Most people have been waiting for the arrival of the Itel P36 which happens to be the successor to the last year’s iTel P33.
Though I was a bit confused when I was contacted to review the smartphone. I had expected to see the successor to the iTel P33 appear with a name like iTel P34, but for reasons best known to iTel, they decided to use iTel P36 as the successor – skipping 34 and 35. Nevertheless, at least the smartphone is finally here.
The new device happens to be the African model of the iTel Vision 1 which most persons have been asking about. So, if you want to know more about the iTel Vision 1 or intend to buy it, all you have to do is go get an iTel P36 because its the country version of the Vision 1.
There are lots of interesting features that the iTel P36 ships with; and one of them includes the large display. Below is a full review of the iTel P36 which contains its advantages, disadvantages, price, and you should or should not buy the iTel P36. Enjoy it!
Unboxing
Looking at the box, you will see the picture of the current iTel Ambassador “Olamide”. Behind the box, you will see a quick rundown of some specifications of the smartphone. When I opened the box, the first thing I saw inside was the smartphone itself. Under the box holds other items like the earpiece, power brick, Micro USB cable, and a plastic case that keeps your device safe.
Design and Build
You will notice there’ve been lots of upgrades on the iTel P36 beginning from its body. The new device rocks a simple but beautiful design and even though the body is made of plastic, the design is still very simple and decent.
Upfront, you will find the large 6.5-inch waterdrop display with very little bezels and chin surrounding the screen. You will appreciate the slim bezels and chin when you finally meet with the recently announced iPhone SE (2020).
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Inside the waterdrop notch, lies the single selfie camera, and directly above the single-camera lies the almost invisible earpiece.
Flipping this device to the back, the first thing you notice is the camera compartment which houses the dual camera sensors and a single LED flash. The back panel has a smooth coating and finishing and also houses the responsive fingerprint sensor. Finally, you will see the company’s logo and an inscription that states “Designed By iTel”.
One of the things I love about the Itel P36 is its well-curved edges and the scratch-resistant glass used in protecting the screen from cracks and scratch.
Other things you can find on the Itel P36 is the volume rocker and power button on the right, while the left houses the tray for dual SIM & MicroSD card. Under you will find the loudspeaker, Micro USB cord, and popular 3.5mm cord.
Display
Itel P36 packs a huge screen of 6.5-inches with an IPS LCD display and a 720 x 1600 pixels resolution. The device was able to achieve a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a 277 PPI density and was finally able to achieve an 82.2% screen-to-body ratio because of the small bezels and chin.
Performance and Specs
Under the hood, the iTel P36 packs a UniSoC Spreadtrum SC7731E chipset running the show alongside a Quad-core which runs at 1.3 GHz speed. For all your graphics processing, you have the ARM Mali T820 MP1 GPU.
Don’t expect the latest operating system because the iTel P36 runs on the Android Go Edition which uses the Android 9.0 Pie.
The most annoying thing I found in the iTel P36 is its 1GB RAM which may not be able to handle too many apps without a number of lags. You may not necessarily feel it if you use it for a moderate task and not intensive graphic demanding apps.
For all your storage purposes, you have 16GB internal storage paired to the 1GB RAM. If you think the storage is too small, then you can further expand it up to 32GB via a micro SDcard.
There are dual SIMs on the phone but it lacks 4G LTE instead you will get the regular 2G and 3G network. If you want 4G, buy the Itel P36 Pro instead. It has GPS, FM radio. Bluetooth 4.2 and Wifi for wireless connection.
Battery
Unlike the 4000 mAh battery featured on the P33, you now get a massive 5000 mAh battery on the Itel P36. An extra 1000 mAh battery juice is not bad at all and it will definitely see you through the day when fully charged.
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Nevertheless, that’s where it ends; you don’t have any wireless charging or fast charging technology.
Camera
I like to start from the back so, let’s see the primary camera at the back of the iTel P36. Like I mentioned before, you will find a dual-camera sensor at the back which comprises of an 8-MegaPixel in addition to a 0.3-MegaPixel shooter.
The primary camera also arrives with a LED flash which will help the cameras take decent and detailed pictures even in low light conditions.
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Some of the features that the camera rocks is the ability for HDR photos, Panorama and the ability to record 480p videos at 30 seconds per frame.
Now let’s see what the single-camera hidden in the dewdrop notch is made up of. Alas! the front camera is an 8-MegaPixel sensor with support for Face ID – This is an upgrade over its predecessor, the iTel P33 with 5 MP shooter.
Price
The iTel P36 is currently available in the market and it is selling for about $86. That translate to about N34,000 Naira in Nigeria, 8,500 Ksh in Kenya, and 500 Ghs in Ghana.
You can purchase this smartphone from most online stores such as Jumia, Konga, or other accredited retailers within your region.
Verdict and Conclusion
Sincerely, the iTel P36 is just an okay smartphone with the capacity to deliver all your normal task well. But if you push it a little too much, you will likely not enjoy the performance of this smartphone.
You will also be careful the way you run too many apps on the smartphone in order to avoid many annoying lags. If you want a smartphone for gaming purposes and running many apps, then you can go for the bigger TECNO Pouvoir 4 Pro, but you will have to pay a little bit more.