Infinix Smart 8 (X6525) Price, Review And Specifications.
Display: 6.56" HD+ (1612×720) Infinity-O IPS-LCD 90Hz Display.
Software: Android 13 (Go Edition) OS, XOS 13.5v.
CPU: Unisoc T606.
RAM: 3GB/4GB (Plus up to 4GB of Virtual RAM).
Storage: 64GB/128GB (Expandable to 1TB).
Rear Camera: Dual-lens (13MP+AI).
Front Camera: Single-lens (8MP).
Security: Face Unlock, Side-mounted fingerprint reader.
Port: USB Type-C.
Network: 4G.
Battery: 5,000mAh.
Starting Price:
₦97,500, GH₵ 962, KSh 13,500, UGX 343,400.
Infinix Smart 8 (X6525) comes in size and shape of the earlier Infinix Smart 7 Plus (X6517). And it also features an identical 6.6-inch display. Still, the latest phone sports a few cosmetics updates; which make it to look more premium and classier than its predecessor.
The new phone also features recent software, beefier CPU and comes in higher storage option. However, the battery capacity of the phone is lower than that of the earlier model. Although the battery capacity is standard among the competitions. Besides, the CPU of the Smart 8 is more power efficient than that of its predecessor.
Meanwhile, In spite of its affordable price, Infinix Smart 8 wears a premium looks and has a pretty display. The phone also packs a capable processor and spacious inbuilt storage. Selfies from the Smart 8 also look decent. However, the shots from the phone's rear camera are not as bright as the ones taken with the main contenders.
Besides, most of the aforementioned strong features of the Infinix Smart 8 can also be found on the main contenders. In other words, there's not much difference between this phone and its main rivals, i.e., Tecno Pop 8 (BG6) and Itel A70 (A665L).
Price And Design Colours:
Infinix Smart 8 sports an appealing semi-glossy finish and it's available in different colour options of Galaxy White, Shiny Gold, Crystal Green, and Timber Black. Currently, the price of the base (3GB/64GB) model of the phone is around 97,500 naira.
Though Same Design But Sleeker Looks:
The first thing that gives Infinix Smart 8 a prettier looks (than the Smart 7 Plus) is its hole-punch display. In other words, despite having the same 6.6-inch screen size as its predecessor, the camera cut-out on the new phone makes its front to look more appealing than that of the Smart 7 Plus; which sports a tear-drop notch.
Secondly, despite having a similar square-shaped rear camera module like its predecessor, the camera module of the Smart 8 looks more premium. In short, the camera module on the latest Smart resembles that of an iPhone.
Also the fingerprint reader (which was placed on the back of the earlier phone) has been moved to the right side of the Smart 8. This also means that the power button of the new phone doubles as a fingerprint reader. And lastly, while the back cover of the earlier phone was decorated with bumpy fine lines, the back cover of the new Smart is plain and has a smooth and semi-glossy finish.
Though, as i said before, the few cosmetics changes make Smart 8 to look more classier than the Smart 7 Plus, the two main contenders (Tecno Pop and Itel A70) wear the same looks as the Smart 8.
That said, the arrangements of port and buttons on the Smart 8 are similar to those of the earlier model. The volume keys and power button (which also serves as fingerprint reader) are still on the right edge of the phone, while its dual nano 4G SIM+microSD slot is found on the left edge. Infinix Smart 8 also retain its predecessor's single speaker, USB Type-C port and 3.5mm audio jack. And all of them, including mouthpiece, are located on the bottom edge of the phone. There's nothing on the top edge of the Smart 8.
Camera: Same Rear Sensor, But Upgraded Selfie lens.
Although, like its predecessor, Infinix Smart 8 has a 13-megapixel dual rear camera, the 5-megapixel selfie lens on the earlier phone has been upgraded to an 8-megapixel lens on the new phone. As a result of its higher megapixel front camera, selfies from the Smart 8 are clearer and more detailed than the ones taken with its predecessor. Apart from the fact that the selfies are more detailed, they also have better colour representation and more accurate skin tone.
