introduction
It’s not every day that you have a phone with a VIP in its name here at headquarters. But in the case of the Infinix Note 12 VIP, it would have been better to simply call it Note 120. Or 120 + 108. We explain.
The Infinix Note 12 VIP focuses on three things: fast charging, fast screen refresh rate, and camera performance. Charging takes advantage of a 120W beast of a charger that can, on paper, go from 0% to 100% in just 17 minutes.
As for the display, the Infinix Note 12 VIP tops it off with a 6.7-inch 1080x2400px 10-bit AMOLED with 1 billion colors, 700 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate.
Infinix Note 12 VIP specifications at a glance:
- Body: 163.5×76.7×7.9mm, 199g; Glass front, glass back, plastic frame.
- Screen: 6.70 “AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 700 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20: 9 aspect ratio, 393ppi.
- Chipset: Mediatek MT6781 Helio G96 (12 nm): Octa-core (2×2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 and 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
- Memory: 256 GB 8 GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- Operating system / software: Android 12, XOS 10.5.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 108 MP, f / 1.8, 1 / 1.67 “, 0.64µm, PDAF, laser AF; Ultra wide angle: 13 mm f / 2.2; Depth: 2 MP, f / 2.4.
- Front Camera: 16 MP, (wide), 1 / 2.76 “, 1.12 µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1440p @ 30fps, 1080p @ 60fps; Front camera: 1440p @ 30fps, 1080p @ 30fps.
- Battery: 4500 mAh; Quick charge 120W, 100% in 17 min.
- Various: Fingerprint reader (side mounted); NFC; FM Radio; 3.5mm jack.
Finally, the Infinix Note 12 VIP packs a 108MP main camera that combines 9 pixels in 1 for a resulting 12MP image or can take 108MP photos at full resolution. It is supported by a 13MP ultrawide with autofocus, a 2MP depth sensor and a 16MP selfie with its own LED flash. We’ll take a look at those too.
Rounding out the spec sheet, we have a 4,500mAh battery, a MediaTek Helio G96 chipset, 8GB of RAM that can be expanded using up to 5GB from the 256GB storage, and Android 12 with Infinix’s XOS on top. Finally, some nice touches, like the 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo speakers.
The retail experience depends on the VIP name. The expected accessories are all here: earphones, a free carrying case, an extraordinarily compact 120W charger, and a USB cable.
Then you’ve got some extra niceties that Infinix added: plastic screen protector, a hodgepodge of stickers, a SIM eject tool, and a voucher for an XGold to spend in Infinix’s XClub. Not bad for $ 300.
So, let’s talk now about the phone itself.
Design and build quality
The Infinix Note 12 VIP is straight, square and flat. The back panel is flat, the sides are flat, and the display is almost entirely flat save for a slight curvature at the edges. The surface on the sides is glossy and matches the back panel, which has a matte finish.
Despite the difference in surface finish, the Infinix Note 12 VIP is a slippery phone if you use it without the supplied case. On the plus side, the phone sits comfortably in the hand. It’s well balanced, it doesn’t look too big, although it’s certainly not a compact phone.
Just under 200g, it’s not even light, but it’s not the heaviest around. And when you pick it up, the Infinix Note 12 VIP feels lighter than you expected.
The display is impressive. It’s surrounded by thin bezels, and the perforated camera doesn’t eat up too much. The panel is bright enough, but it’s not as good as flagship OLED screens in direct sunlight.
The contrast of the panel stands out. The colors are very deep and punchy, which makes consuming multimedia content on this screen a pleasure. There’s a noticeable blue cast that keen users will immediately notice and it’s not something you can correct due to the limited adjustment options.
The phone is set to automatically switch between 60Hz and 120Hz. The automatic behavior favored 60 Hz, which is unstable for those spoiled by modern high refresh rate screens. Digging deeper into the settings, we found Ultra Touch, which can further optimize the screen for faster scrolling and speed of movement. Setting both to Fast made the Infinix Note 12 VIP infinitely smoother.
A few words about XOS 10, which sits above Android 12. It’s chock full of features and options. Perhaps even overwhelmingly. Many of the included apps could also be considered bloatware as Infinix has included so many proprietary and third-party apps, often with overlapping feature sets.
More importantly, the XOS 10 runs smoothly, smoothly or stutters despite the influx of apps. So Infinix did its job quite well in the Custom UI department. And when we say custom, we mean custom.
