Innjoo Fire Pro Review: Everything you need to know

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The Innjoo Fire Pro is the latest Innjoo offering to hit the Kenyan market. The Innjoo Brand is relatively new in Kenya and with that I have been getting query after query from a section of my readers on my thoughts about their smartphones.

Fortunately, I was able to get hold of the Innjoo Fire Pro and the smartphone offered my first impressions on what the Dubai Based smartphone vendor has to offer.

Without any much further ado, here is the value the Innjoo Fire Pro offers.

Innjoo Fire Pro unboxing

One of the striking things about the Innjoo Fire Pro is its packaging.

In my mind i pictured just a basic packaging concept that will save on the smartphone’s bill of material, but once I saw the actual packaging I was really impressed.

The Innjoo Fire Pro comes in a large box and you have to slide out the inner slightly smaller box to get the smartphone and its contents out.

Inside the box you will find

Innjoo Fire Pro

AC Charger

Earphones

User Guide

I didn’t really understand the psychology behind the generous packaging, but hey, the packaging concept worked excellently at giving out an impression of worth (that indeed could be the main purpose) .

Injoo Fire Pro Technical Specifications

Display

Display Size: 5.0 inches

Display Type: IPS capacitive touchscreen

Screen Resolution: 720 x 1280 pixels

Screen Resolution Density: 294 ppi

Screen Protection: None

The Innjoo Fire Pro boasts of a 5.0-inch IPS LCD display. The display isn’t exactly a high-end one, but it scores high in terms of its vibrancy.

Its 720 x 1280 pixels resolution works well in giving the smartphone decent clarity especially in the indoors.

The color saturation of the display is, however, its biggest flaw. The display struggles to display colors with a fine precision. I don’t consider this a deal breaker at all but this has a potential to be an issue, especially for smartphone users accustomed to a Full HD Amoled display.

Related: Amoled Displays vs. LCD Displays

The display has no form of screen protection and thus you will have to shop for a screen protector in order keep scratches at bay.

The Innjoo Fire Pro performs well under direct sunlight and its visibility is satisfactory. The viewing angles are also super and I can’t really complain much about that.

Design

Frame Dimensions: 140 x 71 x 9.45 mm

Weight: 129g

Innjoo must have taken a great deal of time in the design of the Fire Pro. The first thing you will appreciate about the Fire Pro is the design concept.

You get a slightly curved rear cover which makes the smartphone fit into your palms perfectly. The ergonomic design of the smartphone also makes one-handed operations a breeze. You can see from some of my shots that you can easily reach the furthest corner of the Fire Pro display with your thumb.

This was really important as it was important as the power button is placed on the top right edge of the smartphone.

The smartphone is all plastic, but a chrome-like rim that goes round the smartphone looks a lot like metal but it’s actually plastic. The Gun Metal Exterior colour of our review unit can easily convince you that the smartphone has a metallic construction.

If you are however, after an all metal construction, you should definitely check out the Innjoo One.

Performance

Operating System: Android 5.0 Lollipop

CPU: MTK Quad-Core 1.3GHz

RAM: 2 GB

Internal Memory: 16 GB

Micro SD: Yes, up to 128 GB

First things first, the Innjoo Fire Pro runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box. This is kind of a big deal since it makes the device your cheapest option if you wish the use the latest available version of Android.

Second is that the phone is 4G LTE ready. With this feature you have the opportunity to access high speed internet connectivity that Safaricom currently offers in Nairobi and some part of Mombasa.

Related: What you need to know about Safaricom’s Advanced 4G LTE Network

The Smartphone has a Dual SIM Card slot and with this, you get the opportunity to use Safaricom’s 4G Data for your internet and the other slot to use the more affordable Airtel/Orange voice services.

Onto the stats for the nerds. The Innjoo Fire performance is first rate considering its ultra-low price tag. The CPU might be a Quad-core (64-bit), but it still provides all that is required to power up the smartphone.

