Infinix is a smartphone brand very popular in Africa, France and its increasing its userbase in Middle East as well. Recently we had the opportunity to try our hands on one of the flagship device of the Infinix, Alpha 8 X550. After using it for awhile, here is the detailed review of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550 for you all.
All of the features, pros and cons of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is covered in separate sections along with the videos. Have a look on the hands-on review and feel free to leave your feedback about the device in the Comments section.
The retail box of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 contains an Alpha 8 device, a charger, USB cable, 3.5mm headphones, a screen protector, a battery and user guides. You can have a look on the below unboxing video of Infinix Alpha 8.
The very first thing you will notice about the design of the Infinix Alpha 8 is that it got a rich look and doesn’t look like budget phablet from any angle, thanks to the golden strip on the corner of the device. The volume rocker is given on the left and the power on/off button is on the right.
There is proximity sensor, 5MP front camera and a microphone on the front. On the back, there is a 13MP camera with secondary microphone along with the speakers. On the back panel you will find the Dolby logo and a beautiful golden embedded logo of Infinix. Back panel is removable and can be opened to insert the battery, two SIM cards and a microSD memory card as well.
The device is thin in the middle and thicker at the edges which gives it a unique look. Also it makes it very easy to hold in hand with a better grip. One highlighted point of the design of Infinix Alpha 8 is its weight. The device is very lightweight and you will not feel that you are holding a huge 5.5 inch screen phablet in your hand.
As the name of the device suggests, Infinix Alpha 8 X500 sports an octa-core Microtek processor clocked at 1.7GHz and supported by 2GB RAM. On the GPU side, it comes with the Adreno 305. The in-built memory is 16GB out of which 4GB is dedicated for the app installation which significantly improves the performance of the device.
In terms of performance, Infinix Alpha 8 scores really high. The score we received for Antutu Benchmark test of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is 32172 which is really impressive. Also in real life usages, you will not feel any kind of lag or issues with Infinix Alpha 8. Everything is smooth and works well.
Infinix Alpha 8 comes with a huge 5.5 inch HD 720p screen which gives it an easy entry to the phablet segment. Since the screen size is huge and the display is 720p only, the pixels per inch you get is low but it doesn’t much affect the display quality of the device much as you still get the good contrast and sharp depth. The screen is good in terms of responsiveness and works smoothly.
The display is bright and the sunlight readability is pretty good as well. The viewing angles are good and you will not face any issues while looking at the device from most of the angles. One big drawback with the screen of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is that it does not come with the Corning Gorilla Glass or any other kind of protection. So, you are advised to use the bundled screen protector if you want to keep the display of your Infinx Alpha 8 scratchless.
Infinix Alpha 8 X550 runs on Android 4.2.2 which is now an outdated version of the Android. The UI is developed by the Infinix team and uses the GoLauncher’s launcher. There is no app drawer and you get all the app icons and shortcuts placed right on the Home screen, just like the Xiaomi’s MIUI OS or Apple’s Ios . The UI is smooth and you will not feel any lagging
One good thing about having the GoLauncher as the stock launcher of the device is that it gives you the option of customization and themes. But if you do not like the Go Launcher you can always use another one.
Though camera of most of the Android smartphones of smaller brands are nearly same, Infinix tried to came out with some new camera features for better user experience and to draw attention of new customers as well.
The 13MP primary camera is a decent one and captures okay images. You better not expect something amazing with the stills coming from the camera of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550. Along with all the basic features of an Android camera, there are some nice and interesting features as well like Live Photo, Voice Capture, Hand Gesture Capture, Time Watermark, dedicated volume key functions for camera, funny on-screen frames etc. Watch the video below for complete camera features of Infinix Alpha 8 X550
The video camera performs better than the still camera and able to take full HD 1080p videos. The video quality is good and you get nice details in the video. The flash light provided is strong and let you capture decent quality images in low light condition. The 5MP front facing camera is good and captures pretty good images. If you are selfie lover then, you will like the Infinix Alpha 8’s front camera for sure.
One issue we have faced with the camera of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is of focus. The auto-focus takes a bit time in focusing at first and if you are using the camera then it hardly focus even if you try “touch to focus” feature. Also while making videos, the auto-focus keeps changing and due to this sometimes the object gets out of focus and you need to use “touch to focus” to focus the camera again.
The nice hardware specs, big screen and Dolby sound of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 makes it a nice device for the gaming. You can play all heavy HD games without feeling any lag, heating problem or any other kind of issues. The screen is responsive which works pretty well for gaming as well. The less weight of the Infinix Alpha 8 let user play video games for hours without feeling any tiredness in hands.
Infinix Alpha 8’s huge screen is perfect for watching HD videos. The user experience would be much better if the display was a better one. Though the speaker is loud and clear, it doesn’t produce much sound with the stock music app. The sound quality on headphones is decent but not of great quality too. So though for gaming Infinix Alpha 8 is nice, it is just average scorer for music and watching videos.
Infinix Alpha 8 comes with a 2430 mAh battery. Though it does not sound good enough for such a huge device, the battery performance of Infinix Alpha 8 is pretty good. It easily stands more than a day after moderate usage.
If you are planning to buy a phablet which is good in terms of performance but does not affect your budget much then, Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is a nice option for you if you can manage with the average screen and loudspeaker of the device.
