Infinix Note 10 Pro review: marries decent performance with a large screen

Infinix has been known for its focus on consumer-centric entry-level smartphones in the country. However, the smartphone maker, while in the shadow of rivals like Xiaomi and Realme, has been branching into the highly lucrative Rs 15,000 – 20,000 market. Its latest is the Infinix Note 10 Pro which can be considered a flagship product from the company based on the specs being offered. Let’s find out in this review if the Rs 16,999 device has what it takes to stand against the heavyweights.

Verdict

Infinix has done lots of things right with the Note 10 Pro, including equipping it with a capable processor, a large battery with fast charging, and offering a decent shooting experience, at least in daylight. The nearly 7-inch display could be too big to use for some, but certainly provides for an expansive viewing experience while the 90Hz refresh certainly helps. However, the poor software experience and less than acceptable nighttime photography leave scope for improvement.

The lowdown

It’s quite clear from the get-go that the Note 10 Pro is ginormous in size. I don’t think I’ve held a phone this big in the budget department since Xiaomi’s Mi Max series. With its 6.95-inch display, the Infinix Note 10 Pro can be considered a mini tablet. For people with small hands (and even those with regular-sized hands), this will always be a two-hand device. The phone has a plastic back with a sandstone-like finish which is refreshing in this age of glossy overkill. An advantage of this is that fingerprints and smudges are never a problem. The phone weighs 210g which can be expected given its huge dimensions. The rest of the phone has a standard setup which includes a power button with an integrated fingerprint sensor, a tactile volume rocker button on the side, a USB C port at the bottom along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The IPS LCD panel on the front comes with FHD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate that does work quite well. Colour accuracy is just about average with a contrasty look and decent viewing angles. The brightness levels are not good enough for sunny, outdoor viewing and the panel also does not go dim enough for nighttime usage. However, the phone does support Widevine L1 for streaming OTT content in HD. On the top, you get a rather obtrusive punch-hole camera, though the bezels on the side are quite slim.

In the optics department, Infinix has provided a quad-camera setup with a 64MP primary shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide, a 2MP depth, and a 2MP monochrome sensor. The phone’s camera performance can be surmised below.

Decent daylight photography with a healthy dynamic range allows for ample detail in the darker corners of the frame. Exposure handling in the viewfinder is not great but the final processed photo compensates for it. The colours are punchy and the overall details are sharp on most occasions. The focus speeds are slightly slow as is the shutter time which makes it harder to click fast-moving objects.
Ultra-wide images have a lot of warping at the edges and focus is generally quite soft. Details are sharpened quite a bit and in low light, the sensor seems unusable. The depth sensor works well to create a shallow field of focus and separates the subject well from the background. The monochrome shooter churns out black and white photos which is an effect you can also achieve using some of the preset filters in the camera app.
In low light the camera does well to keep details intact, but shadows are not brought out well. Noise is mostly kept under control but there is still some oversharpening in the darker parts. The low-light mode barely remedies the situation. Overall, the nighttime photos are passable but still need a bit of work in terms of post-processing. On the front is a 16MP selfie shooter which clicks reasonably good photos but with a lot of facial details being smoothened out.

The processing is carried out by the MediaTek Helio G95 chipset which has been used in several other smartphones in the category as well. To say the least, the device performs exceptionally well whether it is your usual day-to-day smartphone activities or Battlegrounds Mobile gaming on medium settings. The fluidity during app switching and performing similar tasks with heavy applications is quite apparent. The benchmarks scores back up the performance with the Note 10 Pro getting an overall score of 366,569 on Antutu, although the phone did run slightly hot. The phone comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Speakers, microphone, and call quality (on Noida’s Jio network) all performed as expected.

The software on the device was a letdown though, as XOS (based on Android 11), is quite a cluttered experience. There is a ton of bloatware to sort through and there are ‘AI’ prefixes to many of the basic apps such as the Gallery. The quick setting icons look too big, but I did find a couple of good customisability features in the XOS lab setting.

Overall, I think there is a big scope of improvement in Infinix’s XOS interface. The phone is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that is supported by a fast 33W charging solution. In a normal usage scenario, the phone can easily last you for more than a day and can charge up to 50 percent in 30 minutes.

Final verdict

The Infinix Hot 10 Pro isn’t meant for you if you hate humungous screen sizes. Also, the XOS interface doesn’t really offer a clean interface, impacting the user experience. The screen brightness levels are amiss and improvements can be made in the phone’s night photography department. However, the Infinix Note 10 Pro does come across as a solid performer, also offering a decent daylight camera experience and a battery that lasts long and charges quickly. Add the large screen to the mix, and you have a phone that could just be worth considering if that’s what you’re looking for.