Infinix Zero Ultra Review – Zero Drawbacks, Ultra Fast Charging

Infinix mainly focused on budget-level phones, until now. The company has now launched its first premium phone in India by the Infinix Zero Ultra. I have the device with me and I have been using it for a couple of days.

The Infinix Zero Ultra has been launched in India in only a single variant. It comes at a price of Rs. 29,999 for 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant.

The phone is available in two different colour options: Coslight Silver and Genesis Noir. You can buy the phone on Flipkart starting December 25.

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The Infinix Zero Ultra packs the following items indie the box:

• Handset
• 180W Adaptor
• USB Type-C Cable
• TPU Case
• Soft Film
• Sim Ejector Pin
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Card

Before we talk in detail about the Infinix Zero Ultra, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.8 inches AMOLED
• Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 920
• RAM & ROM: 8GB RAM 256GB Storage
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 200MP + 13MP + 2MP
• Selfie camera: 32MP
• Battery: 4500 mAh
• Weight: 213 grams
• Dimensions: 165.5 x 74.5 x 8.7 mm

This phone does have a flagship appearance overall. Curved displays look nice, whether you like them or not, and I really like the shimmery silver back. The phone’s overall appearance and build quality make it appear to be much more expensive than it is.

The camera has a noticeable bump, but the bundled case will protect the camera lenses and save you from wobbling. If you don’t like this, there’s also the Genesis Noir variant, which has a leather finish with a glass back.

Even though the glass back panel has a shiny finish, the ripple pattern of the Coslight Silver variant makes it resistant to smudges and gives the ZERO ULTRA a distinctive appearance. On the other hand, it features a plastic frame which is understandable considering the company had to cut some corners to keep the price low.

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Because of its 213 gram weight, the Infinix Zero Ultra feels a little bulky, and it takes some getting used to. Since both sides are curved, holding it with one hand is still very comfortable. It makes it appear slimmer than it is and is very simple to hold.

One feature that is missing from the device is an IP rating for dust and water resistance. It’s unfortunate that the device lacks an IP rating, and this is likely where the brand made some compromises to reduce the cost of the phone.

The right side of the phone has a power button and volume rockers, both of which are easily reachable. The left side is totally clean. The top side has the secondary mic and secondary speaker while the bottom houses the type-C port, primary speaker, primary mic and SIM card tray.

I was looking forward to testing out the cameras on the Infinix Zero Ultra since it features a 200MP primary camera. The other two lenses include a 13MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP depth camera. The punch hole on the front houses a 32MP camera for taking selfies.

That 200MP lens is one of the main selling points of the Infinix Zero Ultra, and it doesn’t disappoint for the vast majority part. The 200MP performs admirably in most scenarios and can compete with phones costing significantly more. The photos are vibrant, detailed, sharp, and have a wide dynamic range.

The same level of performance is maintained in low-light conditions. The Infinix Zero Ultra’s super night mode is outstanding. It takes some nice low-light shots.

Using the camera’s 200MP mode increases the amount of detail visible in a photograph, but it also increases the photo size to about 70MB, which quickly depletes your storage.

The 200MP also requires you to hold the phone steadily for approximately 2 seconds before it processes and finalises the photo. I’m not convinced that the MediaTek Dimensity 920 was the best processor for such a stressful task.

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The ultra-wide-angle camera’s details aren’t as good, but they’re definitely much better than the photos we’d see on phones with the standard 8MP lens used in many phones.

The portrait mode is a little bit too aggressive; I had trouble using it as it kept blurring a portion of the subject’s face.

The selfie camera is a 32-megapixel camera, which is much better than the selfie cameras that I have seen on other Infinix smartphones. The selfies capture a lot of details with good clarity and sharpness. The skin tones were also close to natural.

Talking about video recording, the main camera can record 4K videos at 30fps and 1080p videos and 30/60fps, while the front camera can only record 1080p videos at 30fps. The 4K videos were detailed and crisp with good colours however the output was shaky even though the main camera has OIS.

The Infinix Zero Ultra packs a 4500mAh battery which is a little less than the 5000mAh mark that is generally seen in this price range. Nonetheless, the phone offers a good battery backup. You can easily get one day of battery backup if you are a casual user.

