Overview
I do not have a track-record of being unnecessarily hyped by upcoming mobile devices, because most times they disappoint and it hurts real bad. However, the InnJoo Fire has thus far proved to be different, InnJoo has effectively given a very tough competition to other smartphone vendors targeting Nigeria’s emerging market.
InnJoo Fire is Nigeria-centric, in other words, the smartphone is specially designed for Nigerians who have proved to be heavy mobile users. Of course, this would mean that they require sophisticated internal components under the hood. Smartphones with such capability do exist, but they will cost an arm and a leg to proudly own one. That gap is what InnJoo has attempted to displace with the Fire smartphone. Did the company succeed or is it another Amazon Fire phone which ended up being an embarrassing flop? We will find out!
InnJoo silently entered the Nigeria mobile market a little over a year ago, it’s been quietly gaining traction with the brand, the One smartphone launched in the early part of 2015 was an aesthetically pleasing phone, which has now been complimented with the Fire smartphone that appears to be gaining surprise popularity across Nigeria.
Without wasting much time, let’s dive deep into the InnJoo Fire review.
Design
InnJoo Fire rocks a 5-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen, on direct sunlight it wasn’t that bad with auto brightness turned on. The display supports a resolution of 960 x 540. This is a minor let down, although complimented by other features that makes the smartphone value for money.
On the design side, InnJoo Fire comes with multiple colours – classic black, elegant white, luxury gold, and natural bamboo yellow. The device has a firm grip and offers standard buttons. The power button is located at the left side of the device, while the volume rocker key can be found just at the right side of the smartphone.
The back is removable, which reveals the battery, dual SIM ports, and microSD slot. What else? The shell looks pleasing at first sight, made of Poly Carbonate. The rounded edges like what’s available on the BlackBerry Z30 make the Fire smartphone really cool and “premium-alike.”
Camera
Let me pause to say that InnJoo Fire doesn’t have one of the best camera out there, the rear and front-facing camera is slammed with a 5 MP sensor. I do not know if the rear camera was sacrificed to compliment for the front-facing camera which does output impressive selifes with great composition.
The 5 MP rear camera is well position at the back, top edge of the smartphone. It is accompanied with dual LED flaglight.
Despite having 5 MP shutter camera, I have little or nothing to complain about the Fire smartphone since images taken passed the average mark. However, if you insist on getting more megapixels which doesn’t really equate to better image quality, then this smartphone is not for you. You may have to get the InnJoo One which has an impressive 13 MP sensor.
Connectivity
InnJoo didn’t include a 4G radio on the smartphone. You will be limited to 3G connectivity. In exception of Lagos, 4G hasn’t really taken off in Nigeria, so this should really not be much of a problem.
Before you insist on 4G, you have to know that LTE connectivity is a battery drainer. In Nigeria, turning on the 4G network, if available, could be disastrous considering the poor power infrastructure.
Unlike established markets, where power is uninterrupted, no one really cares much about battery issues because there is always a wall socket to hug. Haha.. If you know what I mean..
The smartphone doesn’t come with NFC, you don’t expect that. Do you? There is WiFi and Bluetooth to make your connectivity issues easy, however.
See: InnJoo Fire Full Features And Specifications
Processor And RAM
This is where InnJoo Fire scores high. The smartphone is powered by Mediatek quad-core chipset clocked at 1.3GHz. It effectively uses Mali-400 GPU, coupled with an unbelievable 2 GB RAM. Surely, that wasn’t a typo. It’s a massive 2 GB RAM slammed in this pretty device.
These internal components under-the-hood does the give the smartphone speed and power, the performance in greatly enhanced for multi-tasking and gaming without lag. The new-gen GPU also complements with better colour display.
The 2 GB RAM slammed on this device makes the smartphone the new king of mid-range devices in Nigeria. It’s affordability, speed and performance blows other smartphones out-of-the-water.
Storage And Operating System
This isn’t one of those ridiculous smartphones with 8 GB internal memory. I mean, InnJoo does almost everything right with the InnJoo Fire while keeping the smartphone under N20,000 ($90). It blows my mind seeing what the mobile vendor could achieve, using quality materials and offering the device at a very cheap price. You have to forgive me if I am over-stretching the price-tag. I just feel like I have to lay more emphases on it, because the price tag was never anticipated, considering there are other smartphones which can’t pull-off these kind of specifications but enjoy a fairly high price tag.
On the Fire smartphone, you have 16 GB of internal memory which could further be expanded via microSD cards. The max that can be accepted at this time is 32 GB external storage.
InnJoo Fire runs on Android 4.4 kitkat, implementing its custom UI called InnUI, it provides stylish lock-screen animations and lots of other features. There is load of built-in apps on the device which can immediately keep you busy one your first usage.
Battery
There is a 2500mAh battery available to you, which can be revealed when you remove the back cover.
The battery is further optimised by InnUI with built-in power saving options that ensures you get the most out of your smartphone.
There is no quick charge option available, it takes longer time to charge, but battery drains when on 3G. This is exactly where I have a problem. The battery isn’t branded, so it’s difficult to really confirm if it matches what was given to us as the battery capacity.
Conclusion
InnJoo Fire has ended the mediocre specifications available to mid-rang smartphones designed for emerging markets.
With 2 GB RAM, you get optimal performance and enough resources for gaming, which is further enhanced by it quad-core processor and GPU.
The smartphone is 8.9 mm thick and weighs only 162g.
For me, what dropped my jaw is the sweet price spot. The price tag complimented for some features that were under-looked. This surely helped the InnJoo Fire gain higher review score.
No doubt, the Nigeria mobile market has just been rejuvenated and it’s the InnJoo Fire that has made that feat entirely possible.
Buy InnJoo Smartphones From: Jumia | Konga
Last Updated July 23, 2015: Changed review score from 8 to 7.
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2 Comments
Andy Smith
Hi,
I have bought one of these and I am very disappointed.
1. Youtube crashes.
2. you cannot install the latest youtube from PlayStore
3. you cannot choose which sim card will have 3g dynamically…have to physically swap sim cards
4. touch screen is inconsistent
5 complains of getting too hot while charging at 32 degrees C ambient temperature
6. Support from [email protected] is non existant.
I cannot recommend this phone.
Andy
Mohammed
A friend of mine bought the phone and the design looks slick. I did like the phone.