Barely a month after launching the Infinix S5 Pro for India (Sorry Nigeria, COVID 19 would not let hem hold a launch event yet) and 7 months after the Hot 8, Transsion Holdings youth-focused brand Infinix mobility has released the latest member of its Hot smartphone series;
The Infinix Hot 9 in Indonesia.
Seeing that Infinix has now migrated to larger displays, bigger batteries and finally dumped the Helio P22 chipset, let us see what upgrade this phone offers over the Infinix Hot 8.
Infinix Hot 9 Specifications Summary
| OS | Android 10.0 Q (XOS 6) |
| Display | 6.6 inch IPS LCD Full View Display |
| Camera | 13MP rear camera, 2MP depth sensor, 2MP camera for 2cm macro, QVGA Low light sensor, 8 MP selfie or 16MP rear camera, 2MP depth sensor, 2MP camera for 2cm macro, QVGA Low light sensor, 8 MP selfie (depending on memory variant |
| RAM | 2GB of RAM space, 3GB of RAM Space, 4GB of RAM Space |
| Storage | 32GB, 64 GB, 128 GB Expandable to 256 GB |
| Processor | Helio P25 Octa Core, 1.8GHz GHz (4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.5 GHz Cortex-A53). |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh |
| Security | Face ID and Fingerprint ID |
Design and Display
If you have seen the Infinix S5 then the design of the Hot 9 should be familiar. Infinix adopted the punch hole camera design for the front hereby reducing the bezels to the barest minimum. This is better than the teardrop notch display on the Hot 8. The chin is also very thin giving room for more screen space.
The speaker and LED flash are fixed on the top frame. On the right-hand side are the volume and power buttons. There is a speaker at the base along with the mic and USB 2.0 port.
Over to the back, the Hot 9 has a quad camera setup, one camera lens more than the Hot 8. The lenses are beautifully arranged on the top left side in a verticle manner and the triple LED arranged by its side. The fingerprint scanner follows, then the Infinix brand label and the Hot series label.
The Infinix Hot 9 display is slightly larger than that of the Infinis Hot 8. The Hot 9 packs a 6.6-inch display panel unlike the 6.53 inch on the Hot 8. This display panel is IPS LCD with an 82.8 screen-to-body ratio, 720 x 1600 pixels resolution (honestly I was expecting 1080p here) and a 20:9 aspect ratio meaning the device is great for entertainment.
Despite its size, it only weighs 185g and the front is protected with a 2.5D glass while the back is made of polycarbonate plastic material and a plastic frame.
Camera Specification
The Infinix Hot 9 has no difference from that one the Hot 8. It is the same 8MP piece (booooooooooo) and there is an LED flash. Though you can still get 1080p videos in 30 frames per second.
The rear camera two different variants of lenses depending on the variant you get. One camera set up for the 32GB models is the 13 MP main lens, 2 MP depth, 2 MP macro, and QVGA low light sensors. The only difference here is the extra 2MP macro lens else every other thing is pretty much the same with the Hot 8.
The bigger memory variants have 16 MP main lens, 2 MP depth, 2 MP macro and QVGA low light sensors. The triple LED flash is present in both variants.
Hardware and Memory Specification
The Hot 9 comes with the Helio P25 octa-core chipset clocked at 1.8GHz (4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.5 GHz Cortex-A53). Well, the processor has the capability of handling speed up to 2.5GHz but Infinix seems to be underclocking it.
It is assisted by the PowerVR GE8320. This means this device is not built for heavy gaming.
Honestly, I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that Infinix dropped the Helio P22 processor at this point. The Hot 8 variants had Helio A22 quad core with 2.0GHz clock speed(32GB storage version) and Helio P22 octa-core chipset with 1.8GHz – 2.0GHz speed (64GB storage version).
When it comes to storage, there are 4 variants of this device you can pick from;
- 2GB of RAM space and 32GB of storage space
- 3GB of RAM space and 32GB of storage space
- 4GB of RAM space and 64GB of storage space
- 4GB of RAM space and 128GB of storage space
Remember the bigger memory sizes (4GB RAM Version) get the better camera. Memory can be expanded up to 256GB.
Software and Battery Specifications
Infinix decided to use the Android 10 OS running under its XOS 6.0 skin for the Infinix Hot 9. The phone comes with a few bloatware that is popular in most Transsion devices. It would have been good to just serve this as an update to the Infinix Hot 8.
A 5000mAh battery is packed with the phone to meet its 4G demands. This is enough juice to carry you for 2 days of average usage.
Price
It is sold for 1,899,000 Indonesian Rupiah which is equal to N44,000 as at the time of writing.
Overall Specifications
Network
| Technology | GSM / CDMA / HSPA |
| 2G | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2 |
| 3G | HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 |
| 4G | LTE Band 1, Band 2, Band 3, Band 4, Band 5, Band 7, band 9, Band 20, Band 28 |
| SIM Type | Dual nano-SIM slot |
Design and Display
| Dimensions | 165.4 x 76.8 x 8.8 mm |
| Height | 165.4 mm |
| Width | 76.8 mm |
| Thickness | 8.8 mm |
| Weight | 185g |
| Display Size | 6.6-inch |
| Display Resolution | 720p HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels) |
| Display Type | IPS LCD |
| Build | Plastic |
| Protection | 2.5D Curved Glass |
| Colours | Midnight Black, Quetzal Cyan, Violet, Ocean Wave |
Platform and Hardware
| OS | Android 10 running under XOS 6. skin |
| Processor Name/Technology | MediaTek Helio P25, Cortex A53 |
| Number of Processor Cores | 8 |
| Processor Speed | 1.8 GHz |
| Graphics Chipset | PowerVR GE8320 |
| RAM | 2GB, 3GB, 4GB |
| Internal Storage | 32GB, 64GB, 128 GB |
| External Storage | Yes, Up to 256 GB |
| Sensors | G-sensor, P-Sensor, Gyro, Touch Sensor, Electronic Compass |
Camera
| Front | 8 MP Punch Hole, Camera 1080 Video @30 fps, with LED flash |
| Rear | 13 MP, (wide), 1/3.1″, 1.12µm, PDAF 2 MP, (macro) 2 MP, (depth) QVGA (Low light sensor)or16 MP, (wide), PDAF (64/128 GB models only) 2 MP, (macro) 2 MP, (depth) QVGA (Low light sensor) |
| Features | Autofocus, Triple LED Flash, Geo-Tagging, Touch Focus, Face Detection, Panorama, Scene Detection, AR, Bokeh |
Multimedia
| Video | FLV, MP4, MKV, AVI, 3GP |
| Audio | WAV, MP3, MP2, ACC, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MIDI, Vorbis, APE, AAC-Plus V1, AAC-Plus V2, FLAC, WMA, ADPCM |
| Image | Jpeg, Png, Gif, Bmp |
| Speaker Chipset | Nil |
| Audio Jack | Yes, |
Connectivity
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth® 5.0, AD2P LE |
| Wifi | 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4G/5G |
| USB | Yes, 2.0 |
| NFC | No |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS |
Battery
| Battery Capacity | 5,000 mAh |
| Battery Technology | LiPo |
| Fast Charging | No |
| Removable | No |
Extra Features
| Security Features | Face ID and Finger Print |
Price
Around N40,000 – N60,000 depending on Variant.