Unfortunately, in spite of the latest phone's more recent software and upgraded processor, photos from its rear camera have less vivid colour representation, compared to the ones taken with the earlier Smart 7 Plus. Though the level of clarity remain the same, as a result of the same megapixel.
Because the camera set-up (on the Smart 8) is also what you get on most of other low budget phones, photos taken with the phone have the same picture quality as the ones taken with the competitions. In other words, as expected of a phone at this price point, photos from the Smart 8 are not impressively detailed, yet they're moderately sharp and clear. Again, and despite having the same level of detail and clarity as the ones from the competing phone such as Tecno Pop 8, colour representation of the shots taken with the Smart 8 rear camera fall slightly below the ones taken with the Tecno phone.
Yet the colour representation and skin tone of the selfies from the Smart 8 are on par with the ones taken with the Pop 8. Also like the Tecno phone and the rest of the contenders, Infinix Smart 8 can shoot videos up to 1080p at 30fps (frame per second). And there's no Image Stabilization.
Same Screen Attributes, But A More Stylish Camera Cut-Out:
Except for its hole-punch camera, the 6.56-inch display of the Smart 8 has the same screen size and attributes as that of the Smart 7 Plus. And it should be noted that virtually all other budget phones have the same screen size and attributes. In details, the 6.56-inch screen of the Smart 8 has an IPS-LCD panel and features a 720p resolution of 1612-by-720 pixels. And it also comes in 20.15 aspect ratio.
Though generally speaking, this IPS-LCD display is not among the best looking ones in the market, but it's one of the best looking at this price point. Pictures and texts are noticeably clear and crisp. Colours are moderately rich too. Another phone that has similar picture quality (and also possesses all other attributes of the Smart 8) is the Pop 8.
Both Smart 8 and Pop 8 displays also have another thing in common. And this is high or 90Hz screen refresh rate (for smoother page scrolling, swiping and gaming). And it should known that this feature (High screen refresh rate) is not easy to come by among the phones at this price point.
Furthermore, as expected of a low-cost android phone, the screen of the Infinix Smart 8 is not that visible under direct sunlight. Still the peak brightness level of the screen is decent, and okay for most of the ambient lights conditions. Also, in addition to its high screen refresh rate, another noteworthy feature of the Infinix Smart 8 is Magic Ring. More on that below.
Processing Power And Software:
The Unisoc SC9863A1 CPU that powered Smart 7 Plus has been replaced with Unisoc T606 on the Smart 8. Although T606 is still an entry-level octa-core processor. And it has the same maximum clock speed of 1.6GHz as SC9863A1. Yet due to following reasons, Unisoc T606 is a better replacement for the SC9863A1.
Firstly, T606 is a 12nm CPU, while the SC9863A1 (of the Smart 7 Plus) is a 28nm CPU. This makes Smart 8 to be more power efficient than its predecessor. Secondly, the octa-core ARMs of the T606 is made of 2x(1.6GHz) Cortex-A75 & 6x(1.6GHz) Cortex-A55, while those of the SC9863A1 is made up 4x(1.6GHz) Cortex-A55 & 4x(1.2GHz) Cortex-A55. These technical details also means that Infinix Smart 8 packs better processing power than the Smart 7 Plus.
However, Infinix Smart 8 retain the earlier phone's 4GB of RAM (which is expandable up to 8GB through Virtual RAM). Even the latest phone is available in lower RAM option of 3GB. And while the 3GB of RAM variant is paired with 64GB internal storage space, the 4GB of RAM variant is equipped with a more spacious storage capacity of 128GB. Yet, irrespective of your choice of variants, the inbuilt storage capacity of the infinix Smart 8 can be expanded, via microSD card, up to one terabyte (1TB).
In addition to its higher storage option and stronger CPU, The latest phone is also pre-installed with a more recent Android 13 (Go Edition) OS (compared to the Android 12 Go Edition on the Smart 7 Plus). Also running on top of the Android OS is the latest version of Infinix XOS custom UI, i.e, Infinix XOS v13.5.
