The Itel S42, is an affordable India-centric device for those moving up from feature phones
April 8 2018: When Cyber Media  Research  did  its last survey of cell phones in India,  it  came up with a dark horse:  Tying with Xiaomi for second place in the market, was another China brand called Itel from Transsion.
Since then, the brand  has created  a niche in a sweet spot:  an affordable smart phone  for Indians graduating from  feature phones.  Their  latest device, Itel S42, is a good exemplar of this category.  With a 5.65 inch   720p HD screen at 18:9 ratio, it offers the latest Androiod 8.0 OS  with some useful pre-installs, like an Opera Mini browser and WhatsApp. It can also be adjusted for any one of  25 Indian languages. The  makers are cleverly wooing the rural  and untapped markets, by including  tongues like    Assamese, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Bodo...
A quad core Qualcomm chip, 3G RAM  with 16 GB storage expandable to 128 GB;  twin 13 MP cameras, front and rear with flash, a finger print and ( in the India version) a face unlock feature -- would do justice to a much pricier product than the S42's asking price of Rs 8499.  A decent 3000 mAh battery  and the best connectivity possible today -- 4G VoLTE --  with dual SIMs, ensures that  the buyer can enjoy today's best  data packages. Truly a crossover king! ANAND PARTHASARATHY