The Infinix S3X is a fully grown Infinix S3 aimed at the UGX 700,000 mid-range phone market. It follows the same tried and tested formula as the rest of Infinix’s 2018 lineup. However, the S3X strips the more expensive aspects of 2018 current flagships such as water proofing and 4K resolution. Nonetheless, it retains core design features and hardware to offer a great-value smartphone. After our first impressions and spending time with the device, we are here to give you the Infinix S3X review. Buckle up.
What we liked.
- Bold, new, reflective back.
- The Notch.
- Impressive camera.
- Face ID
What we Disliked.
- Ads in XOS 3.3 Lite.
- Can’t hide the notch.
- Takes time to charge.
A lot has happened in smartphone world since last year though. The notch has become a staple of top-end devices, as has the 18:9 and 19:9 aspect ratio displays. That’s not to mention Snapdragon processors and AI capabilities in recent Chinese smartphones.
Infinix always aims to produce mid-range devices that offer top-end specs for a lower price than the competition. The company succeeded in creating a great smartphone package in the Infinix Note 5 that got us excited.
Other than having a lower price, the Infinix S3X has a lot in common with other notched flagship devices like the iPhone X and the Huawei Honor 10. If we had to describe its relationship to the iPhone X, we’d say the S3X is its cousin rather than a sibling – it looks similar but is missing some features and has that lower price to make up for it.
This phone has a pretty, albeit slightly flashy, mixed plastic and poly-carbonate glossy design, an octa-core Snapdragon 430 CPU and a solid battery life. Of course, the display Notch is the headlining feature on the S3X. The only real downside is its slightly ad-infested XOS software. However, that’s forgivable given the S3X’s cost – you’ll still struggle to do better for the money.
Infinix S3X Design
- Shinny glossy effect on the rear
- Beautiful 6.2 HD+ full display with notch at the top
- 3.5mm headphone jack
Infinix is putting a lot of focus on the design of the Infinix S3X, and there’s no denying this is a very beautiful device.
The rear panel is the other big highlight design-wise. It inherits a similar look to the glossy shinny effect of Infinix Note 5. However, it’s slightly different here because of the more curved edges. Infinix used the same glossy finish on the edges. Consequently, you may mistake it for a uni-body design if you don’t look closely enough. The extra effort is well worth it though, as the uni-body look makes the phone look and feel premium.
We’ve found it to be a bold look, which we love, although it’s a look that’s likely to prove divisive as it grabs fingerprints. This creates a whole day job to keep the glossy rare panel close to how it looked when you first unboxed the S3X.
Our review unit’s shade is called Aqua Blue, but there’s also Grey and Black options that we haven’t seen in real life but which in press images, look as elegant as the Blue.
The body
There’s a poly-carbonate rim along the edges of the Infinix S3X, which is given a glossy paint job to add the premium look and feel. On top of the device, there’s a 3.5 mm headphone jack. This is my favorite position of the audio jack since it doesn’t compromise how I hold the device.
The bottom rim houses the speaker, USB port and microphone. The volume rocker and power button sit on the right-hand side while the SIM card tray inhabits the top left side rim.
Infinix is going for a minimalist look here, and the device feels good in the hand for that. Contributing to this is the redesigned fingerprint scanner. Instead of using the traditional circular shape, Infinix went for glory with a curved corner rectangular shape.
While this may well be paltry tweak, it adds to the overall beauty of the back panel. The S3X also feels premium and you probably won’t know that this phone is cheaper than most other flagships when you hold it in your palm.
Infinix S3X Display
We can’t make the Infinix S3X review without highlighting one of the devices key features, the display. Despite having the tallest display on any Infinix phone, the Infinix S3X isn’t much bigger overall than the other Infinix phones with 6” displays like the Note 5, S3 and Hot 6 devices. It sits comfortably in the hand because of the curved edges, but it pops out of the pocket.
This isn’t a huge phone, and it’s the perfect option for someone who wants a large screen but can’t comfortably get their hands around a device like the iPhone 8 Plus.
The display itself is very different to the one on the S3. Instead it’s more like phones we’ve seen this year and to last year’s iPhone X. It’s a 6.2 inch 19:9 display, with a notch at the top to house the front-facing camera, ear piece, LED notification light and other sensors.
The screen is a 6.2-inch HD+ display with a resolution of 720 x 1500 pixels (268 PPI). This essentially means you’ll get HD resolution plus a few bonus pixels, as the screen is longer than the previous S3 device.
