Infinix Zero 5 Review: A Worthy Flagship Upgrade

Infinix Zero 5 Official Shot

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Even though I thought I already suspended device reviews, an opportunity suddenly popped up. My father decided that he wanted to try out Infinix's latest Zero flagship, the Zero 5. I suspect there were a few things that tempted him to upgrade: Dual camera, large screen, and most importantly: insanely affordable price. Yeah, the latter is the most important because at the moment, there's no phone at that price range which has 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.

The specs seem beastly. Add a slew of accessories into the packaging and dedicated SD card slot (in addition to 2 SIM slots), you'll have yourself a great flagship. My father chose the flashy red color, and fortunate enough, I have the chance to try the phone out for a week, before sending it to him.

So, the million-dollar question is, is it worth your money? Or rather, why is it worth your money? Let's find that out!

Design and Packaging

The box looks striking enough.

Wrapped in black and glossy red, Infinix Zero 5's box looks striking. There's a small sticker on the top-right corner, which guarantees the Zero 5 to receive the latest Android version one time. Well, only time will tell. Last time, the Zero 4 received Nougat while launching with Marshmallow, so I guess (and hope) Infinix could live up to their promise.

On the back of the box, there are the key features of the phone: dual camera, XCharge (Infinix's proprietary fast-charge tech), octa-core processor, large screen, etc. See for yourself in the picture below.

The key feature looks good.

As I said before, Infinix is really generous with the accessories. Not only you get the usual earbuds, charger, and cable, you also get a soft plastic case and a USB-C to micro USB adapter. It's small, so be careful not to lose it.

Infinix gives you a lot of accessories in the package.

Be careful not to lose this tiny adapter.

Without doubt, the included charger supports XCharge. As you can see on the picture below, the adapter supports charging up to 12V and 1.5A. As an added bonus, Infinix has already applied a screen protector to your phone. Judging by the scarcity of Infinix accessories in the wild, this kind of addition is gladly welcome.

The included charger supports Infinix's XCharge technology.

Look closely. Infinix has already included a screen protector.

Okay, let's move on to the device. With a display size almost touching 6", the Infinix Zero 5 is big, even though not as big as its plus-sized predecessor. For those who have big hands like me, you won't find it unwieldy. Otherwise, you might need to hold the phone with both hands.

Let's start with the front side, which is the busiest. There's the screen, the front camera, earpiece, LED flash, and sensors (light sensors, proximity sensors).

The phone's large size might make it unwieldy for some.

The back will remind you of Huawei and Google's retired Nexus 6P. Many of my friends were impressed with the back design. "It looks masculine," they said. Well, though I prefer black, the red doesn't look bad, either. Anyway, the dual camera sits flush on top, in the black strip. Infinix made sure that you know that the camera is capable of 2X optical zoom (that's the key feature of this phone) by explicitly writing it on the right side. The cameras are accompanied by a large LED flash in the middle. Additionally, there's also the always-on fingerprint sensor in the middle, and a bunch of branding and stuffs below.

The back actually looks good.

The bottom side is quite busy, you have the single speaker, accompanied by the USB-C port (finally), a mic, and a 3.5mm headphone jack (yay!). Let's hope Infinix won't ditch the 3.5mm audio jack soon.

On the right side, you we have the dual SIM slot, volume rockers, and the power button. The power button is textured like the Zero 4 Plus, and their positioning is still in the middle, which makes them easier to reach.

Headphone jack retains the spotlight, USB-C makes the debut.

The power button is textured, you'll recognize it instantly.

The top side is clean. There's nothing there, so let's move on. On the left side, there's the dedicated SD card slot. Yes, I'm happy to announce that Infinix Zero 5 has three dedicated slots: 2 micro SIM and 1 SD card.

Nothing on the top side.

Only SD Card slot is on the left.

Dual SIM and dedicated SD card slot. Amazing.

Infinix's Zero 5 design may not be the most original out there, but it's definitely an upgrade from the Zero 4, especially in the camera (the Zero 4 camera design was a total disaster). As for the packaging, Infinix superbly provides a complete package. This means you won't need to go through the trouble of looking for accessories. Just snap in the included case and you're done.

Hardware

In the heart of the Zero 5, there's the Mediatek Helio P25. In case you're wondering, Infinix is starting to turn its head to Qualcomm, with their latest Hot S3 phone, but that's a story for another day. Speaking about the P25, it is powered by 8 A53 cores, divided into two (performance and power-efficiency cores) running at 2.6GHz and 1.6GHz respectively. Though it seems like a downgrade compared to the Zero 4 Plus, when you think about the upgrade in other departments (camera, RAM, storage), it actually makes sense.

Infinix Zero 5 specs in a nutshell.

