Infinix Zero Flip review:

Unboxing and design: 

One aspect that I absolutely love about Infinix is that they continue to offer one of the most wholesome unboxing experiences out there and the Zero Flip is no different. It comes in a large rectangular that opens up on the top to reveal its content that includes the device itself, a 70W USB adapter with type C cable, SIM ejector tool and good flip case in two components. 

Moving to the device, at first glance Infinix Zero Flip will win you over with the looks with a glass component on the top half and a matte engraved design at the bottom. There is only a Zero branding on the back and the Infinix logo is nicely tucked away at the centre of the hinge. On the front, a crease and can be immediately felt when you move your fingertips across the display but an even major concern for me is the metal from the hinge which is not only takes away from the premium build but hampers the user experience significantly. 

There is a definite clickety sound while opening and closing the Zero Flip but nothing to suggest a poor build. I do wish though that Infinix works on the hinge mechanism a little bit to make it easier to open with a single hand. 

Overall, I think Infinix Zero Flip is very well built and premium looking for a first-generation flip phone and some minor design flaws could be fixed with the next iteration of the device. 

Display and software: 

Infinix Zero Flip gets a 6.9-inch LTPO AMOLED with 120Hz refresh and 1400 nits of peak brightness. It delivers rich and vivid colours, which leads to an immersive viewing experience that is ideal for a binge-watching session. However, the Zero Flip does struggle outdoors with it getting harder to read the text in outdoor conditions. 

I had no troubles with the 3.64 inch AMOLED cover display, which Infinix claims is the largest in the segment. Unlike the Motorola Razr 50 with its horizontal camera setup, there is vertical cutout for the camras on Zero Flip, meaning there is a lot more screen realestate available here without any hinderances. The external display support tons of apps including WhatsApp, Instagram, Gmail,Telegram, X/ Twitter Google Maps, ChatGPT, Chrome, Audible and even payment and shopping apps like Phonepe and Amazon.

Infinix has added a bit of personality to the cover display with ‘3D Cute Pets’ animations and a custom layout for music playback (see attached image below). There is, however, a minor software glitch that I encountered where the external display occasionally fails to change orientation until the device is unlocked. Infinix could probably fix this with a future software update, but it’s still worth mentioning.

The Infinix Zero Flip runs on XOS 14, based on Android 14, with 2 years of promised OS updates and 3 years of security patches. If you’re hearing about XOS for the first time, it’s Infinix’s ad- and bloatware-free interface, packed with many useful features. A standout feature for me is the ‘Social Assistant’, which not only allows voice recording during WhatsApp calls, but also offers other fun options such as a voice changer and emojis for video calls.

That being said, the overall design and animations on the XOS 14 feel a little dated. Infinix could definitely do with modernising the interface to better meet the expectations of a 2024 device.

Camera: 

The Zero Flip comes with a dual camera setup to the back with a 50MP primary and 50MP ultra-wide angle lens. On the front, there is also a 50MP selfie shooter with built-in flash. The rear cameras, which come with OIS, can shoot up to 4k 30fps videos while the front camera is capable 

I have noticed a trend with Infinix phones this year, they capture a lot of good looking pictures in bright outdoor conditions but there is a tendency to overexpose the subject on many occasions. And the Infinix Zero Flip is no different, the primary camera takes many decent shots on most occasions and often gets close to natural skin tones even under artificial lighting conditions. However, one needs to only point the camera to artificially lit objects like billboards in order to notice how awry the colour accuracy can go. 

The selfie camera is decent for the most part but it can get the natural colour tones wrong on certain occasions. Despite having a 50MP selfie shooter, I actually preferred to take selfies from the rear cameras with the ability to easily switch between main and ultra-wide angle shooter and the output being more detail rich and crisper. 

I did like the new VLOG features inside the camera app, which helps users creates VLOGS using preset templates provided by Infinix. There is also an automatic option to create VLOGS when you select 3 or more pictures inside the Gallery app, which is a pretty nifty addition in my books and suggests that Infinix is looking to target content creators with this device. One big miss though for me was the much-hyped AI eraser feature which wasn’t very effective for my limited use case and didn’t come with any advanced features like AI people remover. 

Performance and battery: 

Powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8020 processor, the Infinix Zero Flip isn’t going to win any awards for gaming or raw performance anytime soon but it manages to handle day to day tasks with relative ease. As for benchmarks, the Zero Flip scores 7,06,684 on Antutu and a single core score of 739 and a multi-core score of 2466 on GeekBench 6. On 3D Bench’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, Zero Flip garnered a best loop score of 1258 with 84.3% stability. 

While these scores are more or less at par for a flip phone priced under ₹50,000, the concerning bit is that Zero Flip did get uncomfortably hot during while running the benchmarks. It also has a tendency to get pretty warm during some day to day usage scenarios especially when leveraging the external display capabilities. I do hope that Infinix can fix some of these heating issues with a software update in the future. 

As for battery, the Zero Flip comes with a 4,700mAh battery which is significantly more than the 4,200mAh one on the Motorola Razr 50 and 4,000 mAh on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. I got a screen on time of around 5 – 5.5 hours on a regular day with 2-3 hours of social media usage, taking phone calls, streaming music and watching a few videos on YouTube. The good thing is that it takes only around 55 minutes to 1 hour to fully charge the device with the bundled charger. 

Verdict: 

Infinix Zero Flip is one of the first attempts to provide flip form factor in the premium mid-range segment. For a first generation product it gets a lot of things right including premium build quality, an interactive and large cover display with support for a lot of apps, a large 4,700mAh battery (for a flip phone), 70W fast charging and feature rich yet ad-free interface. 

However, persistent heating issues even in normal usage and the lack of IP rating are two factors that are kind of deal breaker for me. It doesn’t help that the front display also struggles considerably when exposed to direct sunlight and the rear cameras tend to overexpose the images in certain conditions.

So who is this phone for? I believe the Infinix Zero Flip could be a perfect option for someone who is interested in exploring the Flip form factor but cannot yet afford the more pricier options from Samsung and Motorola. 

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Published: 05 Nov 2024, 02:10 PM IST