Last May, the Infinix Note 30 was released alongside its Pro variant. Dubbed the "best budget gaming phone in 2023", we set out to test this claim. So, this is what you should know about the Infinix Note 30 in our full review of the phone.
Design - Sleek, but it could be a handful
At first glance, the phone looks metallic with its polycarbonate build and a matte finish across the back. The orange rails give it a shiny look and the impression of a premium phone. Unsurprisingly, the phone's length of 6.78 inches makes it pretty big for one-handed use. So, if you are looking for a phone that won't bulge out of your pocket, this might deter you.
Interestingly, the phone comes with a fingerprint sensor on the side. This makes it easier to unlock the phone and prevents fingerprints from sticking to the screen. Moreover, the fingerprint sensor is right on top of your power button. The volume buttons are also located on the same side as your power button. This is handy if you are right-handed (no pun intended).
The orange metallic back panel looks refreshing, also has a leathery feel to it
USB-C port and 3.5mm audio jack for your convenience
Volume and Power buttons on the same side
A dedicated micro-SD slot
Tech Specs and Features - A good mix of midrange for the Entry-level market
Below is the list of specifications for the Infinix Note 30:
- Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99 (6nm) Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) chipset
- 8GB RAM, UFS + 256GB storage | microSDXC (dedicated slot)
- 6.78-inch 109.2 cm2 (~84.5% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 2460 pixels (~396 ppi density) IPS LCD, 120Hz, 580 nits (peak)
- 219 g (7.72 oz)
- Runs Android 13
- Supports 4G Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct
- Li-Po 5000 mAh, non-removable battery
- 45W wired All-rounder fast charging
The Infinix Note 30 features a 120Hz refresh rate, an IPS LCD and a peak brightness of 540 nits. For daily use and work, these specs are enough. If you are a fan of online streaming, then the IPS LCD and 540 nits should be decent. However, it does leave something more to be desired but this should be expected because it is an entry-level gaming phone.
What's in the box? Quite a lot
Display is good enough for streaming
This phone comes with the XArena optimiser for gaming. Based on the Dar-Link Engine, it is helpful for CPU boost, network acceleration, GPU boost and memory acceleration. It can also help optimise your game graphics, reject calls and send safety reminders through Health mode. This device only supports a 4G WiFi connection though, but this shouldn't be an issue if you haven't migrated to 5G just yet.
Plus, the Infinix Note 30 also features JBL's dual stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the phone. After 3-hours of Netflix streaming and another 2 hours on the Spotify playlists, the speaker still performs consistently in terms of quality. In terms of clarity, it performs up to its standards. However, those with sharp ears might catch a certain buzzing sound. This isn't that big of a deal though, as you only hear it if you're really listening for it, so it shouldn't interrupt your listening that much.
Pretty decent speaker for a phone in this class
UI for the XArena app and Dar-Link Engine
So far, the Infinix Note 30 does well for its specs. However, there's quite a lot of bloatware that comes pre-installed with the phone. This might slow down this phone if left unattended but you can disable most of them.
The interface is nonetheless fairly clean and clean. But I found that most of the software that came with this phone was irrelevant for my daily use. For instance, Mobile Cloner, Phone Master, X Share Mini, Palm Store and so forth but perhaps someone else might find them useful.
UI is pretty neat, but the bloatware can be an eye sore if not managed properly
Performance - Practical but could do with less bloatware
Powered by the Helio G99 SoC the Note 30 performs up to its standards as an entry-level gaming phone. For the benchmarks it scored a decent 394,293 on Antutu and 2050 on the Geekbench 6 multi-core test. For the games, it ran Asphalt 9 super smooth and great. However, on Genshin Impact initial gameplay settings resulted in pixelated graphics and boxy shadows. We tried to lower quality settings but even on the lowest settings it was somewhat laggy.
However, when we tested it on MLBB, the online gameplay and graphics feels great but sometimes, the screen feels somewhat unresponsive. Thanks to the 8GB RAM, this phone gives you a lot of stability and flexibility to multitask. At one point, I could leave Genshin Impact and Asphalt 9 running in the background, and the phone still performed well.
Test scores for Geekbench 6 (left) and Antutu (right)
A screenshot from Asphalt 9
Shadow texture looks box-ish and stutters at times on Genshin Impact
Graphic looks great on this game, but screen can feel unresponsive at times
Nonetheless, it's not a big deal and shouldn't interrupt your gameplay
The score for Infinix Note 30 on the Wild Life Test
What intrigued us the most was the battery life as Infinix claimed it can last you for 2 days. For our usage, it did last a bit more than 48 hours so, this much is true. Despite the large 5000 mAh battery, the 45W All-Round FastCharge charger only took 35-45 minutes to reach 100%.
The Infinix Note 30 sports a 108MP primary camera supported by a 2MP depth camera and an AI lens. However, this phone does not have an Ultra-wide or Macro-shooter mode which is unfortunate because other phones with the same price have them.
As captured on Portrait mode
Images can appear bit noisy for moving objects
Colours are pretty okay
The selfie is nice, but it can look a bit artificial at times
Colour looks jarring but decent nonetheless
The camera struggles in capturing fast motion in low-light situations sometimes
The portrait mode is decent. But it could have been better, especially for the background separation. If you are into creating reels, TikTok or Youtube shorts, the Film mode will be handy for that purpose. Plus, the phone features a dual-view mode that allows you to shoot using both the front and back cameras simultaneously.
Meanwhile, the Super Night mode struggles a bit in low-light conditions. It does improve on the images taken at night, but not by much. We expect the Note 30 Pro would probably do much better but if you want to take photos with the Note 30 we expect you should keep it to just day or indoor shots with plenty of available light.
Images can get quite noisy under low light
Motion in low-light shots tends to be blurry, which might create an unintended panning shot effect but for still objects, details are fairly clear and sharp
Conclusion - it’s a decent phone for its price
In conclusion, the phone is quite reliable and does get the job done well above that of it's class but it is still an entry-level device. It has a great battery capacity, a solid 8GB RAM, a dedicated microSD slot and a decent Helio G99 SoC. Although it is bulky, some may appreciate the larger display panel. We didn't like the bloatware but if you're an MLBB fan, then this could be what you're looking for.
At RM699 there's not many other entry-level phones that offer the same amount of features and only a few phones in this price range can deliver the same gaming performance as the Infinix Note 30. However, if you're looking for alternatives there's the realme C55 and Samsung Galaxy A04s both of which are also at the same price but the A04s offers a 50MP triple rear camera with less memory and storage.
What are your thoughts on this review? Do you agree with our opinions? Stay tuned for more news like this at TechNave!
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