The company hopes that a large number of people will buy phones even beyond e-commerce. The company has said that many customers not only want to test the phone while buying it, but they also want the shopkeeper to give them assurance about the phone. Today, Itel has more than 30 smartphones and low-cost feature phones available.
The company has now launched a new Itel S42 flagship smartphone brought down Which is priced at Rs 8,499. compete with it directly Xiaomi Redmi 5 Will be from. We were eagerly curious to know how better Xiaomi Redmi 5 is than Itel S42? Or both the phones are better in their respective places?
Itel S42 Design
This time Itel has started giving 18:9 aspect ratio. However, almost every company is doing this now. Our attention was drawn to something else. The phone is actually not as ‘shiny’ as it looked on the box. The borders around the screen are not that thin. It has been claimed in advertisements etc. that the phone has an ultra slim bezel design. But in reality it is not so much. There is a disclaimer on the back which says that the pictures are for representation only, the actual product may differ.
The phone doesn’t look that bad though. The front look is attractive. The front camera, flash and earpiece are above the screen. The display is protected by 2.5D curved edge glass. Which gives it a slightly strange look. The screen has curved edges, which you will find only in expensive phones these days.
The first special thing that we saw in the back of the phone is that iPhone X Like camera. There is only one camera, the other hole is actually the flash. The hand reaches the fingerprint sensor easily.
The rear panel is made of metal. Plastic is provided at the top and bottom. Unfortunately, the front and rear are easily prone to fingerprints. These marks are also clearly visible. The phone appears to be slightly raised due to the camera bump on a table or flat surface.
We found that the power and volume buttons are placed on the right side of the handset. The hand can easily reach these. The SIM tray is on the left. There is a separate slot for microSD card. Below are the speakers near the USB port. Only one speaker is given on the right side. The 3.55 mm audio jack is at the top. However, the edges prick the fingers.
Itel S42 is lightweight. We did not face any problem in holding the phone for a long time. The case that comes with the phone will make it a little thicker but the problem of fingerprints will go away.
Itel S42 specifications and software
Itel will compete with Xiaomi, Lenovo and Samsung. For this, Itel will be challenged to provide better specifications. 5.65 inch, 18:9 screen, quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, 3 GB RAM and 16 GB storage. This dual SIM phone comes with micro SD card support. Also it is possible to increase the storage up to 128 GB.
Battery capacity is 3000 mAh. Front and rear cameras are 13 megapixels. In the front camera, the user will get fixed focus and flash. At the rear, there is phase detection autofocus and standard dual LED flash.
We liked that the phone runs on Android 8.0. The security unit is also up to date. Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp will be pre-installed in the phone. Besides, some such apps will also be found in it whose names you may not have even heard of.
Itel S42 performance, camera and battery
We found that the Itel S42 smartphone faces glitches at several places. For example, the camera shortcut on the lock screen doesn’t work, or there’s unnecessary sound when exiting a game or app. At the same time, the English translation is also not any better in terms of UI. Apart from all this, it is possible to remove minor bugs through software updates. This is a fine phone for general use.
The control of colors in the screen is better. The texts are good and we liked watching the videos. The volume of the speaker can be made extremely loud but it tends to crackle. Music does not sound good in loudspeaker. But it is better only till you hear the dialogue. The handsets that come with it are fine but their rubber may irritate you. The face recognition feature was quite fast but alas, it is faster than necessary. It unlocked the phone with closed eyes and half face. Its UI also warns that the phone’s face recognition feature is not very secure.
Interestingly, the phone automatically gives white light (flash) in the dark. This is similar to total screen flash. Initially we wondered why this idea did not come to other companies but soon we understood the reason behind it. Dimmed screens look better in the dark. But whenever we used the phone at night, there was too much light in it. Even while checking time and notifications, it was giving very bright light.
Talking about camera performance, the handset took better shots. These were quite good for a budget phone. The pictures did not come out that clear. These were getting blurred when opened on monitor or big screen. However, the colors are better. The close-up shots came out clearly. The video automatically plays at 720 pixels by default. But with front and rear cameras it goes up to 1080 pixels. Video quality will be considered decent.
The 13-megapixel front camera and front flash are helpful. You will generally find it in the same price range. Selfies came out better. You can feel free to post these on social media. The front flash has plenty of light. In the name of beautification, it has celebrity makeup mode. You will also be able to do face transformation in it.
Itel S42 has better battery. The phone runs smoothly from morning to evening with a single charge. This also included some gaming, web browsing and video streaming. As a budget phone, the performance cannot be called bad. The phone lasted 10 hours and 10 minutes in our HD video loop test.
Decision
Priced at Rs 8,499, the Itel S42 shares many features with the Xiaomi Redmi 5. Itel S42 has a less powerful processor. There are no options in terms of storage and RAM either. Looks are not that great and Android customization is also not as good as MIUI. However, the Itel S42 brings a more up-to-date version of Android, has a dedicated microSD card slot, and a front flash.
Talking about both the phones, Redmi 5 is better. However, it is not right to compare the two phones because itel is a completely offline brand, whereas Redmi 5M is available both in stores and online. Itel is working hard to gain ground in the offline market. There is also a fear that the company is limiting customers in this way. Overall, the S42 is a strong budget phone. If Itel is successful in capitalizing on the features of the phone in the market, then it will be a big thing in itself.