Itel S42 Review

Transsion Holdings owns brands like Itel, Tecno, Infinix, Spice and Oramo. Each brand has its own product and audience. But the company launches them from time to time according to the market. Itel is an offline only brand, which aims to reach people in cities as well as emerging areas. That is why people may not have seen this brand much while shopping online. Anyway, Lyf is the second biggest player in the Indian feature phone market.

The company expects that a large number of people will buy phones other than through 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 the new Itel S42 flagship smartphone, which is priced at Rs 8,499. It will compete directly with Xiaomi Redmi 5. We were eagerly waiting to know how much better is Xiaomi Redmi 5 than Itel S42? Or are both the phones better in their own places?

Itel S42 Design

Itel has started offering 18:9 aspect ratio this time. However, almost every company is doing this now. One more thing caught our attention. The phone is not as ‘shiny’ as it looked on the box. The borders around the screen are not that thin. The advertisements etc. claim that the phone has an ultra slim bezel design. But in reality it is not so. There is a disclaimer on the back, which says that the pictures are for representation only, the actual product may be different.

However, the phone doesn’t look that bad. The front look is attractive. The front camera, flash and earpiece are above the screen. The display has 2.5D curved edge glass protection. Which gives it a slightly odd look. The screen has curved edges, which you will find only in expensive phones these days.

The first special thing we saw on the back of the phone is a camera like the iPhone X. There is only one camera, the second hole is actually the flash. The hand can easily reach the fingerprint sensor.

The rear panel is made of metal. There is plastic on the top and bottom. Unfortunately, the front and rear are prone to fingerprints. These marks are also clearly visible. The phone feels a bit raised on a table or flat surface due to the camera bump.

We found that the power and volume buttons are placed on the right side of the handset. These are easily accessible. The SIM tray is on the left side. There is a separate slot for the microSD card. There are speakers near the USB port at the bottom. Only one speaker is placed on the right side. The 3.55 mm audio jack is on 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. After wearing the case that comes with the phone, it will become a little thick but the problem of fingerprints will be eliminated.

Itel S42 specifications and software

Itel will compete with Xiaomi, Lenovo and Samsung. For this, Itel will have the challenge of providing 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.

The battery capacity is 3000 mAh. The front and rear cameras are of 13 megapixels. The user will get fixed focus and flash in the front camera. At the same time, there is phase detection autofocus and standard dual LED flash in the rear.

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. Along with this, you will also find some apps whose names you may not have even heard of.

Itel S42 performance, camera and battery

We found that the Itel S42 smartphone has several lags. For example, the camera shortcut on the lock screen does not work, unnecessary sound is played while exiting a game or app. At the same time, the English translations are also not very good as far as the UI is concerned. Apart from all this, it is possible to remove minor flaws through software updates. This is a fine phone for general use.

The color control on the screen is good. Text is good and we enjoyed watching videos on it. The speaker volume can be made very loud but it starts to crack. Music does not sound good on the loudspeaker. But it is good only for listening to dialogues. The bundled handsets are fine but their rubber can bother you. The face recognition feature was quite fast but unfortunately it is too fast. 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 emits white light (flash) in the dark. It is just like a screen flash. Initially, we wondered why other companies did not come up with this idea but soon we understood the reason behind it. Screens look dim in the dark. But whenever we used the phone at night, it seemed to be emitting too much light. Even when we checked the time and notifications, it was emitting very bright light.

Coming to the camera performance, the handset took good shots. These were quite good for a budget phone. The pictures were not that clear. They were getting blurred when opened on a monitor or a big screen. However, the colours are better. Closeup shots were clear. The video runs at 720 pixels by default. But it goes up to 1080 pixels with the front and rear cameras. The video quality can be termed as just okay.

The 13-megapixel front camera and front flash are helpful. You will usually find this in the same price range. Selfies came out well. You can post them on social media without hesitation. The front flash has enough light. In the name of beautification, it has a celebrity makeup mode. Along with this, you will also be able to do face transformation in it.

The battery of Itel S42 is good. The phone easily lasts from morning to evening on a single charge. This also included some gaming, web browsing and video streaming. As a budget phone, the performance cannot be called bad. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted for 10 hours and 10 minutes.

Decision

Priced at Rs 8,499, the Itel S42 shares many features with the Xiaomi Redmi 5. The Itel S42 has a less powerful processor. There are no options in terms of storage and RAM either. The looks are not that great and the Android customization is also not as good as MIUI. However, the Itel S42 brings a more up-to-date version of Android, has a separate slot for microSD card, has a front flash.

Talking about both the phones, Redmi 5 is much better. However, it is not right to compare both the phones because Itel is a completely offline brand, while Redmi 5 is available both at Mi Store and online. Itel is working hard to gain an edge in the offline market. There is also a fear that the company is limiting customers in this way. Overall, S42 is a strong budget phone. If Itel succeeds in capitalizing on the features of the phone in the market, then it will be a big thing in itself.