InFocus, a US-based maker of TV and projectors, has started flooding Indian smartphone market with budget smartphones under brand Bingo. InFocus recently released a smartphone which everyone has their eyes on just because of its MediaTek Helio X20 processor. The tri-cluster processor including a Cortes A72 chip with a clock speed of 2.5 GHz makes it the first smartphone with a ten core processor. With that processor, InFocus embedded some good hardware making it a competitor (specification wise) to some of the flagship smartphones in the market. Is it worth spending Rs. 12,999? Let’s find out.
Build and Design
InFocus Epic 1 looks a bit different from previous smartphones from InFocus with some brushed metal unibody. The phone is a little taller than most of the other smartphones with 5.5 inches display because of the additional white portion above and below the screen. The left and right edges hold the same brushed metal design found on the back panel with hybrid SIM tray slot on the left edge and power and volume rocker on the right side. The 3.5 mm audio port and the IR blaster can be found on the top edge. The bottom edge holds the future of USB – USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker.
On the front, the display is enclosed by white portions above and below; you can see the front facing camera, light sensor and the earpiece which will remind you of NextBit Robin. The white portion below the display is empty; the navigation bar is software embedded. The primary camera is placed on the rear panel and below it is the dual LED dual tone flash. The fingerprint sensor is positioned symmetrically below the camera module and the flash. The design of InFocus Epic1 is decent but can be better, only things which spoil the beauty is the black border around the display.
Display
InFocus Epic 1 features 5.5 inches Full HD LTPS display with 405 dpi screen density; the screen is bright enough, and a blueish hue hurts the eyes with full brightness (the bluelight filter in settings fixed it). Some more settings – Screen Mode and Color Temperature are there to adjust the display according to your eyes. Overall the screen is just good, the black in videos doesn’t appear black, the backlight peeps out of it easily.
Camera
The 16 MP rear camera in Epic 1 is an average shooter for some mediocre photography. Tthe camera app is outdated and looks like ripped from Android 2.3 Gingerbread. There is nothing fancy in the app, just the three options – regular picture, PIP mode in which you can click pictures from both cameras in one shot, and the third one is panorama to capture super-wide images. The camera also features HDR mode which adds a little color to the pictures and balances the brightness and contrast in pictures. The front facing camera is 8 MP with f/1.8 aperture size and captures decent selfies even in low light; it captures bright selfies and a face beauty mode. There are no setting to change the resolution of video capture; you can just select quality; low, medium and high.
without HDR with HDR Low-lightThe features which I like in the camera of InFocus Epic1 is the motion tracking focus; you can tap and hold to object In viewfinder to activate motion tracking. The camera will start tracking the object and keep the focus on it, so you’ll get the blur-free pictures. The second best feature is the slow-mo video capture to capture videos in slow motion with HD resolution, and the EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) works fine.
The front facing camera is 8 MP with f/1.8 aperture size and captures decent selfies even in low light.
And the last but not the least is the burst capture mode, it actually works as claimed by InFocus, it can take 30 pictures in just two seconds. Overall the camera is decent but only if you want to shoot slow-mo videos and take selfies, otherwise the camera is not what we expected in this price range.
Performance
For best performance, InFocus Epic1 contains worlds first deca-core processor; MediaTek Helio X20 with Tri-Cluster architecture. It contains three different chips; two quad-core chips and one dual-core chip, which includes one Cortex A72 chip running at a clock rate of 2.5 GHz. MediaTek Helio X20 processor saves 30% more battery than other mobile processors (claimed by InFocus on the official website). Paired with this processor are the Mali T880 MP4 PU and 3 GB RAM for better multitasking.
This feature also let us down by some lags in high-end games. AnTuTu Benchmark provided a score of 88,193 with which, makes Epic1 stand 32nd in ranking with other smartphones. Geekbench 4 provided the score which we were looking for the deca-core processor. The score stands above Huawei P9 and below Samsung Galaxy Note 7. We multitask lots of apps at the same time including a browser with two tabs loaded at the same time and Epic1 multitask them easily (not snappy) with no reload.
Features
InFocus tried to make Epic1 less with each and every mobile tech available in flagship devices from other brands. The fingerprint sensor is the features which you see in most of the smartphones today if it’s a flagship or not. InFocus Epic 1 features a fingerprint sensor placed on the back panel; we faced some difficulty logging into the smartphone using a fingerprint. We have to pace our finger carefully on the sensor to log in correctly. One more feature is the IR blaster which is useful and the default app makes it easier to sync it with television, TV-Box, home theater and more.
InFocus Epic1 has got 3000 mAh battery with fast charging feature which works well and charges the phone full in one and half hour.
Battery Performance
InFocus Epic1 has got 3000 mAh battery with fast charging feature which works well and charges the phone full in one and half hour. But while using the smartphone for some days, we experienced some high battery drain while the phone is idle sitting inside the pocket. While gaming or watching movies, the battery drains quickly. With a full charge, it barely made through the day and at the end a power bank should be handy to keep it alive a whole intense day.
Specifications
- 5.5 inches Full HD LTPS display
- Dual SIM 4G VoLTE
- 16 MP rear camera and 8 MP front facing camera
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow, InLife UI 2.0
- MediaTek Helio X20 MT6797M Processor
- 3 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM expandable up to 128 GB
- 3000 mAh battery
- Light sensor, G-Sensor, IR sensor, A-GPS, proximity and fingerprint sensor
Pros
- Premium build and design
- USB Type-C port
- Decent video recoding capability
- IR blaster
Cons
- Mediocre rear camera
- Inaccurate fingerprint sensor
- Poor battery backup
Verdict
InFocus Epic1 is no doubt a powerful phone, all because of the MediaTek Helio X20 ten core processor but the low amount of RAM paired with this processor degrades the power a little bit. The camera quality is not up to the mark, the selfies and slow-mo videos are great. You should only consider this smartphone if you want it for high-end gaming and selfies otherwise you have to move on to some other options in the market with the same price range.
