INFINIX Zero 5G 2023: from zero to 5G… like a pro!

INFINIX is moving on, with their ongoing struggle to take a market piece in the mid-range section from competitors and it looks as if they’re doing an excellent job. The Hong Kong-based company has proven to be one of the top in the planet in growth rate and one of the few that were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their secret? VFM devices.

The company does an amazing job bringing uniquely designed smartphones and tries to localize the software to the market. The design is now the top sale point of the company and is going all through their products. INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 is this year’s sequel of a very successful line and we got the phone for a full review.

Last year’s Infinix Zero X Pro was the most advanced effort yet from the manufacturer, combining a 108Mp camera with a 120Hz AMOLED display to decent effect. While the pricing appears to be in the same ballpark, the Infinix Zero 5G 2023 does much more since it carries an impressive 50MP camera sensor in a triple camera setup! Sadly, to keep the price at same level with last years models, INFINIX has downgraded some of the other parts. The company advertises a lot of the phone’s 5G speed abilities and we are curious to see if they are worth it.

INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 – Specifications

First look

The handset arrives inside the usual striking box with a huge font announcing the model. The bottom part has the smartphone’s specifications, a huge sticker advertises Google compatibility and another sticker has specific smartphone and production details. The model in our hands is the 8/256 GB version in Coral Orange color.

Inside the box we can see the normal sum for most of the smartphones this price range:

• INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 smartphone
• USB-C to USB-A data transfer / charging cable
• 33W Wall charger
• SIM tray ejection pin
• User manual, Quick Guide
• Silicone soft case

A plastic screen protection film is pre-installed on the phone. The huge wall charger comes in white color and it provides up to 33W of power, providing decent charging times when needed. The charging cable is quite chubby and works along the charger to provide the flash charge. The silicone soft case is very nice with extensions to protect the camera and the corners. The corners of the phone are not easy to place inside the case but the extra protection is worth the effort spent.

INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 – Design

INFINIX has invested a lot of money and attention to the exterior and has managed to design some of the best looking phones in the market.

The front is simple with minimal bezels in three sides and a wider “chin”. There is a hole on the top of the display for the selfie-cam – one of the smallest in the market. The display itself is flat and big. Over the display there’s a wide hidden horizontal line for the earphone, perfectly designed to listen to your caller without having to center a smaller earpiece to your ear. There is nothing else in the front.

Build quality

The back panel is amazing! The smartphone has an amazing orange leather-like texture. There is a huge logo on the lower side “ZERO 5G” in big font and capital letters and the contrast of materials has the effect to show it intensively. While the front area is a smudge magnet, the rest of the device is completely impervious to smudges. The camera setup is on the top left with 3 lenses visible in a rectangular pattern and on their right side we see a LED flash.

The phone is thinner than the previous generations and feels light and compact. Remember we mentioned that the phone has new materials in order to keep its price low. The major part is the water-repellent coating. So you will not find any protection internally – you can understand this from the SIM tray, because there is no rubber seal. So guys, be careful with water and in heavy rain.

A SoC that works

Key features of the ZERO 5G 2023 include:

• A MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset, giving the ZERO 5G 2023 a 10% overall performance upgrade and 8% CPU upgrade compared to its predecessor. Whether it’s downloading or gaming, everything is faster than ever with the upgraded MediaTek Dimensity 1080.
• A massive 6.78” FHD screen prioritizes an immersive display for a truly dynamic visual experience with a peak brightness of 500 nits. The screen also features a 60/120Hz Dynamic Refresh Rate that work together and switch based on unique scenarios.
• A 5000mAh battery and 33W Fast Charge, which can charge 50% of the battery in only 30 minutes.
• Improved processing speeds and accelerated performance with up to 13GB RAM (8GB plus 5G Extended RAM) and RAM to ROM integration.

Sure enough, the Infinix Zero 5G 2023 punches above its weight in pure performance terms, especially with 8GB of RAM on board. Like many 2022 phones, there’s a further 5GB of ‘Extended RAM’ available through the repurposing of some of the phone’s snappy UFS 3.1 internal storage.

Impressive Display

The Zero 5G 2023 comes with a large 6.78-inch FHD+ LTPS display with very thin bezels on the side and top. Yes I know that we all wanted an AMOLED display and it is a bit disappointing. However, the aforementioned panel is great for improved resolutions and the picture quality is very sharp and maybe that can help you forget the high contrast of AMOLED. Although the viewing angles are still pretty decent and no darkening of screen was visible even at almost 90-degree angles. One downside is that the display is not too bright and this is noticeable in bright sunlight.

