At a time when smartphone prices are continually rising, buying a flagship phone is becoming increasingly expensive and harder to justify. Finding a phone that still looks great while providing enough power and features to meet everyday needs without breaking the bank becomes a larger goal for many people looking to save themselves stacks of cash. Infinix’s new HOT 70 phone offers a stunning appearance paired with features and software that will make even some top-end phone users want it.
Available in 6 colours, whether you want something that stands out or something more muted, everyone should be able to find a design that is sure to please. Infinix sent me their “Green Texture” model, which reminds me a lot of the Citrus colour on the MacBook Neo. At the right angle, the green shifted into a shade I generally prefer; more muted colours on my devices. However, this colour absolutely sparked something in me, making me want to show it off to everyone I know.
Starting with the unboxing, Infinix’s packaging grabs attention with its full-colour designs that help it stand out from the crowd of much more bland boxes and packaging from most budget-oriented devices. But it’s what is inside that really surprised me, along with the Infinix HOT 70 itself. Infinix has packed in a colour-matched case, a USB Type-A-to-Type-C charging cable, a 45W charging brick, and even a pair of USB Type-C earbuds that share many design cues with Apple AirPods. Where most companies typically pack the bare essentials, Infinix has given you everything you need and more.
“Infinix’s new HOT 70 phone offers a stunning appearance paired with features and software that will make even some top-end phone users want it.”
Looking at the Infinix HOT 70 itself, the phone primarily features a plastic build along the sides and a smooth-touch back panel with a holographic wavy line design that adds a nice touch of elegance to the phone. An inclusion I was happy to see was the addition of an action button below the volume and power button, which can be programmed to perform a variety of different functions. I personally found it helpful as a flashlight toggle.
Something else with the Infinix HOT 70 that is not always seen on phones in this price range is IP65 durability, which means less worry when you take your phone to the beach or other environments where phones can get damaged. While water protection is better than nothing, I still wouldn’t recommend taking your phone in water to prevent accidental damage.
Using the phone in day-to-day life, the phone was more than competent to handle my typical apps such as mobile banking, social media doom scrolling, web browsing, etc., with ease. Powered by a Mediatek Helio G100 Ultimate paired with 8GB (expandable to 16GB) of RAM, this chip certainly won’t break any speed records but will easily handle the average user’s workload without breaking much of a sweat.
Despite its lower-end CPU and GPU, the Infinix HOT 70 still manages to play some 3D games at reasonable framerates when settings are adjusted correctly. I did notice occasional stutters in Pokémon Go and Genshin Impact with everything turned up, but once I lowered the settings and put the phone into performance mode, that mostly solved the problem. Genshin Impact had no noticeable issues when playing at medium settings and generally played quite well overall.
Infinix has also built in 256GB of storage, giving you plenty of room for all your pictures, music, games and whatever else you want to store on your phone, which is more than double what many other companies typically give you. If that still isn’t enough for you, you can expand that with a microSD card to hold even more files, something you won’t find on any flagship these days.
One of my primary gripes when it came to using the Infinix HOT 70 came down to its display. While its 6.78” display was bright and vibrant, it was only a 720p resolution, making video and image quality less sharp than similarly priced phones. Despite this minor letdown, the Infinix HOT 70 still packed a 120Hz refresh rate into the display, making playing some games feel much smoother.
An aspect that generally suffers a little when it comes to budget-based devices is the camera setup. While I wouldn’t say they are horrible by today’s standards, they certainly don’t compare to high-end devices such as the Google Pixel lineup, Samsung’s S series phones or iPhones. That being said, I was generally able to get photos that I would not have any worries or problems with posting on social media or sharing with friends.
“Infinix has also built in 256GB of storage, giving you plenty of room for all your pictures, music, games and whatever else you want to store on your phone.”
The rear 50MP shooter, when given adequate lighting, was usually able to get quite detailed photos with overall true-to-life colouring, without oversaturating or blowing colours out. I was often able to capture photos that looked as good as some mid-range phones, such as the Poco F6 I reviewed a few years back. In lower-lit conditions, quality begins to suffer a bit, and the phone will begin to rely on post-processing to try to brighten and sharpen photos. While this does improve some aspects of some scenes, sharper edges on items such as furniture sometimes looked a little on the softer side.
The front selfie camera is something I rarely use on any of my devices, as I don’t usually find myself on video calls or taking selfies. The 8MP camera on the Infinix HOT 70 captured pleasantly sharp photos in well-lit environments that I would have no problem using as profile pictures or sharing online.
Battery life was quite impressive given the Infinix Hot 70’s size, thanks to its large 6000mAh battery. With regular day-to-day tasks, I could generally get through a full day on a single charge before needing to recharge. Compared to my Samsung Galaxy S26, which manages to power me through a day of work, I always found myself needing to start charging up before bed. Having the extra battery life means I can more easily go away for the night without worrying about taking a charger with me.
While I was unable to test the 45W charger included in the box due to the review unit we received only including a European-style plug, I was able to top up very rapidly using my 45W Anker charger. Provided I wasn’t using the phone too much while it was charging, I could generally get a full charge in roughly an hour, making this one of the fastest-charging phones I have used to date.
Unlike most lower-end devices on the market, Infinix will provide the HOT 70 with 3 years of OS upgrades and 5 years of software updates. While it remains to be seen how quickly or frequently Infinix releases updates, if they do a proper job of keeping up, this could make Infinix a more reliable brand compared to some larger competitors on the market.
For a lower-end device, Infinix’s HOT 70 is a pretty impressive phone with everything it delivers. Infinix has done a remarkable job of packing everything most average users want while trimming down some features, such as a full HD resolution screen, that most people don’t usually notice on their phone anyway. If Infinix can deliver quick and on-time OS updates and security patches, this could be one of the nicest budget-friendly devices on the market.
