Top 5 features of itel RS4 - Superb budget gaming buddy?
In collaboration with the popular royale game Free Fire by Garena, itel launched its first gaming-focused smartphone in the Philippines called the RS4.
 |
| Meet itel RS4 |
RS means "Racing Sport" and 4 is "2024" suggesting that it is built with speed in mind for the price this year.
 |
| The box |
Starting at PHP 6,299 for the 8GB/128GB model up to PHP 7,499 for the 12GB/256GB edition, the handset is packed with some of the strongest specs in its class.
Top 5 features of itel RS4 - Superb budget gaming buddy?
 |
| Slim look of the itel RS4 |
5. Slim profile, neat look - The new itel RS4 uses a neat and unique-looking back design available in Lurex Black, Silvery White, and Elegant Beige colorways.
Sleek for a budget gaming phone!
The back has some slight curves and it is made with a glossy glasstic material. There is also a top-center circular camera hump with the "RS" icon and bezels in Green as well as a black paint strip drawing inspiration from refined forged wheel hub designs of race cars.
Measuring 163.54 x 76.04 x 8.55 mm, it is also one of the slimmest affordable gaming phones around.
 |
| itel RS4 punch-hole display |
In front, it has a 6.56-inch large LCD (IPS) 120Hz refresh rate smooth screen with HD+ resolution. This display has fairly slim bezels on top and on the sides and a top-center punch-hole for a cleaner look in front compared with other displays with a notch.
The chin bezel is slightly thicker than what I wanted, but we need to consider that this is a budget gaming phone, not a more expensive mid-ranger.
By the way, the 120Hz refresh rate of its display could help in making its UI animations smoother and make supported games feel more fluid. It also has a 240Hz touch sampling rate (5 points of touch) for better and more accurate touch responsiveness which is beneficial when it comes to playing games.
 |
| Inclusions inside the box of the itel RS4 |
4. Long battery life with 45W Bypass Charging - The device uses a large 5,000mAh battery capacity with 1200 charging cycles. itel told us that only would only experience a decay to 80 percent battery health after 800 charging cycles.
Only time will tell, but it true, it means that the battery of the device will remain healthy for about 4 years and that's impressive for a budget gaming smartphone.
From experience, it can last a whole day with around 30 percent left in the tank with gaming from time to time, plenty of social media use, music listening on the road, and even occasionally using the camera at 50 percent screen brightness.
When playing Free Fire at the maximum settings possible, it only ate 3 percent of the battery after 15 minutes of gameplay.
This is probably thanks to itel's optimization efforts, the use of an HD screen only, and the efficiency of the MTK Helio G99 Ultimate chip.
For charging, it has up to 45W via USB-C which can charge the device from 0 to 80 percent in 30 minutes. This also has an AI Fast Charge that intelligently manages and optimizes charging power if the temperature rises. The full charge time is always less than 60 minutes.
From experience, it gets a little warm when charging but never hot.
You can also use its Bypass Charging technology to directly supply power to the phone by bypassing the battery. This could help make its battery last longer and reduce heat.
 |
| Full screen view of the itel RS4 |
3. Memory Fusion - One of the key highlights of the device is it has the Memory Fusion tech.
This means that you can expand its physical 8GB RAM or 12GB RAM to 16GB and 24GB, respectively.
To do that, it uses some of the phone's 128GB or 256GB internal storage.
The effect of this is it'll help its users easily run multiple tasks, keep more active apps in the background, and smoothly open and close applications.
According to itel, it can run 18 apps simultaneously in the background and it seems true. Even if I switched from one app to another, the experience was mostly smooth.
