The Infinix Hot 11S: A Budget Gaming Smartphone With A Twist
If you’re on the hunt for an affordable smartphone that can handle some serious gaming, your options are often limited; especially at the sub-Rs. 10,000 price point. While many smartphones boast decent software performance, they lack the powerful hardware needed for a truly enjoyable gaming experience, often lacking features like a high-refresh-rate display. However, Infinix seems to have cracked the code, aiming directly at this niche market with the Infinix Hot 11S. This device packs a large, high-refresh-rate display, a capable budget gaming processor, and stereo speakers, offering a compelling mix of features that set it apart from the competition. But does it live up to its promise? Let’s dive in and see if it delivers on its potential.
Infinix Hot 11S Price in India
The Infinix Hot 11S is available in a single configuration: 4GB RAM and 64GB storage for a price of Rs. 10,999 in India. It comes in three distinct colours: 7 Degrees Purple, Green Wave, and Polar Black, with the Green Wave variant being featured in this review.
Infinix Hot 11S Design
The Infinix Hot 11S feels substantial in the hand, with a large, broad footprint, yet boasting a slim side profile. It features a plastic back with a unique wave pattern layered over a metallic finish, adding a touch of dynamism. This intriguing aesthetic is finished off with an enamel coating that lends a glossy look, unfortunately contributing to a very cheap appearance and making the phone a smudge magnet. The Hot 11S would have been much more elegant had Infinix opted for a matte finish instead.
On the back, you’ll spot a distinctive pill-shaped camera module, which is aesthetically pleasing, with a large lens cutout for the primary camera. However, this is mainly for visual appeal, as the module protrudes only a few millimeters from the surface, preventing the phone from wobbling too much when placed flat.
Adjacent to the camera module lies the fingerprint sensor, which feels a bit of a stretch to reach due to the phone’s overall size.
Moving to the front, the Hot 11S sports a 6.7-inch full-HD LCD with a punch-hole cutout for the front-facing camera. NEG Dinorex T2X-1 glass protects the display, effectively resisting fingerprints and smudges. Though featuring a 20.5:9 aspect ratio, the display is both broad and tall, making one-handed use impossible.
Infinix Hot 11S Specifications and Software
Under the hood, the Infinix Hot 11S packs MediaTek’s Helio G88 processor, a processor known for its gaming prowess in this price segment. The phone comes in a single configuration with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of storage, expandable by up to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot located in the SIM tray. In terms of connectivity, it offers Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5, and a USB Type-C port.
Powering the device is a robust 5,000mAh battery, supporting relatively quick charging with the included 18W adapter.
The Hot 11S runs Infinix’s XOS 7.6, a heavily customized Android 11 skin. While this might put some users off, it surprisingly doesn’t feel sluggish in everyday use, although the default theme and icons, reminiscent of older HTC phones, might not appeal to everyone. The interface boasts some interesting features, like a distinctive battery charging completion tone and the Ultra Touch feature which lets you customize swipe speed and motion speed, both of which add to the user’s control and personalization.
There’s also a dedicated "Game Zone" application. While it doesn’t offer per-game optimizations, it allows you to disable automatic brightness adjustment and includes a Game Anti-Addiction feature with reminder functionality and parental controls, valuable tools for mindful gaming.
XOS, despite its user-friendly features, unfortunately comes cluttered with a lot of preloaded third-party apps like Beez, YoParty, WPS Office, Hi Browser, and more. While most of these can be uninstalled, there are also persistent apps like Palm Store and Phone Master, which can be quite intrusive with their notifications and cannot be removed. Thankfully, these notifications can be disabled in the Settings app. The presence of multiple file manager apps (Android’s default, Google’s Files app, and Infinix’s own) feels redundant and can be frustrating.
Infinix Hot 11S Performance and Battery Life
Thanks to the 90Hz display and the efficient XOS 7.6 skin, the Hot 11S boasts a surprisingly smooth user experience. It’s impressive to see many apps remain in memory without restarting when opened, considering the 4GB RAM.
Despite its high refresh rate, the display does exhibit a noticeable ghosting effect, mainly visible when scrolling through text-heavy web pages. The display also features punchy colors and gets noticeably bright outdoors, but unfortunately suffers from poor viewing angles, with brightness and colors changing dramatically when viewed off-center, especially when holding the phone horizontally for video playback.
In terms of video playback, the phone is limited to SD video playback due to its Widevine L3 certification, resulting in less-than-ideal image quality for streaming services like Netflix. The large display exacerbates this issue by stretching the SD video content across its large canvas.
Despite these drawbacks, the Hot 11S stands out from the crowd with its stereo speaker setup, a rare feature in this price segment. The speakers deliver an enjoyable audio experience for movies and games, but at higher volumes, the sound can feel a bit hollow.
When it comes to benchmarks, the Infinix Hot 11S performs on par with its competitors. It scored 2,19,517 in AnTuTu, 373 in Geekbench’s single-core test, and 1,350 in the multi-core test.
Gaming performance is surprisingly smooth, despite the phone being under Rs 11,000. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile run well at Medium graphics and High frame rate, although the phone does warm up after playing for a few minutes. Asphalt 9: Legends runs smoothly at Default graphics, and even manages High Quality with some occasional stuttering.
The 5,000mAh battery delivers excellent battery life. With regular use, including some gaming, the phone typically lasted a day and a half. It can easily reach two days with light usage. The included 18W charger manages a 40 percent charge in 30 minutes, and the battery can be fully charged in 1 hour and 54 minutes, which is impressive for a budget smartphone.
Infinix Hot 11S Cameras
The Infinix Hot 11S boasts a triple rear camera setup: a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a third "AI camera." The AI camera, according to Infinix, acts as a scene recognition tool, adjusting main camera parameters. However, there’s no option to disable the AI enhancements, leaving users reliant on them, which might not be ideal for everyone.
The 8-megapixel front-facing camera handles selfies, and the phone features a dual-LED front flash, cleverly positioned in the display’s bezel to the right of the selfie camera. This flash also illuminates when the phone is charging.
The camera app interface is user-friendly and features a slide-out tray above the camera mode labels, providing quick access to additional modes.
Daylight photos deliver decent detail and good dynamic range, although landscapes can appear somewhat dull. Close-ups of objects often result in overexposed backgrounds, and capturing photos of people can lead to unintentional background blur, even when portrait mode is not selected.
Selfies in daylight appear oversharpened and overexposed, and the edge detection in Portrait mode falls short of expectations. This issue carries over to the primary rear camera, with edges of objects being trimmed and blurred.
In low light, the primary camera suffers from below-average detail and struggles to maintain focus. However, the Night mode brightens up photos and improves dynamic range. The front-facing flash helps enhance detail in selfies taken in low light, but noise remains noticeable.
Video recording capabilities include 720p, 1080p, and 2K resolutions. However, the video quality overall feels average, lacking stabilization. Motion is considerably jerky, especially while walking or panning. The camera also struggles with consistent exposure, with brightness shifting dramatically when panning.
Verdict
The Infinix Hot 11S offers solid value for money compared to established names in the segment like the Redmi 10 Prime, but its camera performance is inconsistent. The 90Hz display and stereo speakers, combined with decent performance and exceptional battery life, make this phone a compelling option for casual users and budget gamers looking for a device under Rs. 11,000.
However, if camera performance is a priority, you might want to consider Realme’s Narzo 50A, which offers similar specifications with a larger 6,000mAh battery and a leaner software experience.
Ultimately, the Infinix Hot 11S is an intriguing device that boasts a unique blend of affordability and features for those seeking a stylish, entertaining, and long-lasting mobile companion.
