Hands-On : Innjoo Fire Review

Its not everyday that you see a well designed 2GB RAM entry-level smartphone , Selling for just #17,700 naira (less than $100) ; at least not here in Nigeria. Its been over 72hours since I unboxed the Innjoo Fire Smartphone and it has been my daily driver ever since then. Here is what you should about this hot selling Smartphone.

Innjoo Fire Key Specs

•Dual SIM.

•5.0inch Capacitive touch screen.

•2GB RAM.

•16GB Internal Memory

•Android 4.4.2Kitkat with InnOs and InnUI.

•5MP Front and Back Camera

•2500mAh Battery.

The Display and Design

Innjoo Fire has a 5.0 inch , 540 x 960 Capacitive touch screen that delivers superb display. It has an Impressive design with removeable back cover , Unlike the Innjoo One that is Unibody. The design on Innjoo Fire is a combination of Both metal and Plastic. It has Nice , Shiny , metallic edges but the back cover is made of Plastic. The body is a little bit slim and it dosent feel too heavy on Hand despite the metal finishing. Fits the pocket well.

Hands on , You will notice the neat arrangement of buttons and charging point. Innjoo Separated them on different sides if the body. The volume and power buttons are separate on the Left and right side of the body(respectively) , making it easier to take screenshots with just one hand. The charging point is positioned at the bottom while the earpiece jack is at the top.

The sim slots are inside the phone , which means you will have to switch off before swapping sims. I was very disappointed at the fact that both Sim 1 and Sim 2 supports only Micro SIM Size. I had to cut my Sim before it could fit in. That aside , Everything is okay.

I noticed Something odd. (I don’t know if it is a general thing or just me). There was No Branding on the Battery. No name whatsoever. It was just plain White. I found it difficult to verify the actual battery capacity.

Operating System and User interface.

Innjoo Fire runs Android 4.4.2 Kitkat Os , Laced with Innjoo’s trademark InnOs and InnUI. I like the fact that there is not much pre-installed apps (Bloatwares). However , the overall user experience is distasteful. Half Jellybean half KitKat.

•The Icons are Flat and arranged in Grid format but There is no app drawer. All the apps can be accessed by just swiping your default home screen. The “InnUI” is responsible for this. But thankfully , you can change it by installing your favourite launcher , Preferably Nova Launcher

•The Notifications Tray Looks like Jellybean. At some point , I wondered if this is really a 4.4KitKat Device.

•The Network Signal is coloured. I would have preferred it to be white. Just like the battery icon.

•The music interface is too Plain.

In the near future , I expect Innjoo to stick with the default Android Kitkat UI , since they cannot properly tweak the interface to give it a better look.

Hardware Performance

With Mediatek quad-core chipset clocked at 1.3GHz and 2GB RAM , one will expect seamless performance. Innjoo fire handled multitasking pretty well. I had no difficulty opening and closing apps , No lagging . But When I ran Antutu Benchmark Test , it scored 18241 points , far below my expectation.

How does it perform when pitched against other Smartphones?

I pitched it against 3 Smartphones. The results are interesting.

•Innjoo Fire vs Infinix Hot X507

Here , Innjoo fire edges out slightly with less than 1000points.

•Innjoo Fire vs Tecno H6

Innjoo fire also won this with less than 1000points.

•Innjoo Fire vs Infinix X551 (Hot Note)

Here , Infinix Hot Note won with well over 8,000points.

The Gaming Experience is okay. I’m not a game freak but I was able to try out Beach Buggy Racing.

Battery Life

Innjoo Fire has 2500mAh Removeable battery. I was able to get 8hours of heavy useage. If you’re not a heavy user , you will probably get a full day without charge.

I noticed the phone heats up a little bit during heavy useage. I used Battery temperature app to monitor the temperature.

Multitasking

If you’re using this smartphone for the first time , you will notice that multitasking is different. This is because multitasking button is not the default “Home” button you’re used to.

To multitask on Innjoo Fire , hold down the left button on your display( – Button) for few seconds.

Call / Speaker Quality

The call quality is decent. I had no problem making and receiving calls. The back speaker is okay too , but the highest volume isnt loud enough. Even in an open space , standing few meters away , I could barely hear the sound of music from my smartphone. While on Earphones , the noise from outside kept interfering with what I was listening too.

Camera

The 5MP back camera on Innjoo fire shoots decent photos. I observed that you’ll need to ensure your hands are stable enough as there is no OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) on the camera. Here are some shots I took with the Back camera.

There is also a 5MP camera at the front. Good for selfies and Video Call.

My Verdict

Innjoo fire is a Nice Smartphone that worth the price. Kudos to Innjoo for giving Nigerians a chance to own a decent smartphone at a giveaway price.

If you want a copy , you can Buy it on Jumia for just #17,700 only.