Unboxing and first impressions for Infinix S2 Pro, Africa's first 'Wefie' smartphone

Infinix Nigeria recently launched the new Infinix S2 and S2Pro, the latest addition to its “S” line of lifestyle-focused devices. The S2 is a replacement for the Hot S, which launched in 2016, and it has Runtownas its product face, as well as a dual front-facing camera setup (which is the first of its kind, in Africa at least.)

The S2 Pro review unit I got came in a simple turquoise blue box with some device specs listed on it, a three quarter ratio diagram of the phone, and some telco stickers. Simple, straight to the point, uncluttered.

Inside the box, you’ll find the Infinix S2 Pro, a USB 2.0 cable, a power brick, earpiece, an extra screen protector, a cute little sim tray opener and the usual paperwork. Simple, straight to the point, and uncluttered as well.

The S2 Pro itself is not particularly exciting to look at. The design language here — as you may have noticed from the box and the contents in it — seems to be centred around simplicity and straightforwardness.

My review unit came in a purplish-grey tint with chrome accents around the chamfered edges as well as the antenna lines. It’s got an all-metal finish on the back with a 2.5D glass front and it feels well made with great build quality.

The S2 Pro is also quite thin and feels even thinner in my hands (P.S: I have big hands). It is also light — I can say for sure that it is lighter than the new Tecno Camon CX, although it doesn’t feel as well built as the Tecno.

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I don’t particularly like the camera bump on the back of the S2 Pro but it doesn’t affect the phones’ orientation when you place on a flat surface. The fingerprint scanner is right underneath the rear flash which is in turn under the camera.

The S2 Pro’s most talked-about feature is its dual front-facing camera. One of the lenses is an 8MP shooter while the other comes in at 13MP. I can’t say which of them is the wide-angle lens (I’m guessing the 13MP sensor) but the camera setup may just be my favorite feature of this smartphone. More on that in the full review.

Infinix has also layered Android 6.0 Marshmallow (I was expecting the newer Nougat) with its own XOSChameleon skin in the S2 Pro. I don’t really like the UX implementation here on first use, but that’s just me nitpicking. The average user wouldn’t mind. More on that in the full review as well.

Other features of the S2 Pro include 3GB RAM (which is good), 32GB of internal memory (also good), an octa-core processor and dual speaker grilles at the bottom of the phone.

First Take: I like how the S2 Pro feels in the hand and its simplistic, albeit unremarkable, design. I also like that wide-angle front-facing camera (I can’t wait to test it more) and it seems capable of handling almost any task I throw at it, at least for now. My only dislikes right now are the XOS skin and the camera bump. Should you buy the Infinix S2 Pro? I can’t say yet until I do a full review so watch out for that.