REVIEW – I have been using folding large screen smartphones for a couple of years now. I started with the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3, but in folded mode, it was too cramped so I always had to open it to do anything. The Fold 4 was slightly better, but still was not a great experience on the “outer screen”. The Pixel Fold has been my primary phone since its release a few months ago, but because the outer screen on that is so good I quickly found myself using it ONLY folded up, I rarely opened it to take advantage of the big inner screen. Since I was basically just using an expensive small heavy phone, I thought “why not give this new Infinix ZERO 30 5G smartphone a try”? And try I did, resulting in my Pixel Fold heading off to a new owner! The Infinix ZERO 30 5G smartphone isn’t perfect, but it does a lot of things very well and the quirks are livable for me, especially at the ~$300 price point.
What is it?
The Infinix ZERO 30 5G smartphone is a midrange (or even budget priced phone if the rumored $300 is met in North America) phone with many flagship features like curved front glass, a bright AMOLED high-refresh screen, and great battery life. What really sets it apart from most phones though is the hole punch full 4K 60FPS front facing camera (for video calls, social media recording, or just seeing your lovely face in any lighting condition with the front facing flash). I have to mention the size and weight as well right here at the top too, because that’s what won me over to switch to this as my daily carry – it seems like it’s all screen except for a quite narrow top and bottom bezel and weighs in at only 185 grams (6.5 oz). By comparison, most other large screened flagship phones are low to mid 200 grams, a noticeable difference. With an almost 93% screen to body ratio, it packs a larger screen than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, in a smaller and lighter phone.
What’s in the box?
- Infinix ZERO 30 5G smartphone
- 68 watt fast charger
- USB A-C cable
- Sim tray tool
- Flexible clear phone case
- Manual
Hardware specs
- Size: 164.51 x 75.03 x 7.9 mm
- Weight: 185 grams
- Android version: 13
- Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 8020
- CPU: Octa-core (4 x 2.6 Ghz Cortex-A78, 4 x 2.0 Ghz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: ARM Mali-G77 MC9
- Network: 2/3/4/5G
- Rear Cameras: 108 MP F1.65 OIS + 13 MP + 2 MP
- Front Camera: 50 MP F2.45 PDAF
- Flash: front and rear
- Video recording: up to 4K @ 60 FPS front and back
- ROM/RAM: 256 GB USF 3.1 + 12/8 GB LPDDR4X
- Screen: 6.78 inch, 92.7% screen-to-body, AMOLED,
- Screen resolution: FHD+ 1080 x 2400
- Screen brightness: 950 nits peak brightness
- Screen refresh rate: 60/90/144 Hz
- Touch sample rate: 360 Hz
- Contrast ratio: 10000000:1, DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut
- PWM frequency: 2160
- Battery: 5000 mAh, 68W charging
- Connectivity: GPS, Wifi 6, Bluetooth, USB Type C w/ OTG, NFC
- Sensors: Fingerprint (under display), gyroscope, g-sensor, light-sensor, proximity-sensor, SAR sensor
Design and features
The front of the Infinix ZERO 30 5G smartphone is basically all screen. From head on, just a very slim black bar on top and bottom are visible. The curved edges of the screen give an illusion of no bezels at all.
Flipping the phone over, I was sent the “Rome Green” colorway to review. There’s also a “Golden Hour” and “Fantasy Purple” option. I’ve never been a huge gold/green fan, but it’s grown on me. The back is coated in a textured soft touch material that’s really nice to the touch. 3 cameras and a flash occupy the camera cluster, which I just noticed while writing this review isn’t centered, nor are the cameras evenly distributed. It’s an interesting design choice, but it does lie flat without wobble when placed on a table on its back (at least with the included case – slight wobble without).
On the bottom, we have a USB-C port, speaker grill, microphone, and dual-SIM tray. In the photo above, you can just make out the factory-applied screen protector, this started showing bubbles after about 3 weeks and I pulled it off. The screen is noticeably smoother to swipe your finger across with the screen protector removed.
The top of the phone has a microphone and speaker openings, and that’s about it.
And on the right side of the phone are the only buttons: power/voice-assistant, and volume rocker.
Pictures really don’t do the thinness of this phone justice, it really feels much lighter than any other flagship phone I’ve handled with this screen size. I’m glad they included the rubbery clear case though, it’s a bit delicate to hold without it and I nearly dropped it a few times.
Setup
Setup is typical Android – sign in to Google and optional sign-ins to Infinix’s services:
A dual-nano-sim tray is easily accessed to add one or two SIM cards, I tested on TMobile and it set up with no hitches.
Performance
I wanted to start this section about the phone’s performance with the camera. I’m one of those people who can’t stand a lousy camera, it’s a dealbreaker on a phone for me. Overall I was happy with the main rear camera (it took some phenomenal photos, some decent ones, and only a few poor ones). The front-facing camera was the best I’ve used so far, being full 4K with a forward-facing flash. In dark environments, that front flash really lights up my face nicely (see the pics below). However, the zoom lens on the back is a noticeable drop in quality compared to the main shooter. After testing a bit, I never bothered to try to zoom again – I’d get better pictures by simply snapping at 1X and then cropping to essentially digitally zoom on my subject.
Video is very good on the front facing camera, and good on the rear. The image stabilization isn’t as pronounced as Apple or Google’s, but definitely looks better than non-stabilized phones. Next up, a video showing the front facing camera and a nighttime video shot from a moving car (I just happened to be driving by the new MGM sphere in Las Vegas):
5G network testing on T-Mobile returned results from 20-100 Mbps, depending on where I was at. This matches my previous phone’s performance on the networks around me. Wi-Fi is also just as fast as other devices in the same room, it’s a solid performer.
The Infinix ZERO 30 5G smartphone easily handles everything I normally do: reading news, shopping, media consumption, too much Tik Tok, light games (Dawncaster is my latest obsession), and even some work. Everything felt as snappy and responsive as my last two phones (Samsung Galaxy Fold 4, and Pixel Fold). The only thing that would result in noticeable performance hits were 3D graphics intensive games, if you’re into gaming you might want to check out the much heavier and gaming-capable REDMAGIC 8S Pro I recently reviewed.
Charging is crazy fast with the included charger (also with the many 100 watt PD chargers I have peppered throughout my house now). Most days I ended with 50-60% battery life, and charging to full took about ~20 minutes. It doesn’t support wireless charging, but this hasn’t bothered me as much as I thought it would since I can get a day’s charge in 10 minutes or so.
What I like
- Great price
- Lovely screen
- All around good performance, especially for the price
What I’d change
- No wireless charging
- Lots of bloatware preinstalled, but you can remove most of it
- While the front and back cameras are capable of amazing photos and decent videos, they also have produced some less ideal shots, especially in low light or with fast movement.
- If you’re into resource-intense mobile games, the chipset may struggle a bit, but for everything else it felt fast to me.
Final thoughts
I’m happy I got the chance to review the Infinix ZERO 30 5G, it helped me get out of the unnecessary expensive large folding phone cycle I was trapped in. I’ve fully switched over to it and couldn’t be happier at the moment (though we’ll see how much camera envy I get when the latest Pixel 8 drops). The Infinix is so light compared to most phones, with a large bright screen, and once I cleaned up the bloatware and switched launchers (sorry Infinix, but I’m always looking for more customization and less manufacturer skins), it became a stellar phone for my day to day.
Price: Varies as it isn’t really available here in the US (yet)
Where to buy: Infinix and eBay
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Infinix
