The Zero series has always been Infinix’s hero device lineup. This year, that is still the case and the Zero X series is around to offer something for everyone.
There is the Zero X Neo for those who are not into the killer features and offerings of the Zero X Pro and the Zero X for those that would prefer a standard setup either out of choice or being boxed into a corner by their financial ability.
For Kenyans, however, at least as of the time of penning this review, it is the Zero X Pro that is available for purchase – for about Kshs 37,000.
I have spent some time with the device, just under a month, and there is so much to say about it.
First things first, as can be expected of an Infinix device of its stature, there was no holding back when it comes to the design. The Zero X Pro is very well made. That may even be an understatement. In fact, my only gripe when it comes to the device, as I pointed out in the unboxing (watch the video here), is the wobbling when placed on a flat surface like a table. Now, that’s a pet peeve of mine and we’re into nitpicking territory at this point. I can’t take fault with the well-done edges, the shiny frame that holds everything together, the starry Galaxy back that does a great job hiding away the tiny smudges it is able to attract or even the reduced bezels and chin area. Everything just falls into place nicely.
The experience with the materials used is likely to change depending on the colour of the device you go with. The experiences I have shared above will be mostly similar to yours if you get a similar Nebula Black unit or a Starry Silver one. It might vary if you get one of those Tuscany Brown units which should have a leathery look (not sure about the feel) to them.
Given how compact the device looks and feels, you’ll be hard-pressed to determine how it sports a 6.67-inch display panel.
As far as aesthetics go, the included case is quite nice. The only problem? It makes it hard to use charging/data transfer cables from third parties like my favourite braided Anker cables with it on.
Talking about the display, we are getting Infinix’s first 120Hz panel and it is great! I am used to the 120Hz buttery smoothness on the iPad Pro and it is such a breath of fresh air to upgrade to it on the phone from either the standard 60Hz or the 90Hz that has been our measure of high refresh rates over the past year on Infinix and other devices. Still, while the hardware is capable (there is also an “intelligent display chip” in the mix to accompany the Helio G95 chipset that powers the device), the limitation is on the software: there are only so many apps that have support for high refresh rates and this is something Infinix can’t help with, we just have to wait for everyone to catch up, whenever that will be. The silver lining? You are future-proofed with the Zero X Pro.
My favourite thing about the Infinix Zero X Pro, after the impeccable design, is its overall performance. Some aspects of that performance, like the camera and the battery, are due for singling out later in this review but, together, they come up to prop what is easily the best performance device Infinix has ever put out there. That is even before one looks at the benchmark numbers – we don’t usually do that here but other people have been looking at them and have come back with a similar verdict so if you are looking for a quantitative way of looking at things or some objectivity that is tied to numbers, there you go.
There are an additional 3 gigabytes of virtual memory that one can take advantage of when they stretch the provided 8 gigabytes like, when playing games. While this is so on paper, in reality, when using the device, it gives one a feeling of having an unending or unlimited access to what is otherwise a limited resource. Couple it with the savings in performance one gets by using the Game Zone feature baked into XOS and you have an amateur gamer’s paradise in the making.
Game Zone, which is Infinix’s AI-powered game optimization engine, is mated with another technology, Dar-link, which we first encountered on the Zero X series’ predecessor, that helps prepare the device for more intense touch during a game and the inevitable rise in temperatures.
For many, however, their interest would be in the Zero X Pro’s cameras and it is not hard to see why.
Back when the Infinix Zero X series made its debut, Infinix unveiled the device at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London. The choice of venue was deliberate: to drive home the point that the device was also well-suited for taking very good shots of the moon. Why? Its 60X periscope lens which is part of what Infinix calls the ‘Moonshot Camera’. It is fantastic!
I am not one to be bothered with gimmicks but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to point my camera high up at the 8 pm Nairobi sky and catch the full moon up close to see whether Infinix’s claims held any water. Well, as you can see below, they actually do! All that one needs to do is swipe up on the viewfinder to access the hidden camera shooting modes and select Super Moon. The device offers on-screen guides of what to do next (point it at the moon and zoom in as far out as you can – past the 5x mark you go from optical to hybrid zoom and that is where the camera’s image stabilization becomes in handy as it takes care of all that shake you’re subjected to).
Away from the moon shenanigans, there’s the ultra-high resolution 108-megapixel sensor for shooting all the sunset wallpaper content to your heart’s desires. I was just fine not using it (the full 108MP, and still got very good results) but it is there and is the pinnacle of the camera experience on the device. I like that Infinix addressed another pet peeve of mine: they have the 108MP toggle smack in the middle of the top bar of the view finder so you don’t have to go to another page to find it.
A large image sensor with a larger aperture means that there is more light getting to the lens and the end result is brighter images with just the correct amount of exposure. The latter can be overdone in some instances, like when one has a clear blue sky in the background but it is bereft of the deviation into a violet-ish hue that I was getting on the Tecno Camon 18 that I was also reviewing at the same time. Whatever processing is being done by the Zero X Pro’s camera is on point and there is no denying that.
XOS 7.6, which is what we find on the Infinix Zero X Pro, is largely unchanged when compared to the experience I had on the Tecno Camon 18. Both devices still run on the software that we have seen on other devices from their respective brands but Tecno went a step higher and showed us a glimpse of what an HiOS inspired by Android 12 looks like. Being the flagship, users of the Zero X Pro can expect to get on the Android 12 bandwagon sometime in 2022. Fingers should be crossed on the kind of user experience they will be getting, however.
Much as things are largely the same when it comes to the software experience on the Zero X Pro (you still have lots of green everywhere, the same bundled apps and annoying notifications), there was one standout addition: Folax.
Folax is Infinix’s Ella. Ella is Tecno’s voice assistant. That is to say, Folax is Infinix’s first attempt at coming up with its own voice assistant. It isn’t bad, per ce, but do you really need another voice assistant on your Android device when the Google Assistant, which is great and draws on the power of Google’s mega synthesis of our data over the years, already exists?
Still, it’s a great effort that deserves some form of appreciation. If it only weren’t for the duplication it adds on to by its sheer existence… We are in Samsung Bixby territory here. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Folax in later versions of XOS and, more importantly, on less capable hardware since the Zero X Pro is the pinnacle of the user experience on an Infinix smartphone (they make laptops these days as well so we can no longer just say “device”).
Another feature that many will appreciate is the fast charging. There’s a 45W charging brick included in the retail packaging of the Infinix Zero X Pro and it simply does its job, no fuss. Even better, a short top-up of, say 5 minutes, is enough to get one their favourite Lockdown Sessions mix of more than 2 hours (3 hours maximum).
The lowdown
In its class, the Infinix Zero X Pro faces a stiff challenge from several competitors that have been there and even more that are coming.
The Kshs 35,000 – 40,000 price segment is easily the peak of many a Kenyan buyer before flowing over into upper mid-range and flagship territory. The difference between the options you’d get from other device makers and what Infinix offers is that for Infinix, this is their most premium smartphone. It is their flagship. As such, when buying it you are not just buying the device but you are also buying the best experience Infinix has to offer on-device and off the device. This is unlike anything you can find elsewhere. The drawback to this is that more and more device makers are pledging a few more years of software updates for devices that are not just their flagships.
That is where the Zero X Pro’s recipe of features like the ones highlighted above and others not mentioned in this review, comes in. The hope is that Infinix has done a good enough job to make those count, which I think it did, save for fixing my Android Auto woes.
