Realme this year already have more than 10 million users globally becoming the world’s fastest-growing smartphone to date. Its success landed them to be in the list of the top 10 mobile phone manufacturers in the world joining Samsung, Huawei and Apple.
In the Philippines, they have a total of 3,500 stores and 110 kiosks nationwide plus they are the fastest-growing online community for a local smartphone with more than 50,000 fans. This is due to the fact that the company has a product with powerful specifications, features, quality in a very affordable and competitive pricing.
This time the company launches two new entry-level smartphones the Realme 5 and Realme 5 Pro. For now, we will be reviewing the Realme 5 to see how it performs and the new features that comes with it.
Realme 5 Specifications:
- Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 2GHz 11nm Octa-core
- Display 6.5-inch Mini Drop HD+ Full Screen
- OS Android 9 Pie via ColorOS6
- RAM 3GB/4GB
- GPU Adreno 610
- Storage 32GB / 64GB / 128GB, with expandable storage microSD card slot
- Rear Camera 12MP(f1.8 main)+8MP (f2.25 Ultra-Wide Lens)+2MP (Portrait)+2MP(Macro)
- Front Camera 13MP (f.20)
- Video 240fps (slow-mo) / 4K / 1080p 30fps
- Security Fingerprint Scanner / Face Unlock
- Battery 5,000mAh (10w charging)
- Color Crystal Blue / Crystal Purple
- Other Features Bluetooth 5.0 / MicroUSB / 3.5mm Audio Port / Splash Resistant
- Price 3GB + 32GB – PHP 6,990 (Lazada Exclusive), 3GB + 64GB – PHP 7,990 and 4GB + 128GB – PHP 9,990
The first thing that catch our attention is the back design of the Realme5, it has this diamond-cut like textures or pattern making it an eye-catching appeal whenever you tilt the phone sideways. This set them apart from the conventional plain color or gradient back design of smartphones today. The Realme 5 offers two color variants the Crystal Purple and Crystal Blue our test unit.
The quadruple-camera is placed at the top left corner and the fingerprint scanner can also be found at the back of the device. You’ll notice that there’s a gold ring design on the main camera lens with a F1.8 text embedded on it.
In front of the Realme 5 supports a 6.5-inch display with a mini-drop design bringing the screen ratio up to 89% making the users look at the display with less disturbance. It has a HD+ 720×1600 pixels and comes protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3+.
Located on the right side of the phone is the power/lock buttons. Located on the other side are your volume (up & down) button and the sim tray that can support two sim cards plus a dedicated microSD slot if you want more storage.
Camera + Video + Test Impressions
Already you’ve seen that the Realme 5 has a quadruple setup camera on the back. The four cameras support a 12MP main shooter, 8MP ultrawide lens, 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens. The 12MP lens can do just fine with good color accuracy and no over sharpness of the image. If I need more coverage for my shots the 8MP ultrawide lens helps me a lot, its more helpful if I need to shoot landscapes or group photos. They perform better when in bright conditions but in low light they suffer a bit with noise present in your shots.
They have nightscape mode in case you need to shoot at night. I use this a lot when in low light condition which makes the photos standout a bit with more color and contrast.
I find it more likely and fun to use the 2MP macro lens camera. It need to be at least 4cm to take the close-up shot. You really need to put the camera so close to the subject to appreciate the effect, more than 4cm I experience that the subject not sharp. Once you taken the photo, try zooming the photo to appreciate the sharpness and effect.
Other options you get on the device are pano, expert, a 1x-2x-5x zoom and AI scene recognition. Meanwhile, on video mode you get the following options: 720p, 1080p, 4K quality, time-lapse plus a slo-mo mode for 240fps.
Here are some of our sample shots:
Software + Performance
The device is already packed with Android 9 Pie running ColorOS 6.0, we also suggest for new buyers of the device to first immediately update the OS. The software is clean, simple and easy to use with no bloatware apps installed but a Lazada app comes already installed with it.
Another edge of the phone is their processor that comes with a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 2GHz 11nm Octa-core with the following optional storage and RAM that you can choose: 3GB+32GB storage, 3GB+64GB storage and our test unit the 4GB+128GB storage.
During our gameplay test, we were amazed that the device performs very well, with no lag issues or slow of performance. We played for hours with Call of Duty, Mobile Legends, PUBG and more! The device performs very nice with minimal heat at the back. The 4GB do justice and graphics are amazing! It’s almost the same with our Samsung Note10+ so definitely this smartphone is perfect for gaming enthusiasts.
With Gamespace you can manage your gaming experience and performance as well as some dedicated tools such as Game Assistant.
Battery
Battery
Another main feature of the Realme 5 is the built-in 5,000mAh battery. With regular use such as making calls, text, online browsing or updating your social media, the phone could last almost two days at a full charge. It can take the whole day when we tried watching some movies, Netflix shows and listening to our favorite Spotify playlist.
It took us about less than 3 hours for the device to be fully charged, at 30 minutes you get a 20% charge and after 1 hour it goes up at around 57%.
Conclusion
The Realme 5 an entry-level smartphone possesses a very nice specifications and built-in features that proves to be a challenger at the PHP10,000 range segment among the other phones in the market. This device is perfect for gaming enthusiasts and we recommend it! This is the company’s first quadruple camera setup that has ultrawide, telephoto and macro lens ready to take any shot whenever you need it. With that 5,000 mAh battery supporting the Realme 5 you can enjoy more of what you can do with it.
