Review: Hands On with the Infinix Note 2

As I had mentioned in my unboxing article, the Infinix Note 2, from Infinix Mobility is probably one of the coolest Smartphone the Kenyan market right now. I did not shed much light about the phone in the article, so I am sure most of you have been waiting for the full review, and it is finally here.  I am going to dive into the details with all the confirmed specifications, other features and even the price plus where you can grab one for yourself, maybe as a New Year gift.

Introduction

The infinity Note 2 is the 3^rd model of the Infinix NOTE series to enter the African Market. If you are already familiar with the previous HOTE NOTE and HOT NOTE PRO products from Infinix Mobility you will notice the NOTE comes with some few similar features. The features include an ultra-power saving mode, a bigger memory size (), a faster-charging mode, and a Dual (Micro) sim. This tells you that Infinix Mobility is really setting its pace to capture the ever growing Smartphone consumer market in Kenya and Africa in general. This also makes us curious on what Infinix Mobility has in store for us with their upcoming product.

Design

One thing that makes the Infinix Note 2 Stand out is the size, it is 6 inches in length with a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels HD, 6 inches, I mean who doesn’t like that! This a big advantage for those people who love watching movies and playing games. It is also unique from the other

Note series as it features LED indicators that blink different colors depending on the type of notification that comes in. The indicators are placed above the display screen where we also have the earpiece at the centre and also the front facing camera. The 3.5mm audio jack comes at the top most part of the smartphone while the microUSB port is at bottom

While the Infinix Note 2 does feel light it actually isn’t much especially when you first hold it in your hand for the first time. Just like the other Note series Smartphones, I feel Infinix did a good job in terms of weight distribution. In terms of physical dimensions, the phone is 159.5 X 82.5 X 9.3 mm.

The Camera

Infinix Mobility always has a way of standing out when it comes to cameras as it is evident with all the other Note series, the Note 2 is not an exception. It comes with a 13MP back camera that produces some quality photos, in fact, if you see some of the images I took with the phone, you can tell the camera is pretty good (Check images below).

The 2MP front camera is well optimized and also produces some good photos and videos. So if you love taking selfies you should not be worried, the Infinix Note 2 will not let you down on this.

Processor, Operating System and Storage

The Infinix Note 2 processor is not different from the previous Hote Note.  Although it features a higher 64 bits, the Note has a fast 1.3GHz Octa-core processor of MediaTek. It also comes preinstalled with Android Lollipop 5.1 . The Android 5.1 Lollipop based operating system is fully customized by the company’s own user interface known as XUI.

XUI interface helps improve battery life, faster responsiveness and also customizable interface offering 7 different themes and wallpapers and Applications like the Contact Cloud Backup among others.

Storage

The Infinix Note 2 comes with a 16GB onboard storage and you can expand it up to 32GB with a memory card for those who love downloading huge files like movies and music videos. What would you want to do with 32GB? Download, download, and download!!

Battery life

The Infinix Note 2 comes with a non-removable battery with a 4040 mAh capacity. Additionally, it comes with an ultra-power saving mode feature that allows you to save your battery by letting you just use mandatory apps on the phone. This feature really comes in handy for people who are always travelling and I find it to be a very interesting technology that I think Smartphone manufacturing companies should also buy.

Generally, I think Infinix Note 2 has the best battery so far in the market, I was able to go 2 days with it after it was fully charged, which is so rare with most of the Smartphones in the market currently.

General Specifications

What’s good about the Infinix Note 2?

One thing that makes the Infinix Note 2 is the size, I mean it is 6 inch and as I had mentioned earlier while talking about the design this is a big advantage for those who love watching movies and playing games.  The battery life also makes it so different from all the other smartphones in the market right now. Everyone wants a phone battery that can last him up to maybe 2 days and the Infinix Note 2 does this for you, which is actually a good thing.

The internal 16GB Memory which can also be expanded to 32 GB is also a plus for the phone.

What Infinix would have done better with the Note 2

Well, I will start with the back camera which I think Infinix would have found a better way to place it. The 13MP is great but the fact that the camera it is bulging out easily exposes the camera to dust and easy damage. It might not be a big issue but I think it should be looked into.

The positioning of the speaker too found at the back of the phone also doesn’t look good.

Prize and colors

The phone is now available on e-commerce platform Jumia for Ksh. 12,499 and is also available in 3 colors Gold, Grey, and Silver.

Verdict

Infinix Note 2 is a pretty good phone for those who love big phones. Although most of the specifications are not really that different from the previous NOTE series, I think Infinix did a good job. For those looking to upgrade the Note 2 should be a good choice, but if you love smaller displays maybe the SNOKOR (Read the review here)  could be another choice.