Infinix Hot 9

The Infinix Hot 9 series is the latest entrant to Infinix’s smartphone lineup. The Hot 9 and Hot 9 Pro are budget phones that aim to deliver value, rivaling the likes of Redmi 8, Realme Narzo 10A and Realme C3.

Our focus today is on the standard Hot 9. The Infinix Hot 9 is priced at Rs 8,999 and is only available is a 4GB RAM and 64GB storage configuration.

Design

The most notable change over Infinix Hot 8 comes on the design front. The Infinix Hot 9 gets a design overhaul on the back and front. The Hot 9 has a rectangular camera module, almost twice the size of the camera layout on the Hot 8.

On the front, the Infinix Hot 9 features a hole-punch camera cut-out as opposed to a waterdrop notch. The hole-punch notch gives the device that modern 2020 feel and is the only smartphone to opt for a hole punch notch at this price point.

 The Infinix Hot 9 arrives in two colours options — Violet and Ocean Wave. We got our hands on the violet unit. The finish was too flashy for our liking, but if you want something beyond basic colours, then this may be appealing. The phone has a gem-cut texture design on the back. Additionally, you get a fingerprint reader on the back with the ‘Infinix’ branding under it.

The good thing about the Hot 9 is that it does not seem cheap when you pick it up, even though it is made up of plastic. While the vole rocker and power button are located on the right of the phone, the SIM tray is moved to the left. The speaker grille is found on the bottom of the device alongside a headphone jack and USB port.

Display                     

The Infinix Hot 9 sports a 6.6-inch LCD screen with an HD+ resolution. The screen has a punch-hole camera cutout and noticeable bezels on the bottom. The display features Adaptive Brightness, Eye Care, and an inadvertent mode to avoid accidental touches. The brightness level on the screen a slightly above average while viewing angles are pretty good.

Performance

The Infinix Hot 9 is equipped with a MediaTek P22 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM. The MediaTek Helio P22 is a decent chipset, but we are a little disappointed not to see a newer chip, considering the P22 was also used on the Hot 8.

The chipset works well enough to take on daily tasks and run casual games. However, it does struggle to handle heavy-duty games. The Hot 9 managed to score 103391 points on AnTuTu.

Battery

The Infinix Hot 9 packs a 5,000 mAh battery, which is quite reliable. Additionally, the low-resolution display, a power-efficient chip, and low screen brightness, all contribute to the Hot 9’s excellent battery life. Infinix adds a 10W charger in the box, but it took us around two hours to fully charge the 5,000 mAh battery. The Hot 9 can easily deliver a day and a half of battery life for the average user.

Software

Infinix ships the Hot 9 with XOS 6 based on Android 10. The UI has tons of customizations and a smart panel that gives you quick access to apps. You also get gesture navigation, quick controls for screenshots, and screen recording. The Social Turbo feature in the Settings app lets users record WhatsApp calls, create stickers, and easily save WhatsApp statuses.

Camera

The Infinix Hot 9 gets a quad-camera setup on the back with a 13-megapixel primary sensor, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, 2-megapixel macro camera, and a low light sensor. The hole-punch camera cutout on the front houses an 8-megapixel front camera.

The phone gets a triple LED-flash on the back, and a selfie flash hidden in the top bezel for selfies.

The Infinix Hot 9 can take videos in 1080p resolution, which can deliver decent results if the lighting is right, but the lack of stabilization means you can barely move while recording videos.