For example, even I can easily jump from Free Fire to YouTube to Genshin Impact and AnTuTu benchmark smoothly.
itel also claims that it has the "Atomic Storage" tech to prevent performance degradation for 24 months.
 |
| AnTuTu and Geekbench score of itel RS4 |
2. Speed of Helio G99 Ultimate - For its PHP 6,299 price tag, the itel RS4 is one of the most affordable phones to be equipped with MediaTek's 6nm Helio G99 Ultimate processor with up to 2.4GHz clockspeed and Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
Speedy and stable performance for a budget gaming phone
Take note that this device is not using the regular Helio G99 chip, but its Ultimate edition. In short, this is MTK's most powerful 4G chip to date.
According to our interview with MediaTek last MWC 2024, the Helio G99 Ultimate is the most optimized version of Helio G99 custom designed and tweaked for its partner brands like itel.
 |
| Free Fire on itel RS4 |
Combine this chip with all its other specs like the RAM, storage, display, and heat dissipation system (graphene heat dissipation film technology), and this phone was able to run Free Fire on the maximum settings possible without any hiccups.
Lag (if there is any) is hardly noticeable even when there are clashes and heating is minimal in non-airconditioned rooms. In rooms with air conditioning, the heat is barely noticeable even after an hour of gaming.
This also runs heavier titles like Genshin Impact, but note that you need to set its graphics to low which is normal on phones in the under PHP 12K range.
By the way, the device also has a Z-axis Linear Motor which provides strong vibration in the vertical direction, a gyroscope, and stereo speakers for a more immersive overall gaming experience.
 |
| Free Fire graphics settings and iBOOST game engine screencap |
Moreover, it has the iBOOST game engine designed to calibrate games for improved performance.
It comes with Power Saving, Equilibrium, and Performance modes as well as other features that could help its users focus on the game like brightness locking, hiding notifications, anti-interference, and even setting the functions of volume buttons for games, among others.
Overall, the handset is packed with some of the strongest specs in its class.
 |
| itel RS4 launch price |
1. Extra affordable pricing - To recap, the device is priced at PHP 6,299 for the base 8GB/128GB model up to PHP 7,499 for the stronger 12GB/256GB edition.
During the product launch period, the itel RS4 will come with a Buds Fire TWS earphones freebie until supplies last. After that, it'll come with the itel A10 earbuds.
itel RS4 is in collaboration with Free Fire and has Buds Fire as its suggested accessory. During the product launch period, Buds Fire will be given out as a freebie until supplies last only.
Bonus: Apart from gaming, the device also has decent cameras for a budget gaming phone.
The device features a 50MP f/1.6 with PDAF + AI camera + LED flash at the back and an 8MP f/2.0 w/ LED Flash for selfies.
 |
| Daylight and low light shot |
 |
| 2x Portrait mode (back cam) and selfie cam Portrait |
As you can see, the images we took are vibrant-looking with pretty crisp details, especially in well-lit conditions. Even in low light, our shot is social media-ready.
The Portrait mode even has decent edge detection and could separate the subject from the background nicely. Even the 2x mode is usable for us.
We also like that you can use the soft light flash in front while taking selfies for improved selfies even in dimmer lighting conditions.
What could itel improve is its noise reduction efforts. But for a budget gaming device, having a usable camera like this is already a nice surprise.
See its full specs below.
itel RS4 Specs
Display: 6.56-inch LCD (IPS) screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, HD+ 1612 x 720 resolution at 269 ppi
CPU: 2.4GHz 6nm MediaTek Helio G99 Ultimate octa-core processor
GPU: Mali-G57 MC2
RAM: 8GB/12GB
ROM: 128GB/256GB
Back Camera: 50MP f/1.6 w/ PDAF + AI camera + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.0 w/ LED Flash
Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 45W Hyper Charge w/ Bypass Charging
OS: Android 13 w/ itel OS 13.5
Connectivity: WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, sound
Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock, stereo speakers, Z-axis linear motor, graphene heat dissipation film technology, USB-C, Colors: Lurex Black, Silvery White, Elegant Beige
Dimensions: 163.54 x 76.04 x 8.55 mm
Weight: 198 g
Price: PHP 6,299 (8GB/128GB), PHP 7,499 (12GB/256GB)
Post a Comment