A Different Kind of Selfie Game

There have been a lot of selfie-centric smartphones coming out recently. You’ve got the selfie experts from OPPO — and the soon to be released OPPO F3, the current holder of the dual front cam crown — the Vivo V5 Plus, Sony has the Xperia XA Ultra, and Samsung has also gotten into the mix with the Galaxy A7 (2017).

Well, it seems like we have another contender on our hands and this time it comes by way of Hong Kong based brand, Infinix Mobile, and their S2 Pro. Like the Vivo V5 Plus and the incoming OPPO F3, it too has dual front camera but it’s not quite the same as the two other brands who are duking it out for the selfie crown. Before we jump into our initial thoughts on the Infinix S2 Pro, here’s a look at its spec sheet.

Infinix S2 Pro Specifications

• 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6753 octa-core processor
• 3GB of RAM
• 5.2-inch HD IPS display; 2.5D curved glass, 1280×720 resolution
• 32GB of expandable storage (up to 64GB via microSD card)
• 13-megapixel rear camera, dual-tone LED flash
• 13-megapixel and 8-megapixel front cameras, Laser Autofocus
• 4G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth
• GPS, GLONASS
• Fingerprint scanner
• 3000mAh battery
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow (XOS)

Initial Impressions: Perfect from We-fies

In terms of design, we aren’t seeing anything new from Infinix Mobile. It’s nearly identical to one of their most recent releases, the Infinix Zero 4, and goes along with the design trends that we’ve gotten accustomed to from smartphones coming out of the region; not to say that it’s a bad thing. The Inifix S2 Pro actually feels good in the hand with its curved edges and rounded corners that goes well with the 2.5D curved glass protecting its 5.2-inch display. While it does have a matte finish, it doesn’t seem to attract fingerprints as much as other phones; saving us from having to constantly wipe down the phone for our product shots.

It’s time for the mandatory tour around the device!

On the right side, you’ll find the power button with the SIM tray right above it and the volume rocker is found on the left side of the device.

Down at the bottom, you’ll find the microUSB port and its speaker grilles; though only one actually seems to house a speaker.

You’ll find the 3.5mm audio jack on top of the device.

Flip the phone over and you’ll see its 13-megapixel rear camera with its dual-tone LED flash and the fingerprint scanner right below it. We’ll need some more time to really test out the success rate of the scanner at reading our bio-metrics but, with the little time we’ve had the device, it was pretty accurate.

Going over to the front, you’ll see its 5.2-inch HD display that has pretty good color saturation and decent viewing angles as well. The main story here is, of course, the Infinix S2 Pro’s dual front cameras.

Unlike the one found on the Vivo V5 Plus and, we’re guessing, the one that’s going to be on the OPPO F3, the dual cameras do not work in tandem to give you that creamy software bokeh that we’re used to seeing on phones with dual cam setups — regardless if its on the front or the back.

 

Instead, you have a 13-megapixel camera for taking great selfies with plus an 8-megapixel camera with a wide angle lens so you can take a group selfie or we-fies, if you’d have it.

For its internal hardware, the Infinix S2 Pro is sporting a MediaTek MT6753 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM and 32 GB of expandable storage; a processing package we’ve definitely seen in other mid-ranged devices in the past. If you haven’t tried a phone running these internals, it’s a pretty good combination but don’t expect it to do heavy lifting either. We fired up NBA 2k17 and you’re going to have to turn all the settings down low to get it to run smoothly, but there were still frame rate drops here and there despite the setting changes.

If you haven’t tried a phone running these internals, it’s a pretty good combination but don’t expect it to do heavy lifting either.

The Infinix S2 Pro runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the XOS custom ROM on top of it and is powered by a 3000mAh battery with support for Quick Charging.

And that’s pretty much it for our initial review of the Infinix S2 Pro. The folks over at Infinix Mobile Philippines were playing a little coy in terms of the device’s pricing, however, our friend at PinoyScreenCast, Randolph Novino, happened upon its pricing — care of one Jeffrey Carullo — who spotted the Infinix S2 Pro on Lazada priced at Php 8,990. The listing has been taken down since then, so we guess we’re going to see if that is indeed the price its getting upon its release.