Live Review of Itel S15 Pro – On August 25, 2019, itel Mobile launched its latest Selfie series smartphones S15 and S15 Pro. The two devices are powered by a waterdrop display and a powerful 16MP selfie camera and Android 9 OS.
The two devices suffered market activation here in Nigeria as the Itel S15 was made available in the market on September 5, 2019, with a retail price tagged of N23,400 while the Itel S15 Pro was just made available in the market with a retail price tagged of N29,500.
The Itel S15 Pro has been my daily driver since I unboxed it on September 24, 2019. So i will be putting the Itel S15 Pro on a LIVE test and my LIVE review will focus on the battery performance, software, camera, and hardware just like I did in my previous LIVE reviews featuring itel S13, P32, P33 Plus, S33.
For this test, I will set the automatic brightness and I configured one email box in a push. I will also use several social apps including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. During the day, there will also be duration tests for playing games, watching movies, and others.
My live review of the Itel S15 Pro would be happening tomorrow October 19, 2019, Time 9:00 AM. Please note that the post will be updated automatically and the LIVE review is starting by 9:00 AM. See you here guys.
Video: Itel S15 Pro Unboxing And Quick Hands-On Review
About Itel S15 Pro
The Itel S15 Pro sports a 6.1” HD+ IPS Waterdrop FullScreen Display with a 720*1560 resolution. The water-drop at the top houses the 16MP selfie camera with 4in1 Big pixel and a flashlight which is within the top thin tiny bezels. The device also has a plastic unibody and a stylish Lapland Aurora design. At the back of the phone, we have a triple rear camera setup.
Under its hood, the device is powered by Octa-core 1.6GHz SC98634 processor paired with 2GB RAM and a 32GB storage capacity which is expandable up to 128GB via the micro SD card slot. It also boots the latest Android 9 Pie.
The Itel S-series are known for selfie-focused and here on the Itel S15 Pro, we have a powerful 16MP front-facing camera with an LED flashlight. At the back of the phone, the phone has three cameras featuring 8MP + 5MP + 5MP with LED Flash which combines together to deliver a powerful final photo output.
The phone has Fingerprint and Face unlock security features with other connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.2 and WIFI. The Itel S15 Pro uses dual Nano-SIMs. In terms of juice, it has a 3000mAh non-removable lithium-ion battery which should offer a decent uptime amount.
LIVE REVIEW ENDED
19/10/2019 9:00AM: Good morning guys!!! I’m LIVE with the review of the Itel S15 Pro. As stated, I will be putting the phone at automatic brightness and my review is just about the basic use of the phone. Meaning how long will the battery last on average usage.
The battery is fully charged to 100%.
19/10/2019 9:10 AM It seems to be a warm day here at my end according to the weather forecast.
19/10/2019 9:15AM
Just 15minutes of pressing, the battery level has dropped from 100% to 95%. Currently, I’m making use of the phone mobile data which is Airtel 4G and I’m also updating this post simultaneously here on Femtoptech.net and Nairaland.com with the device.
19/10/2019 9:26 AM
Here’s what the interface of the Itel S15 Pro looks like and also the App drawer.
19/10/2019 9:43 AM
The phone is powered by a removable 3000mAh battery and it is good for you to know the breakdown of how long it takes to charge the phone from 0%-100%.
0%-1% 0.15secs
1%-2% 1mins.07secs
2%-6% 8mins.55secs
6%-8% 11mins.58secs
8%-15% 26mins.32secs
15%-20% 35mins.17secs
20%-33% 1hour:00
33%-40% 1hour.15mins
40%-50% 1hrs.34mins
50%-70% 2hrs:12mins
70%-80% 2hrs:32mins
80%-90% 2hrs:54mins
90%-100% 3hrs:54mins
This clearly shows that the phone doesn’t fast charging technology. The output Adapter charger is just 1.0A, and this also matters too for fast charging.
19/10/2019 9:49 AM
49minutes of usage, the battery consumption has dropped to 89% from 100%.
19/10/2019 9:59 AM
I will be heading out soon. In the main time, I will be putting the phone on idle so as to get prepare for where I’m going. The battery level now 86%.
19/10/2019 10:20 AM
It is about time I roll out of here.
19/10/2019 10:25 AM
One of the good things I’m enjoying here in my current location should be this Opay. Initially, all trips was N50 but recently they have adjusted their billing to N70 for Bike and N80 for Keke Maruwa.
19/10/2019 10:38 AM
Battery level now at 77%
19/10/2019 10:50 AM
Gotten to my destination. So I will be going idle for a little time to participate in the Forex training session for corpers serving in Ilorin.
19/10/2019 12:26 PM
Ati lo Ati de.
We have successfully unlocked level 1 they say to unlocked level 2, we are to pay N10,000. Battery now at 69% despite on Idle.
19/10/2019 12:35 PM
In the next couple of minutes, I will be sharing my reviews of these 7 sections of the Itel S15 Pro one after the other.
1. Display
2. Camera
3. Hardware and Design
4. Software
5. Network
6. Multitasking And Performance
7. Battery
19/10/2019 12:52 PM
I just took these photos from the rooftop of the building we used for the training session with the triple cameras available on the rear side of the phone.
19/10/2019 12:52 PM
Wow, it is currently raining here. Battery dropped to 57%.
19/10/2019 1:05 PM
How many steps have you taken today so far? Here, I have taken over 1267 levels and 14mins trekking according to the Samsung Health app I installed on my phone. By the end of the day, I should be able to achieve the 6000 targets.
19/10/2019 1:36 PM
So NYSC says we should attend a ceremonial event today at University of Unilorin. So I should be on my way shortly.
Battery now at 46%
19/10/2019 1:40 PM
Enroute to Unilorin
19/10/2019 1:52 PM
Since they are not allowing the Opay guys to enter the school premises, I have to enter a cab going to PS (Permanent Site) N50.
19/10/2019 1:59 PM
19/10/2019 2:09 PM
I’m here
19/10/2019 2:32 PM
At this junction, let me get started with reviews. I’m picking Display first.
DISPLAY
The Itel S15 Pro is said to come with a waterdrop FullScreen Display which is uniquely one of the features available in the device.
The waterdrop beautifies the phone in one way or the other but one thing I personally don’t like about the waterdrop here on phone is the fact that Itel didn’t give you the option to hide it probably because of the 16MP camera beneath the waterdrop.
Alongside the waterdrop feature, the phone sports a 6.1″ HD+ with a FullView display and 720*1560 screen resolution.
I watched HD movies on the phone both online streaming and downloaded ones without issues.
Battery level dropped to 27%.
19/10/2019 3:15 PM
It is about time they get started.
19/10/2019 4:11 PM
The match has started, and the whole field has been flooded.
19/10/2019 6:01 PM
The match has ended. Unilorin came first, and Ekiti State University came second.
19/10/2019 6:10 PM
Current battery level
19/10/2019 6:27 PM
It has been raining throughout the day, and I don’ think it will be stopping anytime soon.
19/10/2019 6:33 PM
It is currently pouring here heavy tho and I’m also waiting for Opay to come to pick me at my current location.
19/10/2019 7:58 PM
Thanks to God. I have gotten home after the long day. The battery of Itel S15 Pro is steadily heading to the suicide stage. It is currently at 3% and to complete this review, I will be plugging my power bank to it now.
19/10/2019 8:33 PM
Itel Mobile says it S-Series smartphones are mainly focused on Selfie and they also claim that the Itel S15 Pro, on the other hand, produces better selfies in low light.
Well, I have tested the 16MP Selfie camera on the Itel S15 Pro both in low light and sunlight, I can tell you that the device performs so well in these two conditions, at least being an entry-level.
The front facing camera of the Itel S15 Pro has a Portrait mode which gives a good bokeh effect when phone you shot your shoot at the range of 1.5 meters.
It is interesting for you to know that the front camera didn’t have a flashlight due to the Waterdrop display.
On the rear side, it has a triple camera featuring 8MP + 5MP + 5MP and a flashlight. Well, if you are expecting to see a wide-angle camera shoot with the triple camera of the device, then I think you need to think otherwise as the only shot you can take with it is the regular angle camera.
The back camera has a video recording quality of 1920×1080, and it doesn’t have stabilization.
Here are some pictures were taken with Itel S15 Pro both in Low Light and Day time.
19/10/2019 9:25 PM
Network
Another unique feature here on Itel S15 Pro is the network connectivity. The phone uses dual 4G. Meaning that both sim slots can work with the 4G network.
Since the beginning of this review, I have been using mobile data with 4G network mode. Based on fact, your network connectivity also determines how long your battery would last. Full 4G with data ON can easily drain your battery life but at the same time, I phone with a big battery should be able to last longer ever with a 4G network.
So far, I have tested three major networks with the phone and they are MTN, Airtel, and 9mobile, and they both work with the 4G bands available on the phone. Glo works on bands 28, and the phone doesn’t support that, but I heard they Glo are also working on using band three which I hope to test one day.
It also uses 2G and 3G in case you don’t want to use 4G. The dual SIM is Nano. So you need to have a nano-SIM if you’re going to use the network.
19/10/2019 9:58 PM
Software
Unlike the S15 that runs on Google Go edition OS, the S15 Pro, on the other side, runs on stock Android 9.0 Pie with a custom launcher.
Out of the box, the device is pre-loaded with some useful apps featuring: Facebook, Whatsapp, Opera News, Opera Mini, Smart Transfer, Music, App Freezer, I Share, Power Master, and Google apps.
I also like the fact that you can uninstall some of these apps if you don’t want them.
19/10/2019 10:19 PM
Multitasking And Performance
The Itel S15 Pro is the second phone from itel Mobile to packed a 2GB RAM here in Nigeria after S32 LTE which is the first phone from Itel Mobile to come with a 2GB RAM. Itel Mobile market target has been for those that just want a phone that can browse and do basic things with a pocket-friendly price that’s why they haven’t been producing high-end smartphone.
Alongside the 2GB of RAM present here in Itel S15 Pro, the phone is also powered by Unisoc processor. This processor is relatively amazing but instead of this, they should have kept with Mediatek or better still Snapdragon. Well, multitasking with the phone is fantastic. It is better by far than what we used to have in their previous devices that use just 1GB RAM or 512MB.
Even with the 2GB RAM, you should be watchful of how much you push the device to work so that it wouldn’t experience lagging especially when playing some selected game with it.
I run a benchmark test on the device both on Geekbench and AuTuTu, here’s how the Itel S15 Pro performance.
19/10/2019 10:47 PM
Hardware and Design
If you have been following Itel releases, you would have noticed that they keep using the same design for their phones especially on the rear side of the phone.
I placed the Itel S15 Pro, P33 Plus, and S33 Plus alongside each other and one can quickly get my rant. Same camera position, same fingerprint position, and also body build. I don’t know why they keep doing it but I hope they can come up with a different design in their subsequent products.
Here in the Itel S15 Pro, I really like the Gradient purple color that comes with the phone. It looks premium despite been a plastic build.
19/10/2019 10:57 PM
Battery
When it comes to long battery life with extensive usage, the Itel S15 Pro is not the type of phone you run to for help. I would recommend the P-series for those looking for a phone with a longer battery like 3days non-stop usage.
Well, the 3000mAh on the Itel S15 Pro is pretty not bad especially if you are the just a regular phone user. If you are a heavy-duty user, then I suggest that you get a backup power to keep you last longer.
19/10/2019 10:58 PM
Pros And Cons of Itel S15 Pro
Pros
1. Dual 4G
2. 2GB RAM
3. Better by the far Selfie camera
Cons
1. No fast charging
2. Can’t hide the notch
3. Speaker doesn’t have enough bass
19/10/2019 11:06 PM
Final Words
The Itel S15 Pro no doubt is a game-changer for Itel has despite been an entry-level device, the specs are just so too good for its price tagged. The Itel S15 Pro is one of the best budget-friendly you can get here in Nigeria under N30,000. I recommend the phone for everyone looking forward to having a phone that can take a clear and clean picture with a small budget.
