Nowadays, with rising prices on almost every good offered in the country– one might ask, “How far can my few thousand pesos go?”
That is especially true when it comes to smartphones. A few thousand bucks can’t get you anywhere, at least with a device with decent specs. But over the years, as we enter the 2020 era– good phones are getting cheaper, and cheap phones are getting better.
Enter itel, the most underrated sub-brand of the bunch (the others are TECNO and Infinix) under Transsion Holdings, with itel releasing some feature phones and a fine entry-level entry in their Vision series, a demonstration of them finding their footing.
Today, we will review the itel A60s, an extreme entry-level device that dips itself further toward the low 3k price point category. The recently released itel S23 4G is the better phone, obviously, but people who want these kinds of devices are the ones who matter every cent to them, and we don’t blame them for that.
See the specs for the itel A60s here: https://unboxdiaries.com/phones/itel-a60s/
Opening the package
Let’s kick things off with our unboxing first– the itel A60s is a more gorgeous box design than its more powerful cousin, the itel S23 4G, which only offers a plain two-tone box art with no picture of the device itself.
All the critical specs are written behind the itel A60s box, and we must say, it’s pretty clean compared to the Vision series with those bright red boxes. This is more pleasing to the eyes.
Finally, opening the box, the device greets us with ease. Inside, we have a thin yet hard casing for the phone to provide extra protection. Most devices under this price point don’t even bother including a jelly case, let alone a hard one.
There’s also a sim ejector pin, Warranty Policy, 10W charging brick, a Type-A to microUSB 2.0 charging cord (yes, it has a microUSB port in 2023), and surprisingly– a pair of earphones. For such an affordable asking price, there are so many goodies inside, which we love.
Aside from that, we move on to the phone.
Design, display, and form factor
Peeling away the colorful screen protection, we noticed that the phone also has a pre-applied screen protector– which is another goodie if you’re planning to buy this one.
Turning the phone on its back, we quickly noticed its criss-cross body pattern that itel claims were inspired by the Streamer Crystal Diamond cutting process, whatever that is. The important fact is it looks gorgeous and fashionable. The design also creates a nice texture that helps grip if you want to use it without any casing.
The camera island looks heavily inspired by iPhones, which isn’t bad. After all, what’s trendy is what people want, which helps them sell their products. It houses two cameras with huge circles around it and thin bumps. The LED flash and the rear fingerprint scanner are also there. Very 2018 tech, but we understand.
The camera island is encased inside a glossy light blue material, which may be made from plastic. The entire body of the itel A60s is also made from plastic, aside from the glass front.
The headphone jack is located above all by itself. On its side, there’s the SIM tray which can accommodate two Nano-SIM and a microSD card for expansion on top of its 128GB base storage offering.
The right side has the volume rockers and power button, while the bottom portion has a single loudspeaker, micro USB port, and a single microphone.
Moving on to its display, it has a 6.6-inch 720p IPS LCD screen with a standard 60Hz refresh rate. With its pricing, you can’t expect any high refresh rate.
The bezels are, well, very entry-level. It has a sharp water drop notch that houses the 5MP selfie camera. The screen quality is fine, exactly what you expect from a 720p display. The itel A60s is perfectly usable indoors, but you might encounter problems when you use it outdoors. You’ll have to find a shade instead before you get the itel A60s from your pocket.
Surprisingly, the itel A60s has HDR support on YouTube for up to 720p, but 4k videos stutter quite heavily that we recommend watching it in 480p. Colors get a slight boost during HDR mode, which solidifies its inclusion. No Widevine L1, though, so no Full HD above content from Netflix and other streaming sites.
Audio, battery life, and charging
Audio can be heard through the phone’s single loudspeaker. It’s not loud, and there’s no bass, mids, or audio tuning. But it gets the job done. You’ll need to cup it with your hand to get a more full-bodied sound, though.
The itel A60s has a 5,000mAh battery, as with most phones today. However, due to its power-hungry UNISOC SC9863A chipset (first introduced in 2018) made on an outdated 28-nanometer process, we get almost a full day of usage with moderate use (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, some gaming, camera taking, and music).
When it’s time to charge, the itel A60s has a 10W charger that transfers charge through a microUSB 2.0 port. We know it’s a past technology, but they need to cut corners somehow.
From 0-100%, it took 2 hours and 35 minutes to charge the device to its full battery health. Not that impressive, but we aren’t complaining.
Gaming, software, and benchmark scores
The itel A60s has an entry-level UNISOC SC9863A processor with max clock speeds up to 1.6GHz.
Of course, being an entry-level chipset, it provides less than ideal experience when playing graphics-intensive games. The itel A60s can probably handle games like Fruit Ninja, My Talking Tom, and the like– but games like Mobile Legends, Call of Duty: Mobile, and the ever so elusive to most phones when it comes to smoothness, Genshin Impact.
