Design
- Modern, trendy looks with minimal bezels
- Textured power button comes handy while pulling out the phone from your pocket - you precisely know which button to press
- The fingerprint sensor at the back is easy to reach and unlocks the device almost instantaneously
Display
- Bright, vivid 5.65 inch display with a HD+ resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels and a tall, modern 18:9 aspect ratio - which basically allows for more screen real estate in a compact form factor
Software
- Infinix has customized the Android operating system with a light skin called XOS 3.0, which brings a tweaked icon and launcher system, apart from features such as dual accounts, and a file sharing service - it all works reasonably well
Performance
- Good day-to-day performance, thanks to the solid Snapdragon 430 SoC - basic tasks such as calling, social networking, clicking pictures and running multiple apps are smooth, and games are also handled reasonably well
Camera
- You can trigger the camera by double pressing the volume down button
- Good selfie camera, easily one of the best in the budget segment - and arguably better than the previous selfie camera leader in this segment, the Redmi Y1 - the camera is really quick to focus on the subject, and then layers the picture with beautification stuff to give you a crisp and beautified selfie - the beautification seems natural and and it isn’t as aggressive as that of its Chinese rivals - there is also a dual LED flash at the front to capture selfies in low-light, which is a great addition
- Average rear camera - takes decent quality shots, but sometimes has inconsistent focusing issues, so it's not the most reliable
Audio
- The speaker placed at the bottom could have been better - it is quite easy to cover the speaker and the overall sound profile is somewhat flat
Battery
- Very good battery life - can last up to two full days of moderate use (again going one up on the Redmi Y1 which is its primary competitor)
More
- On the whole, the Infinix Hot S3 is one of the more impressive all-rounders in the budget segment, and will provide strong competition to the Xiaomi phones that otherwise dominate this segment