Just when I thought the Infinix GT 20 and 10 Pro were going to be the cheapest gaming phones for a long time, Transsion launched another surprise with the Moniker “Itel RSF”, then it occurred to me that I may have been wrong for excluding the thought that Transsion could actually make things happen with it’s cheapest smartphone brand “Itel”.
The Itel RSF is proof that Transsion is committed to pushing trending tech to a wide customer base. However, it’s important to keep in mind that low-budget smartphones with some stand-out features usually come with some shortcomings. However, such smartphones can be marked as “Good Buy” when the benefits surpass the shortcomings.
In order to ascertain if Itel RSF is a good buy, we will explore its offerings, looking at how well fine-tuned are its gaming prowess.
Display and Design:
The design of the Itel RSF doesn’t really speak gaming. It is one of the most subtle/basic designs I have seen on any gaming smartphone. There are no RGB lights, no mention of pressure-sensitive points on the chassis, and no extra USB ports to help when gaming on the landscape. Summing everything up indicates that the chassis design is the first place we can quickly spot some of the shortcomings of this advertised gaming smartphone.
On the rear of the Itel RSF, we will find a big circular camera bump with its main with a black strip and then a “Super” text. If you have placed your eyes down on recent releases then you may be able to easily tell that this device looks a lot like the Realme 12 series from the rear.
Moving on to the front slab, you will find its display with a bit of a chin and a hole punch camera, above which you will find its earpiece. The display on the Itel RSF is a 6.56-inch 720p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This refresh rate can be set to being adaptive or on a manual basis, where the user can select between 60Hz, 90Hz, or 120Hz.
On the frame of the Itel RSF, you will find volume control buttons, a SIM port, speakers, a mic, a Type-C port, and thankfully, a headphone jack.
So once again as mentioned earlier, there isn’t really any design feature screaming gaming here, it’s more a bare-bones design.
Hardware and Software:
Being marketed as a gaming phone, the Itel RSF packs high-performance specs geared towards helping gamers enjoy smooth gameplay. Comparing the Itel RSF specs with other phones under the Itel brand can conclude that the RSF is the most powerful Itel smartphone currently in existence.
The performance train here is led by the MediaTek Helio G99 ultra processor, a gaming-focused chipset designed for amp gaming performance. Pairing with Helio G99 ultra is the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. People who opt for the RSF can choose 8GB or 16GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB SSD.
Also Read: How To Buy and Pay Later on Jumia (Jumia Installment Payment)
Keeping this gaming phone alive is a 5000mAh battery with 45W fast charging. Although 5000mAh feels very substantial, I wish its battery went up to 6000mAh for longer gaming sessions. However, there is a bypass charging feature that takes power to the phone bypassing the battery, in turn keeping the phone cool while gaming.
There is no 5G on this smartphone, which is sort of a letdown, as it means the Itel RSF cannot pose as a future-proofed phone. Its owners won’t be allowed to partake of the cutting-edge internet speeds.
For software, the Itel RSF runs on Android 13, together with its custom interface.
Cameras:
Transsion didn’t really much humongous efforts in the camera department of the RSF. In a nutshell, the cameras here can be categorized in the low-end department.
On the rear, we have a single 50MP camera with an aperture of f/1.6 and a dual LED flash. So there isn’t any mention of telephoto, macro etcetera here. While upfront, we have a single 8MP shooter.
Also Read: How To Get Jobs in Canada From Nigeria and Migrate
The camera department on the Itel RSF can be clearly seen as one of the places corners where cut to make up for other high-end offerings.
Wrapping up:
In my opinion, the Itel RSF can be seen as gift-wrapped. Judging by just appearance, you could conclude that it’s just a regular phone from Itel trying to low good, despite having the stereotype of being low-end.
Moving away from the design, if you look inwards, you discover a very capable performance setup, capable of running many high-end tasks, especially playing high-end games. Later on, you discover the cameras aren’t really awesome.
In conclusion, firstly I will say this device is designed to meet the needs of enthusiasts who cannot afford to pay much for gaming. Transsion understands this and has gone forward to provide enthusiasts with what really matters, (High performance & bypass charging) however, there are some things you will certainly wish you had, one of them being a side-mounted charging port, which aids ergonomics when playing games in landscape mode and charging alongside.
General Features
- Platform: Android 13
- Processor: Mediatek Helio G99 Ultra (4 nm) Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Mali-G57 MC2
- Memory: 8GB, 16GB RAM
- Colours: Silvery White, Elegant Beige, Lurex Black
- Dimension: 8.2 mm thickness
- Weight: 198 g
- SIM Type: Nano SIM
- SIM Count: Dual SIM
Display
- Display: 6.56 inches IPS LCD Display, 1080 x 2400 pixels (~269 ppi density), ~20:9 ratio screen-to-body ratio, 120Hz Refresh Rate
- Foldable Display: No
Camera
- Rear Camera: 50 MP (wide), f/1.6, 1080p@30fps
- Rear Camera Features: AF, Dual LED flash,
- Front Camera: 8 MP, video
Storage
- Built-in Storage: 128GB / 256GB
- Memory Card Support: –
- Bundled Cloud Storage: –
Network Support
- 2G GSM: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
- 2G CDMA 1X: –
- 3G WCDMA: 850 / 900 / 2100
- 3G CDMA EVDO: –
- 4G LTE: LTE
- 5G: No
Internet & Connectivity
- GPRS: Yes
- EDGE: Yes
- 3G/WCDMA/HSPA: Yes
- HSPA+: –
- CDMA EVDO: –
- 4G LTE: Yes
- 5G: No
- WLAN: Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7, tri-band, Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot: Yes
- Bluetooth: Yes Bluetooth 5.4, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless
- NFC: Yes
- Infrared Blaster: –
- USB Port: Yes, USB Type-C (side), DisplayPort 1.4; USB Type-C (bottom), OTG
Messaging
- SMS/MMS: Yes
- Instant Messaging: Yes
- Push Emails: Yes
- Email Protocol: –
Entertainment
- Music Player: Yes
- Video Player: Yes
- FM Radio: –
- Loudspeaker: Yes, with stereo speakers
- 3.5mm Jack: Yes
Navigation
- Navigation: GPS
- Maps: Yes
Sensors & Control
- Digital Compass: –
- Accelerometer: Yes
- Proximity Sensor: Yes
- Light Sensor: –
- NFC: Yes
- SpO2: –
- Pedometer: –
- Heart Rate Monitor: –
- Gyroscope: Yes
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes (side-mounted)
- Iris Scanner: –
- Face Unlock: –
- Stylus Pen: No
- Intelligent Digital Assistant: Yes (Google Assistant)
- Motion Sensing / Gesture Control: –
- Voice Control: –
Other Features
- Video Streaming: Yes
- Active Noise Cancellation: –
- Wireless Charging: No
- Built-in Mobile Payment: –
- Water Resistant: No
- Dust Resistant: –
- Image Editor: Yes
- Video Editor: –
- Document Viewer: –
- Document Editor: –
Battery
- Battery: 5000 mAh Non-removable Battery
- Talktime: –
- Bypass Charging: Yes
- Fast Charging: 45W Fast Charging Capacity