Great looks and pricing. But is it enough?

The Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ is one of those smartphones that grabs attention with its bold design and affordable price tag, aiming to offer many useful features without making you spend a lot of money. On paper, it seems promising, featuring a large display, a decent camera setup, and a reasonably-sized battery. However, the true test lies in its performance during everyday use. I’ve used it for almost everything from web browsing and social media to mobile gaming, running productivity apps and benchmarks. At the end of my experience with it, I want to share how well it handles real-world tasks and help you understand whether it’s a good choice for you and your specific needs. Interested? Read on:

Infinix HOT 50 Pro+: Who is it good for?

This smartphone is a good choice if you’re:

• Someone who wants a stylish phone without spending a lot of money
• Into watching videos, listening to music, or browsing social media for hours
• Looking for a device that can last through a full day on a single charge

Pros and cons

These are the things I like most about the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+:

• It’s slim, light, and easy to handle
• The 120 Hz AMOLED screen looks great and feels smooth
• Good battery life
• The JBL stereo speakers are loud
• Plenty of storage with the option to expand it using microSD cards

As for downsides:

• Modest camera system
• Lacking 5G mobile connectivity and Wi-Fi 6
• Plenty of bloatware
• The updates policy is inferior to its competitors

Verdict

The Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ is a reasonable option for people who want a good-looking dual-SIM smartphone with a bright display and decent performance but don’t want to spend too much. It may not have a great camera system or 5G mobile connectivity, but it does offer sufficient value for its price. If you’re okay with using 4G mobile networks and can uninstall or turn off a few of the pre-installed apps you don’t need, you’ll find this phone offers great value. It’s easy to use, handles daily tasks well, and feels more expensive than it is. While it’s not a good choice for gamers or photo lovers, for most people, it’s just enough.

Unboxing the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+

The Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ comes in a colorful two-piece cardboard box with a sturdy build. The green colors stand out, and the front promotes a couple of important features, like the 256GB of storage, 16 GB of RAM (with extra virtual memory), and a smooth 120 Hz AMOLED screen.

Are you ready for a box in (almost) 50 shades of green?

Inside the box, the phone is secured in a plastic cradle to protect it during transport. Infinix includes a generous set of accessories: you get a 33W fast charger, a USB-A to USB-C cable, and even a hard transparent snap-on case. There’s also a curved-edge tempered glass screen protector, which is a nice bonus, meaning that you can have your device protected right out of the box, without needing to buy anything extra.

With the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+, you get a generous bundle of extras

I found the packaging quite eye-catching, and the extras included made it clear that Infinix is trying to offer good value. For a phone in this price range, the unboxing experience was a pleasant surprise: everything I needed to get started was right there, in the box.

Design and build quality

The Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ stands out as soon as you take it out of the box, and one thing responsible for that is its super slim body. It’s only 6.8 mm (0.27 inches) thick, which is very thin for a phone that manages to pack a 5000 mAh battery inside. Even with its large 6.78-inch screen, the phone feels light at just 162 grams (5.71 oz). That makes it easy to carry and comfortable to use for long periods. It should also fit rather easily into most pockets.

The smartphone is thin and stylish

The frame and back are made of plastic, which is a standard for smartphones in this price range. Still, it doesn’t feel cheap. The phone is well put together: there’s nothing creaking or bending when you press on it. The front screen is protected by Gorilla Glass (Infinix doesn’t say which version), which helps keep it safe from scratches.

The body of the smartphone is solid

You can get the HOT 50 Pro+ in a few relatively nice-looking colors. Sleek Black and Titanium Grey offer a more restrained look, while Dreamy Purple is a bit flashier.

The color options available for the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+

On the back, there’s a rectangular camera island with three cameras and a flash next to them. Only two of the lenses are real – one for the main camera and one for depth sensor – while the third appears to be simply decorative. The camera module sticks out a little, but the case that comes in the box helps level it out and protects it from scratches.

Out of the three cameras on the rear, one seems to be just decorative

The screen has curved glass edges, giving it a premium look that’s rare at this price level. The display curves slightly at the sides and, with very thin borders and a small punch-hole for the selfie camera, you get an almost full-screen feel.

