Infinix recently launched its first phone of the year, the Note 50x which is special for more than one reason. For starters, the phone resolves (or atleast claims to) one of the biggest issues that users had about Infinix – the sluggish software experience – by giving a modern touch and fluid animations in the new XOS 15. The new budget phone which starts at a price of ₹11,499 also has a lot of promising features like military grade certification, a powerful (for the price) MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate processor, 5,500mAh battery and 45W of fast charging.
But does this phone actually convert all this promise into performance or is it just a marketting gimmick by another overzealous brand? Well, I have been using the Note 50x for a few days and here’s my two bits on how the phone performed in the real world.
Inside the box:
Opening the green coloured bInfinix Note 50x, one is greeted by the device itself wrapped around a thin plastic coating, a SIM ejector tool, a 45W adapter, a USB Type A to Type C cable, a VIP card (probably for registering warranty), some paperwork and the the SIM ejector tool.
I received the 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant of the phone for review in the Titanium Grey colour variant. There also an Enchanted Purple and Sea Breeze Green (vegan leather back) colour variants if you prefer a more flashy choice.
Design and connectivity: Class-leading
To the back of Note 50x, you get a rectangular camera module with curved edges and Infinix branding in vertical format at the bottom. While both the back and frame have been made from plastic, Infinix has given it a special coating which gives the phone a more premium finish.
In fact the phone looks and feel so premium that when I handed it around to a few people to experience it and told them the price, most of them were left shell shocked. So kudos to Infinix for giving such a solid build quality even for a budget device.
Moving on, the volume rockers and the power button – which also doubles down as the fingerprint reader – can be found on the right while the left side of the phone is reserved for the hybrid SIM card slot which features slot for 2 SIM cards and a micro SD card.
The phone comes with support for 9 5G bands, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 and GPS. I got a 5G single on the device and was also able to make the phone calls wihtout any issues.
Like many other phones under ₹15,000 price segment, the Note 50x also comes with IP64 rating for water and dust resistance. The phone also comes with MIL-STD-810H military grade certification for durability, a feature that we have seen with many mid-range Motorola phones in the past.
Display: A big letdown
The biggest disappointment with the Note 50x comes in the display department with the phone coming with a 6.67-inch HD+LCD panel with 120Hz refresh rate and 672 nits peak brightness.
The effects of low resolution panel are immediately visible when you compare it with other phones in the segment with a 1080p panel as colours looked washed out and the flickering issue immediately noticeable during low light scenarios.
While the display is still workable while using indoors, there is a real issue with visibility when you use the phone during bright outdoors.
The stereo speakers on the device offer crisp and clear audio for the price but they don’t get adequately loud meaning that you will ideally have to use a wireless headset or speaker for playing music or watching movies.
Processor: Solid performance for the price
The Note 50x is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultimate processor, the first phone with this processor in India, Infinix claims. The reality, however, is that this is just another marketing ploy by MediaTek to rename their own chips just like the ‘Energy’ suffix that was with the Oppo Reno 12 Pro last year.
The Dimensity 7300 is not a bad processor though, quite to the contrary it is a very capable processor that has consistently been featured on phones priced over ₹15,000 some of which I previously reviewed like the CMF Phone 1 and Lava Agni 3. I do have a problem with smartphone makers and chipmakers using different names for SoC just to sell more devices.
That short rant aside, just like the other phones that I tested with the same processor, the Note 50x is a solid performer for running all day to day tasks like surfing the web, opening different apps and even some light gaming. I tried playing Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI on the phone and while the game was playable on the highest settings there were certainly a few occasional frame drops to be noticed.
One thing to note here is that Infinix claims that the Note 50x can run BGMI on 90FPS graphics settings but that wasn’t the case on my unit as the phone only supported selecting a maximum of HDR graphics with ‘Ultra HDR’ and ‘Extreme HDR’ options resulting in a coming soon prompt from the game.
In terms of benchmarks, the Note 50x gets an Antutu score of 6,23,056 on Antutu which is about par of this chipset. On Geekbench 6, the Note 50x receives a single core score of 1004 and multi-core score of 2880.
On 3D Mark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress test, the phone gets a best loop score of 858 and a lowest loop score of 854 with the stability at 99.5%. This chipset isn’t known to show any abnormal heating issues and the Note 50x is no different with the phone getting a bit warm during longish gaming sessions but not doesn’t reach the level of being too hot to handle.
Software:
One of the biggest changes that Infinix brought with the Note 50x was the adoption of new XOS 15 UI based on Android 15. The changes are immediately visible when you start using phone with the UI feeling much snappier than earlier Infinix phones and the animations looking much more refined.
XOS 15 brings a lot of new features while retaining some very useful elements from its predecessor. For instance Dynamic Island is still here (which Infinix calls Dynamic Bar), along with Social Assistant (allows call recording and other options during WhatsApp calls) and Halo Lighting (the LED light which turns on during charging, gaming and new notifications).
The UI also continues to remain ad free with very few apps installed on first boot including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and some other third party apps. The good news is that Infinix now allows users to select multiple apps and either pull them together in a folder or batch uninstall them if needed.
There are a few new icon packs and the notification panel can also be given different colour palettes but there is no option yet to match those to the colours of the wallpaper yet like Samsung’s One UI 7.
There was a lot of talk in the run up to the launch of this device but most of these features weren’t particularly useful for me, didn’t work or were just overhyped. Case in point, the Photos app on the XOS 15 is called AI Gallery and there isn’t even support for AI Eraser to remove the unwanted objects in the background.
Infinix has also continued to use the same shapes and designs for the most of the elements in the UI which stops the UI from getting a fully modern twist.
There are some good features in the Gallery app as well including support for copying text right from the images and generating Cutouts of subjects, both of which have likely been ‘inspired’ from the Oxygen OS (a handy feature, nonetheless).
Overall, the new XOS 15 is a mixed bag for me with a definite improvement in fluidity and app animations but the UI needs further revamps to clear out the clutter and give it a more refined look.
Camera and battery: Par for the course
The 50MP primary shooter on the Note 50x delivers decent enough shots for the price in daylight with the signature overexposed tone that we have seen in Infinix phones in the past. However, details go for a toss under low light and the end result isn’t very satisfactory.
The 8MP selfie delivers suprisingly good colour reproduction and sharp focus but the resulting images very so often turned out to be shaky even in good lighting conditions.
Overall, I would say the cameras are nothing out of the oridnary on this smartphone, they can get the click okayish pictures but do keep your expectations in check.
The 5,500mAh battery provides decent backup and can easily last you a full day of usage even with 5G turned on. When it does give up on you, the 45W charger given inside the box can top up the battery in just about an hour.
Verdict:
At an effective price of ₹10,499 (with bank offers), the Infinix Note 50x is definitely one of the strongest contenders you can find with an impressive design and build quality, a large 5,500mAh battery, a powerful processor for its segment and clean ad-free software experience.
The Note 50x is perhaps the best option you can buy at this price if you can make do with an HD+ display and subpar speakers.
