Review Summary
Expert Rating
Itel is one of the few smartphone brands in India with a keen focus on the budget segment. The brand has now unveiled a new addition to its affordable lineup in India, the itel S24, which is the successor to the itel S23 launched in 2023. The latest S-series smartphone boasts an upgraded chipset and better cameras, and appears poised to take on other competitors in the budget space. The question remains, however, whether the device is capable enough in real life. Let’s find out in this itel S24 review.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The itel S24 is an ideal smartphone for users who want an affordable yet capable device that delivers on key essentials. It offers a good multimedia experience with its large display, paired with impressive stereo speakers with DTS support, reliable battery life, sleek design, and good daylight cameras. On the flip side, it doesn’t offer 5G support, and the performance is a bit lacking.
Design & display
The itel S24 carries a simple yet elegant design, with a shimmery white rear panel that the brand calls ‘Dawn White’ and a large circular camera deco placed off centre. The panel has a glossy finish, which naturally attracts some fingerprints and smudges, but the colour scheme helps mask them well, so they aren’t visible unless viewed from an angle.
Itel claims the panel incorporates colour-changing technology, which changes the rear panel’s colour under direct sunlight. I tested it out, and it certainly works, turning the rear panel’s white hue into a soft pink, similar to the colour of a Sakura blossom. The right edge houses the volume and power button, which doubles as a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and swiftly unlocks the device. The SIM card tray is placed along the left edge. You can find the Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a speaker grille on the bottom edge of the smartphone, while the other speaker grille is situated on the top edge. The smartphone is comfortable to hold in the hand and weighs about 194g.
For visuals, the smartphone features a 6.56-inch IPS LCD display with HD+ resolution (720 x 1612 pixels), 480 nits of peak brightness, and a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz. The display comes with a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera and thin bezels around the edges, with thicker bezels towards the bottom of the panel.
The display is sufficiently bright for indoor use, but the brightness feels lacking when you’re outdoors, especially at noon. The panel offers a satisfactory visual experience, which is elevated by the impressive stereo speakers, which offer DTS support. While the 90Hz refresh rate feels smooth, there are other smartphones available in the price range that now offer 120Hz refresh rate.
Cameras
The itel S24 comes with an upgraded primary camera compared to the itel S23. The new device features a 108MP Samsung HM6 ISOCELL primary camera with an aperture size of f/1.6, paired with an AI lens. At the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera. The camera takes good daylight images but tends to overexpose them in bright surroundings. There’s a dedicated 108MP mode to capture more detailed images, resulting in slightly better images with more details and balanced exposure levels. Here’s a comparison with the Moto G24 Power, another popular budget smartphone.
Both the itel S24 and Moto G24 Power offer nearly identical levels of detail and dynamic range in their photos. The key difference lies in their colour grading: the Moto G24 Power slightly boosts colours and leans towards a cooler hue, while the itel S24 favours slightly warmer tones. In this case, the itel S24 more closely represented the actual scene.
The low-light camera performance of the itel S24 is not on par with its daylight performance, but it is satisfactory given its price. With the super night mode enabled, the images do gain extra illumination, but this comes at the cost of details. The sharpness levels are low, and there is significant lens flare in low-light images. Selfies perform similarly, with pleasing daylight images but less appealing low-light results.
Performance and software
The MediaTek Helio G91 processor powers the itel S24, paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The RAM can be extended by an additional 8GB using the MEM fusion feature. When it comes to performance, the itel S24 doesn’t really offer anything that stands apart from other offerings in the price bracket. There are some occasional hiccups when browsing through apps, but it’s mostly a smooth affair. Here are some performance benchmarks against some key competitors.
We played a few graphically demanding games, such as COD: Mobile, Real Racing 3, and BGMI, on the device to gauge its performance. While the device managed to play COD: Mobile at medium settings, there was noticeable lag. It also played Real Racing 3 at standard graphical settings, but once again with some lag. The itel S24 struggled when we tried to play BGMI. The device is not a gaming phone by any means and is best suited for casual gaming and everyday use.
The smartphone comes with Android 13 pre-installed, along with a suite of smart features aimed at making your everyday experience smoother. I found features like the smart panel, game mode, and i-smart gestures particularly useful. The dynamic bar also adds a neat little touch to the overall UI. I’ll include some images showcasing all of these features. There’s also a generative wallpaper function, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work as of now. One feature I’m particularly happy about is the NFC support, which is not common at this price.
Battery & charging
A standard 5,000mAh battery powers the itel S24, supporting up to 18W fast charging with the charger brick included in the retail box. In our PCMark battery benchmark test, the itel S24 registered a score of 12 hours and 20 minutes, which is slightly below average in its price segment
In our extensive testing, which includes a variety of intensive tasks such as video streaming and gaming, the itel S24 logged an aggregate battery drain of 21 percent. The phone easily offers an entire day of battery life for average users. The itel S24 takes around 1 hour and 43 minutes to charge from 20 to 100 percent battery capacity, which is close to the standard charging time for smartphones in this segment.
Final Verdict
The itel S24 is priced at Rs 10,999 in India and competes in a fiercely competitive segment. Some key rivals of the smartphone include the Moto G24 Power (review), Redmi 12 5G (review) and the recently launched Realme C65 5G (review). The Moto offers roughly the same performance as the itel S24 but impresses with its massive 6,000mAh battery and stock Android experience. Both the Redmi 12 5G and Realme C65 offer impressive performance for the price and are both 5G capable. The Redmi 12 5G sports an FHD+ display, giving it a advantage when it comes to multimedia, while the Realme C65 offers a smooth browsing experience with a 120Hz refresh rate.
The itel S24 misses out on 5G, but its strengths lie in some key areas, notably a delightful multimedia experience, thanks to a tall display and noteworthy stereo speakers. In addition, the smartphone offers an elegant design, good daylight cameras, and decent battery life. The device is ideal for users who desire a solid budget phone that delivers on the essentials.
Editor’s rating: 7 / 10
Reasons to buy:
- The itel S24 flaunts an appealing design, with the rear panel changing colour under direct sunlight.
- The smartphone comes with an impressive set of stereo speakers.
- The device takes good-looking daylight images.
Reasons not to buy:
- The itel S24 is not as capable a performer as some of its key rivals.
- The smartphone’s display is not very legible outdoors.
- The itel S24 lacks 5G capability.
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Rs. 9,999.00
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