Review Summary
Expert Rating
The itel A90 is the brand’s latest entry-level 4G smartphone, priced affordably starting at Rs 6,499. Known for its value-focused A series, itel continues the trend with a feature-packed offering that aims to strike a balance across the board. The itel A90 positions itself as a good option for first-time smartphone users or budget-conscious buyers. The handset boasts a large 6.6-inch LCD display, a 5,000mAh battery, a 13MP dual rear camera setup, and built-in AI assistance. In this review, I’ll break down what works, what doesn’t, and whether the itel A90 is worth considering in the budget segment.
Table of Contents
Simple build, decent visuals for the price
The itel A90 sticks to a simple design with a matte plastic back that resists smudges well. There are three large camera rings on the rear that house the sensors and flash. At the bottom, you’ll find a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a speaker grille.
The power and volume buttons are on the right. itel also includes a high-quality, rugged case in the box, which adds a touch of style. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner works reliably and unlocks the device swiftly. The device is IP54 rated, which is quite decent for this price bracket and offers some level of protection against dust and water.
The itel A90 features a 6.6-inch HD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate and 480 nits of peak brightness. The viewing experience is decent for the price. Colours look good, and brightness is fine indoors and holds up satisfactorily outdoors, too. While the itel A90’s display is not the sharpest panel or smoothest around, it manages well for what the phone aims to deliver.
A basic, functional camera system
The itel A90 comes with a basic camera setup that includes a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter. The handset is built for point-and-shoot use and keeps things functional. In good lighting, daylight shots look vibrant, with decent detail and sharpness.
In low light, the cameras struggle quite a bit. Images show heavy noise and lack detail. The selfie camera performs similarly, and it handles skin tones well and delivers good colour reproduction, though facial details tend to be smoothed out.
I compared the phone’s cameras against one of its key rivals, the Infinix Smart 9 HD (review). Check it out below:
Daylight
In normal daylight conditions, both the itel A90 and Infinix Smart 9 HD take decent shots, although there’s a fair amount of difference between the two shots. The itel A90’s colour science leans towards warmer hues, while the Infinix Smart 9 HD’s colours are more neutral. The former also crushes the shadows, which makes the image appear flat, unlike the Smart 9 HD, which maintains them and gives the image depth. In terms of detail level and sharpness, the itel A90 is a notch better than its peer.
Portrait
In portrait shots, the colours are inaccurate on both phones. The itel A90 brightens up the skin tone, while the Infinix Smart 9 HD adds a red tint to the subject’s skin. In terms of edge detection, both phones face a fair amount of issues, although the Smart 9 HD has a slight advantage here. The Smart 9 HD also maintains better facial details compared to the itel A90, which makes it a better portrait shooter.
Selfie
In selfies, the itel A90 has some advantages over the Infinix Smart 9 HD. The former’s colours are closer to reality and maintain a better clarity level. When you look at images more closely, the Infinix Smart 9 HD preserves facial details more closely.
Low light
In low-light conditions, both phones struggle quite a bit, which isn’t a surprise. Since they don’t come with a dedicated night mode either, the details turn out poor, and the images are underexposed in both phones. Even so, the Infinix Smart 9 HD manages to bring out more of the scene compared to the itel A90, so that gives it an advantage here.
Modest performance and feature-light software
The itel A90 runs on a modest Unisoc T7100 chipset, which is essentially a rebranded Unisoc T603, and is mated with up to 4GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB eMMC 5.1 storage. You can expand the storage via a microSD card slot. Check out the benchmarks below, logged by our in-house smartphone testing team.
Performance is generally fine for the price. There is a bit of lag while running everyday tasks like app switching or scrolling through social media, but that’s expected at this price and not specific to this phone.
Multitasking is limited, with the phone able to keep just a couple of apps running at once. The slow storage also means app loading times can feel sluggish. It handles basic tasks like video browsing, chats, and calls reasonably well, but you’ll notice lag even in these areas.
We also tested the phone’s gaming performance. The handset can run casual titles without much trouble, but games like BGMI are out of reach in terms of smooth frame rates. The itel A90 is meant strictly for light gaming.
The itel A90 runs itelOS 14 based on Android 14 Go out of the box. The software is basic but gets the job done. One noteworthy feature is the dynamic bar, which mimics the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. The handset shows up for alerts like charging status, low battery warnings, and other quick notifications, making everyday interactions a bit more intuitive.
The itel A90 also comes with the Aviana AI assistant, which adds a few handy features. You get a voice assistant that can call contacts, play songs on YouTube, and provide insights about images. There’s also an AI writing assistant and a webpage summariser to help you get through content faster. While the response speed felt a bit slow at times, the features worked well enough and are useful for light productivity or hands-free control.
Good on-the-go, slow to charge
The itel A90 packs a standard 5,000mAh battery with support for 15W charging, with a 10W charger included in the box. While the phone’s PCMark score is slightly lower than some rivals, real-world battery life is pretty decent, considering the low-res display and light OS.
The handset should comfortably last a full day for most users. In our 2-hour lab test, which included YouTube streaming and gaming, the battery dropped by 28 percent, which is roughly about the same as what you’d expect in this segment.
The charging speed, unfortunately, is slow. The handset takes about 2 hours and 23 minutes for the phone to charge completely from 20 percent capacity. Once again, slow charging speed isn’t unique to the itel A90, but it is still a drawback nonetheless.
Final Verdict
The itel A90 offers good value at Rs 6,499 for the 4GB + 64GB variant and Rs 6,999 for the 4GB + 128GB model. The handset delivers a decent display, good battery life, and decent software. The smartphone even comes with some AI features, including a voice assistant for hands-free control. The biggest drawbacks are its slow charging speed and the underwhelming day-to-day performance.
Its key rivals at this price point include the Infinix Smart 9 HD (review) and the POCO C71 (review). The Infinix Smart 9 HD offers a better camera setup and longer battery life. The POCO C71, meanwhile, delivers smoother performance and a 120Hz display that feels more fluid in everyday use and has longer software support compared to the itel A90. Still, if you’re on a tight budget and looking for a phone with a good display for media consumption and reliable battery life, the itel A90 is a sensible choice.
Editor’s rating: 7.4 / 10
Reasons to buy:
- Good durability, with IP54 water and dust resistance.
- Bright and colourful display that works well outdoors.
- The cameras perform reasonably well in daylight conditions.
- The battery will easily last an entire day for most users.
Reasons not to buy:
- Underwhelming everyday performance.
- The phone takes a long time to charge completely.
