With the current wave of competition in the smartphone market, a manufacturer can’t expect to survive if they are not innovating to meet needs of the consumer.
And lately, a side from outside looks of the phone and a few inner specifications, consumer interests seem to be majorly tending to phone cameras, and battery life.
This, itel Mobile has provided an answer to, with their latest release in the Power Series, the itel P33 which was launched earlier in April.
I have been using this phone for the last couple of days and despite a few flaws which I will highlight in this article, I would recommend the phone because of the specifications and features you get vis a vis how much you pay for it.
At a retail price of Shs. 270,000, you will get;
– 8MP dual rear camera
– HD+ 5.5’ inch display
– 16GB storage (Expandable by use of SD card)
– Fingerprint scanner (multi-purpose)
– Face Unlock
– 4000mAh battery (lasts close to 80hours under normal use)
Review
For starters, the device has no app drawer, so all the apps will be displayed on the screen (Just like on the iPhone)
I am not complaining about this although if you like to draw your apps, I recommend you install a launcher. There are quite a number of them on the Google play store.
There are advancements on its icons with animations that bring a whole new life to their display. You might not notice this quickly but if you pay attention to your icons, you will see it.
Performance
It’s performance is not bad due to an optimized Android 8.1 (Go edition). Google designed this OS to enhance performance of apps on devices with a low RAM.
Despite having 1GB RAM, if you use lite versions of apps, you will get a thrilling experience.
For all these entry level smartphones with the Android Go edition, I would advise that you install the lite versions of apps because their performance will get affected when you use the heavy versions.
Camera
Unlike its predecessor, the itel P33 brings an improvement on the cameras. Its dual rear camera has an 8MP primary lens contrary to the P32 which had 5MP.
In both the cameras however, I don’t seem to see the difference brought about by the assistant camera. I covered the assistant camera lens and there was no notable difference in the quality of the picture taken.
Covering the primary camera lens however will give you a red screen as you try to take a picture.
It has a 5MP selfie camera which also brings out sharp images.
Battery.
The itel P33’s battery is its main selling point.
The 4000mAh cell lasts very long under normal usage. If you are the kind that doesn’t want to charge now and then, this is the phone you want to buy.
There is however a low point for me on its charging duration because it takes long to come from 0 to 100%.
But because you are sure of how long that battery will last and the fact that it doesn’t heat up while charging, that is a compromise one can allow.
Other exciting features about the device
Face unlock feature
You can only add one face to this feature making sure only the owner’s face gets access to the contents of the device.
The feature is enabled by the selfie camera.
Finger print sensor
Like all other devices, the finger print sensor on the itel P33 is positioned for the index finger to fit very well.
It has over 8 functions but during my review period, I used a few of them including; unlocking the phone, App lock, taking a photo, answering a call, recording a call, stopping the alarm clock, recording a video and launching some apps.
All in all, the itel P33 is an impressive phone especially for its price and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to enjoy the smartphone experience at an affordable price.
