Infinix Smart 7 Plus review: Solid, just not perfect

If you’re in the market for an affordable solid device that will see you through the next few years then you have a number of options to pick from. One of those options, if you look, is the latest Infinix Smart series devices.

Smart is Infinix’s entry-level smartphone series that has been gaining pace over the last few years (over half a decade now), offering users a cheaper alternative to the Hot series that, as a result of various feature upgrades and changes up the food chain, has become a little pricey.

The Smart 7 series maintains the “barebones but still at par or better than anything else in the market” approach that its predecessors have taken with the Hot series up the ladder and Tecno’s Pop and Spark series being solid (sibling) rivals.

In the Infinix Smart 7 series launched in Kenya over 2 months ago is the Smart 7 Plus.

The Smart 7 Plus is the hero member of the Smart 7 series and offers the same Infinix experience you can get elsewhere but at a manageable price point (Kshs 13,000) and with resources that reflect its price point.

As such, one shouldn’t expect any of the standout MediaTek chipsets that dot other Infinix devices. We get a Unisoc (used to be known as Spreadtrum) chipset here to power things. It largely manages to get out of the way and deliver, if we are to manage our expectations. Most importantly, it manages to keep at bay XOS, Infinix’s custom Android interface (which is still, well, a mixed bag), ensuring that transitions are smooth, colour reproduction on the display is just about right and user demands, when they arise, are fulfilled.

This side of user demands is aided by 3 gigabytes of memory that can be doubled by taking advantage of swap memory but that’s about it. You can, obviously, feel the device stutter when you push it to the limits, something we are aware may not be what day-to-day users will be doing often. So, for the most part, users can expect an acceptable level of performance from the Smart 7 Plus, good enough to warrant spending the extra coins to get it over the standard model.

The internal storage is a bit little (64GB) for a smartphone in 2023 but, hey, you get what you pay for. I am not aware of a 128GB variant and it’s not hard to see why: if it existed, its price would already take it to Hot 30 territory so, if you need more storage and performance to boot, you’re better off looking there, anyway. We have a review of the Hot 30 next so look for it and make up your mind.

Obviously, the one feature that anyone picking up a smartphone looks to see how it holds up is the camera. On the Infinix Smart 7 Plus, there’s not much to write home about it. It’s just there. Good enough for casual shots when you’re out and about and not much else. In sufficient lighting in the great outdoors, you’ll get some okay results on your snaps with just the right amount of detail but clearly lacking the vividness that we have seen on other Infinix devices, especially the superior Hot 30 that we’ve been reviewing alongside.

The front-facing camera is one we will need to wait for another generation of the Smart series as the current one isn’t really the best. However, when you need it to take a new app avatar, it will do that. It will also let you in to whatever app you’re using if you have face biometrics set up.

Talking about biometrics, there’s a fingerprint scanner right next to the camera lenses at the back, below the LED flash. The placement of the lenses and the flash as well as the scanner is done so well and in a module that doesn’t protrude, making the handling of the device, in every way, a breeze. Not only does it not wobble when placed on a table, it also can be used without one ever needing to slap a case on the device because of the grippy back material and the pattern therein. Plastic has never felt this good.

When you’re holding the Smart 7 Plus, it sure does feel like you’re holding something. Everything has been crafted and come together nicely.

That includes the display. It’s a standard HD+ panel without the high refresh rate razzmatazz but it gets the job done. I found it quite dim in bright lighting, though, despite the rated 500 nits of brightness.

The best thing about the Infinix Smart 7 Plus? The battery life. It is already good enough that Infinix is on the USB Type-C side of things on most of its devices now (sadly, the standard Smart 7 is still on microUSB, I hear?), it is excellent that we can say that the Smart 7 Plus can get you 3 days battery life. Easily. This is all thanks to a 6,000mAh battery. And the three days are from our heavy back-to-back usage of the device. With sparing use or what most would consider very normal usage devoid of heavy demands, I can’t see why this can’t easily last a whole working week. Yes, a single charge for Monday to Friday. How about that?

The lowdown

The Infinix Smart 7 Plus is a good entry-level smartphone that Kenyan buyers can consider. As can be expected of a sub-Kshs 15,000 smartphone, there are lots of areas of improvement but there are also lots of things Infinix has done to deliver an acceptable package at this price point, taking from here and giving there. The end result is a device you’ll be fine taking around with you for a while, delivering a big screen (6.6 inches) experience with a battery that lasts and lasts. There’s the matter of storage which, for us, stood out like a sore thumb but, just buy a microSD card and expand your storage.

While we like the long battery life on the Plus, is it really enough to have you pick it over the near-similar standard model with a 5,000mAh battery unit? I don’t know what your answer will be but I think spending Kshs 1,000 or 2,000 extra to get an assurance of 3 solid days of operation on a device sounds just about okay to me. What I don’t know is if that is enough to keep you from looking elsewhere. You know, the sub-Kshs 15,000 smartphone segment is the most competitive around so the matter of rivals, for which there is no shortage of, will always arise. As usual, we recommend checking with some of our recommended merchants if you’re looking to purchase the device.