OUKITEL C35 – The CHEAP smartphone with 24 GB of RAM that beats Realme C53
We often judge a smartphone only by its technical data sheet, a priori discarding devices equipped with SoCs that are not properly known, or on the contrary we are willing to spend hundreds if not thousands of euros just because the latest smartphone launched on the market offers the latest generation hardware. Well today I will show you that speed, reliability and good battery life, but also much more, are characteristics that we can also find on an entry level smartphone, with a decidedly low cost. Today I'm talking to you about Oukitel C35.
Topics of this article:
Packaging and contents
In the package we find the power supply, a little meager in power, only 10W with USB-A input, the USB-C cable for charging and data transfer, pre-applied film on the screen, pin for removing the SIM tray and a cover of soft silicone protection, transparent and reinforced on the edges which also protects the display very well, leaving it slightly below the profiles in order to protect it from any accidental falls.
Design and construction
The construction is decidedly successful, net of the use of plastic materials both for the body and for the profiles where in the lower part we find the main microphone, the mono system speaker, Type-C input for charging with OTG support and the input 3.5mm jack. On the left profile there is the SIM tray, capable of hosting 2 in nano format as well as a micro SD card for expanding the integrated memory up to 1 TB without giving up the Dual SIM Dual Standby function. On the opposite side we have the volume rocker and the power button which incorporates the biometric sensor for unlocking the device via fingerprint recognition. This proved to be fast and reliable, but if necessary we can also unlock the phone via Unlock Face. Available in three colors such as green, black and light blue, Oukitel C35 has dimensions equal to 75.05 x 162.5 x 9.18 mm and a weight of 199 grams, offering good ergonomics due to the adoption of a "brick" design.
Connectivity
As for connectivity, we find 4G on both slots but I have never managed to aggregate 4G+ although I have always managed to navigate at a good speed. There is also Dual WiFi (WiFi Direct, WiFi Hotspot supported), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS with Galileo satellite fixes, Android Auto, Google Pay and Google suite in general as well as FM Radio, which can only be used via wired headphones. However, NFC and Wireless Display support are absent. No problems regarding reception, operation of the proximity and brightness sensor as well as audio quality both in capsule and hands-free, even though the speaker is only mono but of the 1217 type which offers an extra powerful volume. The telephone dialer is that of Google, which reports SPAM but does not record calls.
Display
The display is a 6.56-inch IPS LCD with HD+ resolution (1612 x 720 pixels), 271 PPI in 20:9 3-touch format with 90Hz refresh rate. Despite the "poor" resolution, it is a panel with excellent colors capable of reproducing HDR content, although this specification is not mentioned in the technical data sheet. We don't have Widevine L1 support, so streaming on certain platforms won't be in high quality, but we have the ability to calibrate color temperature and contrast from the system software. Only 400 nits of peak brightness which does not always make the panel clearly visible under sunlight. Overall I was satisfied, comparing it for example (at the same resolution) with the AMOLED display of the Motorola Edge 30 Neo.
Processor and memories
Oukitel C35 is equipped with the Unisoc T616 CPU, a 12 nm octacore solution (6x Cortex A55 + 2x Cortex A75) whose maximum clock reaches 1.95 GHz, accompanied by the Mali G57 MP1 GPU. If these data are a certainty, a doubt arose in my mind about the RAM, as the smartphone in question is equipped with 12 GB of RAM which can be virtually expanded by a further 12 GB by drawing on the 256 GB UFS 2.1 physical storage. I didn't understand if the RAM adopted is of the LPDDR4X type, perhaps it is more likely an old standard DDR3 or DDR4, but in any case the phone has always been smooth, never jerky and above all capable of playing latest generation games without problems, even when trying to push it with maximum graphic details. Consider that on the AnTuTu benchmark, the Oukitel C35 achieved over 308 thousand points.
Battery
The battery is a 5150mAh, with charging at just 10W, but capable of offering more than excellent autonomy, taking you into the evening without any problem with at least 20% of residual charge, even reaching 7,5 hours of active screen time. Slow charging but considering the high autonomy, you will not feel the lack of super speed or even wireless charging, which is precisely absent. The phone never heats up, a sign of good optimization.
Software
The Oukitel C35 software is practically stock Android 13, without any particular customizations by the manufacturer, other than the possibility of changing the battery charging animation (5 different types are available). I can't tell you if Oukitel will keep this C35 updated, but I can tell you that when I took it out of the box the device had the July patches and immediately received the August ones. To my great surprise, a few days ago the phone updated with the September patches, arriving before other more famous smartphones. Not bad for a practically unknown device.
Photo and video
The rooms sector is made up of:
- 50 MP main camera, f/1.8 with the possibility of video capture at 1080p 30fps;
- 2 MP depth of field/portrait collection camera, f/2.4;
- 8 MP selfie camera, f/2.0 with the possibility of video capture at 720p 30fps.
This is where the problem falls, as Oukitel C35 does not offer particularly exciting photo and video results. Any form of stabilization is absent and at night the sensors used show all their weakness, resulting in practically unusable shots. During the day, with good lighting, we get fairly detailed photos but sometimes it is possible to see background noise or mixed colors. Oukitel C35 is certainly not a camera phone and I wouldn't even have expected it to be one, but overall for shots to share on social media, it can be fine.
At a software level, however, we have automatic HDR, portrait mode with "studio" effects, QR code reading, PRO mode, night mode (which does not help in the final rendering of the photo) and Google Lens integrated into the software.
Final judgement
Oukitel C35 is a smartphone that I personally purchased at the price of 102 euros using a discount coupon on Amazon. At this price I recommend it hands down, but at the moment the list price is 189 euros. However, you can redeem a discount coupon from the purchase page which reduces the price by 30 euros, bringing it to 159 euros. At this price it becomes a good proposal to take into consideration as a forklift or as a main device if you don't have particular demands but focus on reliability in carrying out daily tasks.
