Itel P33 Smartphone review: An affordable big battery companion

Itel P33 or call it the Battery beast is the latest P series release reckoning the budget-friendly zone with favorable ties to its model. Unlike any other Itel mobile release we’ve seen before, this is the first of its kind to pack facial recognition AI to its front. With a proclaimed 80 hours battery life tagline pimped to this device model, the iTel P33 might retain the 2019 flagship status for its league.

We received a charcoal black Itel P33 a few weeks ago, its impressions got us hiking a challenge to its battery performance levels. As a matter of fact, we have the results ready on what’s really awesome about the phone and the manufacturer flaws blocking its entry to the mid-range scope. But first, here is a recap of the device specifications standing out loud for its performance against price levels.

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Itel P33 Quick Specifications

Announced: April 2019
Display: 5.5 inches
Front Camera: 5 MP with Flash Light
Rear Camera: 8 MP Dual Camera
OS: Android 8.1
Network: 3G/2G
Internal Storage: 16 GB
RAM: 1 GB
Processor: Quad-core 1.3GHz
Battery: 4000mAh
Colors: Champagne Gold, Blue, and Black

Itel P33 hands-on review: Our experience with the smartphone

Think of the Itel P33 as that one smartphone will not only perform with cutting edge support from its optimized Android Go operating system but also guarantees a longer uptime on a single charge. Our experience with the phone mainly had tales of testing the battery reliability and not leaving any hoth of performance and a camera showdown glued to its price tag.

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itel p33 smartphone
Our experience with the Itel P33: A great smartphone riding in the budget friendly league

Battery Performance

80 hours of battery life! Yes, this is a tagline that glitters high with the affordability flares of Itel’s battery –centric latest zone model. Away from just having a 100% uptime for 3 days lasting on a single charge, the battery further has OTG support meaning you can charge another smartphone without draining an impactful power percentage. For instance, If you own an MTN Kamunye and all of a sudden it blacks out, all you is connect an OTG cable and charge on the GO.

itel p33 smartphone price and build
The P33 back cover open view showing its inbuilt 4000mAh battery plus the dedicated SIMCARD slots

The amazing bits of the P33 4000mAh battery is that it automatically optimizes its usage rate to extend its uptime without any configurations required. So, the P33 battery is as powerful as a 5000mAh pack except that it charges a little longer than we expected. Nonetheless, nothing beats owning a smartphone that can keep you in the loop for over 80 hours on one single charge with the ability to power up another drained device.

Camera Quality

Though the iTel P33 smartphone is a battery-centric release and not a selfie-centric leveled phone, it’s camera performance is quite great beyond its expected capabilities. Holy detail! is what you can easily scream after a shot using the phone’s HDR capture option with both its duo rear cameras at work. Without spicing the Charmy teasing front and back cameras, here are some of the shots we managed to take using the Itel P33.

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Camera wise, the quality is absolutely great for a battery focused release like the P33. Even when selfie centric releases like the S13 are superior when it comes to the camera quality, pictures taken on the phone are much better than you can ever expect on a battery focused release like it is. So, its a thumbs up for the amazing picture quality as its design glitters the back cameras lane supporting the front low-light selfies capable camera.

Build & Design

Most Smartphones pack speakers to the bottom close to the charging port, but the Itel P33 this time adopted the TECNO Spark K7 mode of packing the speakers to the back corners with a favorable right bottom position granting it an excellent rear look further spiced by the duo rear cameras and fingerprint sensor.

Itel P33 smartphone price specifications
Itel P33 is the 1st P series smartphone to pack both a face unlock and a fingerprint sensor as lock screen options

Further to the design, the Itel P33 borders are well rounded giving it a perfect pocket position as the front bottom bezels assume reliable support for the inbuilt navigation buttons. Additionally, the headphone jack, function buttons and the charging port occupy the top, left and bottom slots respectively for easy usage.

So it’s a B+ for the pocket-fit size that yet again fits in every slot for perfect storage. Much more like a stunt, we love the magical front and rear cameras location, fair screen layout bordered by mid bezels as we must expect a full bezzeless P series release in the near future. Nonetheless, not all that glitters is gold, but expect the P33 in a blue, gold or charcoal black color like one we received for review amidst all the fair performance odds.

Software and Performance

Android 8.0.1 Go edition is the operating system powering the 80 hours battery life beast. Amidst the fact some apps may not effectively run on the device and Go versions fix the loop, the device performs beyond doubt with no signs of largish movements when running low resource apps or games like Candy Crush.

The Itel P33 is powered by 1GB RAM and this aligns well with the Android Go system which is optimized to run apps at full throttle even with modest resources available. As a fact, the in-screen navigation buttons make it much easier to execute tasks without any flaws in execution. So, with 16GB of Internal storage riding hand in hand with 1GB RAM, all apps performed to our expectations without any signs of the phone overheating or even app not responding pop-ups.

Security (Face recognition + a fingerprint sensor)

Face Unlock is a new feature shipped by Itel mobile with the Itel P33 turning out to be its first release to pack the nose | eyes recognition system. As if that is not enough, a fingerprint sensor to the back adds up on the security pile guaranteed to the smartphone. So, its Face recognition to the front as the back sensor brings the fingers to play as another security layer to revoke unauthorized access.

itel p33
The P33 face unlock feature is able to identify more facial positions making it hard to full around with pictures

On running several Itel P33 facial recognition tests and fool arounds, it turns out that the Ai recognition system shipped to the phone is as effective as the quick response fingerprint sensor. So, it basically a duo-finish to security where you can choose to blink at the phone screen or navigate a registered finger around the back sensor to unlock. So, it’s a thumbs up for the iTel P33 duo unlock system that is also the first of its kind in the low-end spree.

How about the Itel P33 low lanes

Just like any other smartphone, it always has good features but with a low light somewhere to its model. To our experience with the Itel P33, we must say it was denied the right RAM size away from a limited 16GB Internal storage streak that is turning out to be an industry standard. We loved the battery performance, but not the display which we believe lacks the excellent colors close to those of the mid-range cooners.

Other than the less relevant flaws framing the P33 off its fantastic trend line, it’s one of the best battery centric releases that not only meet sides with affordability, but also leverages fantastic features for a mid-range finish closely matching it with the mid-range scope. As a matter of fact, this is one of the great smartphones you can choose to gift a friend or even your childhood friend with less access to a charging source retailing at a fair price of UGX 270,000.

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