Infinix HOT 20S Hands-on Review: Free Fire Special Limited Edition

As the popularity of mobile gaming continues to soar, gamers want the best smartphone in their hands to perform their best and grab those victories as well as a device that serves as an affordable everyday companion.

The Infinix HOT 20S is the company's newest gaming device, and it can give you the best gaming performance at a price that won't break the bank. It can handle all of the best games you want to play from Google Play.

Infinix Hot 20S Specs

Android 12, XOS 12
6.78-inch Full HD+ IPS display, 2460 x 1080 pixel resolution, 396ppi
120Hz refresh rate
2.05GHz Mediatek MT6781 Helio G96 octa-core processor
Mali-G57 MC2 GPU
8GB RAM
128GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 1TB
50MP f/1.6, + 2MP + 2MP rear cameras, dual-tone LED flash
8MP selfie camera, LED flash
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Stereo speakers
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth
FM radio
GPS, GLONASS
USB Type-C
5,000mAh battery, 18W fast charging
Colors: Tempo Blue, Light-Rider White, Fantasy Blue

202g

Infinix Design and Build Quality
When it comes to designing smartphones, Infinix has come a long way. the Infinix HOT 20S Free Fire edition, even if it’s a budget device, the design and build quality are not compromised. It's packaged in the brand's trademark green box with the Free Fire edition cover.

The Sonic Black Hot 20S variant we have has a plastic body but a glossy finish resembling glass. In bright light, its sunray-like pattern becomes more apparent. There are two big, circular housings for the camera lenses, which resemble the design of other recent smartphones that have abandoned the traditional "camera island" in favor of a more streamlined rear look.

It's also available in Light-Rider White, Fantasy Purple, and Tempo Blue. The limited Neon Edition is available only in some regions, it features a design that changes color to show the HOT logo when exposed to light.

The HOT 20s features a rectangular body with rounded corners, which is not the most comfortable design to hold, but good thing it comes with a soft transparent case to protect the glossy rear panel from fingerprints and provide a better grip.

The Infinix HOT 20S box also comes with standard accessories including the Type-C USB cable, charger, SIM PIN, One Xgold, warranty card, and user guide.

As much as we enjoy the large display, this smartphone just feels enormous. It measures 8.47mm in width and 168.65mm in height. It's a little on the hefty side, coming in at 202 grams. You can get used to it using both hands, but it would wear you out to use it for an extended period of time.

The hybrid SIM card slot is located on the left, while the volume controls and fingerprint scanner, which also serves as the power button, are located on the right. The buttons have a haptic and tactile feel and function properly, so there are no complaints in this department.

The bottom of the device houses the USB Type-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, and primary loudspeaker.

Overall the HOT 20S design as a whole feels solid and sturdy, and we love the glossy back, which gives it a premium look and well-placed camera lenses. To top it all off, Infinix did an excellent job by providing all the accessories in the box, which are increasingly becoming optional extras that must be purchased separately. Other brands Like Samsung and Apple, have made such additions optional.

Display and Audio
The HOT 20S features a large 6.78-inch display with thin bezels, a 2460 x 1080 resolution, 396 pixels per inch, and a 120Hz refresh rate, along with a cutout for the front-facing camera for a more streamlined design.

Additionally, the earpiece on top functions as the second speaker. It also has a pre-applied screen protector for added protection, although Infinix did not specify Corning Gorilla or any other screen protection.

The 120Hz refresh rate is not at all noticeable, it doesn't feel very smooth this is because of its midrange chip, and we've seen flagship devices with a more powerful chipset that feel much smoother even though they only have a 90Hz refresh rate display.

The sound quality of the two speakers is good. The big screen also allows for sufficient space between the two speakers, resulting in a clear stereo audio experience.

Considering the price of this phone, the IPS display offers good-quality colors and sharp images. With the big screen, it is easier to multitask and watch videos, and playing games is more enjoyable.

Hardware and Performance
The Infinix HOT 20S is equipped with a MediaTek Helio G96 octa-core chipset, Mali-G52 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage that supports up to 1TB via the microSD card slot.

