Review Summary
Expert Rating
The itel A50 stands out as one of the most affordable smartphones in India with Android 14. Priced at Rs 6,099 for the base model with 3GB of RAM, and Rs 6,499 for the 4GB RAM variant, the handset is touted as India’s true all-rounder owing to its stylish design and specifications. Few smartphones in this price range can rival the itel A50, making it a compelling option. To provide a fair comparison, we’ve matched it against the Moto G04 (review), which is currently priced at around Rs 7,000. Read on to discover whether the itel A50 is truly worth your consideration.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The itel A50 is a solid choice for budget-conscious users seeking a smartphone upgrade. While it may not fully deliver on the company’s ‘all-rounder’ claims, the handset surely provides a sleek design, a respectable display, and adequate performance for everyday tasks.
Design and display
The itel A50 shares a design similar to its larger sibling, the itel A70, launched earlier this year. The device is constructed using plastic and features flat edges, three individual rings on the rear panel for the cameras and an LED flash. The rear panel has a textured surface with a glossy square finish around the rings, along with the branding ‘AWESOME Designed by itel’ and ‘AI camera’. We received the Misty Aqua variant, which looks elegant. However, the included high-quality TPU case, while providing protection from accidental drops and falls, comes in a grey shade that conceals the phone’s aesthetics.
| itel A50 | Moto G04 | Realme Narzo N63 | |
| Thickness | 8.7mm | 9.8mm | 7.74mm |
| Weight | 186 grams | 178.8 grams | 189 grams |
| IP rating | NA | IP52 | IP54 |
With its 186 grams weight, the phone might be comfortable to hold for prolonged usage – you better keep it away from water as there is no IP rating. The itel A50 features a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer on the bottom edge, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker grille. While the speaker is decently loud, it tends to crackle at maximum volume. For the best experience, listen to songs at moderate volume levels on this smartphone. The phone also features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, which is accurate but not fast at unlocking.
Talking about the viewing experience, there isn’t much to expect. The itel A50 boasts a 6.7-inch IPS display with HD+ resolution and a waterdrop notch. Through software, the notch gets a pill-shaped bar whenever there is a notification for at-a-glance information like charging animation, low battery reminder, and charge completion reminder, among other things. With its 600 nits peak brightness, the display is good to look at (indoors at least), with vivid colours. The picture quality and viewing angles are acceptable for the price.
| itel A50 | Moto G04 | Realme Narzo N63 | |
| Display size | 6.7-inch HD+ LCD | 6.56-inch HD+ LCD | 6.7-inch HD+ LCD |
| Peak brightness | 600 nits | 600 nits | 560 nits |
Cameras
In the camera department, the itel A50 is equipped with dual 8MP AI rear cameras and a 5MP front camera housed in a waterdrop notch. These are simple point-and-shoot cameras with average performance, as expected from a budget device. Images shot from the primary camera in well-lit environments appear likeable for the price, even though the autofocus and shutter speeds are not up to the mark.
Read on to find out if the itel A50’s camera performance is better than the Moto G04.
Daylight
The Moto G04 excels at capturing more detailed images than the itel A50. This can be attributed to the superior 16MP camera on the Motorola smartphone, which produces images with less noticeable noise. The Moto G04 also leans towards cooler tones, giving its photos a dramatic, social media-ready aesthetic. On the other hand, the itel A50 favours warmer tones, resulting in appealing but often overexposed images. The dynamic range appears underwhelming on both smartphones.
Portraits
Neither smartphone delivers accurate skin tones. However, in terms of detail and edge detection, the Moto G04 has a clear advantage. The itel A50 doesn’t do a very neat job separating the background from the foreground. Moreover, the details are overexposed.
Selfies
The Moto G04 utilises the same 5MP snapper for the selfie camera as the itel A50 but captures better images. Its front camera captures sharper images, whereas the itel A50 tends to lose detail. That said, neither phone produces accurate skin tones: the Moto G04 makes them appear muddy, while the itel A50 renders them overly white.
Low light
In low light too, the Moto G04 impresses. The handset handles colours and lights better than its counterpart. That said, both the Moto G04 and itel A50 struggle to reduce graininess, which remains noticeable throughout the image.
Performance and software
The itel A50 is powered by the Unisoc T603 chipset, an entry-level processor capable of handling basic tasks. However, it is not as powerful as the Moto G04’s Unisoc T606 SoC. We received the 4GB RAM variant of the itel smartphone, and it achieved a score of 151,010 on AnTuTu, which is nearly 100,000 points lower than its rival. Similarly, on Geekbench, the A50 managed a modest 212 in the single-core test and 833 in the multi-core test. On the bright side, the phone throttles to a decent 63.2 percent of its peak performance in the Burnout CPU Throttle test.
While the phone isn’t meant to do any heavy lifting, it can run games like BGMI, Real Racing 3, and Call of Duty albeit with low graphics. The experience wasn’t particularly enjoyable with frame drops and lag issues, even though the phone managed its thermals efficiently. The itel A50 heated up by roughly 11 degrees on aggregate after playing the three games for 30 minutes each. There were also noticeable lags while multitasking with a bunch of apps running in the background. The handset is suited for users who keep their usage limited to one app at a time.
On the software side, the handset runs Android 14 Go Edition out of the box, with itel’s custom skin layered on top. This skin introduces extra features and a few proprietary apps, enhancing the user experience. The A50 comes with 41 pre-installed apps, of which only one is third-party and removable. The company hasn’t confirmed any software updates for the smartphone yet.
| itel A50 | Moto G04 | Realme Narzo N63 | |
| Pre-installed apps | 41 | 45 | 60 |
| OS updates | NA | NA | 1 year OS + 2 years security |
Battery and charging
The itel A50 is equipped with a standard 5,000mAh battery with 10W fast charging support. The charger is provided in the box and it takes approximately three years to juice up the device from 20 to 100 percent. The full charge is expected to last at least a day. On the PCMark battery test, the handset achieved 8 hours 45 minutes, which is slightly underwhelming for a phone meant to handle basic activities. Moving on, in our 30-minute YouTube video streaming and gaming tests, the itel A50 consumed 28 percent battery life on aggregate.
| itel A50 | Moto G04 | Realme Narzo N63 | |
| Battery | 5,000mAh | 5,000mAh | 5,000mAh |
| Charging speeds | 10W | 15W | 45W |
| Charging time (20-100 percent) | 174 minutes | 131 minutes | 69 minutes |
Final verdict
The Moto G04 does across as a better buy for an additional Rs 500, scoreing over the itel A50 in terms of performance, charging speeds, and cameras. However, if you’re on a tight budget, the itel A50 remains a compelling option. Its charging speeds and cameras may not be up to par, but the handset delivers a stylish design, a respectable viewing experience, and decent performance.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Reasons to buy
- The phone features a stylish design.
- The display provides a decent viewing experience at least indoors.
- The performance is adequate for everyday tasks.
Reasons not to buy
- Cameras are not anything to write home about.
- The phone takes a while to charge fully.
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Rs. 6,099.00
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