Infinix Zero 4 Plus Review - Camera Monster

Infinix Zero 4 Plus Official Shot

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Infinix is probably a brand most of you never heard before, but here in Indonesia, the brand has gained quite a traction, especially in the official market (that's the term for "legal" phones, which have passed certain regulations and have a more dependable warranty), in which Xiaomi still has limited presence. FYI, Infinix is also present in Africa, the Middle East, and some Asian countries.

Enter the Infinix Zero 4 Plus. Positioned as a flagship for the brand, it houses some key specs such as Mediatek's Deca-Core Helio X20, 20.7MP Camera with OIS, and a large, Full-HD 6" screen. Its big screen may be cumbersome for some, but this means that this smartphone should be perfect for gaming and multimedia consumption. With a competitive price of Rp3,799,000.00 (~U$285), is it a worthy phablet to have?
Let's find out.

Design and Packaging

The box is reminds me of the original Galaxy S box I got 7 years ago. It's black, and minimalistic. No picture of the phone whatsoever in the box, though.

What's inside the box

Open the box, and you'll immediately see the monstrous phablet. Below it are some goodies you might not find in other brands, such as a hard case, tempered glass screen protector, a pair of headphones, and (obviously) a charging adapter, and micro USB cable. Oh wait, there's also a couple of paperwork like a quick start guide and a warranty card. A SIM ejector is also included.

Quite a complete package.

Kudos to Infinix for the complete packaging. This means that you can be confident to immediately use the phone without worrying about accessories.

Okay, so let's jump to the phone. Let's start from the front as usual. There's the screen, the earpiece, surrounded by the 13MP front camera and proximity sensor. On the top left side, there's a LED flash, in case there's a lack of light on your selfie.

The large, colorful full HD screen

On the right side, there's the volume rocker, and the power button, which is textured. Infinix probably did this to make it easier for the users to differentiate between volume rocker and the power button. Both are put on the same side probably because of ergonomics. For a phone this big, it's easier to reach the buttons when they are on the same side, and down by a few centimeters.

Auxilliary buttons on the right side.

On the left side, there's the SIM slot which houses a hybrid three-choose-two tray. This isn't strange, considering this has become a trend in the mid-range market. As a reminder, you can choose either dual SIM compatibility (Micro and Nano) or a single SIM (Micro) accompanied by a microSD card.

Only SIM tray on the right

Hybrid slots are becoming the norm these days.

On the top side, there's only the 3.5mm headphone jack. Not surprising, since the lack of headphone jack, as far as I know, only happens on the upper end of the market. There's no IR blaster, though, so you can't control your TV with this phone.

Headphone jack on the top

On the bottom, there's the speaker grille and a micro USB port for charging and data transfer. Make no mistake, even though there are two speaker grilles, it's not stereo. The other one is a microphone.

Port, speaker, and mic on the bottom

On the back, there's the rear OIS-enabled 20.7MP camera accompanied by a fingerprint sensor beneath it, LED Flash and laser autofocus module beside it, and an additional mic above it. Others is the branding of the device. What really turns me off is that large camera hump. True, it may give the Zero 4 Plus its identity, but it also renders putting the phone face-up uncomfortable, especially with the fear of scratching the lens.

The back. The star of the show.
The bump is uninspiring, though.

Fortunately, the hard case is thick enough to compensate for the hump, so whenever you put your phone face-up with the case on, the surface won't touch the lens.

Without the included hard case, the bump would surely
hit the surface.

From the side, the included hard case masks the bump.

So yeah, the packaging is abundant with the necessary accessories, and the phone's design is somewhat proving to be an identity of its own, although the camera hump leaves quite a bad impression.

Hardware

The Zero 4 Plus is powered by Mediatek Helio X20, a deca-core (that's 10 cores for you) CPU featuring a couple of powerful A72 cores clocked at 2.1GHz. So on paper, it should be powerful enough to run most applications. For power efficiency during light use, there are 8 less-powerful A53 cores. With AnTuTu, the phone reaches the score of ~83,400 points, comparable with the Redmi Note 4 and even the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro, which costs more.

The CPU includes a whopping 10 cores.

The specs don't lie, though. Everyday performance feels smooth and fast. Coupled with 4GB RAM and 32GB of storage, the Zero 4 Plus should be powerful enough for your multitasking activities.
The Full-HD LCD display is perfect for media consumption. One thing that is unfortunate, though, is that the sunlight visibility is disappointing. Even cranking the brightness to the max still is not enough to get a clear view under the bright sunlight.

