Regarding budget-friendly smartphones, itel has been a consistent name that is reliable for its price and performance aspect. Last year, itel S23 offered good features at a highly affordable price. On 23rd April 2024, itel released the successor S24 with an updated design and specs. Does the S24 live up to the expectations? Let’s find out the key specs, pros, cons, and price of the itel S24 in Bangladesh.
Key Features of Itel S24
Design and Build Quality
The thing about entry-level smartphones is that the design constantly changes from one iteration to the other. The S24 is also no different here albeit with minor tweaks and cosmetic changes.
The device is still an all-plastic build with a refractive frosted back and chromed frame. The camera housing became larger but it is still asymmetrically positioned in the top left corner.
The dimension of the S24 comes in at 163.5 mm by 75.5 mm by 8.3 mm with 192 g weight. There’s a dedicated micro SDXC slot along with dual stereo speakers.
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The S24 now supports eSIM with a dual nano-SIM option as well. Ports, buttons, and headphone jack are all neatly arranged around the frame. The power button doubles as the fingerprint scanner as expected on a budget-friendly device.
The itel S24 comes in three colors, Dawn White, Coastline Blue, and Starry Black. The Dawn White variant features color-changing technology, changing to pink in contact with UV rays.
The Display
The display on the itel S24 is a 6.6-inch IPS LCD panel with a 90 Hz refresh rate and HD+ resolution. It's typical to see 720 by 1612 pixels displays on entry-level smartphones today. The 90 Hz refresh rate worked smoothly, making everything snappy on the S24.
Due to the sizable bottom chin, the single punch-hole display has a screen-to-body ratio of 84.8%. The aspect ratio comes in at 20:9 with 267 ppi density.
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Overall, the display performs well considering the price. It has good contrast and great legibility outdoors thanks to the 480 bits of peak brightness. However, competitions like the Redmi 13C offer a better HBM at a similar price.
The Camera
Even though its rear side camera housing looks like there are three sensors, the S24 comes with two. But in effect, it’s a single shooter as the main camera is a Samsung HM6 ISOCELL 108 MP f/1.6 wide-angle shooter with 1/1.67" sensor size. It has a 0.64µm pixel size along with AF. The secondary camera is just an auxiliary sensor of 0.08 MP.
The camera performance of the S24 is a mixed bag. The device was able to shoot good photos in well-lit environments. Outdoor photos had good contrast, color balance, and dynamic range. However, the images lack details and sharpness after zooming.
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The night mode performed well thanks to the sensor size. However, it took forever to process the images. Nevertheless, the final output was good for its price.
The front camera is an 8 MP selfie shooter.
The S24’s main rear and front sensors can shoot up to 1440p videos at 30fps. These cameras can also capture 1080p footage at 30fps.
Compared to the Redmi 13C and Tecno Spark 20, the S24 falls a bit short even with its 108 MP sensor.
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Processor and Performance
The processor on the itel S24 is Mediatek Helio G91 Ultra. It’s a welcome upgrade over the G85 and G88 commonly seen at this price point. The G91 Ultra is an octa-core processor with a 2x2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6x1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 chip design. The processor is accompanied by Mali-G52 MC2 GPU.
Itel S24 is released in several variants, including 8/256GB, 8/128 GB, and 4/128 GB. It features eMMC 5.1 data transfer technology.
In reality, the G91 Ultra brings a minor upgrade over the G88. The Antutu V10 score of the G91 comes in at 269266 which suggests entry-level capabilities.
The S24 can be best described as a moderate performer. It can handle day-to-day tasks like a breeze. Media consumption, web browsing, and social media, everything felt fast and snappy thanks to the high refresh rate panel. But gaming is where the line is drawn with the S24.
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2D games like Temple Run and Fruit Ninja can easily run on the device. However, games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 can be played with basic graphics settings. However, gaming, media, or multi-tasking can lead the device to heat up.
The performance of the S24 holds up on par with its competitors. It isn’t meant to be a gaming phone and in this price range, there isn’t any room for complaints.
Software
The S24 is based on Android 13 running itel OS 13. The itel UI is nothing special as it feels like just another run-off-the-mill Android skin. It also has its fair share of bloatware which might impede the overall experience. Thankfully, almost all the bloatware can be uninstalled after setup.
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Battery and Charge Time
The battery on the itel S24 is 5000 mAh. It comes with 18W wired fast charging which can take the device from 0 to 50% in under 40 minutes. In day-to-day use expect to get around 6 to 7 hours of screen time.