Despite not being the latest or fastest chipset available, it provides more than adequate performance. It has an octa-core CPU with two powerful Arm Cortex-A76 processing cores clocked up to 2.05GHz, and the Arm Mali-G57 GPU is capable of delivering excellent graphics performance. Paired with 2133MHz LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage make this a good hardware specs.

In terms of day-to-day usability, we haven't experienced any lags, as everything from taking photos to uploading files to streaming our favorite shows on Disney+ to quickly navigating between apps is a breeze. 

Thanks to its Extended RAM support, it enables 8GB+5GB RAM to add up to 13GB RAM in use, allowing it to cache up to 20 background apps and switch seamlessly.

In terms of gaming, as long as you didn't mind the device's average to medium-quality graphics, games performed well on this device. Some of the titles we installed and played on the HOT 20S are Call of Duty: Mobile, Asphalt 9, Apex Legends Mobile, Alto's Adventure, Pokémon UNITE, and Garena Free Fire.

The back of the device will get warm when playing games for long periods of time. But, with its three-dimensional structure, the Bionic (Breathing) Cooling System helps dissipate heat by improving the thermal conductivity to ensure a smooth gameplay experience. The HOT 20S met our expectations, so we are pleased with its performance.

Software - XOS 12

The HOT 20S runs on Android 12 with XOS 12 on top out of the box. Since this is the Free Fire Special Limited Edition, it features a special theme.  There is an option in the settings menu to switch to the default theme if you think it's not for you. But for us, we do like the design of the Free Fire theme.

The Ux is intuitive and simple to use, with smoother and faster user interface gestures, colorful designed themes, and new app icons. The drop-down control panel features large buttons for easy changes as well as volume and screen brightness sliders.

The XOS offers more features in the settings menu on the Special Function tab. You can switch to a gaming mode, manage several accounts using XClone, MemFusion that virtually increases the memory, or turn on the kids' mode, among many other features. So it's a good idea to check out what neat features you can use to fully maximize the capability of the Hot 20S.

Cameras

The HOT 20S is equipped with a 50-megapixel primary camera and two secondary 2-megapixel cameras. On the front is an 8-megapixel camera for taking selfies.

Photos captured by the main camera during daylight are sharp and worthy of sharing on social media online. However, it seems to suffer from slightly washed-out colors and weak contrast.

While the quality of pictures captured in low-light conditions is actually quite good. Particularly when using the Night Mode to take a long-exposure shot for brighter night photos, and it can capture more details.

When taking pictures, the AI camera will automatically focus on the subject and apply filters to enhance the quality of the image. However, the AI will struggle to recognize less common subjects like tires, and clocks among other things. Though it will have no difficulty identifying more common subjects like houses, dogs, plants, and flowers.

While the 8-megapixel front camera is neither the best nor the worst for taking selfies, it is adequate for the job. Selfie photos have inconsistent skin tones and a lack of detail and depth. Still, it can be used for photos and video calls.

Battery and Charging

The HOT 20S packs a 5000mAh battery, which is typical in today's most entry-level and midrange smartphones, It also has an 18W fast-charge capability.

Using the PC Mark app, which cycles through a series of workloads, we put the HOT 20S battery test with WiFi and Bluetooth disabled and the volume and brightness set to 50%. The HOT 20S was able lasts for 14 hours and 12 minutes, which makes it among the most battery-efficient smartphones we tested.

In real-world use, the battery can last for an entire day of moderate use, with still power left for the next day's use. However, if you enjoy playing games and watching videos at maximum brightness, you can have around 7 hours or more of screen time. 

In terms of charging, using the 18W charging adapter, it takes about almost 2 hours to fully charge the battery. 

Pros

Premium look design 

Good build quality

Large display with Stereo speakers

Good performance

Long battery life

Reasonable price

Cons

120Hz refresh rate is practically unnoticeable

Photo quality could be better

Only 4G LTE mobile connection

Verdict

The Infinix HOT 20S Free Fire edition is specially designed for budget-conscious gamers. It features a very capable gaming processor with good performance. The large display and dual speakers are great for playing games and watching videos online, it also has solid battery life and an expressive and intuitive interface.

The Infinix HOT 20S is one of the most feature-packed smartphones in its category and is now available for just ₱8,499 at stores near you and on the Infinix official store on Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop.

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