Final verdictVerdict
The Infinix Note 30 5G is offered at a competitive price with impressive features including a MediaTek Dimensity 6080 processor, 108MP camera, and decent performance. There are some niggles pertaining to the UI and camera performance but it does offer a sturdy design and satisfactory battery life. Overall, it comes across as a solid choice for value-oriented users.
Design and display
The Note 30 features a unibody polycarbonate build with a matte finish across the back. The rails are polished and go well with the design while the ginormous camera housing encloses the triple-camera and flash setup. As for in-hand feel, the Note 30 weighs about 210g which is slightly heavier than I would’ve liked and has a thickness of 8.5mm. I have the Magic Black colour option with me which has an appealing look and is mostly resistant to fingerprints and smudges. Finally, the phone packs in a stereo speaker setup tuned by JBL, has a USB Type-C port at the bottom, and a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
On the display front, the phone has a rather large 6.78-inch LCD panel that can refresh at 120Hz and has FHD+ resolution. The bezels that surround the panel are slightly chunky, especially the chin, but the large screen size gives a lot of viewing real estate. In terms of colours, the panel’s off-axis shift is not that great and the saturation levels are slightly high. There’s also some backlight bleeding around the punch-hole up top. However, apart from that, media content on the phone is displayed in good quality and the brightness levels are more than optimum. For OTT services, the phone has WideVine L1 certification for HD streaming.
Cameras
The Infinix Note 30 5G boasts a 108MP primary camera and that’s supported by a 2MP depth camera and an AI-lens. Photos produced by the main shooter are nothing out of the ordinary and with plenty of light, the final output processes details well enough for my liking. The focus tends to take a moment to lock on and the manual exposure slider could do with a few tweaks. The colours are more on the saturated side, and this level increases with AI-based scene detection. Images are taken in 12.5MP resolution that uses nine-to-one pixel binning.
There are no ultra-wide or macro shooters to take note of, which I think is a miss when compared to other affordable phones of today. As far as portrait mode images go, the background separation could be a tad bit better. A few additional features of note are the Film mode which basically stitches up videos and images, using in-built tools, to easily upload as an Instagram Reel or YouTube Short. There’s also a dual-view mode that allows you to shoot from the front and back camera simultaneously.
Low light performance on the device is above average and falters when there’s little ambient lighting to support it. Details can appear washed out while shadows and highlights are not very clearly defined. The image does improve with the Super Night mode. The selfie images snapped from the phone convey a slightly false sense of skin tones but get the facial details perfect. In short, the phone’s camera experience is not exemplary but for casual users not concerned with the finer details of photography, there should be no issues.
Performance and software
MediaTek’s Dimensity 6080 is running things on the Infinix Note 30 5G, making it the first device to do so. Without going into too much detail, it can be understood that Note 30 performs on levels that are expected of an affordable phone. The phone gets a decent score of 394,293 on Antutu and has a Geekbench 6 multi-core result of 2050. Both these figures line up well with current offerings in the segment and during my time with it, the Note 30 did not offer any resistance to medium to low-level tasks. This includes your general browsing through the UI and on Chrome while also using social media apps. As far as GPU performance is concerned, on GFXBench’s Manhattan 3.1 the device was able to register 24fps but it did manage to heat up a bit.
To that end the phone also has feature called as bypass charging that can juices up the phone directly without charging the battery. Infinix claims this is being done to keep the phone cool when playing some high intensity games. I did try out CoD: Mobile on the phone alongside some BGMI and while the device could sustain about 40fps on medium graphic settings, it did get a bit warm in my hand. All this to say the phone is largely effective for gaming purposes but enthusiasts would be wise to consider more expensive alternatives for a better experience.
The phone has 8GB of RAM that can be amped up by 8GB more via a virtual swap with 256GB internal storage. At its price, you would be hard-pressed to find a device with this much storage on offer. There’s also the capability of extending it via a 2TB microSD card.
Apart from that the stereo speaker setup on the device is actually pretty good and has crisp audio quality that can be heard even in a noisy room. The phone’s fingerprint sensor works as advertised as does the 5G connectivity. The Infinix Note 30 5G comes with XOS 13, which is based on the latest Android 13 operating system right out of the box. The user interface is packed with a plethora of features, including peak proof, eye-care, focus mode, and kids mode, among others. Although the UI does include some pre-installed apps and advertisements, users have the flexibility to disable or remove these apps to enhance their personalised experience.
Here’s a speed test done using Airtel 5G Plus network in Punjabi Bagh, Delhi.
Battery
The phone has a 5,000mAh battery which has support for 45W charging. As far as battery life is concerned, the phone has a score of nearly 13 hours on PCMark’s Battery test which I think is acceptable. Infinix says that its charging solution can juice up half the phone’s battery in less than 30 minutes. The full charge will take up to 80 minutes or less, which is a about what you can expect at this price tag.
Final verdict
The Infinix Note 30 5G offers impressive specifications at a competitive price point of Rs 14,999. It boasts the MediaTek Dimensity 6080 processor and a high-resolution 108MP camera. The design is sturdy, although slightly heavier than desired. The large 6.8-inch LCD display provides ample viewing space, although it has some minor drawbacks. The camera performance is decent but not exceptional, especially in low-light conditions. The device performs well for everyday tasks and offers good audio quality. Overall, the Infinix Note 30 5G is a choice that I can stand behind for value-oriented consumers seeking solid features and design.
Editor’s rating: 3.5 / 5
Reasons to buy
- The Infinix Note 30 5G showcases a striking design
- The smartphone boasts a large screen with a 6.8-inch LCD panel
- Its performance levels are up to the mark
- The JBL-powered speakers sound good
Reasons not to buy
- The UI comes with quite a few pre-installed apps
- Cameras could have been better in low-light conditions
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