Highlight
- The Infinix Note 40 Pro comes with a 55 degree curved (3D curved) screen like a flagship cellphone. The AMOLED type panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a brightness level of up to 1,300 nits manages to spoil the eyes and provide a premium experience on a cellphone priced at IDR 3 million.
- MagCharge, which is similar to MagSafe on the iPhone, is available for free in the packaging box, so there’s no need to spend more to use it. However, when charging with MagCharge, the Infinix Note 40 Pro tends to heat up quickly.
- The appearance of the cellphone with a leather textured variant and a shiny gold frame adds a high-end impression. The thin screen bezel also makes this cellphone move up a class in the IDR 3 million price range.
- Reliable gaming performance with XBOOST that provides a variety of testing options.
- The 108MP main camera with 3x lossless zoom capability is quite capable, but there is no ultrawide capability. Video recording with OIS is also not optimal.
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Infinix Note 40 Pro comes with a new breakthrough through the ‘MagCharge’ feature. The concept is similar to MagSafe on the iPhone, allowing magnetic-based charging so that it is more practical when the cellphone runs out of battery outdoors.
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Not only that, this cellphone also brings significant changes to the design aspect with a leather texture. It seems like the Infinix Note 40 Pro is really designed to attract the upper middle class gaming market through a series of flashy features and premium design.
CNBC Indonesia had the opportunity to use the Infinix Note 40 Pro for the last two weeks. We tested the MagCharge feature, battery life and charging speed, gaming performance, camera quality, and other features to support daily use.
Does this cellphone really deserve to be called a flagship ‘killer’ gaming phone or is it just tempting on paper? Check out the complete review!
Premium and Character Design
Photo: Infinix NOTE 40 Pro profile (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)
Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Profile (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)
The use of textured materials on cellphone bodies is quite common among Chinese cellphone vendors. A design like this instantly makes the cellphone look more luxurious, so it doesn’t look cheap.
The Infinix Note 40 Pro is currently available in two design variants, namely ‘Titan Gold’ which is more modern with a graded metal texture, and ‘Vintage Green’ which is more classic with a leather texture.
Later, the Infinix Note 40 Pro will also present a ‘Racing Edition’ variant designed in collaboration with Designwork, the design studio behind the BMW Group. This variant is scheduled to be available on the market in the middle of this year.
CNBC Indonesia has the Vintage Green variant. In our opinion, the design shows Infinix’s courage to break away from the stereotype of gaming cellphone designs which so far seem fierce and busy with accents.
Gaming cellphones can also appear minimalist and elegant, thus accommodating game lovers with various hobbies and other interests, being productive and stylish.
The green appearance of the leather is also nicely matched with a gold frame with a shiny finish that looks sturdy. The camera panel is square with two different gold textures to accommodate three cameras and a ring light LED flash.
On the front, the 6.78-inch AMOLED screen looks beautiful with a 55 degree 3D curve on the side. The screen bezels look minimal, so the experience of watching videos and playing games is maximized.
The Infinix Note 40 Pro screen has FHD+ resolution with a peak brightness level of 1,300 nits. The refresh rate is adaptive according to needs, starting from 60Hz to 120Hz.
The screen has also been equipped with 5th generation Gorilla Glass protective glass which is more resistant to scratches and dings when dropped from a height of 1.2 meters.
The front camera of the Infinix Note 40 Pro has 32MP resolution and is placed in a punch hole housing like the majority of flagship cellphones on the market today.
Even though the screen size is quite large with leather textured material which is usually heavier, the weight of the Infinix Note 40 Pro is relatively light, namely 190 grams. No need to worry about your hands getting sore playing games for a long time.
MagCharge is hassle-free, but heats up quickly
Photo: Infinix NOTE 40 Pro profile (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)
Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Profile (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)
Well, the main feature on the Infinix Note 40 Pro is MagCharge. Users have received various MagKits in packaging boxes, namely MagCase and MagPower.
MagCase is a special case for connecting cellphones with MagPower and MagPad. MagPower is a magnetic power bank that can be relied on whenever you need to charge it when there is no plug.
In everyday scenarios, MagPower was our mainstay when testing the Infinix Note 40 Pro. Like power banks in general, you must first charge the MagPower with a USB-C charger.
In our experience, it doesn’t take long to charge the MagPower. Approximately 1 hour from empty, the light indicator will show MagPower is fully charged.
When the Infinix Note 40 Pro’s battery status is low, just attach MagPower to the back of the MagCase, and the battery will immediately charge at a speed of 20W. In approximately 2-3 hours, the cellphone battery can be charged around 40-50% using MagPower.
Unfortunately, MagPower cannot be used to charge the Infinix Note 40 Pro battery to 100%. Only about 40-50%, MagPower has run out of power and needs to be recharged.
Another note, MagPower tends to heat up quickly when attached to a cellphone while being used to watch and record videos, or play games.
For this reason, when using MagPower, it is best to leave your cellphone in standby mode. You can use your cell phone to chat or scroll social media, but don’t do strenuous activities.
Despite its shortcomings, MagPower is quite practical to carry everywhere because there is no need to worry about winding up cables. The size is also compact, so it doesn’t take up space in the bag.
Champion Battery Life
Photo: Infinix NOTE 40 Pro profile (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)
Infinix NOTE 40 Pro Profile (CNBC Indonesia/Tri Susilo)
The Infinix Note 40 Pro is equipped with a 5,000 mAh capacity battery. Infinix claims battery health will remain maintained for up to 1,600 full charge cycles. This figure has increased by 60% compared to the previous generation.
In the packaging box, a charging head and cable are provided for fast charging up to 70W. When connecting the charger to the USB-C port of the Infinix Note 40 Pro, users can choose the charging mode.
On paper, ‘Hyper’ mode can charge 50% in 16 minutes. While ‘Smart’ mode will charge 50% in 20 minutes. Smart mode is also said to be more stable for cellphone temperatures when charging.
In our experience, there is not a significant difference between ‘Hyper’ and ‘Smart’ mode, so we prefer to use ‘Smart’ mode by default.
Infinix says that after charging for 5 minutes in ‘Smart’ mode, the cellphone can be used to play games for up to 1.6 hours, make calls for 7.4 hours, play videos for 4.1 hours, and access digital maps for up to 1.8 hours.
Meanwhile, with ‘Hyper’ mode, users can play games for 20 hours, make calls for 9.3 hours, play videos for 5.1 hours, and access digital maps for 2.3 hours after charging for 5 minutes.
The battery life of the Infinix Note 40 Pro deserves a thumbs up. Based on our experience, when the cellphone is on standby it doesn’t need to be recharged for up to 5-6 days.
In fact, for daily use without playing games and playing videos intensely, the battery life can be up to 3 days.
If you play games actively for up to 2-3 hours every day and watch videos for around 1-2 hours, the battery will still last up to 1.5-2 days on a single charge. For those taking a short trip to the mountains or camping for 2 days, you don’t need to worry about having to recharge your cellphone.
The power efficiency of the Infinix Note 40 Pro is apparently supported by the X1 Cheetah chip which was developed internally by the company. It is claimed that this chip is capable of providing battery management efficiency of up to 204%.