MyPhone Infinity 2 Review: The Most Gorgeous Local Flagship Yet!

When the MyPhone Rio 2 and Rio 2 Lite officially launched a few months back, many of us expected that the Infinity 2 would launch alongside them. That didn’t pan out though, but now that it’s here, it’s not a hard phone to love. Still, that sticker price is a little tough to stomach though. Think it’s worth it? Find out in my full review of the MyPhone Infinity 2.

What’s in the Box?

The MyPhone Infinity 2 comes in a pretty sleek and unique-looking. That’s not to say a simple box shape can be unique, but most boxes tend to look like bricks. This is just a little different. Anyway, I made a quick unboxing video so you guys can check out exactly what comes with the box.

Build Quality and Design

The Infinity 2 is easily one of the best looking flagship smartphones I’ve seen yet from a local brand. It sports a gorgeous 5 inch HD AMOLED display set into an aluminum frame. The phone is impressively slim as well, and thanks to its rounded sides, it settles quite comfortably into your hand. One thing I appreciate is that the camera module doesn’t jut out of the frame, so the phone rests flat on any surface for the most part.

Now, the Infinity 2 certainly looks premium, but it also feels premium as well. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as the Infinity 2’s frame is actually crafted from a single solid block of aluminum. This was something MyPhone’s President, Jaime Alcantara was especially proud of and he even brought out the actual aluminum block at the Infinity 2 launch for us to see. They also showed us the different forms the block would take before it eventually becomes the frame for the Infinity 2.

Display

The Infinity 2 features a 5 inch HD AMOLED display with a pixel density of 294ppi protected by Gorilla Glass 3. It’s not best resolution you can get on a smartphone panel, but hardly anyone can tell the difference anyway. Also, being a an AMOLED display, the colors are extra punchy. Personally, I prefer punchier colors that pop from the screen versus the more natural color reproduction of IPS. Another thing I like about AMOLED is its ability to produce true black because there’s no back-lighting.

Software and UI

The MyPhone Infinity 2 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat with a custom UI layer on top that eliminates the app drawer. This means all your apps will be found across multiple homescreens. You’ll be able to create widgets though. Although it allows you to tweak things like the transition animation or wallpaper, it seems to forget the basics, such as simply organizing the apps alphabetically. Also, when you uninstall an app, the rest of the apps don’t adjust to fill the gap, leaving a hole in your homescreen.

The notification area, command center and Settings menu remain typical KitKat 4.4 though. There’s an interesting toggle though for Slipcover mode and Smart Standby in the command center though. There are also settings for Clever Motion and Quick Launch that MyPhone has customized into the Infinity 2’s OS. Of course, there’s also some extra software in the form of apps, mostly developed by a Philippine dev team by the name of Creative House. You can’t uninstall them, but there aren’t too many and you might find some of them to be pretty useful. My favorite though isn’t actually developed by Creative House and it serves a simple function of turning the LED flash into a flashlight or SOS signal when needed.

Benchmarks

The MyPhone Infinity 2 is equipped with a MediaTek MT6752M octa-core SoC, which is an underclocked version of the MT6752 Of course, what’s a smartphone review without benchmarks? I ran the MyPhone Infinity 2 through my favorite set of benchmarks, namely Antutu, Vellamo, 3DMark and GFX Benchmark. The first two put the phone through a suite of different benchmark tests, testing different areas of the phone’s performance. The last two on the other hand focus more on the phone’s gaming aspect.

Camera

The MyPhone Infinity 2 features a Sony-made 13mp sensor in the primary rear-facing camera and a 5mp fixed focus camera in front. The smartphone’s imaging capabilities are something MyPhone was especially proud of at launch, touting its fast shutter speed, which they had intentionally tweaked. This results in near instantaneous shots where you don’t have to hold super still while waiting for the phone to capture the image.

Another thing you’re going to love is its Professional mode, which basically gives you manual controls over the camera’s settings, similar to a DSLR. You can fine tune the camera’s Shutter Speed, White Balance, ISO, Sharpness, Exposure, and Color Saturation. This is for those instances where you have time to tweak your settings to get the perfect shot. Anyway, here are some camera samples for you to check out.

HDR/Auto/Max 4x Zoom Comparison

HDR/Auto Against the Light Comparison

Before and After Beautification

Outdoor Samples (Late Afternoon)

Entertainment and Gaming

Even if the Infinity 2 is only equipped with an HD panel versus the competition’s Full HD screens, it would be hard not to appreciate anything that you see off the gorgeous AMOLED display. It’s high contrast and larger than life color reproduction seems to make everything look better, whether you’re browsing websites, viewing your image gallery, or watching movies. Thanks to the powerful octa-core chipset, gameplay is also impressively smooth, even when playing the most intensive games. Check out this gaming test I made.

Battery Life

Being as slim as it is, I’m surprised that the Infinity 2 managed to cram a 2,450mAh battery inside its thin frame. Considering how much more power-efficient today’s octa-core chips are from MediaTek, it should last you a whole work day, including the commute. I haven’t done a complete battery usage test yet on my normal usage habits, but based on GFX Bench’s Battery Test, it should last 3 hours and 20 minutes on straight gaming.

So Should You Buy the MyPhone Infinity 2?

The MyPhone Infinity 2 is a smartphone that the local brand can be proud of. It isn’t look premium — it feels premium as well. And its performance is good enough to hold its own among the best that our local brands have to offer. However, at Php12,799, it’s rather pricey. Specs aren’t the whole story when determining how good the user experience is on a smartphone. But when you’re getting similar or better specs at about half the price of what the MyPhone Infinity 2 sells for, it’s a little hard to stomach even for the most diehard of MyPhone fans.

MyPhone Infinity 2 Specs

• 5″ HD AMOLED display (720 x 1280 resolution, 294ppi), protected by Gorilla Glass 3
• 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6752M octa-core processor
• Mali T760 GPU
• Android 4.4 KitKat
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage, expandable via MicroSD up to 64GB
• 13mp autofocus rear-facing camera with LED flash and Sony IMX214 sensor, f/2.0 aperture
• 5mp front camera with LED flash
• 4G/LTE
• WiFi b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.0
• GPS
• Battery: 2,450mAh
• Price: Php12,799