If you’re searching for an economical gaming handset, Infinix Mobile recently released the Infinix HOT 20s with Free Fire Edition, which is a gaming-focused smartphone for around 10,000 PHP. The “Free Fire Edition” comes with a distinctive artwork sleeve in the box, as well as a customized theme with game-inspired wallpapers and icons.
A 120Hz TFT display and a MediaTek Helio G96 CPU with up to 13GB of dynamic RAM, 8GB of which is physical RAM, are the smartphone’s primary selling factors.
UNBOXING
The box comes in gamer mode packaging, with a free fire hero character printed on it. Inside the cover, you will be presented with a bright yellow-green color box. You will have the unit with a pre-applied screen protector on it, a sim ejector pin, warranty papers, a free transparent silicon case cover, the USB type C cable, and the power brick.
DESIGN
It comes with a trendy boxy design with chamfered edges. The unit comes in the color sonic black. It weighs around 202g and is 8.47mm thick. It feels natural to hold the phone with one hand, but it is difficult to reach the top of the device. It has a shiny glass-like surface in the back but it is made of plastic so it is prone to fingerprint smudges. Using the free silicon case cover will solve the issue.
On the front, the device is a 6.78-inch display with a punch-hole design. It has thin bezels around it with a slightly thicker chin. The right side of the device has the volume and the fingerprint scanner that doubles as a lock or power button while the left side has the sim card slot that supports dual sim and micro SD card. The buttons are tactile and clicky. The top is clean, while the bottom is the USB type c port, 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone hole, and speaker grille. The back has two larger circles and a small one that houses the camera sensor.
DISPLAY
The Infinix HOT 20S features a 6.78-inch FHD+ IPS display with a resolution of 2460 x 1080 and a refresh rate of 120Hz. The IPS panel has good quality, with nice colors and contrast. The large screen also makes content and gaming more immersive, as well as provides more space for multitasking and reading. It also has Widevine L1 certification for streaming HD videos on apps like Netflix and Disney Plus.
PERFORMANCE
The Infinix HOT 20S is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio G96 processor with a Mali-G57 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage that can be expanded up to 1TB via the microSD card slot. Although it is not the fastest chip, the performance is adequate. It doesn’t have 5G support for its connectivity and only up to 4G LTE.
The 120Hz refresh rate is one of the main selling points. When switching multiple apps, taking some pictures and browsing social media apps, downloading files, and so on, the device handles it pretty well without lag. It strikes a good balance between performance and longevity by providing three refresh rates ranging from 60Hz to 120Hz.
It offers a smooth navigation experience, especially when the 120Hz refresh rate is enabled on your device. Multitasking is also not an issue, thanks to its 8GB of onboard RAM and dynamic RAM expansion, which can increase the RAM to 13GB with unused storage. The storage allocated to virtual RAM is set to 3GB by default, so you’ll need to manually increase it to 5GB in the phone’s settings.
Playing games on this device performed well, with medium graphics settings. It runs without issue. Lowering the graphics and capping the frame rate will provide a far superior experience, as well as longer battery life while gaming on the go. It did get a little warm after a while, but nothing too bad. Overall, we are pleased with the performance of the HOT 20S.
SOFTWARE
The Infinix HOT 20S comes pre-installed with the Android 12 operating system and XOS 12. Because this is the Free Fire version, we get a pretty aggressive special theme right out of the box. But you can change it to the standard look in the settings menu.
Everything else appears to be in order. The control center features large buttons for quick access, as well as sliders for volume and screen brightness. It also includes a dedicated Privacy Analysis and Privacy Protection.
The device also has a lot of other features accessible via the Special Function tab in the settings. There’s the lightning multi-window, MemFusion, which virtually increases memory, game mode, XClone for multi-account management, kids’ mode, and more. Overall, the interface is fairly simple.
CAMERA
The Infinix HOT 20S has a 50-megapixel primary camera and two 2-megapixel secondary cameras. On the front is an 8-megapixel selfie camera.
There are no surprises here: the main camera produces sharp images. They’re fine and worth sharing online, though the colors appear washed out and the contrast could be improved.
Images in low light are good. They capture a lot of detail, particularly when using the Night Mode, which takes a long-exposure shot for brighter night images. As usual, there is a dedicated Night mode, but no Pro mode.
The HOT 20S produces decent images for its price. However, don’t expect to be amazed by its quality.
BATTERY
The Infinix HOT 20S supports a 5,000mAh battery capacity. The average screen-on time we got on this device is around 5 to 6 hours. It should easily last an entire day of light to moderate use, with some battery left over for the next day. Heavy gamers and binge-watchers can also get 6 to 7 hours out of this device.
The device also includes an 18W charging adapter, It will take about an hour and a half to fully charge the HOT 20S from 0 to 100 percent.
VERDICT
The Infinix HOT 20S Free Fire edition is designed for budget-conscious gamers and entertainment enthusiasts. It has capable performance, a large display with a 120hz refresh rate, a long battery life, and a tough special interface. The Infinix HOT 20S price starts at Php8,499 and it is available on their retail store and e-commerce sites.
