Do you remember when GTide had to rebrand to GTel? Rebranding is an expensive endeavour, but they had to do it because the GTide brand had become synonymous with subpar quality and poor performance.
It didn’t matter that GTide had improved. As long as it remained GTide, many people wouldn’t give it a chance.
I believe the same applies to Itel to some extent. There are those who won’t give Itel a chance because of their past experiences with the brand. Of course, others simply dismiss the brand due to the mockery it receives on social media.
Here at Techzim, we’ve tested Itel phones and found them to be quite pleasant to use. They are budget phones, but they deliver great value for their cost. One of us is actually using an Itel phone and is happy with it.
However, I now fully understand where those who complain about Itel are coming from.
See, Itel operates at different price points. If you’re using a $159 Itel S24 with 256GB of storage, your experience would be worlds apart from someone using the $69 Itel A06.
The flawed Itel super-budgets
I met someone using the Itel A13 Plus, and they were not happy.
Here was the problem: the phone reported that 75% of the storage was in use, meaning 25% was free. In other words, 2GB of the 8GB was free.
The operating system was using 3.6GB of the 8GB, which meant the phone had 4.4GB free right out of the box. There was only one third-party app installed—WhatsApp—which was using most of the 2.3GB of storage attributed to “Other apps.”
The free 2GB isn’t much to work with, but it’s something. If only they could use it. When they tapped on “Manage Storage,” they found there was something wrong with the storage.
In this submenu, you’d see that the internal storage was full. It says “Internal storage – 0B free,” fully contradicting the previous page.
Trying to tap on “Internal storage” to manage it wasn’t possible. It would try to load, fail, and return to the previous page.
It gets worse. No one should ever see this notification, yet the Itel A13 Plus user got it:
They couldn’t download an image sent via WhatsApp, and the phone said, “Download failed: Can’t download because no internal storage is available. Please unmount it as a disk drive, and try again.”
I hope you understand how bizarre this is. Has your phone ever told you that internal storage isn’t available? The part about unmounting it as a disk drive is the weirdest thing you’ll ever seen.
So, what could be going on here?
There are several possible causes.
It’s important to know the full context. The Itel A13 Plus was first released in 2018, and it’s still being sold today by various retailers, with prices ranging from $10 to $37.
The owner of the phone we’re discussing bought it this year within that price range.
Software issues
There could be a bug in the software causing the phone to think it’s connected to a computer as a disk drive. You might see a cable in the image, but the problem persisted even when it was set to ‘Charge only’ or disconnected from the computer entirely.
So, potential cause number one: a software issue might be causing the phone to misinterpret the available storage.
Corrupted storage
Another possible cause could be corrupted storage. It’s relatively common for budget devices to experience storage corruption or storage-related errors.
Budget phones often use lower-grade internal memory (flash storage), which may wear out faster or become prone to data corruption over time, especially under heavy use.
The A13 Plus has just 1GB of RAM, which can cause problems. Limited RAM can lead to inefficient background processes, software crashes, or file system issues, indirectly causing storage problems.
Additionally, budget phones may not use as robust file systems or error correction protocols as higher-end devices, making them more susceptible to storage corruption.
Low storage
All the above potential causes are plausible, but the most likely cause is the low storage. The phone only has 8GB of internal storage, with 4.4GB available after the operating system is installed. 4.4GB of storage is simply not enough.
Phones with small storage (like 8GB or even 16GB) can struggle when they get too full, or when you frequently update apps, install new ones, or download media. Think of it as a small closet becoming cluttered and hard to manage when it’s packed full. This can sometimes even mess up the way the phone organises its files, like mixing up pages in a notebook.
This ties into overuse of what’s called cache. Budget phones with small storage use something called “cache files” to help things run smoothly.
It’s like having a notepad to quickly jot down notes. But, if you don’t erase those notes regularly, they can pile up and make the notepad messy and hard to use. Similarly, if the phone doesn’t clean up these cache files, they can get messed up and cause storage problems, even if there seems to be space left.
Android
Here’s the kicker: Android’s storage system can be confusing.
The built-in storage is divided into “internal” and “external” sections, even though it’s all physically in the same place. If you have an SD card, it’s called “removable” storage.
Think of it like this: “internal” storage is a private area where apps store important data, while “external” storage is like a shared space for files like downloads, which you can see and access.
So, even if the phone shows some free space overall, the “internal” section might be full, leading to problems. It’s like having a closet with two compartments—one might be overflowing while the other is still half-empty.
This is likely what’s happening with the Itel A13 Plus. The internal storage is full, even though the phone shows some free space overall.
Again, this is mainly caused by the low storage fitted to the phone in the first place.
Itel moved on from 8GB storage
Earlier this week, we talked about the recently released Itel A06, which retails for $70 and has 32GB of storage.
While the other downsides of budget phones remain, you’re less likely to encounter low-storage issues with 32GB.
People who used phones like the A13 Plus, which had limited storage and faced the challenges we’ve discussed, might swear off Itel altogether. However, now we better understand why certain models were problematic.
I’m unsure what to make of the A13 Plus still being on sale. On one hand, if someone can get their first smartphone for $10 to $37, that’s great. But on the other hand, if the phone can’t even handle a good WhatsApp experience, let alone store photos, audio, or video, what’s the point?
I think Itel should address these 6-year-old budget devices still being sold in 2024. If that’s someone’s first experience with Itel, they’ll be less likely to stick with the brand when it comes time to upgrade.
As buyers, the lesson is clear: don’t buy a phone with 16GB or less of storage. It’s better to wait a few months and save up for a 32GB or 64GB option.
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