Comparing Infinix Hot 7, 8, and 9 in Nigeria

Infinix is currently one of the leading smartphone brands in Nigeria. Arguably, the “Hot” series has been its most popular set of phones that users look forward to new versions of. Today, we compare Hot 7, 8 and 9.

Since 2014, Infinix has been a major player in the smartphone market in Nigeria. They have regularly put out high-quality phones at relatively low prices. They, along with Tecno, are the smartphone of choice for many users who want to enjoy high-quality smartphones without the bank-breaking prices that iOS and Samsung phones call for. This meant that more Nigerians have had access to good smartphones. Considering the continually weakening naira, they have been a huge blessing to many.

An overview of the Infinix Hot series

The first in the Infinix Hot series was the Infinix Hot (X507), which was released in 2015. Since then, Infinix has produced other newer versions with the same “Hot” denominator. Every phone from Hot 2 till date has been an update on the former. This is the reason why many smartphone lovers usually wait keenly for the next release.

In spite of the continuous updates on Infinix Hot smartphones, the phone is generally budget-friendly. This means that it doesn’t perform as well as some other Infinix products in the market.

For most Infinix Hot smartphones released, there are usually “Lite” versions. These versions usually incorporate the software updates of the normal phones with lesser hardware capacity and come at a lower price. The Lite versions also look identical to their standard counterparts.

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Comparing Infinix Hot 7, 8 and 9 in Nigeria

With all that said, let’s do a comparison of Infinix Hot 7, 8 and 9. We want to know what changed with each new release, and what it costs to get each of them. So we’ll do this comparison by posting an overview of each along with their full specifications.

Infinix Hot 7

Infinix Hot 7 (a.k.a Infinix X624) was introduced in January 2019. The phone features a notch design, a large battery and large display.

Design and display

Hot 7 inherits the notch design of Hot 6X with reduced bezels. The phone body is made of plastic with a glass touchscreen.

The phone offers users a sizeable 6.26-inch IPS LCD screen working alongside 720 X 1500 pixels resolution. The reduced bezels give you more screen area for display ease.

A camera sensor and dual-LED flash are located at the backside. A few millimetres away is the fingerprint scanner, which can be easily used with the index finger.

Hardware and software

Seeing as the Hot 7 is a low-price smartphone, it’s not a surprise that its producers install an entry-level chipset in it. The chipset used is the MediaTek MT6580P. On the chipset is a quad-core 1.3GHz CPU.

Infinix Hot 7 also doesn’t have 4G LTE capabilities and only supports 3G and 2G. it makes use of dual-standby micro-sims.

For the phone’s RAM and internal memory, there are three variants of the phone available. The product with the 1GB RAM comes with 16GB internal memory and that of 2GB RAM has a 32GB internal memory. The last one, which is 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory, is not readily available in Nigeria. The internal memory of any one of the phones you buy is expandable with a Micro SD card.

The device is pre-loaded with Android 8.1 Oreo OS.

Camera and battery

The Infinix Hot 7 has AI function on its front and back cameras. The phone’s front camera is 8MP while its rear camera is 13MP. The front camera has an LED flash for capturing low-light pictures while its rear camera comes with a dual-LED flash.

The phone has a 4,000mAh non-removable battery, which gives enough power to run your phone for about 2 days on standby. The phone does not offer fast-charging or wireless charging capabilities. It uses a USB 2.0 port for charging and data transfer.

Infinix Hot 7 price and availability

At the time of writing, the phone is a bit scarce to see in online stores. However, you might have better luck in physical phone shops. Infinix Hot 7 price in Nigeria ranges from N38,000 to N46,000 depending on location and the variant of the phone you’re going for.