One of the interesting features of the latest custom UI is the previously mentioned Magic Ring. This feature mimics the Island Bar of the recent iPhones. In other words, and by toggle On the Magic Ring in the phone settings, the circular front-facing camera spot will be transformed to a cylindrical or pill-shape cut-out. And afterwards, some of your notifications will start to show inside the Ring.
Meanwhile, as a result of its upgraded CPU, Infinix Smart 8 is more responsive and deliver smoother performance than its predecessor, despites running on recent software. The phone handles basic and day-to-day tasks without stress. Even demanding tasks like heavy internet browsing and high definition video streaming didn't slow down the smooth performance of the Smart 8. Though this phone also managed to play some graphics-demanding games, but it did so at Low Graphics and Low Frame Rate settings, to prevent occasionally lagging or stuttering. In other words, and because Infinix smart 8 is a budget phone, its performance can be hindered or hampered by incessant multitasking and playing graphics demanding games.
Although Infinix Smart 8 was able to moves faster and delivered better performance than the earlier model, the performance remain as the competitions. And it's because the phone's configuration (software, CPU, amount of RAM and storage capacity) is also what you get on the competitions.
Though Downgraded Battery But Almost The Same Screen On Time:
The 6,000mAh battery on the Infinix Smart 7 Plus has been downgraded to a 5,000mAh battery on the Smart 8. Apart from the fact this (5,000mAh battery) is the standard among most the phones, as i also mentioned before, Smart 8 is more power efficient than its predecessor. Therefore, it can be deduced that Infinix Mobility trades higher battery capacity for energy efficient CPU on the latest Smart 8.
And like the earlier model and most of other budget smartphones, Infinix Smart 8 doesn't support fast charging. And with it out-of-the-box 10W charger, it'll taken you over three hours to fully charge this phone's battery from zero percent.
Full Specifications Of Infinix Smart 8 (X6525):
GENERAL
Maker: Infinix Mobility.
Name: Smart 8 (X6525).
Year Released: October, 2023.
Dimensions: 163.6x75.6x8.5mm
Weight: 184g.
Protection: N/a.
Colour: Timber Black, Galaxy White, Shiny Gold & Crystal Green.
DISPLAY
Screen Type: IPS-LCD capacitive Touchscreen.
Size and Resolution: 6.56-inch, HD+, 1612-by-720 pixels, 90Hz (high) Refresh Rate.
Aspect ratio & Pixel Densities: 20.15:9, 269PPI.
Protection N/a.
PORTS:
3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes.
USB Type-C Port: Yes.
MicroUSB port: No.
Lightning Connector: No.
Google Assistant Button: No.
PERFORMANCE
Chipset: Unisoc T606 12nm Octa-core Processor, 1.6GHz.
GPU: Mali-G57 MC1.
RAM: 3GB/4GB (With up to 4GB of Virtual RAM).
Operating System: Android 13 (Go Edition), XOS 13v.
STORAGE
Internal Storage: 64GB/128GB.
Micro-SD card slot: Yes, up to 1TB (One Terabyte).
SIM AND NETWORK
SIM: Nano, Dual SIM slots.
Network: GSM, HSPA+, & LTE.
CAMERA
Rear camera: Dual-lens; 13MP +AI, Dual-Flash.
Front camera: Single-lens, 8MP Dual Front Flash.
VIDEO RECORDING:
Rear Cameras: 720p, 1080p @ 30 fps.
Front Camera: 720p, 1080p @ 30 fps.
CONNECTIVITY:
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, HotSpots, USB-OTG.
BIOMETRIC, SENSORS & LOCATION:
Security: Face Unlock, Side-mounted fingerprint reader.
Sensors: Ambient light, Virtual Proximity, G-sensor, Accelerometer And
Barometer.
Others: GPS, Location (Geo, Glonass), Beidou.
BATTERY
Battery Capacity: 5,000mAh.
Qi Wireless-Charging: N/a.
Fast Charging: 10W (Wired).
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