Infinix S5: Impressions

Is the Infinix S5 best smartphone Infinix has released this year?

We will surely get to know when I gather all my thoughts and pen a review, hopefully by the end of the week.

Until then, however, these thoughts should help give you a rough idea of what I have been working with for the over 2 weeks that I have had the device with me.

Just from those few words, you can correctly deduce that Infinix has been on to something here.

There have been lots of Infinix smartphones that we have looked at in recent months. Yet, the Infinix S5 happens to tower above the rest almost with relative ease.

Why?

Let’s start with the unboxing process which, like that of any budget smartphone, has nothing outstanding about it.

Read more: Infinix Hot 8 Vs Tecno Spark 4 - Sibling Rivalry

In fact, while setting up the device for first-time use, I got disappointed that Infinix had gone the way of Tecno in including the sign up/sign in call to its own forums (X Club) in the setup process. It’s an unnecessary addition to what should otherwise be a very short setup process.

Anyway, past that, the other notable change I noticed as I did some housekeeping after unboxing the device was the network monitors that don’t hesitate to kick in once your Wi-Fi connection gets weak to suggest that maybe you want to gobble up your precious data bundles instead?

Part of making the case for the Infinix S5 as the best, if not among the best, smartphone that Infinix has released this year has a lot to do with the lasting impression it leaves behind once you first interact with it. It’s a plastic device, yes but it has this sweeping premium look and feel that is more reminiscent of budget Xiaomi smartphones released over the past year more than anything we have seen so far from Infinix or even sibling brand Tecno.

And that doesn’t end there, the experience is replicated in the software where, at first, the performance appears to be buttery smooth and the battery just sufficient enough for you to never complain. Sufficient may even be an understatement. We just have to make do with the term because we put Infinix’s 3-day battery life claims to the test.

The coupling of the punch hole on the display and wallpapers that do a good job of hiding it or blending it in is a nice touch. Ordinary users don’t have to crawl Reddit or install third-party wallpaper apps in order to do so and what more could we ask?

The rest of the stuff? Relax, there will be more about those quad cameras and their accompanying quad flash and the usual rant about XOS, in a few days.