The Itel S24 was launched in a single 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant at Rs 9,999. It comes in Dawn White and Starry Black colour options and I got the white colour variant. The box includes the handset along with a charging brick (18W), charging cable, a TPU case and a user manual. The quality of the transparent case was above average, but it is definitely likely to yellow over time. Itel is also promising a one-time free screen replacement (within 100 days) with this phone.
Well, let me start with the features without further ado. The first thing that caught my attention at this price was its color changing panel, which changes from white to pink when exposed to sunlight or UV light. Of course, this is not a practical feature, but its inclusion at such a low price is a good add-on. The panel appears to be a glass finish, but it is actually made of polycarbonate. Weighing 192 grams, it may not be light, but the weight distribution in the body has been done well, due to which it does not feel too heavy in the hand. Same is the case with the build, where the smartphone is relatively thick at 8.3 mm thickness, but due to the raised display on top of the thin frame, it looks slim.
As we mentioned above, itel S23 Compared to itel, itel has made many changes in the new handset. The new model gets a large circular camera island on the back panel, surrounded by a golden color ring. At the same time, a hole-punch cutout has been included for the selfie camera on the display on the front. The right side of the metal finish plastic frame has a power button, which is equipped with a fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone. Just above it are the volume rockers. The placement is the right place, where I did not have to struggle much to reach. The left side has a SIM tray, in which a microSD card can also be installed along with two SIMs. The frame has a Type-C port at the bottom, 3.5 mm headphone jack, a speaker grill with mic and another small speaker grill at the top. The presence of dual speakers is also a good add-on at this price.
The itel S24 runs on a custom skin based on Android 13. On first boot, I found a lot of bloatware, most of which could have been removed. Within a short time of use, I found myself spammed with notifications by native apps. If you are already an itel smartphone user, there is nothing new in the UI for you and even if you switch from another smartphone, it won’t take you much time to adapt to its UI.
The itel S24 has a 6.6-inch HD+ (720 x 1,612 pixels) IPS display, which supports a 90Hz refresh rate. The company claims that the panel supports a peak brightness level of 480 nits. The presence of an AMOLED panel here would have enhanced the display quality, but at this price it cannot be taken as a complaint. During my use for some time, I found that the display performs well in indoor usage. The colors in the content were vivid and the brightness was also sufficient. However, there was some difficulty in viewing the content in case of direct sunlight on the display. It also has a ‘Dynamic Bar’ feature, which is similar to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, but with a big difference in functionality. In the itel S24, this feature shows you basic notifications around the selfie camera and shows animations when unlocking the phone.
Instead of the UniSoC T603 processor in the S23, itel has upgraded the S24 with a more powerful MediaTek Helio G91 chipset. The chipset was launched in February this year. Built on a 12nm process, the new chipset claims to be capable of budget gaming. However, due to the short time I spent with the phone, I did not test its gaming capabilities. It gets 8GB of RAM, which can be expanded by another 8GB virtually via memory fusion technology, after which you will have a total of 16GB of RAM. Without enabling virtual RAM, the phone performed tasks like basic scrolling, app loading and switching between apps without any hassle. Some heavy apps took a little longer to load. However, the true potential of the chipset can only be known by putting the phone through all kinds of usage.
Another big feature of the itel S24 is the 108-megapixel Samsung HM6 ISOCELL sensor with electronic image stabilization (EIS) support. Its presence in the sub-Rs 10,000 category is impressive. Although I did not get much chance to play with the camera, but I took some pictures in daylight, which were worth sharing directly on social media. The second camera in the dual camera unit is a QVGA depth sensor. At the same time, there is an 8-megapixel selfie shooter on the front, which took some good selfies in daylight, but the performance was not consistent. Videos can be recorded up to 2K resolution at 30fps from both the rear and front cameras.
The camera app was simple and easy to use. The main screen of the app has options like AI Cam, Video, Portrait, Super Night and other options can be accessed through More. I did not notice any kind of shutter lag in it. The camera also supports features like Pro mode, document scanner, slow motion, time-lapse, dual video.
The itel S24 has a 5000mAh battery that supports 18W charging. The charging brick is available in the box. Although I did not put the battery through testing, it should last a full day on a full charge with normal usage. Apart from this, with 18W charging output, this battery should also take more than 2 hours to fully charge.
overall, itel S24 The smartphone has the power to stand out from the competition at a price of Rs 9,999. The phone has everything that we would expect from a smartphone at this price. A colour-changing panel, 108-megapixel camera, dual speakers and attractive design are some of the elements that many of the competing models miss out on at this price. Of course, I spent very little time with this phone, so it should also be kept in mind that conditions are likely to change in long-term usage.