S3X’s screen here is bright, clear, nice and vibrant. The maximum resolution is particularly impressive. What is more important however is the notch, which gives you more room to work around.
Infinix has a name for embracing the best new technologies and packaging them in very affordable packages. It is no surprise that the company embraced the notch faster than its sibling companies.
Minimal Bezels
There’s relatively little bezel around the device (apart from at the bottom chin). The notch is small considering what we’ve seen on some other devices.
However, if you don’t like the notch look, Infinix didn’t include an option to hide it by having a black bar on either side. However, I wouldn’t wish my bragging rights by hiding the notch.
The notch gets in the way of the action when using some most apps. Some information is covered behind the notch when using applications like WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. This requires creative means to be able to read such information.
Infinix S3X Battery life
- Average battery life that lasts around a day
- 2A Fast charging features are included, but still takes time to charge
Infinix has maintained the battery size on the S3X as seen in the Infinix S3. However, the two devices have slightly varying endurance rates. It’s worth noting that the screen on the S3X is bigger than on the original S3, so there are more pixels to power.
However, as with the S3, we’ve found the phone will generally last a full day on a single charge. We used the device for close to two weeks. In that time, we found a couple of occasions when it didn’t last the full day. The phone was subject to extensive usage though. The battery performance is okay but isn’t as fantastic as the Itel P32 battery.
Fast charging isn’t as fast as that seen on flagship devices. However, that’s an extra feature we wouldn’t always expect to see on this kind of cheaper device. Nonetheless, if you wish to pump up your phone with a few hours of charge in half an hour or so, the 2A fast charging on the S3X will work some magic for you.
Infinix S3X Camera
- Dual sensor rear camera with 13MP and 2MP sensors
- Comes with AI selfie mode.
Just like the Hot 6 Pro, the S3X comes with a dual rear camera. One sensor is a 13MP Auto focus shooter while the other is a 2MP one.
The quality of the photos here is great. Although Infinix S3X’s rear camera may not have the smarts and AI capabilities of the one on the Note 5, it still does a great job in auto mode.
Dual rear cameras mean you get portrait shots with more detail than you’d get from a single lens. The photos taken in portrait mode can be refocused for better background blur by tweaking the intensity. The S3X processes better portraits compared to the S3.
The rear camera app has Beauty, Auto, Portrait, Video, Panorama and Night modes. The pro mode is absent. So, if you want to more control over the settings of the camera, there is nothing to play around with this time.
Video Capturing
We didn’t shoot as many videos on the S3X, but the footage we have captured looks good – it’s smooth, and both the image quality and audio quality are high. However, night video footage is a long way from excellent. Ample light footage is good enough but still, images tend to blur due to lack of image stabilization.
On the front of the phone there’s a powerful low light 16MP selfie camera capable of taking high-quality shots that are more than good enough for social media use.
One new feature of the selfie camera is the AI capabilities embedded into the beauty mode. Artificial Intelligence is particularly useful for pleasant selfies. It includes a beauty effect with ten different levels, so you can smooth out imperfections on your skin.
Selfies with AI switched on look good in ample lighting. However, in poor lighting selfies look grainy and over processed no matter what mode you are using. Even with the front facing LED light deployed, it’s hard to capture a better-quality selfie in dark environments.
Infinix S3X Review Camera samples
Software and reliability
- Android 8.1 Oreo software, with XOS 3.3 Lite
- Similar interface to the S3
- Gesture Settings
The Infinix S3X comes with the latest Android 8.1 Oreo software on board, but it’s all covered in Infinix’s own custom overlay, XOS 3.3 Lite.
That means the interface will look quite different to what we saw on the Android One Infinix Note 5. However, it maintains the same DNA of the other XOS Hummingbird devices like the Hot 6 Pro. The interface is similar to the S3’s.
By default, the navigation buttons occupy the bottom of the display. However, they can be removed by turning on Gesture navigation in settings. There is an app draw too which organizes apps in alphabetical order.
XOS looks good on the S3X looks good and colorful but it is buggy and filled with ads. The ads prompt you to install some apps and occupy the top section of the app drawer. Whereas they are not the pop-up type, we would want to see the cleanliness of the Note 5 copied in XOS.
