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Infinix S2 was unveiled a couple of weeks back and we’ve unboxed it since. Although most of what was expected was already seen in leaks and rumors, the device still leaves a good first impression as Infinix Mobility follows the familiar design of its predecessor. We were expecting Infinix Hot S2, but Infinix has already dropped “Hot” from the nomenclature; the device is simply named Infinix S2.
Infinix S2 looks like the Hot S, but there are still a few changes here and there. There has been a tiny bump in technical specifications (especially in the camera department) and it’s all summarized below:
- Display: 5.2-inch HD
- RAM: 2GB RAM
- Internal Storage: 16GB ROM (expandable with microSD of up to 128GB)
- Processor: MT6753, Octa Core 1.3GHz
- OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow + XOS UI
- Camera: 13MP + 8MP (Front), 13MP (Rear)
- SIM: Dual (Hybrid)
- Battery: 3000mAh
- 4G Support: Yes
Along with the smartphone, these are other devices in the box:
- 1 ejector pin
- 1 USB cable
- 1 power adapter
- User guide
- 1 pair of earphones
- 1 protective film
Form factor, display and first impressions
Taking the phone out of the box, the first thing that draws your attention is the dual camera setup on the right side of the speaker. Infinix Mobility calls this device the “Africa’s first dual front-facing camera,” but it should be mentioned that there have been other devices with dual front-facing camera like Lenovo Vibe S1 launched in 2015.
Infinix S2’s front dual-camera setup has a somewhat different mode of operation though: one of the cameras is a regular 8MP selfie camera while the other is a wide-angle 13MP camera dedicated for taking group selfies (wefie). The 135-degree wide-angle lets the camera capture more area without the need of a selfie stick and this looks like one of the main selling point of this device.
The screen is a 5.2-inch HD panel with vivid colors, but it has the same resolution as the first Hot S. It’s protected with a 2.5D curved glass.
Below the screen are three capacitive soft keys, but these are not backlit.
On the right side of the phone is the dual-SIM slot (macro). Again, Infinix also makes the 2nd SIM slot the microSD card slot.
You have to choose between using the second SIM or expanding your storage. On the right side of the phone is the power button.
The top holds the earphone jack and the micro-USB port is centrally placed at the bottom. There are seemingly two speaker grills but the phone comes with a mono speaker. The other grill is for the microphone.
The back of the phone reminds one of the Hot S, but the silver lining running across the top and bottom make it distinctive. The LED flashlight is positioned between the vertically arranged 13MP rear camera and fingerprint sensor.
Although it shares a similar design with the Hot S, Infinix S2 still offers some aesthetical improvement.
Camera
Infinix S2 sports a dual front camera that works as advertised. the wide-angle “wefie” camera stays true to its name and truly shoots at a very wide-angle. For starters, this simply means you can get more people into a group picture as it covers more area than a regular selfie camera. The image below was taken with the regular selfie camera:
And here is the version of the image taken with the wide-angle “wefie” camera at exactly the same position:
Along with the 13MP wefie camera is another 8MP regular camera. For the records, these two cameras work independently; this means both cameras can’t be engaged to shoot a selfie with shallow DoF as seen in devices with a similar setup.
The front camera comes equipped with an LED flash. The good thing about this LED flash is that the camera settings lets you adjust the intensity.
There are also live filters to choose from before shooting your picture.
The rear camera unit is a single 13MP camera equipped with LED flash. Images look good and Infinix S2 puts full control into your hands. The settings let you tweak almost everything about the camera and there’s a professional mode for those who know how to use it.
Here are sample images taken with the rear camera:
Storage, performance and software
Infinix S2 comes with standard 16GB internal storage with the operating system taking a huge bite already. You have only about 9GB left. It supports external storage but sadly, it shares the same slot with the second SIM.
Infinix S2 comes with the same 2GB RAM found on last year’s Infinix Hot S. The octa-core MT6753 processor too is also clocked at 1.3GHz, just like the one on the Hot S. When compared, the performance is almost the same.
The device shipped with Android Marshmallow which was a disappointment at first. However, there’s already an OTA updates that upgrades the device to Android 7.0 Nougat.
Connectivity & battery
Apart from the standard connectivity options found on modern smartphones, it’s worth mentioning that Infinix S2 is a 4G phone that supports most 4G/LTE operators in the Nigeria. Spectranet, ntel and Smile all worked on this device.
It comes with a 3,000mAh considered as average these days and normally, it should get you through the day. The video loop test too gave impressive results. With VLC player at 50% volume, 50% brightness and the device in Airplane mode, it took 11 hours and 22 minutes to run the battery down from 100%.
Verdict
To be honest, Infinix S2 doesn’t offer enough compelling reasons for an existing Hot S user to upgrade. The design is mostly the same. Also, there isn’t much difference in specifications and the performance is almost the same.
The camera is a big improvement though and that counts for something. The wide-angle selfie camera is a plus and the rear camera seems to perform better than the one on the Hot S. Still, I think a potential buyer would go for the Pro version with 3GB RAM.
Would I recommend the S2? Yes, but if you’ve got some extra bucks, the 3GB RAM Pro version with 32GB internal storage might be a better deal.
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