Infinix ZERO 5G Unboxing, First Impressions, Camera Samples

Staying consistent with what they best do, rising mobile player Infinix recently released another killer smartphone on paper in the Philippine market—the ZERO 5G.

Meet Infinix ZERO 5G

To those who missed our previous reports, the Infinix ZERO 5G is the company's very first 5G-ready smartphone.

AND, at PHP 11,990 (Some even got it at an early bird price of PHP 10,999 or PHP 9,999), the ZERO 5G announced its entry into the affordable 5G space with a bang.

How? The handset is loaded with MediaTek's 6nm Dimensity 900 5G-ready chip with WiFi 6 connectivity that is commonly found on smartphones at around twice the price + fast high-end memory types of LPDDR5 for the RAM and UFS 3.1 for the internal storage.

Moreover, the rest of its design and specs are no joke at this price point. The Infinix ZERO 5G features a high-end-looking back design, mid-range worthy 6.78-inch LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate and 1080p+ resolution with a notch, 5,000mAh battery capacity with USB-C 33W TÜV Rheinland Safe Charge, and Heat Pipe Thermal Module 2.0 + 3-D Cooling Master.

Now, it is time to check if it is worth the hype.

Here's part 1 of our review: unboxing and first impressions.

Unboxing/Accessories

The box

The ZERO 5G arrived in a flashy-looking rectangular silver box with the big model name of the device and some key information.

Inside the box, you will immediately find the device itself and it has a pre-installed screen protector.

After that, you will see that it has another container housing the TPU clear bumper case and paper documentation.

Next are the 33W USB-C power brick and the USB-A to USB-C data/charging cable.

Everything inside the box

What's missing in the package is an earphone with a microphone. Otherwise, this is a nice package.

Build Quality/Design

The back

For the materials used, the device might look like glass from afar, but it is actually just glossy plastic. Even the frame is polycarbonate.

Usual materials on lower mid-range smartphones

The front panel is glass and Infinix told us that it is Gorilla Glass. While the version is unspecified, this should be enough to somehow prevent its screen from easily breaking when dropped accidentally and avoid unwanted hairline scratches.

The SIM Tray

The SIM ejector tool has a red rubber gasket suggesting that it has some sort of water resistance. Just note that there is no IP rating, so don't try to get it wet on purpose.

In general, this is decent for an affordable 5G-ready smartphone. Just don't compare its materials with higher-end smartphones.

Premium looks!

Design-wise, it is beautiful. Infinix is calling it the Uni-Curve design with smooth curves with a glossy finish at the back. This design has similarities to what we first saw with the OPPO Find X3 with a smooth camera hump.

Undeniably gorgeous design!

The unit we got is the Horizon Blue version. But, the device is also available in Cosmic Due to its glossy finish, it is prone to annoying fingerprint smudges.

The display

In front, it uses a large 6.78-inch LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution. It has tiny bezels on the top and the sides. The chin bezel is a bit thicker, but that's understandable at this price point.

On the top center, it has a punch-hole cutout to house its 16MP selfie camera.

This front-panel setup resulted in a fairly immersive viewing experience.

Top, bottom

On top, it has a microphone hole. Below, you will find a 3.5mm headphone jack slot, another mic, a USB-C port, and the single speaker grille.

Left, right

On the left, there's pinhole access to the SIM card tray. On the right, it has the power key that doubles as the side-mounted fingerprint reader. You will also find the volume up and down keys in this part.

It measures 168.73 x 76.53 x 8.77 mm making it handy despite the large screen size yet not too thick and weighing 199 grams.

Overall, this is a nice-looking device with a design only found on expensive smartphones previously.

Due to its smooth and curvy finish, it is generally comfortable to hold as well.

The back camera setup

On the back, the device has a total of 3 cameras. It is bannered by the 48MP f/1.8 main shooter with PDAF focus and EIS for stabilization. The second camera is a 50mm equivalent 13MPM f/2.5 Portrait lens. The third camera is a 2MP f/2.4 sensor for bokeh effects. Then, it has a Dual color temperature flash.

For selfies, it has a 16MP f/2.0 snapper with Dual Front Flash.

We tried it and here are the first few shots.

First Camera Samples

Daylight

Indoor 1

Indoor 2 close-up

Indoor 3 close-up

Indoor Portrait mode

Low light auto vs Night mode

Indoor selfie

Thanks to its 48MP camera, the initial shots we took in daylight are all quite detailed. The colors are just a bit saturated. At 100 percent crop, it will normally be grainy, but enough for the viewer to distinguish the objects.

Even indoors, shots are mostly detailed. But, you may need to tap to focus patiently to be able to get crisp shots without overexposing the shots.

We even like that camera of this device can take close-up images with natural background blur. We tried it for a few product shots under regular flouresent lighting and we are quite pleased with the results even if it is a bit warmer than expected.

One interesting camera sensor of the device is the 50mm Portrait shooter with 13 megapixels. It'll take close-up shots by default and interestingly produce decent background blurs with better-than-expected edge detection.

In low light, the main shooter of the device will definitely struggle. But, it has a good Night mode that could compensate for that weakness.

But sadly, there is no ultra-wide shot.

For selfies, it can take reasonably crisp selfies with colors that are a bit whiter. We noticed that shots made my skin a bit beautified by default.

We have yet to try it for videos, but it has EIS at 1080p that should provide it some sort of stabilization.

Infinix ZERO 5G Specs

Display: 6.78-inch 2.5D curved LCD (IPS) screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, FHD+ 2460 x 1080 resolution at 396 ppi

CPU: 2.4GHz 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 900 octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G68 MC4

RAM: 8GB LPDDR5

ROM: 128GB UFS 3.1 expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB

Back Camera: 48MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF, EIS + 13MP f/2.5 50mm Portrait + 2MP f/2.4 Bokeh + Dual color temperature flash

Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.0 + Dual Front Flash

Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 33W TÜV Rheinland Safe Charge

OS: Android 11 w/ XOS 10

Connectivity: WiFi 6, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth, FM Radio, GPS, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock, DTS audio, Linear Motor, Heat Pipe Thermal Module 2.0 + 3-D Cooling Master, USB-C, Colors: Cosmic Black, Horizon Blue, Skylight Orange

Dimensions: 168.73 x 76.53 x 8.77 mm

Weight: 199 g

Price: PHP 11,990

As of the moment

The Infinix ZERO 5G has killer value for money out of the box. There are very few with this type of design and this level of strong performance due to the capabilities of its processor at this price point. 

My nitpick so far is the lack of an ultra-wide shooter.

Otherwise, the rest of the specs and features are also decent to great for a PHP 11,990 smartphone.

Of course, the most exciting part here is it has 5G which is still rare at this price point.

We will be exploring the rest of its capabilities in our full review, but so far, it is amazing for the price.