The panel is built upon AMOLED technology, has a Full HD+ (1080 x 2436 pixels) resolution, supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, and gets bright up to 1300 nits, so it’s easy to see even using it outdoors.

The display is built upon an AMOLED panel

Even though the smartphone is thin, Infinix managed to include an optical fingerprint sensor under the screen. It’s easy to reach and works well most of the time, though it’s not quite as fast as the fingerprint scanners on flagship phones. You can also use the front camera for face unlock, which is quick but not as secure.

There’s a fingerprint reader under the display

Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ has an IP54 rating, so it’s protected against dust and small splashes of water. You can safely use it in light rain, but don’t drop it in water: it’s not waterproof. The USB-C port, dual SIM tray, and microSD slot are all at the bottom, while the power and volume buttons are on the right side.

Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ isn’t waterproof

One small downside is there’s no 3.5 mm headphone jack, so you’ll need to use Bluetooth or USB-C for audio. Still, the phone has stereo speakers tuned by JBL, which is a nice touch. By the way, Infinix even printed the Sound by JBL branding on the top edge of the smartphone.

Sound is tuned by JBL

Overall, the HOT 50 Pro+ looks and feels like a more expensive phone than it actually is. Its slim body and curved AMOLED screen help it stand out from other budget models. The build quality is good, and the smartphone is easy to use with one hand.

Hardware specifications

Inside the HOT 50 Pro+, there’s a MediaTek Helio G100 chipset (6nm) powering it. This is an octa-core processor (two 2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 high-performance cores and six 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 efficiency cores) with a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU​ (graphics unit). Infinix opted for this relatively new mid-range chip to balance cost and performance. The generous 8GB of RAM helps with keeping multiple apps in memory, and the smartphone can even use some internal storage as “extended RAM” for a slight boost when needed. The HOT 50 Pro+ also comes with 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage (UFS 2.2), which is fairly fast storage for running Android apps and transferring data​. Having UFS 2.2 is a plus, as some budget devices still use slower eMMC storage. Out of the box, the operating system and pre-installed apps consume a portion of storage, but you still have plenty of space left (roughly 230 GB free on the 256 GB model). If you need more, this smartphone supports microSD cards (it has a dedicated slot), so you can add up to 1 TB extra space for photos, videos, and music without sacrificing a SIM slot.

Some of the specs of the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+

In terms of connectivity, the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ covers the basics thoroughly, except for 5G mobile connectivity. You have 4G LTE support on both SIMs with a wide range of bands. For local connectivity, it has Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), which offers stable performance for home networks (no Wi-Fi 6, but that’s acceptable given the price segment). Bluetooth is on board (the exact version isn’t explicitly listed, but it is likely Bluetooth 5.0 or above​). Also, quite importantly, the phone includes NFC​, enabling contactless payments and easy pairing with accessories.

This phone supports two SIMs and one microSD card simultaneously

Powering the HOT 50 Pro+ is a 5000 mAh battery, which has become the standard size for modern smartphones. The battery life is excellent: thanks to the efficient 6nm chipset and AMOLED screen (which can turn off pixels for black areas), most users will easily get a full day of use out of this device, and light users might stretch to two days on a single charge.

A 5000 mAh battery powers the device

When you do need to charge, the included 33W fast charger is fairly quick: it advertises offering a 50% charge in 26 minutes​. In real life, I found it takes a little over an hour to fully top up.

You also get a 33W fast charger

All in all, the Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ gives you a good mix of features for your money. Its hardware should be able to handle everyday tasks well, and it has a great screen, loud stereo sound, a reasonably-sized battery, and helpful extras like NFC payments and a memory card slot. The main things missing are 5G mobile connectivity, Wi-Fi 6, and a more advanced camera, but those were likely left out to keep the price low.

Now that you have a better understanding of this smartphone’s design and hardware, let’s explore its real-life performance, the quality of its camera system, and its benchmark results. Switch to the next page of this review to keep reading.