As we edge ever closer to the smartphone singularity, it’s nice to see at least one brand remembering to make handsets that are fun as well as functional. Infinix has given its latest sensibly-priced mid-ranger an active Matrix LED display, turning its Apple-aping rear camera island into a retro-style games machine that can also give you a heads-up on incoming notifications.
The Note 60 Pro is also the firm’s first in a long while with Snapdragon silicon, signalling a step out of true bargain territory and more into the mainstream. A sizeable battery and speedy charging add to the appeal.
I’ve been trying one out ahead of the launch. While a full review will have to wait until I’ve had more time for testing, first impressions are mostly positive – making me wish Infinix had a larger presence outside of its African and Indian heartland.
With a metal frame, rounded corners and a flat AMOLED display with satisfyingly skinny bezels, the Note 60 Pro punches above its weight in the looks department. It’s slender at a mere 7.45mm, but has a decent amount of heft to it. You’d be hard-pressed to pick it out as an affordable handset on design alone.
My Deep Ocean Blue review sample is one of the more eye-catching colours, along with Solar Orange; there’s also Mist Titanium,
Mocha Brown and Frost Silver, while the Torino Black model was co-created with supercar design house Pininfarina.
There’s an undeniable Apple influence, right down to the phone-spanning rear camera island, but the firm has gone against the grain with rectangular shapes and a colour-shifting Halo light ring (a Note series staple).
Then there’s the customisable Active Matrix LED display, which lurks invisibly under the mirror-like polycarbonate until a notification comes in or you shake the phone to show the current time. There’s also a bunch of minigames you can play using the side buttons. While I’ve seen these kinds of screens on other phones, the Nothing Phone 3‘s glyph matrix came with divisive styling and the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro was ruinously expensive.
The Matrix LEDs are neither this phone’s defining feature, or used to justify an exorbitant asking price.
You’re really getting a lot for your money here, with an under-display fingerprint sensor, FM radio, IR blaster, and a configurable One-Tap button at the side that works a bit like the Plus Key on recent OnePlus phones. I used it to toggle volume modes, but it can launch the camera app, activate the flashlight or start a voice recording. eSIM support isn’t always a given on budget handsets destined for India and Africa, so it’s great to see it included here. IP64 resistance isn’t class leading, but welcome all the same.
I initially thought the sensor on the Note 60 Pro’s right side was another fingerprint reader, but it’s actually a heart rate monitor. It needs 30 seconds for a reading, and the results were around 10bpm north of what I was getting from the Garmin smartwatch I wear.
There’s little to grumble about in terms of picture quality, with the 6.78in panel really packing in the pixels. Refresh rate caps out at 144Hz and it’ll nudge 4500 nits peak brightness with HDR content. Outdoor visibility was great, and colours had plenty of pop. The JBL-tuned stereo speakers put in a good shift too, with ample volume.
I’ll need more time to give a verdict on the cameras, but so far they’ve delivered the sort of shots I’d expect of an affordable handset. The 50MP lead lens preserves an alright amount of detail, but dynamic range is fairly limited and colours aren’t the most engaging. It can crop in for 2x zoom without a notable hit to quality. The 8MP ultrawide is a step down detail-wise, but seems to do a better job with colour reproduction.
For its first foray back to Snapdragon silicon, Infinix has opted for Qualcomm’s tried-and-tested mid tier chip. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 is bang up to date, comes paired with either 8 or 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and represents a big power hike from the MediaTek Helio used in the previous-gen Note 50 Pro.
It was responsive and ran Android 16 smoothly enough, with apps opening fairly quickly and not needing to redraw too often when multitasking. Gaming wasn’t a slog, with 3D titles defaulting to lower graphics presets but hitting fairly high frame rates. I didn’t feel the phone get especially hot during a long play session either.
The Note 60 Pro was my first taste of Infinix’ XOS Android skin. It’s a bit full-on, with multiple homescreen pages filled with preloaded apps and a translucent UI clearly influenced by Apple’s Liquid Glass. It’s nicely customisable, at least, and should be in line for three new Android generations through its lifetime (as well as five years of security patches).
Depending where you live, you’ll either get a 6000mAh or 6500mAh battery inside the Note 60 Pro. That’s quite a gap. I had the latter, which was easily good enough for a day and a half of pretty heavy use, or two days if I took it easy on the screen time. 90W charging was a real win, given this is a sensibly-priced mid-ranger. Wireless charging of any kind is a bonus, and 30W is especially speedy.
The Infinix Note 60 Pro is on sale in the firm’s usual markets – mainly India, Africa and South East Asia – right now. Pricing varies by region.
