not very qualitative.
A sleek and classic design
No frills or risk-taking in the Note 2. The design of the phone grip is fairly standard for a PHABLET. All hardware buttons (volume and commissioning) were grouped on the edge of the right, so that they are accessible with the thumb of the hand (if you’re right handed). Only the microUSB port and 3.5mm jack are apparent. The polycarbonate shell, which covers half of the slices and makes the junction with the protection of the touch screen is removable. This serves to reach the two ports microSIM and microSD port. The battery is not removable (but certainly more easily replaceable with a unibody chassis). There is no need to turn off the phone to insert a card into one of these locations. However, it is advisable to do …
The screen is one of the least qualitative points of the smartphone. It displays images in 720p on a 6-inch slab. This gives a resolution of 244 pixels per inch. This is well below the 320 pixels per inch that the human eye is capable of seeing. So the grain of the screen is seen with the naked eye. The image is not “clean”, but a little runny in places. However, the other screen properties are good: brightness, color matching, contrast and viewing angle
A new interface in Infinix
The smartphone is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop dressed in an overcoat called XUI. The version here is encountered widely different from the other two smartphones tested in our columns by 2014, 4G and Alpha Jet Race 8. Graphically everything worked as it is ergonomically closer to Android as usual Chinese overlays (FlyMe, MIUI , EMUI, etc.). First, she sees the return of the application launcher where all icons are available. Infinix not also do things by half with two launchers instead of one!
Then, menus more like the original design of Android, without falling into outright recovery Vanilla. Finally, the pictograms Google apps are not customized, which tended to unseat us. Among some fun customisations, we found philosophical quote on the home screen
We also identified several houses applications XWallpaper (wallpapers download) XContacts (contacts backup to the Cloud), Xender (import and export of applications) and “User Comment” (sending messages to Infinix teams bugs and suggestions for improvement). The ROM Infinix is also embellished with some third party applications. The eternal TouchPal is preinstalled to make a sliding keyboard and CarlCare does the garbage. WhatsApp and Facebook are responsible for the social part.
A proposal in the average
In use, the smartphone denotes less than its predecessors thanks a simpler and lighter interface. The format of the PHABLET is impressive, very impressive: for its weight or dimensions, the Note 2 Infinix is not easy to handle with one hand. However, the position of buttons and alarm by tapping twice on the touch screen helps offset.
The technical platform is sufficient for typical daily use, even with 1 GB of RAM only. The MT653 is a good solution on entry (less than 200 euros). We would have preferred to test the 2GB version for the intake of fluid that should provide (even without 4G). The battery is generous and dependably. Finally, the screen of this size, deserved to be Full HD.
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