Antutu Score

All the basic sensors are covered, from the traditional light sensor, to the magnetic sensor. Oh, for your information, the Zero 4 Plus supports gyroscope, which means that this phone should support VR, provided you can get a big enough VR headset. The fingerprint sensor is fast, accurate, and always-on, which means you can wake and unlock your phone just by putting your finger on it. Sadly, there's no NFC, although it's still acceptable in this price point.

The Zero 4 Plus includes all the basic sensors.

As for the juice, the Zero 4 Plus contains 4,000mAh, which is more than enough to power the phone for one day. Don't worry about recharging, though, as the phone supports fast-charging, dubbed XCharge. Using the included adapter, the Zero 4 Plus charges from 30% to 100% in just 1 hour and 22 minutes (7 A.M. to 8.22 A.M).

Software

XOS is what's running this phone.

On the software side, the Zero 4 Plus runs on Android 6 (Marshmallow). Nougat release is imminent, even though Google has just released Android Oreo. But hey, being late is better than never, right?

Based on Marshmallow.

Just like other Chinese-based manufacturers, Zero 4 Plus runs a heavily-customized Android called XOS, at version 2.1.0, codenamed Chameleon. The launcher offers plenty of customization options, including icon size, desktop grids, etc.

XOS offers quite a handful of customization options.

Similarly, there are apps for power, space, and security management. There's also an app called XHide, which you can use to hide apps and files. Hidden items are still accessible, though, only from the app and after you input your password or fingerprint.

XManager helps you manage various things to your phone.

XPower lets you manage your phone's power consumption.

As for backups, Infinix also provides a service called XCloud. You guess it, it's for storing and syncing your data in the cloud, as well as device backup, so you can get started with a new Infinix phone instantly from where you stopped. You need to register for an XAccount to use this service.

XCloud takes care of your phone backup.

For your convenience, Zero 4 Plus supports double tap to wake. It also supports gestures while it sleeps. For example, you can open the camera by drawing the letter "C" while the phone is asleep. Though limited to a few letters, you can customize this in the settings. There's no double tap to sleep, though.

Offscreen gestures help in launching applications quickly when your
device is asleep.

Double tap to wake is supported.

Camera

Okay, the next big thing is the camera. Infinix seems to place the Zero 4 series as a camera flagship phone, boasting high resolution sensor, manual mode, laser focus, and OIS. Well, let me tell you that the camera lives up to Infinix' claims. Here are some camera samples:

The 20.7MP rear sensor is capable of taking decent, if not great, pictures. The OIS really helps stabilizing the grip on this huge phone, reducing blur. Unfortunately, the focus on this phone is kind of slow. The laser autofocus, which is said to help focusing much faster, doesn't seem to work. Even though the object is close, the focusing speed is still occassionally slower compared to my Xiaomi Mi5, which doesn't have laser autofocus. Anyway, here are some camera samples.

Manual mode in Zero 4 Plus' camera

The manual mode? It's complete. You got the full control for EV, ISO, focus, white balance, and ME in case you like to "Go Pro" with the camera. Not all smartphones in this price point provide such flexibility.

Conclusion

The Zero 4 Plus delivers a large phone with a great camera and
affordable price.

After using the Zero 4 Plus for a few weeks, I feel that the brand indeed has potential. Compared to other phones at this price level, the Zero 4 Plus offers more, like great camera and stellar battery life. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 may be its rival, but its camera is completely powerless against the Zero 4 Plus.

There aren't any disturbing cutbacks in my finding, although to some, the large screen may be cumbersome, but I think it's perfect if you want to use this phone for both productivity and media consumption without breaking the bank. In fact, this review is written entirely on the phone.

If you're looking a for an affordable phone with big screen, great camera and battery life, then you can include the Infinix Zero 4 Plus in your shopping list.

Pros:

• Great camera quality for its class
• Great battery life
• Complete accessories included in the box

Cons:

• Focus is on the slow side for a far object
• Poor sunlight visibility
• Uninspiring camera hump

Well, that's all for now, Folks. If you have any questions regarding the Infinix Zero 4 Plus, sound them off in the columns section below. Finally, as usual, thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to your next visit. Have a great weekend!