Infinix Hot 70

The Infinix Hot 70 costs Rs. 60,299 for the 6GB + 128GB model sold in Pakistan, and at that price it is a fair but not exciting buy. Its strengths are the fresh design, the 6000 mAh battery with 45W charging, the dual speakers, NFC and the dedicated memory card slot. The catch is that it arrived after the latest price rises and offers less memory than phones at this price a few months ago.

What you get:

• A large battery, 45W charging and bypass charging
• Stereo speakers, NFC for tap-to-pay, an IR blaster and a 3.5mm jack
• IP65 dust and water resistance
• Two SIMs plus a microSD card at the same time

What you give up:

• A 720p IPS LCD where many rivals now use AMOLED
• 6GB RAM, where this price used to bring 8GB
• A 4G-only chipset that has been around for years
• No ultrawide camera and no video stabilisation

Compared with the alternatives: the Itel Super 26 Ultra is cheaper and has a 144Hz AMOLED screen and 8GB RAM, but our database lists only 18W charging. The Infinix Hot 60 Pro (Rs. 66,999) costs more and adds an AMOLED display, the Helio G200 and 8GB RAM, with a smaller 5160 mAh battery.

Verdict: buy the Hot 70 if battery life, stereo sound and a box-packed warranty matter more to you than screen quality. If you already own a Hot 60 or a similar phone bought in the last year, this is not an upgrade worth paying for.

The Hot 70 has a 6.78-inch IPS LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate, so scrolling and app animations feel smooth. The weak point is resolution: it is only 720 x 1576 (HD+), which is the phone's biggest compromise at this price.

• Sharpness: text and video are noticeably less crisp than on a Full HD+ screen.
• Brightness: our database lists 700 nits in high brightness mode. It is fine indoors but looks a little dim in direct sunlight.
• LCD vs AMOLED: blacks and contrast are weaker than on the AMOLED screens that rivals such as the Itel Super 26 Ultra and the Hot 60 Pro offer.
• Always-on display: because this is an LCD, the whole panel stays lit to show it, which costs battery. In some testing it switched off after a few seconds.

For YouTube and casual gaming it is acceptable, but buyers who watch a lot of video should consider an AMOLED alternative.

The MediaTek Helio G100 Ultimate is a familiar 4G chipset, essentially a refresh of an older MediaTek design rather than a new one. It is paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage in Pakistan.

• Everyday use: apps open without trouble and XOS animations stay smooth, so calls, social media and browsing are handled well.
• Benchmarks: AnTuTu scores of roughly 500,000 to 546,000 were reported, which is entry-level for this price.
• Gaming: PUBG Mobile offers Smooth graphics with Extreme frame rate, or HDR graphics with Ultra frame rate. Testing showed no difference between this 6GB model and earlier 8GB phones with the same chipset.
• Network: there is no 5G, which matters only if you plan to keep the phone for several years.

No long heating or sustained-performance test is available yet, so it is not clear how the phone behaves in long gaming sessions. For heavy gamers, the Hot 60 Pro's Helio G200 or the Itel Super 26 Ultra's Unisoc T7300 are worth a look.

The camera is decent for the price, not a strength. In practice the Hot 70 is a single 50MP main camera phone with a helper lens; there is no ultrawide and no telephoto, so zoom is digital (up to 2x in video).

• Daylight: photos come out good in daylight. The phone takes two to three seconds after each shot to process the image, which brings back colour and dynamic range.
• Colour shifts: colours can shift when the lighting changes, though less than on older Infinix phones.
• Selfies: the 8MP front camera has a narrow, cropped view, so group selfies are hard even at arm's length.
• Video: both cameras record up to 1440p at 30fps, but there is no stabilisation, so walking shots look shaky.
• Editing: the gallery includes AI Eraser and AI Extender tools.

Low-light photos have not been tested properly yet, so night performance is still unproven.

The Hot 70 has a 6000 mAh battery with 45W wired charging.

• Battery life: standby drain is very low overnight and battery life is good overall. No timed screen-on test is available yet, so we cannot give hours.
• Charging time: our database lists 50% in 25 minutes. A full charge was measured at about 90 to 95 minutes, so a full top-up takes over an hour and a half.
• Bypass charging: while gaming on the charger, power can go to the phone instead of the battery, which reduces heat and battery wear.
• Reverse charging: it can charge another phone over a cable at 10W.

Keep the always-on display off if you want the longest battery life, because the LCD lights the whole panel to show it.

The phone runs Android 16 with XOS 16 out of the box.

• Updates: the box says five years of software updates, but in practice this means 3 major Android updates plus 2 further years of security updates. Our database also lists up to 3 major OS updates.
• AI features: a side One-Tap AI button opens the assistant and can be remapped. The gallery has AI Eraser and AI Extender, and the photo editor menu looks like Google's.
• Extras: the Infinix dialer records calls, and the rear Active Halo light flashes for notifications and calls. It is a single colour, so you cannot tell WhatsApp from Facebook alerts by the light.
• Google AI Plus: the box advertises three months of free Google AI Plus for new buyers.

XOS offers plenty of customisation. Ads and preinstalled apps have not been checked yet, so we cannot confirm how much bloatware it carries.