Itel P55 5G Review - Fast Performance, Average Hardware
How did itel come up with a 5G phone for slightly above a hundred USD? Although 5G phones are getting cheaper, none of them is this cheap. While this is a bold move from Itel, is the Itel P55 5G worth buying? Sometimes using this phone is too good to be true. To keep the price as low as it is they had to cut some corners. They sacrificed some features some of which might be very important to you to keep it below a hundred and fifty thousand naira. lets talk about everything, and by the end of the review you will have an idea if you should buy the phone or skip it and buy a 4G phone around its price.
Itel P55 5G Unboxing
Inside the box you will get the phone, a sim ejector tool, a plastic case that I don’t like, a USB C charging cable, an 18 watts charging brick and an earpiece. Itel is still one of those brands out there that gives you everything in the box which is commendable.
Our review of itel P55 5G
Positives
- 5G on a budget
- Fast Performance
- Great Battery Life
- Decent Software Experience
Negatives
- Dated Design
- Poor Display Resolution for a 5G Phone
Itel P55 5G Review – The Truth
Itel P55 5G Design and Build Quality
The phone comes in two colors galaxy blue and mint green, I have the mint green color option and it has a plastic textured finish at the back. Fingerprint stains will hardly settle on the back of the phone. Except for the glossy camera part. For a while now I have been bored with the iphonesque design that brands have been adopting on budget phones and this feels different. There are two camera rings, at the back that house a 50MP primary camera and a second AI lens and flashlight. Some of the images from the camera are impressive and you will get to see them before the end of the review. The back of the phone is flat, and it is quite comfortable to hold in the hand. At least it is not slippery. There is a fingerprint scanner on the left, and it works just as expected. We also have the volume keys just above it. There is a down-firing speaker at the bottom and it’s not exceptional. There is also a Type C port, headphone jack, and microphone for calls. It supports dual 5G SIM cards and you can also use an SD card for memory expansion. The design is okay and the phone has a solid build quality.
Itel P55 5G Display Aspect
Let’s talk about the display and that is an area where we start to see the corners cut to keep the iTel P55 5G affordable. It comes with a 6.6-inch IPS LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate and 720p resolution. Yes, you read that right a 720p resolution. it is one of the reasons why the device is pocket-friendly. It has a water drop notch when other devices in the lineup have a punch hole cutout. The bezels around the display are also noticeable. The refresh rate makes scrolling smoother and you can change it in the settings to 60Hz or auto. In fact the display is the same across all the devices in the P55 series. You will also find the same display configurations on most of the budget devices out there. Although its not an AMOLED display you can tweak the temperature of the display in the settings. There are some users out there that will find this useful especially those that don’t like full on brightness. Giving that it is a 5G phone I expected it to come with at least 1080p resolution. The display also peaks at 500nits and you might struggle under direct sunlight. It is an okay display and you can stream YouTube videos at up to 1080p resolution. The colors are okay and sharp there are some instances where certain animations appear washed like when loading an app. Overall the display is okay but I expected more giving how we were hyped about the phone.
Software & Performance Aspect
The phone is running on Android 13 and itel OS 13 is the user interface. There are a ton of customizations you can do on the phone. There is also dynamic bar but since it has a water drop notch I somehow find it weird. You can also use the AI powered assistant for better answers in case you need it. There is a special functions tab, and you can find lots of features to explore there. It comes with a number of preinstalled apps alongside some essential google apps that are useful. The operating system of the phone is the same as what we have on Tecno and Infinix phones. it has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage space which is sufficient enough at this price point. You can also increase the storage space using memory card and or expand the RAM to 12GB using some storage space on the phone. itel calls this memory fusion the same as tecno does. It is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6080 which is 5G ready and also capable of handling demanding games. You can run Kenshin impact here and there won’t be any issues. For its price, the phone is really fast and I don’t think there is any other phone that comes close in terms of performance. Performance is one area that the item P55 5G will outshine any other device around its price.
Itel P55 5G Camera Review
We have a 50MP primary camera and a second auxiliary lens at the back. Upfront we have an 8MP lens for selfies. In the camera app, there are many things to explore like film where you get special effects while recording some types of videos, you can also record video with the front and back camera of the device at the same time. You get super night mode, time-lapse, and slow motion among others. Now back to the actual pictures of the phone. They are mostly okay depending on the light condition. It tries to replicate colors without too much processing or brightness. I mostly used the 50MP option in the camera app. It takes a bit of time to process images but they appear sharper and more detailed. The super night mode also improves images in dark areas but the processing takes some time. There is an option for 10x zoom but I doubt if anyone will find it useful. You can record 2K videos with both the front and back camera and you can also play with the fstop in the camera app. The phone is giving you a full camera experience missing on most of the phones within its price. In terms of camera I wouldn’t say its bad, and in some instances it exceeded my expectation.
Battery Life & Charging Speed
It comes with a 5000mAh battery that can last an entire day on a single charge. You also get an 18-watt charger inside the box and it takes around 2 hrs to charge the phone from zero to a hundred. I am not leaving in an area with 5G connectivity to give you an idea of what the battery will look like with a 5G connection. Overall the battery is impressive and I don’t think it will be a problem.
Conclusion
Rounding off is the Itel P55 5G worth buying? Well, it depends if you want a fast phone on a budget then it’s a yes. On the other hand, I feel there are some factors like the display resolution and design you might find more appealing on other devices. I just wish itel used a punch hole cutout instead of the water drop notch they went with. The camera is okay and the software is just as we are used to on other Tecno and Infinix phones. That’s it for this one ad I will catch you in next review or comparison.