Face ID
Face ID that missed on the Note 5 has seen a comeback. That said, we didn’t find ourselves using the fingerprint scanner very much, as face-unlock technology identifies you mere seconds after you press the on button.
We found this to work quite well, identifying our face from different angles and it wouldn’t unlock for other people. It didn’t always work when wearing sunglasses though, so this isn’t as impressive as the scanner on the iPhone X.
Movies, music and gaming
- Large crisp display offers an enjoyable watching experience
- Impressive gaming performance
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
The large display on the S3X makes watching video an enjoyable experience. Video looks good thanks to the bright and clear screen, and the viewing angles are particularly impressive, which is useful if you’re watching a video with someone else.
The S3X still keeps the 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top of the phone to connect wired headsets. However, you can still connect a Bluetooth headset to listen to audio.
Another welcome feature of the Infinix S3X is the FM radio. While it not one of our most used features, its absence on the Note 5 made us realized how we missed it. A lot of flagship devices are losing that tech now.
There’s a single speaker at the bottom of the phone, and that means it’s quite easy to cover it when you’re holding the device. The speaker delivers sufficient volume and the audio quality is okay, but if you want a device with kick-ass speakers this isn’t it. The Infinix Hot 6 provides better overall sound than this one.
Performance
- Uses Snapdragon 430
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB of storage
We have seen Snapdragon processor make it to the affordable smartphones recently. The Infinix S3 was the first Infinix phone with a Snapdragon processor. The S3X brings the similar processing power that the S3 exhibited.
We’ve found that it provides plenty of grunt, with the S3X doing everything we’ve asked of it. During the Infinix S3X review, we haven’t had any noticeable performance issues with the phone. Therefore, we don’t expect you’ll find any either if you buy this phone.
We particularly like that the standard version of the Honor 10 comes with 128GB of storage on-board. In some markets you’ll also be able to buy it with 64GB, but we recommend opting for the larger capacity, as it’s very unlikely that you’ll fill it up even with all your media and apps on-board.
There’s microSD support, so you can increase your phone’s storage, so you can store more stuff on your phone.
Our Verdict after the Infinix S3X review
The Infinix S3X is an iterative update to the S3. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, so if you already own the S3, it’s unlikely you’ll be rushing to grab your cash to buy this one. However, if you own a phone from a few years ago or a cheaper device there’s a lot to love about the Infinix S3X.
Infinix’s last mid-range releases this year impressed us, and the Infinix S3X is no exception. There’s a lot to love here, especially considering the price compared with other smartphones. We particularly enjoyed the dual rear cameras, the notched display and the overall design. If you liked the look of Infinix’s glossy Android One Note 5, but didn’t fancy the whole stock Android craze, then the S3X may well be the phone you’re after.
Who’s this for?
If you’re after a taste of flagship phone specs and the features that are popular in 2018, but you don’t want to break the bank by buying an iPhone X or a Samsung Galaxy S9, this will be perfect for you. The Infinix S3X review revealed so much about the device, lovely for the most part.
The Infinix S3X is essentially a repackaging of the S3, but with more recent features, a slightly less powerful selfie camera and a slightly different design as well.
If you want a camera that is exceptional, this isn’t it, but we’ve largely been impressed by what this camera can do, especially in the automatic mode with AI features. The camera on the Infinix S3X is bettered by top-end devices, but it’s one of the best on the market if you want to spend in the region of UGX 700,000.
For those looking for a unique looking device to show off to their friends, this could be it. The glossy rear design isn’t for everyone, but if you want a bold look that makes people question what phone you have the Aqua Blue and Black color options will be able to do that.
Should you buy it?
There’s a lot to love about the S3X, and if you’re looking for a more affordable phone than the other popular top-end devices but you still need a lot of the features those devices offer, this is going to be the perfect match for you.
The Infinix S3X has good processing capabilities that can run all your favorite apps and games. The 32GB storage onboard is more than enough for some people. There’s all the latest features of Android Oreo software too.
If you’re looking for a phone that has exceptional battery life, you would be better off with the Infinix Note 5. However, it’s around the industry standard and with normal usage will last you a full day. For the scenarios when you’re using it more, the fast-charging feature comes in handy.
The camera offers a lot of fun features to play around with and a great beauty mode that uses those artificial intelligence features to the best effect we’ve seen on a phone at this price.
That’s it for the Infinix S3X review. However, it’s worth mentioning that it comes down to that much more affordable price point than a lot of devices that have this kind of package.