I got about 5-6 hours of screen on time. My usage involved taking photos, playing games and watching some videos on YouTube. However, if you are a heavy user who likes to play games all day long, you would need to plug in the charger twice in a day.

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But no worries, because Infinix has given the fastest charging speed in its price segment. Getting late to head out and having a dead phone? No problem. Plug in the 180W fast charger and you’ll have enough juice on your phone to get you going for the whole day.

The 180W fast charger takes just 15 minutes to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent. A quick charge of just 5 minutes will juice the battery to more than 40 per cent, which is really impressive.

Note that you need to enable fusion mode in the battery settings to achieve such charging speeds. Yes, the phone gets a little hot during this time. One thing that Infinix Zero Ultra lacks is wireless charging support. It disappoints me to see a 30K phone coming with no wireless charging.

The Infinix Zero Ultra features an FHD+ 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. It’s a curved display with 120Hzrefersh rate and a peak brightness of 1000 nits. It uses the auto-refresh rate by default, but you can change it to 60Hz or 120Hz manually in the display settings.

The phone gets bright enough for both indoor and outdoor use. I used it on even sunny days and didn’t face any issues. The display quality is quite good, and it is without a doubt, the best panel we’ve seen on an Infinix phone.

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In contrast to the AMOLED displays on other Infinix smartphones, it has more vivid colours and deeper blacks. Because the screen is so sharp, the viewing experience becomes completely immersive.

You can enjoy doing a lot of stuff on it, including watching movies and web series, scrolling Instagram or other social media apps and gaming. It also has Widevine L1 support, so you can watch high quality content on OTT platforms like Netflix and Prime Videos. I really enjoyed using the phone because of its ultra-smoothness and curved design.

Not to forget, the bezels on the top and bottom are also very thin, so you get the most out of the display.

Performance is where Infinix could have done a little better, and I wish it did. The Infinix Zero Ultra is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset which is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. You can further expand the RAM virtually by 5GB using internal memory.

MediaTek Dimensity 920 is a decent mid-range chipset but can be seen on phones that cost much less than Infinix Zero Ultra. Infinix should have gone with a better processor like MediaTek Dimensity 8100 or 1200.

Well, even though it’s not a flagship chipset, you won’t face any trouble in performing day to day activities. I was using the phone for doing multiple tasks and I did not notice any lags or shutters. However, the RAM management is not the best I have seen. The apps refreshed most of the time when I opened them back after a while.

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Talking about gaming, you can play high-end games at medium to high settings. I tried playing some demanding games like Apex Legends Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile. Well, even though the games ran smoothly and were playable, there were some frame drops every now and then (high settings), as expected from a mid-range chipset.

You can lower down the graphic settings to get a smoother gaming experience. In one sentence, I would not recommend this phone to someone who is looking for a gaming phone. After playing for about half an hour, I noticed that the back panel was starting to get warm.

Infinix Zero Ultra runs on XOS 12 skin which is based on Android 12. Still launching phones with Android 12 at the end of 2022….doesn’t make sense. The UI is packed with features however it is not the most simple to navigate. But anyways, the UI feels smooth, thanks to the high refresh rate.

We get features like Peek Proof, Smart Panel, Game Mode, Social Turbo, Lightning Multiwindow, Memfusion, and more. That’s a lot of features, right? But you know what’s even more? Bloatware! The phone is packed with third-party apps. And not just that, they bombard you with spammy notifications all day. I had to disable them in the settings as it gets really annoying.

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By default, you can navigate the phone using gestures. Like swiping up on the home screen will open the app drawer. Swiping down from the left will show the control centre and doing the same from the right will open the notification shade.

Infinix has only promised one major software update which means it will get the Android 13 update but after that….no one knows. I would suggest Infinix to move towards a more stock-like Android experience – more simple, less trash.

Infinix Zero Ultra packs a stereo speaker setup, one located on the top while the other is located at the bottom. The audio quality is good and clear but it lacks bass. The volume gets pretty loud but most of it comes from the bottom speaker. Well, that’s not a deal breaker but what might be is the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack, for some users.

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Moving on, the Infinix Zero Ultra comes with 5G connectivity and support for 12 5G bands. These include n1, n3, n5, n7, n8, n20, n28, n38, n40, n41, n77, and n78. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and GPS.

You get an in-display fingerprint sensor as well as face unlock for biometrics. I tested out both and they were fast and pretty accurate.