You’ve probably heard of Infinix by now. The brand is popular among the budget crowd for its affordable smartphones with huge displays and big batteries. Their latest device, the Infinix Zero 5G, falls within the same category but adds a 120Hz refresh rate, Dimensity 900 5G chip, Wi-Fi 6, and a sleek Uni-curve design.
The phone looks interesting, to say the least, especially with the Php 11,990 price tag. But how does it perform in real life? Is it worth the money? Let’s find out.
Accessories
The Infinix Zero 5G comes in a tall silver box, befitting a large phone. The retail box itself feels thick and sturdy, a big difference from its competition within the same range.
The bundled accessories, however, are standard. Inside, the phone comes with a 33W charger, USB-C cable, a TPU case, the SIM eject tool (my review unit came with two for some reason), and the usual documentation.
In the box
- Infinix Zero 5G
- Pre-installed Screen Protector
- Case
- USB-C Cable
- Charger
- SIM Eject Tool
- Documentation
Design and Display
The Zero 5G features what Infinix calls a Uni-curve design. It’s similar to the OPPO Find X3 with the camera bump slightly raised and integrated with the back panel to give it that sleek, curvy look. It’s meant to resemble a unibody construction, but it does have a plastic frame.
Because of the phone’s plastic body and design, it’s slightly slippery to hold. Not only that, but the plastic back is also a fingerprint magnet. We recommend using the included case for the extra grip and protection.
Despite the materials used, it actually feels solid in the hand. Overall, the Zero 5G is a handsome phone with an appealing and eye-catching design.
At the front, we have a 6.78-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. It has a 16MP punch-hole selfie camera at the top center of the screen. The display is surrounded by narrow bezels and a slight chin. The top bezel hides the earpiece and an LED front-facing flash to its left.
The display itself is bright and colorful, with good viewing angles. It doesn’t have the best legibility under direct sunlight, but it’s good enough for the price.
At the back, we have the cameras with a slight hump. The three lenses are arranged vertically, with the main camera having a bigger lens, flanked by the two secondary cameras and two LED flashes.
Both the power button/fingerprint scanner and the volume rocker are on the right frame. On the left side is where you’ll find the triple slot SIM tray. The 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, USB-C port, and mono speaker are at the bottom.
Performance
The Infinix Zero 5G is equipped with a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 900 chipset with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. The storage is a UFS 3.1 which gives it a faster read and write speed. The phone also has a virtual RAM feature called MemFusion, which is enabled by default at 3GB. You can add up to 5GB of virtual RAM from unused storage for a total of 13GB. Should you want to change this, just go to Settings> Special Function> MemFusion> Set virtual RAM.
The smartphone runs on XOS 10, Infinix’s own OS based on Android 11. The XOS 10 looks just like most operating systems found on Chinese phones. It has its fair share of pre-installed apps (also called bloat). It also has Widevine L3 DRM, which means you’ll only get SD quality on Netflix and similar streaming platforms.
By default, the launcher has square icons with the option to use large folders, which I found to be visually appealing. It is customizable, though, should you want it to look more your style.
As for performance, the Zero 5G is fast and responsive in basic navigation. In this day and age, most modern phones do perform well. I didn’t experience any hiccups or stutters.
In gaming, the phone is a decent performer. Genshin Impact defaults to low graphics settings, but you can go up to medium and the gameplay is still acceptable. But do expect some stuttering when things get busy on the screen. Meanwhile, Call of Duty Mobile can go up to high graphics settings and still get good gameplay.
The refresh rate is set on auto, which automatically switches from 60Hz and 120Hz to conserve on battery. And while it offers smooth 120Hz refresh rates, for the most part, it defaults to 60Hz when browsing on some apps such as Chrome. Setting it to 120Hz fixes this, but expect a hit on battery life.
If you’re into benchmark scores, here’s how the Dimensity 900 performed.
- AnTuTu – 476,907
CPU – 126,162
GPU – 130,473
MEM – 103,939
UX – 116,333 - Geekbench – 701 (Single-core); 2227 (Multi-core)
- 3D Mark – 593 (Wild Life Extreme)
The scores of the Dimensity 900 are not that far from the 920. For better appreciation, here’s a comparison table with other Dimensity chips and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778.
| MediaTek Dimensity 900 (Infinix Zero 5G) | MediaTek Dimensity 920 (realme 9 Pro+) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 (realme GT Master Edition) | |
| AnTuTu | 476,907 | 501,716 | 540,194 |
| Geekbench 5 | 701 (Single-core) 2,227 (Multi-core) | 815 (Single-core) 2,322 (Multi-core) | 790 (Single-core) 2,795 (Multi-core) |
| 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme | 593 | 631 | 693 |
Battery Life
The phone is equipped with a 5000mAh battery with 33W fast charging. Despite the large display, the efficient Dimensity 900 chip offers good battery life. With moderate to heavy usage, you can get a whole workday with some juice left for the rest of the night.
