Trying to outdo everyone else in the budget smartphone segment has almost lost meaning due to the fact that every day, there’s a newcomer that in most cases blows older competitors out of water. Today, we could be singing all the praises we’ve got for a certain device only to shift at the earliest opportunity once a worthy competitor has been unveiled. In fact, it boils down to taste and preference rather than what has what. And in this respect, the Infinix Note 8 and Note 8i aims to appeal to a certain group that doesn’t necessarily include those currently on the iPhones or Galaxies, but budget focused consumers will surely have a lot to appreciate in the duos.
Just a few years back, we were all thrilled when the new smartphone category dubbed phablets was introduced, it mostly involved devices with displays panning beyond the 5.5-inch mark we somehow had placed as the borderline. The Infinix Note 8 and Note 8i have panels that stretch way beyond what we’d have normally expected in a phone a few years back. The Note 8 has a 6.95-inch panel while the Note 8i comes with a 6.75-inch display, which have partly been made possible thanks to both handsets embracing a punch-hole to accommodate the selfie snapper rather than having bezels or a notch for that matter.
At this point, when the duos have had a few days after the official launch, we’ve had some anticipations on what to expect after making out the best we could from numerous rumors that had been spiraling across the social media. And from my personal opinion, there could be some concerns from the so-called established segment leaders as the Infinix Note 8 and Note 8i could prove hard to ignore from potential consumers given for everything it comes with, consumers in Kenya will only need Ksh. 21,700 to own the Note 8 and Ksh. 17,499 for the Note 8i 128GB variant.
Of the two models, the Note 8 is obviously the flagship with more punch underneath than the 8i, and it lives to the expectation with a rear quad-camera setup consisting of a 64MP primary sensor, with the rest having 2MP for various functions such as macro and portrait. The 8i has a 48MP primary sensor instead, but keeps up with additional three sensors all capped at 2MP for various functions such as Macro and Portrait as well.
When it comes to the front selfie cameras, the story between the two is a little bit different. The Note 8 comes with two punch-holes housing a 16MP sensor as well as a 2MP depth sensor while the 8i only has an 8MP selfie sensor for the respective functions. Infinix also asserts that the Note 8 and Note 8i cameras are well equipped with auto-focus (AF) functionality as well as fixed focus (FF) in all cases. You’ll also find quad-led flash accompanying the sensors to make photos taken in dark conditions pop.
Both devices are powered by the Helio G80 SoC and have 6GB of RAM with 128GB of internal storage. And while the Note 8 can accommodate expansion cards of up to 2TB, the 8i supports microSD card expansion to the tune of 512GB and as expected on Infinix android software skin dubbed XOS 7.1 on top of Android 10.