First Bytes: Infinix HOT 10S Unboxing And Initial Thoughts

Infinix recently unveiled the all-new Hot 10S, the highly anticipated gaming and entertainment smartphone that beef up its Hot 10 portfolio.

Designed as a budget gaming device, it has adequate internals and big battery for those long gaming sessions. Adding more value is its 90hz refresh rate, triple cameras and a spec sheet that impresses for a device that’s priced below Php7,000

So will the “S” mean “STEAL,” or  “SKIP?” Here is First Bytes: Our initial thoughts on the Infinix HOT 10S.

DEVOUR

DISLIKE

• Tinny sounding Speakers
• Micro USB= Slow charging times
• Bloatware

Infinix Hot 10S specs

• DIMENSIONS:  171.5×77.5×9.2
• DISPLAY: 6.82-inch HD+ IPS display |  90Hz refresh rate | 180hz touch sampling rate
• PROCESSOR: Mediatek Helio G85
• MEMORY: 4GB+64GB | 6GB+128 | UFS 2.1 internal storage, expandable via microSD
• CAMERAS: 48-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, 2-megapixel macro camera, AI camera, LED flash
• 8-megapixel camera
• CONNECTIVITY: LTE, 4G | WiFi, Bluetooth
• SECURITY: Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner | Face Unlock
• BATTERY: 6000mAh | 10w charging
• OS: Android 11 | XOS 7.6
• COLORS: 95°Back | Morandi Green | Heart of Ocean |7°Purple

UNBOXING:

Our review unit, unfortunately didn’t come in a box and we only received the unit and wall charger+cable.

But after checking out other videos, the Infinix Hot 10S will come in the familiar green box of the brand similar to the HOT10 Play. Prominently highlighted on the box is the Mediatek Helio G85 processor and the RAM plus ROM configuration of the device.

As far as contents go, you get the standard paper documents, sim ejector tool, wallcharger, microUSB cable a plastic case and a surprise pair of headphones. It also comes with a screen protector but you have to install yourself.

DESIGN AND BUILD

The first thing you’d notice as soon as you pick up the phone is its massive size– both it length and width. Its definitely a handful thanks to its display and its best to use both hands when operating this device.

The device is primarily made out of plastic with a 3D curved back making it comfortable to hold despite its size. The diamond design on the back is said to be inspired by the mirror-like surface of “Salar de Uyuni” in Bolivia, which aims to mesmerize with flowing light and shadow.

FYI: Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is is the world’s largest salt flat and considered one of the most extreme and remarkable vistas in all of South America, if not Earth.  Check out the photo below.

Our unit came in the 95°Black but it is also available in Morandi Green, Heart of Ocean (blue), and 7°Purple. I have to hand it to INFINIX when it comes to the fancy naming of colors. It presents you with a fair amount of color options from the subdued black to the other brighter options. I think the Morandi Green is the best-looking one for me. The glasstic finish however makes it prone to fingerprint smudges so you may want to slap on the plastic case.

The layout of the buttons and ports are pretty standard

You have the SIM card tray on the left.

The power button and volume rocker are on the right side.

On the bottom are the headphone jack, speaker grille, and a microUSB port–yep I think its one of the few new phones that still use it.

At the back of the device is the fingerprint scanner which design-wise is placed a bit to high and you have to stretch your finger a bit to reach it. The good news its that its quite responsive and unlocks your phone really fast. Also located at the back is the square triple camera module an LED flash, and the slightly embossed Infinix branding.

The Infinix HOT 10S feels a little hefty which is expected given that it has a large battery.

DISPLAY AND SOUND

The large display of the Infinix Hot 10S is one of its big selling points. Measuring at 6.82-inches its definitely a plus for gamers who want to play on a big screen phone. Like other phones at this price point, you get an IPS LCD panel with a 720×1640 HD+ resolution, but the HOT 10S makes up for it with a 90Hz panel and a touch sampling rate of 180 Hz to make it more responsive.

I’ve watched a few VICE Dark Side of The Ring documentaries in its entirety on the phone and I have no complaints about the video quality, as far as sound though, I think its best to use the included earphones as the loudspeaker is a bit lacking.

CAMERAS

For its cameras, the Infinix Hot 10S has a triple camera setup with a main 48MP shooter + 2MP depth sensor + AI camera while on the front you get an 8MP camera which can also take 1080p videos.

This triple camera combo is a first for the HOT portfolio. The all-new Super Nightscape feature enables users to take impressive pictures in dark/low-light scenarios while the 2K resolution video recording captures authentic true-to-life footage.

So far, our initial test photos are looking okay, and here are a couple of sample shots

PERFORMANCE, SOFTWARE, AND BATTERY

As the INFINIX HOT 10S is primarily a gaming phone we installed several games including Call of Duty, Mobile Legends, PUBG, Asphalt, Genshin Impact and Mortal Kombat. We’ve only played Mortal Kombat for a few minutes and the Mediatek Helio G85 processor is living up to its reputation as a fairly good gaming chipset.

The MediaTek Helio G85 chipset packs a powerful performance while maximizing battery life. Leveraging innovative dynamic resource management technology, the connectivity powered by MediaTek’s Helio G85 brings faster response times and quicker frame rates. Furthermore, this results in consistent & reliable connectivity, which significantly reduces lag time.

By the way we have the 6GB of RAM and 128GB variant, which, for me is the better option to get, as the phone has been running smoothly during our initial tests.

One gaming feature Infinix has been highlighting is “Dar-Link” which they say not only optimizes gameplay but also guarantees a better experience. We’ll be sure to take note of that in our final review.

The Infinix Hot 10S runs on the latest Android 11 OS alongside the company’s XOS UI. Swiping from the edge gives you a few app shortcuts and tools and accessing the app drawer gives you links to Instant APPs which you could play without installation.

Speaking of APPs the one thing I didn’t  like about the INFINIX HOT 10S is the number of preinstalled apps (bloatware) on the phone. There’s Palm Store, XCLub, XSHare, AHA Games, Yo Party, BEEZ, BOOMPLAY etc. Boomplay is a music streaming service, but you can download music for free. Unfortunately most of the songs are from South Africa, though I was able to find some Filipino RAP and weirdly pinoy folk songs. The downside is that you have to endure a LOT of ads.

Its a good thing that you can uninstall all these apps if you want to, which I think you should.

Since gamers are expected to play for hours, another selling feature of the HOT 10S is its 6000mAh battery. According to the company’s Infinix data lab, the Hot 10S supports 62 days on standby, 182 hours of music playback, 17.3 hours of continuous gaming or 76 hours of calls on a full charge.

It has a built-in Safe-Charge technology that ensures that the power is automatically turned off once the device is fully charged to avoid overheating and wasting energy, while the Power Marathon technology contributes an extra 25% power when the battery runs low – that’s 3.5 hours of additional call time for users.

Again this is another feature we have to thoroughly test out, as we have yet to fully drain the battery. But given that it has only a 10W charger we could expect charging time to be at least a couple of hours.

BREAKING IT DOWN:

With a spec sheet like the Infinix HOT 10S, its easy to forget that it is a budget gaming phone that’s priced starting at P5990. That makes it a very interesting option for gamers who are looking for an affordably priced smartphone. The screen is big enough to provide a great viewing experience, it has the chipset and software to ensure smooth operation, a camera system and a battery that will give users uninterrupted gaming sessions.

But we’ll still have to check a few more things and play a lot more games before we could give it THE TECHNIVORE roar of approval.

The Hot 10S is priced at Php 5,990 for the 4GB/64GB model and Php 6,990 for the 6GB/128GB model and is available at the official Infinix store on Shopee.

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