Starting on the lock screen, you get an optional Magazine service. On top of that, the clock screen is also impacted by powerful theme support, which includes things like video presentations, custom fonts, and an online theme repository in the form of a separate XTheme app.
The operating system packs all the features you’d need, including features like an always-on display, a power manager that manages RAM usage, a theme engine, FM radio, a code scanner, compass, and list could continue.
The unit we are testing comes with a MediaTek Helio G96, with an octa-core processor with two 2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 cores and six 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 cores. There is 8 GB of RAM that they can be expanded using up to 5GB from the 256GB storage space.
We tested this chip in detail in our Infinix Note 11 Pro review.
Camera
This is only the second Infinix phone to go beyond 64MP on its main camera, the other being the Zero X Pro, also with a similar 108MP main camera. That phone’s sensor is different, slightly larger. And it’s paired with a different set of cameras.
On the Note 12 VIP, we have a 13MP f / 2.2 ultrawide camera with autofocus, a 2MP depth sensor (which contributes barely anything), and a 16MP f / 2.4 fixed focus selfie shooter. There is no dedicated zoom camera, but the 108MP allows for decent quality 2x crops.
The 12MP pixelated shots of the Infinix Note 12 VIP are good. The colors tend more to the natural and we have rarely achieved an over the top result. The white balance is slightly cool and there is a streak of blue and cyan in the whites.
Detail is fine, but a lot has been sacrificed by the noise reduction algorithm. Infinix has avoided the noise like the plague, there is no trace of it, which sadly means that many of the smallest details have been lost. There is a strong sharpening aid put in to bring back detail, but the result is overly processed looking photos. However, if you like your noise-free images, these look the part.
The sensor is large enough to offer a good level of background blur, especially if the subject is close to the camera.
Pictures of the main camera – 12 MP
Here’s a look at the same scene, shot with default 12MP and full 108MP. The full resolution shot appears to have lost its HDR effect and we see lights out. The multi-frame sharpness has also disappeared, leaving mushy, poorly defined textures in the fruit. And the phone was noticeably slower in taking the photo. We will avoid this mode as it doesn’t really offer enough benefits to justify the trade-offs.
Main camera: 12 MP vs 108 MP
We will also avoid using 2x digital zoom. Its unholy amount of over-sharpening makes things look pretty awful.
Main camera: 2x digital zoom
The ultrawide camera is hit and miss. One photo is sharp, while the other isn’t. And the camera is unable to cope with any kind of light in the frame (note the blurry whites in both images).
Ultra wide angle camera
The low dynamic range theme continues with the selfie camera, but other than that, we’d rate this one a good grade. It is large, color accurate and highly detailed. This camera is also more noise tolerant, allowing some subtle face textures to adapt to the resulting image. Its dedicated flash is also very powerful, which should help for those bar selfies. It is so strong that the process of taking pictures itself is a little awkward.
Selfie camera
Reload
Ok, now we come to the meat of the Infinix Note 12 VIP: the recharge. Infinix claims that the Note 12 VIP’s 4,500mAh battery can go from 0% to max in just 17 minutes. Its 120W Hyper Charge technology relies on a dual cell battery in the phone and a dual charging pump to charge efficiently.
And there are 103 security features inside the phone to safeguard that process. An additional 18 real-time temperature monitoring systems ensure that the battery does not overheat, allowing Infinix to guarantee up to 800 charge cycles with this phone.
We downloaded the phone down to 0% and fully charged it several times. In none of them did the phone heat up drastically while charging. It was just hot, never hot.
However, we could not reach the 17 minutes reported by Infinix, at which point we would only have reached 88%. During our tests, we got an average of 22 minutes for a full charge, which is still very impressive. The fastest phone we’ve tested to date did this in 16 minutes, using a charger up to 150W. The 120W Xiaomi 12 Pro and 11T Pro ran in 21 minutes.
Wrap
To close things off, the Infinix Note 12 VIP is a great all-around phone. Its clean design goes well with its good build quality, is very well packaged and performs great.
You will get a good battery life, we have no doubts, but above all, you will get a great recharge, thanks to the Hyper Charge of 120 W. The images of the main camera are quite good, as are the selfies. Even if the display is solid.
The Infinix Note 12 VIP will soon be available in select regions for $ 300. You can visit the official website, which will guide you to a store near you.
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