As I was thinking on how to go about doing this article or the review of Infinix Zero 2, someone from Nigeria tweeted something that made me go back to the drawing board on what to say here. Something which I think is highly debatable but has some truth in it

So, even in Kenya, Infinix might be on the way to upstage Samsung? Tough turf wars.

— Moverick (@moverick) September 1, 2015

On closer look at the latest Infinix Zero 2, I found out that some of its great features like the screen are made by Samsung. The thing is, the phone is great especially given its price and other features that I will come into later. I think what has really worked for the Infinix in the Kenyan market is the pricing of their phones. How they get to sell most their devices at much reduced prices is still beyond me but I think it is good for the Kenyan market. For the record Samsung still holds 60% of Kenyan smart phone market share , so anybody wishing to knock them off their perch has a long way to go. Having say that, Nokia once had almost 100 market share in this country but now look at where they are.

Ok, Infinix Zero 2? What is the big deal with this phone?

At a glance the following are some of the features that you would get from it:

• A 5.0 inches Samsung Super AMOLED Display
• 2,GHZ Octa-Core Processor
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• 13 MP Rear Camera and 5MP front camera
• 32GB/16GB Internal storage and 2GB RAM
• Dual SIM 2G and 3G
• Battery 2300Mh Battery
• Price Ksh.19,999

From the above you should see straight away, why I was talking about the prices of Infinix phones in relation to the features. If that was a device for another vendor, it would probably be retailing at Ksh.40K and above. I will continue to try to find out their secret.

Design

From the design perspective, most phones these days simply look alike and one would struggle to make a case for unique design from most phone makers. But still Infinix zero 2 kinder look different in some  ways. The phone is slim, yes very slim and the metallic frame ensured that the commonly abused words “cheap looking plastic” cover will not be put against it. The phone is covered all through with Gorilla Glass 3, giving it that premium look.

Storage

There are two variants of this phone….32GB and 16 GB but so far I have a feeling that only 32 GB is available in the Kenyan market at the moment. This is based on the fact that they have a uniform recommended price in Kenya unlike the other places like Nigeria

With a 2GB RAM Zero2 Provides more than enough memory space for multitasking. Taking of multitasking, this is one area that mobile technology has a room to improve in. For example on my phone I can play video file on YouTube while having the browser open but immediately I try to do something else at the same time, the video stops playing. This is not necessarily a problem with phone but might be with YouTube. I am saying that because, the phone is capable of playing music on the background while one is doing something else.

Speed

The multitasking mentioned above is only possible if you have a great processor speed on the phone. Otherwise it would be hanging on you all the time. Zero 2 comes with 2GHZ Octa-Core Processor. Octa-core processor enables the phone to carry out different tasks without slowing down each other. Just like a highway with different lanes, each car move on its own lane without being hindered by the other cars.

Camera

13MP rear and 5 MP front facing camera. So earlier I mentioned the influence of Samsung on the Infinix phones especially on Zero2… well, Zero2 13MP camera is integrated with Samsung S5K3M2 CMOS sensor color saturation. This is the best camera so far on the Infinix smartphone lines and I must say it is not bad at all. Below are just a few pics taken by the Camera.

Dual Sim

This used to be a big deal but these days I wonder if people still find it appealing or put it as part of the criteria to evaluate the phone to buy. But if you do then on top of other great stuff about this phone, this could be your thing. The two sim slots support both the 2G and 3G. 3G, meaning no 4G. I am a bit disappointed there, owing to the fact that many of the low range phones coming to the market in the last few months do have 4G enabled capability.

Super AMOLED Display

Infinix Zero 2 comes with 5.0 Inches Samsung Super AMOLED Display … Ok, it is time to go extra technical on this.. Super AMOLED is Samsung’s term for an AMOLED display with an integrated digitizer: the layer that detects touch is integrated into the screen, rather than overlaid on top of it. According to Samsung, Super AMOLED reflects one-fifth as much sunlight compared to the first generation AMOLED.

Battery

It comes with 2300Mh Battery and the question is how good that is. It is always easier to measure a standby time for the battery life of a phone but not for active use. The thing is different users do use their phones differently. For example those who use their phones as a modem, would probably need to charge their phones frequently more than those who use their phones to access the net directly. Even for the simple calls, some people receive more calls or make longer calls than the others. Having that in mind I now use a simple formula…I charge the phone early in the morning and then wait to see if it will go the whole day or look at how many times i would have to  charge the phone in the course of the day. I am Still waiting to see which phone manufacturer will get the smartphone battery thing right. Using my method any smartphone with a battery that take you the whole day of active use without requiring you to charge it is a good one. This is among those ones. Generally Infinix phones do well in that regard.