All of the features, pros and cons of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is covered in separate sections along with the videos. Have a look on the hands-on review and feel free to leave your feedback about the device in the Comments section.
Infinix Alpha 8 X550 : Hands-On Review, Specs and Features
Retail Box Content and Unboxing
The retail box of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 contains an Alpha 8 device, a charger, USB cable, 3.5mm headphones, a screen protector, a battery and user guides. You can have a look on the below unboxing video of Infinix Alpha 8.
Design
The very first thing you will notice about the design of the Infinix Alpha 8 is that it got a rich look and doesn’t look like budget phablet from any angle, thanks to the golden strip on the corner of the device. The volume rocker is given on the left and the power on/off button is on the right.
There is proximity sensor, 5MP front camera and a microphone on the front. On the back, there is a 13MP camera with secondary microphone along with the speakers. On the back panel you will find the Dolby logo and a beautiful golden embedded logo of Infinix. Back panel is removable and can be opened to insert the battery, two SIM cards and a microSD memory card as well.
The device is thin in the middle and thicker at the edges which gives it a unique look. Also it makes it very easy to hold in hand with a better grip. One highlighted point of the design of Infinix Alpha 8 is its weight. The device is very lightweight and you will not feel that you are holding a huge 5.5 inch screen phablet in your hand.
Hardware Specs and Performance
As the name of the device suggests, Infinix Alpha 8 X500 sports an octa-core Microtek processor clocked at 1.7GHz and supported by 2GB RAM. On the GPU side, it comes with the Adreno 305. The in-built memory is 16GB out of which 4GB is dedicated for the app installation which significantly improves the performance of the device.
In terms of performance, Infinix Alpha 8 scores really high. The score we received for Antutu Benchmark test of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is 32172 which is really impressive. Also in real life usages, you will not feel any kind of lag or issues with Infinix Alpha 8. Everything is smooth and works well.
Screen and Display
Infinix Alpha 8 comes with a huge 5.5 inch HD 720p screen which gives it an easy entry to the phablet segment. Since the screen size is huge and the display is 720p only, the pixels per inch you get is low but it doesn’t much affect the display quality of the device much as you still get the good contrast and sharp depth. The screen is good in terms of responsiveness and works smoothly.
The display is bright and the sunlight readability is pretty good as well. The viewing angles are good and you will not face any issues while looking at the device from most of the angles. One big drawback with the screen of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is that it does not come with the Corning Gorilla Glass or any other kind of protection. So, you are advised to use the bundled screen protector if you want to keep the display of your Infinx Alpha 8 scratchless.
Software and OS
Infinix Alpha 8 X550 runs on Android 4.2.2 which is now an outdated version of the Android. The UI is developed by the Infinix team and uses the GoLauncher’s launcher. There is no app drawer and you get all the app icons and shortcuts placed right on the Home screen, just like the Xiaomi’s MIUI OS or Apple’s Ios . The UI is smooth and you will not feel any lagging
One good thing about having the GoLauncher as the stock launcher of the device is that it gives you the option of customization and themes. But if you do not like the Go Launcher you can always use another one.
Camera
Though camera of most of the Android smartphones of smaller brands are nearly same, Infinix tried to came out with some new camera features for better user experience and to draw attention of new customers as well.
The 13MP primary camera is a decent one and captures okay images. You better not expect something amazing with the stills coming from the camera of the Infinix Alpha 8 X550. Along with all the basic features of an Android camera, there are some nice and interesting features as well like Live Photo, Voice Capture, Hand Gesture Capture, Time Watermark, dedicated volume key functions for camera, funny on-screen frames etc. Watch the video below for complete camera features of Infinix Alpha 8 X550
The video camera performs better than the still camera and able to take full HD 1080p videos. The video quality is good and you get nice details in the video. The flash light provided is strong and let you capture decent quality images in low light condition. The 5MP front facing camera is good and captures pretty good images. If you are selfie lover then, you will like the Infinix Alpha 8’s front camera for sure.
One issue we have faced with the camera of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is of focus. The auto-focus takes a bit time in focusing at first and if you are using the camera then it hardly focus even if you try “touch to focus” feature. Also while making videos, the auto-focus keeps changing and due to this sometimes the object gets out of focus and you need to use “touch to focus” to focus the camera again.
Gaming and Entertainment
The nice hardware specs, big screen and Dolby sound of Infinix Alpha 8 X550 makes it a nice device for the gaming. You can play all heavy HD games without feeling any lag, heating problem or any other kind of issues. The screen is responsive which works pretty well for gaming as well. The less weight of the Infinix Alpha 8 let user play video games for hours without feeling any tiredness in hands.
Infinix Alpha 8’s huge screen is perfect for watching HD videos. The user experience would be much better if the display was a better one. Though the speaker is loud and clear, it doesn’t produce much sound with the stock music app. The sound quality on headphones is decent but not of great quality too. So though for gaming Infinix Alpha 8 is nice, it is just average scorer for music and watching videos.
Battery Performance
Infinix Alpha 8 comes with a 2430 mAh battery. Though it does not sound good enough for such a huge device, the battery performance of Infinix Alpha 8 is pretty good. It easily stands more than a day after moderate usage.
Conclusion
If you are planning to buy a phablet which is good in terms of performance but does not affect your budget much then, Infinix Alpha 8 X550 is a nice option for you if you can manage with the average screen and loudspeaker of the device.