Call of Duty: Mobile (LOW GRAPHICS / HIGH FRAME RATE) – The keyword here is playable. Three multiplayer game sessions were played during our tests, with minimal frame drops and rubberbanding. You can still play CoD here quickly, but things change when too much is happening on the screen; you’ll feel that the chipset is struggling, and there’s significant heating. Battle Royale and Zombies mode is a different story, it is almost unplayable during these modes, so it’s best to stick to multiplayer, where there are fewer players and smaller maps to load.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (HIGH GRAPHICS / HIGH REFRESH RATE – HD MODE) – Mobile Legends is much more friendly with lower-end processors, so it’s no surprise that it performs well on the itel A60s. You can still perform quick combos and escapes. The graphics are quite beautiful here, but as with CoD, it experienced stutters and lag. For budget MLBB gamers, this is a decent phone to play this game with.
Genshin Impact (NONE/NONE) – Genshin won’t install as it is not supported within the Android S Go platform (basically a nerfed Android 12 device for lower-spec phones). You’ll be better off playing Genshin on the itel S23 4G, but that isn’t saying much because it will also struggle. That’s how Genshin is; even decent devices work to run the game.
itel A662LM (manufacture name for itel A60s)
The latest AnTuTu Benchmark version, 10.0.3, can’t run on this device, but we installed an older version (v.8.4.5), scoring 96,142 points.
Those are entry-level scores. This is on par with other processors, such as the Helio A22 and maybe the older Snapdragon 450 chipset.
Camera and video quality
The itel A60s has an 8MP primary rear sensor and a QVGA camera (probably for depth sensing). There’s an LED flash as well to assist low-light shots. On its front, it has a 5MP sensor encased inside a water drop notch.
Basic photos produce decent-quality color, focus, and detail in ideal condition. But of course, any perfect location is probably a photo studio– which you aren’t having. Quality can be tricky since it can put hit-and-miss pictures, and portrait shots involving a person are much easier than with a moving subject like children, babies, or your pets because of the slow shutter speed the itel A60s’s cameras had.
Blurring could be better, as it struggles to separate the subject and background most of the time.
We capture great photos with its 8MP rear cam during the day, with diminishing quality at night.
With proper lighting, both primary and selfie cameras can work smoothly during night photography. Uneven smoothness, grain, and blurring can be found in some of our photos. You shouldn’t just point-and-shoot with this device but plan with it for the itel A60s to churn out great images.
Video recording caps off at 1080p@30fps in both primary and front cameras. It’s decent and able to capture lots of details. That’s if you’re recording in the morning. Even with the help of the LED flash produces below-average quality at night.
Still, with a price tag of around 3K pesos, we can forgive the itel A60s’s shortcomings.
itel A60s with itelOS V8.6.0 based on Android (12) S Go
The itel A60s runs on a slimmed-down version of Android 12 called Android S Go and is designed to run on low-spec devices like this phone. It has a large 128GB of internal storage, which is rare within this price range. It also can expand its 4GB physical RAM to an additional 4GB via MemFusion, for 8 GB.
With its large storage capacity (with room for expandable external storage), you can install many apps and games, take a bunch of photos, and record hundreds of videos without worrying about your storage.
It’s the same clean itelOS here with fewer bloatware compared to past releases, which is a step up for sure.
Special functions include the ability to take a screenshot with three fingers; there’s also an option to use the rear fingerprint scanner as a camera shutter by accessing it via camera settings.
There’s the MemFusion we’ve just told you about that can extend the additional RAM in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB RAM options.
Battery life optimizations are also here: ultra power saving and intelligent power-saving scene that helps prolong battery life depending on your habits.
The itelOS V8.6.0’s lightweight load on the system helps the device itself free from lag and problems in the long run. We aren’t sure if it will receive at least an Android 13 update, but we keep our expectations at bay for this one.
The itel A60s is available at PHP3,999 (4+128GB) via itel Official Store in Shopee in Glacier Green & Moonlit Black.
What we like about the itel A60s
✅ 128GB storage which is quite rare around its price point
✅ Lots of inclusions, including earphones and a hard case
✅ Great design and colorways
✅ Textured grip back and is smudge-proof
✅ HDR support up to 720p
What we dislike about the itel A60s
❌ A slightly better processor would be preferable
❌ microUSB port in 2023
❌ Inconsistent camera quality
❌ Struggles quite a lot in most games
❌ Android S Go is quite sluggish
CONCLUSION
The itel A60s is a good smartphone for those who seek one for only a couple of thousand pesos. A big battery, immense storage capacity, good looks, and a large screen should seal the deal if you’re not planning to do some heavy tasks.
RATING: SAKTO LANG
RECOMMENDATIONS
Itel S23 4G – This device is the better and more powerful choice. For about the same price, you’ll get the same 4+128GB variant with a better design choice, a better Unisoc T606 chipset that is much more capable, a full Android 12 OS, and a better camera set.
Infinix Hot 30i – for PHP4,299, you’ll get the same specs as itel S23 4G but with an even better design, equal 90Hz refresh rate as the S23 4G.
Watch the full video review here for the itel A60s:
