The Infinix Hot 70 makes a strange impression: a large screen, fresh Android, a decent bundle, two cameras, and performance that’s enough for everyday tasks. But then you look at the price — and questions arise. Especially when, for the same money, there are smartphones with AMOLED displays and more convincing cameras. We figure out what exactly the new Infinix offers and why its price is so hard to come to terms with.

Appearance

The Infinix Hot 70’s bundle is generous by modern standards. The box includes a plastic case, a screen protector, and a 45W charger. You won’t need to buy basic accessories separately.

The smartphone itself can hardly be called remarkable in appearance. It’s a large black slab with ordinary bezels around the display and a teardrop notch for the front camera. The bottom bezel is slightly thicker than the others, which makes the Hot 70 look from the front like a very budget model such as the Galaxy A17 4G.

The back cover is made of matte plastic. It feels pleasant to the touch and doesn’t try to pretend to be something more expensive than it actually is.

The edges are rounded and don’t dig into the palm. In this respect, the Hot 70 turned out to be more pleasant than, say, the iPhone 13 with its straight edges: it’s more comfortable to hold the Infinix in your hand for a long time.

The button placement, however, raises questions. The volume keys, the lock button, and the so-called Smart Button are all on the same edge. As a result, even a regular screenshot becomes a small exercise for your fingers: you can’t always press the right keys simultaneously on the first try.

Otherwise, this is a visually ordinary but quite comfortable smartphone for daily use. The design doesn’t grab you, but there are no obvious issues with the body or grip either.

Display

The screen, however, is one of the smartphone’s weakest points. It uses an IPS panel with 720p resolution and a claimed maximum brightness of 560 nits.

In bright sunlight, the backlight isn’t enough, dark interface elements look washed out, and the default color temperature noticeably shifts toward cool tones. The difference is especially noticeable after modern AMOLED smartphones: the picture seems less contrasty, black turns into gray, and the overall image looks dull.

Using an IPS panel by itself isn’t a problem. The issue is rather the combination of resolution, brightness, and the device’s price. In the Hot 70’s segment, AMOLED has long ceased to be anything unusual, so such a screen is perceived not as reasonable cost-cutting but as a too-obvious compromise.

It doesn’t lag, it’s just slow.

Inside the smartphone is a MediaTek Helio G100 Ultimate — a budget chip designed primarily for basic scenarios: browser, Telegram, TikTok and other everyday apps run without noticeable stuttering.

The limitations become especially apparent in games. Genshin Impact immediately offered low graphics settings, and the picture on them looked frankly poor. After switching to medium settings, the image noticeably improved, but the frame rate dropped to an uncomfortable level.

With Standoff 2, the situation is better. The game ran quite well even on high settings, so the outcome depends heavily on the specific title.

Based on the Geekbench test, the result can be compared to the Poco X3 — a smartphone that will turn six years old this year.

As for battery life, the Hot 70 does well: in mixed use, over 6 hours 17 minutes of usage, the smartphone consumed 75% of its charge. It will comfortably last a busy day, and with lighter use, you can expect around two days.

Camera

On the back panel there are two cameras: a main wide-angle module and an additional portrait one. At first glance, it might seem like there are three cameras. In reality, the third circle is not a lens but a decorative glowing block. It works roughly like a simplest analog of glyphs: it changes the backlight scenario depending on what is happening with the smartphone.

The shooting quality of the main wide-angle module is mediocre. It is sufficient for utilitarian tasks: you can capture meter readings, a document, or a notice, especially in good lighting. But the camera struggles to aim for anything more. The photos noticeably lack sharpness, fine details are quickly lost, and textures look as if a watercolor brush has been lightly run over them.

The AI processing inside the shell itself does not save the situation either. After shooting, you sometimes have to wait a bit for the smartphone to process the frame before it appears in the gallery. The final image becomes slightly sharper, but this does not fundamentally change the quality.