When it comes to entry-level devices, the market today is now more saturated than ever. This is also the price range that offers the most value for money as brands compete to get a slight edge over the other. Infinix has been one of the top performers in the budget segment mainly because of its aggressive price and better-than-budget specs. The brand launched its Infinix Hot 12 series on 26th April 2022 in Bangladesh. Here is a quick rundown of the specs and performance of Hot 12. Stay with us to ultimately decide whether to go for it or not.

Key Specifications of Infinix Hot 12 

Design and Build Quality

The design and the build quality are the most compromised section of a budget series device. From generic design to poor build quality and material, the story is somewhat similar across brands. While the Infinix Hot 12 doesn’t completely overhaul the design elements, the four vertical sensors over a rectangular base feel like a refined iPhone 12 design.

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The back and the frame of the device are made from plastic. But the refractive frosted finish and brushed chrome coating on the frame give it metal and glass back look. Of course, users will be able to tell right away after they hold the device, but aesthetically, it looks much more premium than its price.

Moving on to the ports and button selection, everything is as usual and expected from a budget device. The sim tray supports a dual sim and a standalone micro SDXC slot for extra memory. The headphone jack is retained here as well which is a common sight in the budget segment. 

A fast charge supporting Type-C port is also present here. What impressed me here is the dual loudspeaker. The bottom and the upper mount speaker together produce great sound at a loud pitch. The fingerprint sensor here is side-mounted on the power button. Like the previous iterations, the fingerprint scanner is also lighting fast and accurately.

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Overall, the design of the Hot 12 is nothing out of the ordinary, and neither is its build quality. But a lot of little refinements over the previous generations add up together to make a compelling smartphone at a very aggressive price.

Display

The display might be a bit of a letdown for most people. When it is said that the Infinix Hot 12 is a budget device and aggressively priced, users need to understand that it is still on the upper spectrum of prices in this segment. As a result, there are a lot of equivalents and lower competition in the market. 

Therefore, to see Infinix go for a 720P IPS LCD panel was a letdown. Especially when devices like Redmi 10 and Redmi Note 11 are providing better panels at a lower or equivalent price.

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The only saving grace here is the 90 Hz refresh rate. Other than that, there’s nothing much to talk about the display. The colors look good for a 720P LCD panel. Color shifts aren’t also that noticeable unless viewed from an extreme angle. Overall, this is a passable display. But the expectation was a bit more from Infinix here.

Camera

Flipping the phone over, there are 4 lens cutouts in the camera housing of the device. But don’t let that fool you as there are only 3 sensors at the back. The extra one is just for design purposes.

Moving into the sensors themselves, the main one is a 13 MP wide-angle shooter with an f/1.8 aperture and autofocus. There’s nothing special about the main sensor here as this is a common sensor in the budget category. The other two sensors are an unrated 2 MP camera along with a VGA shooter. Needless to say, the latter two sensors won’t be of much use day-to-day, or of any use for that matter.

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Speaking of the camera quality of the device, it’s on par with the similar 13 MP shooter in this price range. Pictures appear bright and sharp in direct sunlight but the performance disappears in low light conditions. Pictures look grainy with a lot of noise in them. The videography of the back camera is rated at 1080P at 30 fps.

The front camera is a generic 8 MP one. There’s nothing special about this sensor as well other than the dual flashlight it comes with.

Processor and Performance

The chipset used in the Infinix Hot 12 is MediaTek Helio G85 built on the 12 nm architecture. At this same price point, competitors are offering Snapdragon 680 or G88 from MediaTek. So, this is another aspect where Infinix could have done better.

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The processor onboard has an octa-core 2 2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 and 6 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 chip design with Mali-G52 MC2 GPU.

Speaking of the performance of the chip, it’s moderate at best. Day-to-day tasks run smoothly without any lag whatsoever. We tried playing 3D games like PUBG which also ran pretty smoothly in a medium graphics setting. But the device does tend to become hot after some time of continuous gaming.

One noticeable issue however is the XOS 10.6 based on Android 12. The OS itself is filled with bloatware and will eventually bog down the performance of the device.

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Battery and Charge Time

The Infinix Hot 12 comes with a 5000 mAh battery with 18 W fast charging. On casual days, users can expect to churn out about 5 to 6 hours of continuous usage.

Price of Infinix Hot 12 

The Infinix Hot 12 has been officially launched in Bangladesh in two variants – 4GB/128GB and 6/128GB variants. The price of the former is 14,499 BDT while the latter is available for 15,699 BDT.

Verdict

The price of the Hot 12 positions in the higher quadrant among the entry-level devices. but other than the design and the build quality, the device fails to impress. Especially when compared with similar offerings from other brands. There is a lot of work to be done on the camera front. And Infinix could’ve definitely included a better display panel and processor. 

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Hot 12 comes with some good features like nice design, smart look, better sound quality, standard refresh rate, type C-port, big battery, fast charging mechanism, etc.

Overall, Infinix Hot 12 can be a good choice for casual usage. Senior citizens can use it or youngsters can keep it as an additional phone. However, there are definitely better options out there at this price point.