Charging is on par with devices equipped with a 5000mAh battery capacity and 33W charging speed. A quick 30-minute charge tops up to 32%. Meanwhile, a full charge takes almost two hours to complete.
Speakers
The Zero 5G has a single speaker at the bottom. And while it does get loud, there’s not much bass to speak of and it sounds slightly tinny. There is also some distortion at full volumes.
The phone does come with a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can use wired headphones. It also offers DTS Sound with four modes and an adjustable equalizer for good measure.
Cameras
The Zero 5G is equipped with a triple camera system composed of a 48MP main camera, followed by a 13MP telephoto with up to 2x optical zoom and up to 30x digital zoom, and a 2MP for depth. It has a quad-LED flash.
The selfie camera, meanwhile, has a 16MP sensor underneath a punch hole at the top center of the display.
The camera can also shoot up to 1080P video at 60fps and 4K at 30fps.
The default camera app is pretty standard with a familiar layout that offers different modes and adjustment settings, including a Short Video mode (with filters and live effects), a Super Night mode, and a Pro mode.
The main shooting mode is called AI Cam. In this case, the AI is always active with no way of turning it off. Its scene detection features work well, switching between different modes.
As for the photo quality, it’s okay. The colors are good with average sharpness and detail. The dynamic range looks average as well. The white balance also seems to struggle at times, causing some photos to have a slight purplish tint.
Overall, quality is decent and good enough for most people, especially for social media.
The telephoto camera comes up to 2x optical zoom and up to 30x digital zoom. Images look good up to 2x zoom, although the overall color looks warmer. Quality falls apart at the longest end, which isn’t surprising at this price point.
Selfies photos are another matter. The selfie camera does not have autofocus, so take that into consideration when taking selfies. How it works is selfies will be in focus on a certain range. But you do get focus points, which at least lets you know you’re within its focal plane. Selfie quality is good, though, with decent details and colors. Skin tones look good as well.
Final Thoughts
The Infinix Zero 5G is a good phone with features on par with the brand, such as a large display and a large battery, but it does offer a bit more that pushes the value-for-money envelope further. You get an eye-catching Uni-curve design, 5G connectivity, and 120Hz refresh rate.
And that’s not all. The Dimensity 900 5G chip has good performance, and it’s energy-efficient as well, resulting in very good battery life.
The handset, however, is not perfect and falls short of some expectations. The cameras are underwhelming and the mono speaker fails to impress. Also, there is some bloatware.
With all this, I still believe that you are getting your money’s worth with the Infinix Zero 5G. As I said, it’s a good phone that hits that sweet spot of price and features.
Price and Availability
The Infinix Zero 5G is priced at Php 11,990, available starting March 29, 2022.
It will be available on Shopee with the following early bird prices on the following schedules:
- Php 9,999 – March 28, 12 midnight to 1:00 AM
- Php 10,999 – March 28, 1:01 AM to 11:59 PM
Infinix Zero 5G specs
| Display | 6.78-inch FHD LCD Display, 2460 x 1080, 120Hz Refresh Rate, 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate |
| Processor | MediaTek Dimensity 900, 6nm Mali-G76 MC4 GPU |
| RAM | 8GB RAM |
| Storage | 128GB Storage, UFS 3.1 Expandable MicroSD Slot |
| Rear Cameras | 48MP Main 13MP Telephoto, 2x Optical Zoom, 30x Digital Zoom 2MP Depth Quad-LED Flash |
| Front Camera | 16MP Selfie Camera Dual LED Flash |
| Network | 5G, 4G LTE, Dual SIM |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6 Dual Band, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS |
| Others | USB-C, Side Fingerprint Scanner, 3.5mm Audio Jack |
| OS | XOS 10, Android 11 |
| Colors | Horizon Blue, Skylight Orange, and Cosmic Black |
| Battery | 5000mAh Battery, 33W Fast Charging |