Infinix Hot 7 key specs and features

• 2-inch, IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 1500 x 720 pixels
• Android 8.1 Oreo
• Quad-core MediaTek MT6580P CPU with 1GB/2GB RAM
• 16GB / 32GB built-in storage; up to 128GB with a memory card
• 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera
• HSDPA/3G/2G
• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass
• Loudspeaker – Yes
• 5mm earpiece jack
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot
• Bluetooth 4.0
• GPS – Yes, with A-GPS
• FM radio
• MicroUSB 2.0
• 4, 000 mAh non-removable Li-ion Battery
• Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Announced 2019, January
• Released 2019, January
• Price: N40,000

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Infinix Hot 8

The Infinix Hot 8 is the successor to the Infinix Hot 7 and Hot 7 Pro. It offers improved performance with better battery capacity.

Infinix Hot 8: Get t on Konga for N47,000.00

Design and display

Infinix ditched the wide notch of Hot 7 and adopted the waterdrop-style notch on this phone. The phone has a slightly wider 6.6-inch IPS screen with a 20:9 aspect ratio. An impressive 82% of the phone’s front real estate is the screen. The screen resolution is 720 X 1600.

On the back of the Infinix Hot 8, we have a horizontal triple-camera arrangement to the top-left corner. The fingerprint scanner is positioned at the back too firmly in the top-middle position of the phone.

Worthy of note, though, is that the back of this phone is made of glass so users would need to take extra care with it.

The Infinix Hot 8 comes in colour options of Quetzal Cyan, Cosmic Purple, Shark Grey and Midnight Black.

Hardware and software

Infinix offers users two different chipsets for different configurations of the Hot 8. The 2GB/3GB RAM + 32GB ROM storage option of the smartphone comes with a MediaTek MT6761 Helio A22 chipset, while the 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM option uses the MT6762 chipset.

The former is a quad-core chipset and the latter is an Octa-core. The second model of the Infinix Hot 8, with Octa-core and 4GB RAM would cater more for users looking for better performance for gaming and multitasking.

Both units come with an Android 9 Pie operating system with the in-house XOS 5.0 running on top.

The phone supports 4G LTE, 3G and 2G, and uses dual standby SIMs. This is the first Infinix Hot phone that switched from Micro-sim to Nano-sim.

Camera and battery

In front of the Infinix Hot 8 is an 8MP camera for selfie needs. On the back, the main 13MP camera is designed for wide image capturing, paired with a 2MP sensor for better depth capturing. There is a third sensor (QVGA camera) in there whose function is to aid clarity of pictures taken in low light.

The selfie camera comes with a LED flash, to aid in low-light situations. On the rear camera, we have a quad-LED camera setup in there.

The device has a non-removable 5000mAh battery to power it. But then, there is no promise of a fast charge technology insight. The phone also uses a USB 2.0 port for charging and data transfer.

Infinix Hot 8 price and availability

Infinix Hot 8 price in Nigeria starts from N48,000. This, as usual, depends on the location and the variant of the phone you are going for.

Infinix Hot 8 key specs and features

• 6-inch IPS infinity-V Display, 720 x 1600 pixels
• Android 9.0 (Pie), XOS 5.0
• Octa-core Mediatek MT6761 Helio A22 (12 nm), 2GB/3GB RAM
• Octa-core Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 (12 nm), 4 GB RAM
• 32GB Storage (with 2GB/3GB RAM), 64GB storage (with 4GB RAM)
• 13MP + 2MP + QVGA Triple Rear Camera
• 8MP front camera
• 4G LTE/HSDPA/3G/2G
• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass
• Loudspeaker – Yes with Dirac Surround sound
• 5mm earpiece jack
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS – Yes, with A-GPS
• FM radio
• MicroUSB 2.0
• 5,000 mAh non-removable Li-Po Battery
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Announced 2019, September
• Released 2019, September
• Price: ~N48,000

Infinix Hot 9

The Infinix Hot 9 (X655C) is the 2020 upgrade on the Hot 8. It features an improved design, processor, cameras and lots more.

Infinix Hot 9Get it on Konga for N49,999

The Design and display

The Infinix Hot 9 offers a refreshing change of design from its predecessors. The phone’s rear features curved edges and a glossy finish with a mild gradation in colour.

The setup upfront is reminiscent of the Infinix S5. It’s a 6.6-inch IPS LCD display housing a single camera cut-out at the top-left corner. The screen resolution is 720 X 1600 pixels and a screen density of 269 PPI.