The 120 Hz refresh rate and 240 Hz touch sampling rate make the screen very responsive – excellent for gaming purposes. My major issue however is the lack of Widevine L1 certification which restricts the video resolution on most streaming services to a mere 480p. While this does not become an immediate deal breaker, if you like watching your content on your smartphone, this might be an issue.

Software

The customization options of the XOS (based on Android 12) are rich with many features as themes, skin themes, icons, dark mode tones that guarantee that you will not get bored of the phone. The launcher is good – reminds us of other good launchers like POCO launcher and the notification shade is full with options and versatility. Settings menu has a plethora of options but keeps itself minimal in view as to not tire the user. However the software is filled with pre-installed apps which sadly cannot be removed and share a lot of notifications throughout the day, which became somewhat frustrating for me.

Speed and animations are fast and in no case the phone stalled or seemed to slow down. Excellent job from INFINIX – a very promised product seems to rise up to the world of Android skins!

With Mediatek Dimensity 1080 processor and an 8GB RAM that is further expandable to another 5GB through virtual RAM, performance is where the Infinix Zero 5G makes a stand! I played for several hours some very demanding games like Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in HDR ultra mode and got consistent 60 FPS for a sustained period. I also played Call of Duty (COD) Mobile at high settings and Genshin Impact, which is a very high graphics game and faced neither any frame drops nor any heating issues.

INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 – Camera

This is something that a lot of you want to know about and it has kept me torn on opinion. It comes with a triple rear camera setting with a 50MP primary sensor, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor.

When drowned in the bright afternoon sunlight, the primary shooter is able to deliver crisp shots with delicate detailing that look over sharpened in areas with shadows. Auto HDR kicks in effectively and allows the blues of the sky to seep into the frame while compensating exposure from the sun. The 2X telephoto lens works well in good lighting but falls apart at night. Shutter speeds are quite slow which introduces some amount of shake unless your hands are extremely still. Infinix also allows you to adjust the f stop values for variable depth of field while using portrait mode, although the background separation is not too good.

It does have a 2X telephoto zoom and that’s welcomed. The images have good sharpness and colors are more or less consistent. However, I found the images to be a bit on the softer side. This effect is more prominent in night time photography, where even the details of the image are lost. Overall, while the camera is decent, I would have expected better performance in this price range.

On the front, there is a 16MP selfie camera. While generally decent, in my experience the images felt a little over-processed. The good thing is both the rear and front camera support 4K 30FPS video recording which is a really nice feature in the price range. There’s a Super Night Mode and a Night Filter feature for low-light images, the main camera supports 960fps slow motion, and there’s a Sky Remap editing feature for turning hazy skies to blue.

INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 Sample photos

Generating fuller colors automatically with the help of Auto Scene Detection, whether when shooting landscapes or portraits, gives bluer skies and more vibrant plants. It manages to catch sharp portraits and outlines in low light, and maintain details at night. One of my favorite features however was the Sky Remap, that enables you to turn a hazy day into cloudless sunny noon in seconds via software, or the Film Mode that let’s us create our own story. INFINIX mentions on this: Shoot like a director with the film mode. Various fantastic templates are on offer to make video creation much easier and editing more efficient. Such capabilities would tempt even professional camera holders.

Selfies are good – the 16MP sensor and the software work together to offer bright images with very good color. Similar to the photography is the video. Zooming is possible but not without losses. INFINIX did manage to bring a camera phone to the market, but keep in mind that it is basically a single and not a triple camera. 50MP sensor is good in video and photography, and the small issues found, we hope that will be fixed soon in future software updates.

INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 – Battery

Even with a slim design, the Infinix Zero 5G 2023 packs a powerful 5,000 mAh battery. Dimensity 1080 optimizes battery life quite well and even after my moderate to heavy usage of the phone, which included playing games, watching videos, going on voice and video calls and more, the smartphone easily lasted me 1.5 days on average. The 33W fast charging support is also great and takes the smartphone from zero to full within 90-100 minutes.

INFINIX Zero 5G 2023 review – Conclusion

INFINIX nailed it with the great pricing of the device that costs just 239$, while providing a fast chipset with decent response during heavy duty usage. And the really sleek design and great battery life adds to the overall value. However the software needs improvement, the speaker requires a boost, the camera is average at best and lack of Widevine L1 is definitely a minus.

We will wait to see what INFINIX’s plans are for the future.

Pros

• Excellent design
• Capable performance
• Good for gaming
• Good battery life

Cons

• Poor software
• Cameras could be improved
• No WideVine L1 certification
• No AMOLED Display