Storage-wise, the 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM make the Zero 5 a very capable multitasker. Firing up the phone, I got approximately 48GB of free space, and 4.56GB of free RAM. That's more than plenty for this price point. Anyway, adhering to the tradition, the Zero 5 scores 65,931 points on AnTuTu. Not bad, but not stellar, either.

Free space and RAM when firing up for the first time.

A middling AnTuTu score.

Now, let's talk about the screen. It seems to have a good sunlight eligibility, even though the auto brightness setting is quite annoying. I have to re-adjust the brightness manually quite often, even though the automatic brightness is on. As for the full HD panel, it's your standard 16:9 ratio, as opposed to the trending 18:9. Ratio aside, the large and vivid panel serves well as your multimedia companion.

As for sensors, the only ones that are missing are temperature and pressure sensor. Gyroscope sensor is present, so doing VR shouldn't be a problem, if you like that sort of thing. The fingerprint sensor on the back is quite fast and accurate. However, the Zero 5 doesn't support NFC. That's fine, no other phone in this price point has that feature.

Only temperature and pressure sensors are missing.

Finally, the battery. Have I not mentioned that it's even bigger than the Zero 4 Plus? Well, it is: 4,000mAh compared to 4,350mAh. Coupled with the more power-efficient Helio P25, the Zero 5, theoretically, should have more superior battery life compared to its bulky predecessor. Right, with normal usage, the 4,350mAh power pack manages to keep me company for at least a full day. If not, the XCharge-capable adapter should be able to top it up quickly.

Software

I'll just put this again here.

The Zero 5 runs Infinix's third iteration of their proprietary Android skin, the XOS 3, on top of Android Nougat. There's no news of Oreo yet, but according to the sticker on the box, it will come. While testing, I received a couple of software updates, each of which claim to improve phone and camera performance. I hope that Infinix will continue to release regular updates like this.

Lockscreen

Software-wise, the XOS is just like your everyday Chinese Android skin. There's no app drawer, and there are a bunch of built-in utility apps just like Security and Battery. On the former you can configure permissions for apps, while the latter allows you to enable Ultra Power Saving mode and tweaks various system settings hoping to squeeze more battery life out of your battery.

Security.

Battery.

Phone Master.

For social media freaks, there's the Multi Account app. In short, this app makes a clone for some of your app (preferably social apps such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp) so you can simultaneously use two accounts in the same device. This feature has been a must for me since I decided to keep just one phone.

Multi Account is here to fulfill your social needs.

XOS also supports various gestures. The most convenient and famous gesture is the double tap to sleep/wake. Another useful gesture is to take screenshots by sliding your three fingers up or down.
Oh, and in case you don't see it, when the connected adapter supports XCharge, you'll see two lightning bolts next to the battery icon instead of one.

Camera

Now comes my favorite part, the camera. Infinix is so proud of the Zero 5's camera that they make it the primary selling point. The rear camera features one 12MP f/2.0 lens and one 13MP telephoto lens (they don't specify the aperture). This combination gives you 2X optical zoom. Sadly, there's no OIS. The laser autofocus featured on the Zero 4 duo is gone, too. But hey, the Zero 5 is still capable to take great pictures in good lighting. Here are the samples:

Zoom 2X

Food Shot

Zoom 2X

Mini Chizza. By KFC.

In minimum lighting, surprisingly, the photos produced don't seem to have that much noise. In fact, it's quite impressive. Here, see for yourself:

A cup of tea at night.

Night Cafe

Your typical night in a residential area.

Zoom Twice

Though I'm not a fan of using LED flash, the big one on the Infinix Zero 5 helps quite a lot when trying to illuminate your photo subjects:

Without LED flash

With flash

Conclusion

A Flagship Worthy of Its Price

Picking up from the Zero 4 Plus, I feel that Infinix knows what they are doing. They seem to learn from the mistakes their previous flagship, and managed to deliver an outstanding product, at a very attractive price. Though I don't really like their XOS, I must admit that I like the hardware. The cameras are surprisingly good, and there's plenty of storage.

One thing that I don't like from this phone is its auto brightness, which never seem to get things right. The Zero 5 is also on the heavy side. If you can easily hold it with one hand, I don't mind, it becomes solid. If it's big and unwieldy, however, your chances of dropping it will increase.

So, who is this phone for? It's for those who don't mind big phones and are currently looking for as much bang-for-the-buck as possible. At IDR 3,500,000, there's currently no phone that can beat the Zero 5 in terms of specs.

Pros:

• Flagship-level specs
• Very capable cameras
• Dedicated dual SIM and SD card slots
• Affordable price

Cons:

• Automatic brightness is annoying
• Though smaller than the Zero 4 Plus, it is still heavy and unwieldy for some people

Okay, I guess that's all for this review, Folks. I hope you enjoy reading this article, and if you have questions, just ask away. Finally, as usual, thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to your next visit. Have a nice weekend! :D