A fingerprint sensor and a quad-camera are located at the back of the phone.

Hardware and software

Infinix Hot 9 comes with an Octa-core Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 processor. The different variants of the smartphone have 3GB/4GB RAM and 32GB/64GB/128GB internal memory. The phone also possesses a PowerVR GE8320 graphics processor.

The Infinix Hot 9 runs the brand new XOS 6.0 interface on top of the Android 10.0 operating system.

The smartphone is also 4G LTE-capable. Additionally, it supports 3G and 2G speeds.

Camera and battery

The camera of this latest Hot phone certainly saw some upgrades from Hot 8. The quad-camera setup employed by Infinix on this device allows it to have more features.

The primary camera sensor on the variant of more than 64GB internal memory is a 16MP primary camera; those of lesser internal memory have 13MP primary camera.

All variants consist of a 2MP depth camera, a 2MP macro camera and a QVGA camera, which boosts photo quality in low-light scenarios.

All the above, along with a triple LED flash makes it capable of taking high-quality shots with videos of up to 1080p @ 30fps.

The front camera is largely unchanged from Hot 7 and 8; making use of an 8MP shooter

The phone comes with a non-removable 5,000 mAh battery. The phone has a USB 2.0 port for charging and file transfer.

Infinix Hot 9 price and availability

Infinix Hot 9 price in Nigeria starts at around 54,000 naira depending on the variant you go for and your location.

The Infinix Hot 9 X655C was announced on March 23 and went on sale in April 2020.

Infinix Hot 9 key specs and features

• 6-inch IPS infinity-V Display, 720 x 1600 pixels
• Android 10.0, XOS 6.0
• Octa-core Mediatek Helio A25 (12 nm)
• 3GB / 4GB RAM
• 32GB / 64GB / 128GB Built-in Storage, with SD-Card Support
• 16MP + 2MP + 2MP + QVGA (below 64GB models) or 13MP + 2MP + 2MP + QVGA Quad Rear Cameras (above 64GB models)
• 8MP front camera
• 4G LTE/HSDPA/3G/2G
• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
• Loudspeaker
• 5mm earpiece jack
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth 5.0
• GPS – Yes, with A-GPS
• FM radio
• MicroUSB 2.0
• 5,000 mAh non-removable Li-Po Battery
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Announced 2020, March
• Released 2020, April
• Price: ~?54,000

Looking at the differences

From Hot 8 we see the introduction of 4G LTE capability in the phones and a switch from micro to nano SIM cards. It is also the start-point of Bluetooth 5.0 in the series.

Also, Hot 8 sees the phasing out of Quad-core processors on the chipset, moving to Octa-core. Bigger 5,000 MaH batteries are also employed from that point on.

Hot 9 sees the debuting of rear quad-cameras and the gyro sensor. As well as triple-led flash on the rear camera compared to the double and single-led flash on Hot 8 and 7 respectively.

The bigger variant of Hot 9 even has a primary camera that is 16MP, a step up from the 13MP that has been the norm from Hot 7.

So far, Hot 7, 8 and 9 continue to maintain the USB 2.0 charging port; not making the switch to Type-C. No fast-charging feature has been included yet but using the original charger the phones can go from 0-100% in around 1 hour 30 minutes

With every new release from Hot 7, 8 and 9 has seen a brand new Android OS coming in. However, Infinix’s custom OS—the XOS, only made the switch from version 5.0 to 6.0 on the Hot 9 model.

Conclusion

The Hot series has certainly seen some improvements from Hot 7 to 9. When one considers the fact that each of the phones has come within 6 months of each other you would understand why there are no stark differences between each release.

The good part is that the amount of variants out there means you can go for what you want depending on the amount of money you have.

The difference in the price of each release is not too much and so is certainly worth saving up a bit more if a feature you want is not in the version you can afford.

The only one of the phones you might have issues getting currently is the Hot 7. The reason is that with each new upgrade, Infinix stops the production of the former making, it unavailable in the market.

Which of the phones do you prefer? Have you used any? Let us know in the comments section below.