Hello and welcome to my review of the Itel S23. Itel has dropped its best phone yet and they've been making a lot of noise about this. So join me as we look through the specs on Itel’s latest device and see if it's worth the hype.

The Itel S23+ is a lower Midrange phone from Itel. For those who do not know, Itel is a subsidiary of Chinese tech giant, Transsion. Transsion is the parent company of Tecno, Infinix, Oraimo, and of course Itel. Transsion also owns the after-sales service brand known as Carl Care.

Itel is very popular. Believe it or not, by sales, they're the fourth most popular brand in Africa. Only Samsung, Tecno, and Infinix are more popular.

They also sell a lot of phones too. This is because Itel lives to service the low-end (entry-level) market. However, it seems that this is about to change.

With their recent releases such as the Itel P40 plus, Itel S18, and Itel S23, Itel has begun making a push into the Midrange market and no phone typifies this sentiment more than the Itel S23+. This phone could be Itel's breakthrough device.

Key specifications of the Itel S23+
Body: 178g, plastic frame
SoC: Unisoc T616 + Mali G57 MP1
Software: Android 13, Itel OS13, Dynamic bar, GPT AI
RAM: LPDDR4X (1866MHz)
Display: 6.78" curved FHD+ AMOLED, 388ppi, 500nits, Gorilla 🦍 glass
Camera: 50MP + 0.08MP
Selfie: 32MP
Video: 1080p @30fps
Battery: 5,000mAh, 18W fast charge
Network: 4G LTE (Cat. 7), BT 5, WiFi 5, 3.5mm, OTG, USB-C (2.0)
Colors: Blue, Cyan
Variants: 4+128GB (N120,000), 8+256GB (148,000)

Body

The phone is typically what you'll expect from any midrange phone. It has a plastic frame that holds all of the phone's components and gorilla glass protection. This part shocked me. An Itel phone and Gorilla Glass in the same sentence. The phone comes in 2 colors. Elemental blue and Lake cyan.

Performance

Now this is where this phone gets even more interesting. The Itel S23+ runs using a Unisoc T616. This SoC has a similar performance to the Helio G85. Thus this phone is definitely lower midrange.

Other SoCs within the same performance range include:

Snapdragon 680: Redmi Note 11, Redmi 10c, Samsung Galaxy A23, Vivo Y22s, Vivo Y90, Oppo A96
Helio G88: Redmi 10, Redmi 12, Infinix Hot 30, Infinix Note 12, Tecno Pova 3, Tecno Spark 10 Pro
Helio G85: Moto G23, Infinix Hot 12, Redmi 12c
Helio G80: Infinix Note 8, Poco M2, Samsung Galaxy A14, A22, M22, F22; Vivo Y21s, Y33, Y33s

This SoC is capable of running many B titles at mid to low settings. Games such as eFootball 2024, Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, SimCity, Free Fire, etc. However, triple-A titles like Genshin Impact, NBA 2K, Fortnite, and Call of Duty Warzone may not run.

I've always maintained that Unisoc has good SoCs but it is the smartphone companies that are refusing to use them.

Software

Itel has typically used Android Go 32-bit OS due to the weak SoCs that they utilize on their phones. However, with a better Unisoc T616 SoC on board the S23+, they've chosen to install a 64-bit Android 13 with their in-house Itel OS13.

To sweeten things, they've ripped off the iPhone's Dynamic Island and added a GPT AI assistant.

Display

Here comes another big surprise. The display on the Itel S23+ is a curved 6.78" FHD+ AMOLED display. No, you did not read that wrong. There's actually an AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass screen protection!

Camera

This S23+ ships with a dual camera setup sporting a 50MP main camera and a 0.08MP depth sensor. At the front of the device, there's a 32MP sensor for selfies. The cameras are decent in good lighting conditions and awful in low light.

Battery

There's a standard 5000mAh battery here with a decent 18W fast charge. The T616's 12nm is not exactly topnotch when it comes to battery life but it should get you through one day on a single charge if you use it lightly.

Network Connectivity and sensors

The S23+ supports 4G LTE (Cat. 7) with download speeds of 300Mbps. It also supports Bluetooth 5, WiFi 5, a 3.5mm Audio jack, USB OTG and USB-C (2.0)

There's an in-screen fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, and light sensor as well as GPS.

Pricing

The S23+ sells in two memory variants:

4+128GB (N120,000),
8+256GB (N148,000)

I'm a bit torn here. I mean, Gorilla Glass, AMOLED display, in-screen fingerprint sensor, and fast charging do not come cheap. However, for a phone with that T616 SoC, I think it's a little bit overpriced. Just a little bit.

Clarification: For 148,000 you could buy Helio G95 or Dimensity 6020 phone that is far better than this lower midrange device.

Besides the pricing, this is a phone that I could happily recommend to anyone. I think Itel is ready to chill with the big boys now.

What do you think?

Link: https://inquisitiveuniverse.com/2023/09/20/itel-s23-review/

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You don't get the attention you deserve on this forum.

This article very unbiased I must say. I was actually expecting the usual "Itel is shii" itel is this and that. But transsion seem to be very smart with the move with this smartphone. They are trying to bring itel to the tecno and infinix pedestal.

Going for itel, tecno or infinix will eventually become the case of grabbing the head or tail of the same snake which ever part you grab, you're still grabbing a snake, and it bites.

Transsion is cool though

Is it powered by Android go edition?

jeromestarks:
Is it powered by Android go edition?

No, the normal Android

Zimri:
You don't get the attention you deserve on this forum.

This article very unbiased I must say. I was actually expecting the usual "Itel is shii" itel is this and that. But transsion seem to be very smart with the move with this smartphone. They are trying to bring itel to the tecno and infinix pedestal.

Going for itel, tecno or infinix will eventually become the case of grabbing the head or tail of the same snake which ever part you grab, you're still grabbing a snake, and it bites.

Transsion is cool though

Unlike what Transsion marketers believe. I give credit where credit is due. They simply hate the truth when it doesn't flatter them.

Nice review

Samuelojonla123:
Nice review

Grazie

atheistandproud:


Unlike what Transsion marketers believe. I give credit where credit is due. They simply hate the truth when it doesn't flatter them.

Gbam,

Hate the truth when it doesn't favour them

Although for it's price, i don't fancy this

skywalker240:

Gbam,

Hate the truth when it doesn't favour them

Although for it's price, i don't fancy this

Me neither. You could get much better phones for that price

This is why it is better to do things right from the beginning.

The specs of this device is cool but, people would still rate it like the Itel of old - laggy piece of plastic.

To me, their reputation is dead. There need a Jesus to resurrect it, and it ain't happening soon.

They've improved on this

chariisGRACE:
This is why it is better to do things right from the beginning.

The specs of this device is cool but, people would still rate it like the Itel of old - laggy piece of plastic.

To me, their reputation is dead. There need a Jesus to resurrect it, and it ain't happening soon.

I get it but then we tend to miss out on alot when we jump into conclusion like this

This phone suppose b 5g network and not 4g network

felix55:
This phone suppose b 5g network and not 4g network

Why?

Nice and informative review I must say, but does it have 90 or 120h refresh rate

System202:
Nice and informative review I must say, but does it have 90 or 120h refresh rate

60Hz