You get some 16 GB of internal memory for your files plus a micro SD slot that can support a micro SD card slot of up to 128 GB.

One of the striking things about the smartphone is its fluid performance. I attributed this to the 2GB RAM, but I later found out there is a lot more to that. I got curious and ran an Anntuntu benchmark comparison between the Innjoo Fire Pro and the current best smartphone on the planet, the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 obliterated (as I expected) the Fire Pro in almost every aspect. But what caught my eye was that the Fire Pro actually had a faster RAM speed than that of the Galaxy S5.

This is kind of a big deal, but it settled my quest to understand the reason behind the smartphone’s flawless multi-tasking performance.

What i didn’t like about the Injoo Fire Pro is that it comes with a lot of bloatware. By bloatware i mean all those apps that come pre-installed on your smartphone that you don’t really need. For instance, you get the Souq Android App with the Innjoo Pro. The App is only useful if you live in the Middle East.

I am into minimalist living and it does grind my gears to find dozens of Apps that i don’t really need.

Music and Video Playback

The Music Player of the Innjoo Fire Pro is pretty much stock and is almost identical to what you find on other Android smartphones. Music Playback on the Fire Pro via the external speakers is awesome mainly due to the placement of the speakers at the bottom rather than the sides of the smartphone.

The video player is neat and lightweight. The Innjoo Fire Pro was able to play the Full HD 1080p files with no stutters whatsoever.

Camera

Rear Camera: 8 MP

Secondary Camera: 5 MP

LED Flash: Yes

It is a typical marketing gimmick for some budget smartphones to have a camera that looks good on paper but completely disappoints when put into action.

The performance of the Innjoo Fire Pro 8 MP camera is dependent on the prevailing light conditions and lightly on your knowledge about smartphone photography.

The camera struggles to perform in the indoors (even under artificial lighting) but it captures some impressive shots when you capture images under natural light.

Here are some of the best shots I was able to capture with the Innjoo Fire Pro.

Battery and Extras

Battery Capacity: Li-Po 2500 mAh

The Innjoo Fire Pro boosts of a 2500 mAh battery. It was rather a necessity for the smartphone to sport such a capacity considering that it is a 4G Smartphone.

The smartphone lasted for about a day and a half on the 3G network and I will update this article to reflect its performance on a continuous 4G LTE connection.

Otherwise, there is nothing disappointing about its battery performance.

Extras

4G Connectivity

Dual SIM

Verdict

Brand value determines most of the smartphone purchasing decisions.

I recently had a discussion with one of my colleague and she was of the opinion that she would rather spend extra on a smartphone (with mediocre specs) from an established Brand than to spend less on a smartphone (with superior specs) from an upcoming brand. A Kenyan Mobile Tech Blogger also penned his outlook about buying an Innjoo device.

I do respect that perspective but just like everything else, you simply go for what you are certain delivers value.

The Innjoo Fire Pro was the first Innjoo device I have used and my initial impression about the brand is very much positive. If this is what Innjoo can offer for a Ksh 11,999 price tag, i wonder what these guys can offer on a high-end price tag.

I can’t really pinpoint the deal breaker features of the Fire Pro because its overall performance is impressive. All I can say is that if brand value doesn’t rank high on your priority list and the quest for 4G connectivity is of great importance, I do recommend the Innjoo Fire Pro.

Why you should buy the Innjoo Fire Pro

Awesome Display Specifications

Great Design Concept

Impressive Technical Performance

Grand Battery Performance

Cons of the Innjoo Fire Pro

Low Brand Value

Unimpressive Camera Perfomance

Rivals of the Injoo Fire Pro

The closest rival of the Innjoo Fire Pro is the Samsung Galaxy J1 4G. It’s really embarrassing to compare them side to side but, hey, the J1 still rocks.

Price in Kenya

The Innjoo Fire Pro has a suggested retail price of Ksh. 11,999.

Be awesome and rate the Innjoo Fire Pro