itel is shaking things up in the entry-level tier with the new A70: a refresher of big storage, massive battery, and colorful style.
Meet the itel A70, the latest entry-level smartphone that brandishes a large screen combined with a triple card slot, all-day battery life, and an overhauled design.
Unboxing
The itel A70 comes with a white box highlighting a big display and Dynamic Bar, among others. Pull up the top cover to be greeted by the phone, which is covered with a sticker.
Besides the unit, the box also contains the user manual, charging brick, USB type-C cable, pin ejector pin, and an eye-catching phone case, which is not your typical jelly case.
The screen has a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera while the rear cameras are housed in an island at the left side. The camera islands have three bumps for the main shooter, secondary lens, and camera flash.
The right side of the phone houses the volume rockers and power key. The left side, meanwhile, is where the card tray is located. The bottom part holds the loudspeaker, USB-C port, and 3.5mm headphone jack. There are no ports or holes on the top part.
Design
This new entry-level smartphone features a refreshing look. The itel A70 has a trendy visual and glass-like feel, breaking away from its predecessor. itel A70 is also slim with 8.6mm thickness to perfectly fit the user’s hand.
The smartphone comes in four stylish color families in Starlish Black, Field Green, Azure Blue, and Brilliant Gold. In this review, we have the Azure Blue color variant.
Display
itel A70 has a display size of 6.6 inches with 120Hz touch sampling rate for responsiveness whenever you tap on the screen. The display’s resolution is full HD+ or 720p and with a screen-to-body ratio of 90% for wider viewing.
| Other Display Characteristics | Information |
| Dynamic Bar | A dynamic function around the notch to show users key updates, such as battery status, calling, and unlocking. |
| Brightness Level | 500 nits of brightness for clear viewing under bright lights. |
| Waterdrop Notch | This section at the top of the screen houses the selfie camera. |
Performance
While an entry-level smartphone, itel A70 has many offerings under its hood. It can hold up to 80,000 photos in its internal storage and boost performance via virtual memory.
The handset is powered by the octa-core Unisoc T603. It’s paired with an onboard memory of 3GB/4GB but can be extended via virtual RAM by up to 8GB.
When we tested the RAM expansion, the phone seems to remember multiple opened apps and can switch between them.
Scrolling through the user interface suggests that the refresh rate is only 60Hz. We also didn’t find an option to increase it to 90Hz in the Display settings.
While the apps are held by the RAM, the phone’s CPU takes a bit more time to load them. Unisoc T603 is decent but T606 is a lot better.
Storage
To keep a lot of photos and videos, you need big storage and that’s not very common among entry-level smartphones. So, itel equipped the A70 with a large internal storage. The 128GB variant can hold up to 40,000 photos while the 256GB can hold up to 80,000.
But it won’t stop there. itel A70 sports a triple card slot for two SIM cards and a microSD card. This phone supports up to 2TB of storage expansion to let users store more media.
Camera
The itel A70 features a dual-rear camera setup led by the 13MP primary shooter. This sensor can detect various scenes automatically and improve images with HDR.
On the front is a single 8MP selfie camera capable of portrait shots. This camera also supports a soft flashlight and AI Beauty mode. Both rear and front cameras are enhanced by AI.
For video recording, you can record moments at 1080p and 720p resolutions. Two handy options are available in the camera app.
One, you can take photos or record videos using Fingerprint Shooting in the options. Just place your finger on top of the power and the camera will do its thing.
Two, you can take photos by touching the screen with Touch Shooting. It doesn’t work on video recording though.
Other photography modes available are Portrait, Lowlight, Pro, Panorama, and HDR. By default, the camera app uses AI to take images.
The captures are good for the phone’s price point. Details, colors, and lighting are clear enough to see.
Meanwhile, the video recorded by the primary camera is decent at best. Colors are a bit dull with the Bokeh effect being overaggressive around the subject. There’s also no stabilization of any kind in the camera app.
Battery
Using a smartphone nonstop throughout the day will inevitably drain its battery. Sometimes, it has to be charged more than once to keep the user going. For an entry-level device, itel A70 boasts a 5000mAh battery unit and is managed by software to intelligently read the user’s pattern of usage.
Furthermore, the smartphone includes several power management schemes, including Power Boost, Ultra Power Saving, and Battery Saving settings to let the user extend the battery life.
What We Liked
itel A70 improved a lot compared to its predecessor and even some competitors within the same market. We liked the better processor, larger internal storage, and massive RAM expansion option.
itel A70 now has a USB-C wired connectivity for charging and data transfer, a major level up from the old micro USB. Both the rear and front cameras also received some upgrades.
The design factor and glass-like material are a step-up as well, appropriate for a succeeding model.
Plus, there are two unlocking functions on this smartphone. You can use the side-mounted fingerprint sensor or Face Unlock for a fancier way.
