As a promising smartphone to compete in the entry-level category, the realme 5 has all the advantage to beat this Q4 2019.
Realme 5 is leveled as a budget priced phone with a large display and quad-camera setup. This year, realme is also aggressive than usual, launching phones back to back, the company is set to launch the realme 5 and realme 5 Pro this coming October.
Realme 5 shows off with a new crystal design, more cameras, a 5000mAh battery and a new Snapdragon chipset. Realme 5 is powered by a 2.0GHz Snapdragon 665, an 11nm-based chipset more power efficient than the Snapdragon 660.
Ahead of its official launch in the Philippines, we’re glad that we were able to have our first look and experience with this phone and we are sharing our unboxing and first impressions through this article.
Unboxing
Just like in any fashionable realme smartphone box, the realme 5 contains the usual case and paper documentations inside right off the bat along the phone unit neatly tucked and wrapped to secure the brand-new phone unit as it is being transported from the factory to the last drop-off.
The Realme 5's in-box contents are pretty standard and include the phone, a charger, and a micro-USB cable. The phone doesn't support fast charging. Other box contents include a case and user guide.
One thing’s missing though. There are no earphones with a mic included in the package.
Build Design and Quality
Design has always been a strong suite for realme build with a beautiful diamond cut finish. The realme 5 smartphone comes in Crystal Blue and Crystal Purple colors. Up top, you can find the quad camera module as well as the fingerprint reader.
Realme 5 adopts 6.5'' (16.51cm) full screen and new mini-drop design. The mini-drop is 30.9% smaller than the previous generation, bringing a 89% ultra-high screen-to-body ratio.
As far as our experience with this phone, its software is perfectly mated to the hardware, the 5000mAh battery lasts forever, and the cameras deliver consistently good images.
Quad-Camera
As the first smartphone to feature a quad camera system, the realme 5 already makes it a unique, disruptive offering. The camera system includes four cameras at the back: 12MP f/1.8 main camera, an 8MP ultra wide-angle camera, 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The camera also supports Nightscape, Chroma Boost, HDR and PDAF.
For selfies, it goes with a 13MP snapper with AI portraits.
Under the hood
Realme 5 ships with ColorOS 6 based on Android Pie preloaded with tons of apps that we find too much for our own use but if you don't mind the bloatware, there are some nice features that are useful. The system supports data sharing limit via portable hotspot, fingerprinting to quickly enter the privacy space, and more interesting AR Core.
Based on a 11nm process, the Snapdragon 665 is very well a high performing processor at the same time keeping battery drain to a minimal, making the 5,000mAh battery feel even bigger than it already is. The Snapdragon 665 processor with Adreno 610 GPU comes in handy for gaming. Compared with the previous generation, its performance has increased by 20%, which due to the latest Vulkan 1.1 graphics processor.
Battery
Based in our experience, the 5000mAh battery can lasts really long on a single charge on heavy usage that involved video streaming and social media browsing. It is safe to say that we can clock an average of a whole day spent without the need of a power bank to charge the phone and it minimize our need for extra power consumption throughout the day.
With average usage, the Realme 5 should easily take you through two days on a single charge. The AI cooling and screen power saving come together to prolong the battery duration.
Highlights: Splash-Resistant Design
The airtight waterproof sealing protects all interior and exterior components, including the screen, back cover, and the buttons. The waterproof design has passed the Real Quality test. But do note, realme 5 is splash-proof in normal daily usage only and not applicable to extreme situations.
Realme 5 Specs
- Display: 6.5-inch 2.5D curved IPS screen w/ HD+ 1520 x 720 resolution at 259 ppi
- CPU: 2.0GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor
- GPU: Adreno 610
- RAM: 3GB/4GB
- ROM: 32GB/64GB/128GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB (dedicated)
- Back Camera: 12MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 4cm macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth w/ LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 13MP f/2.0 w/ AI Portrait
- Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 10W fast charging
- OS: Android 9.0 Pie w/ ColorOS 6.0
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, OTG, FM Radio, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM
- Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
- Others: Fingerprint sensor, face unlock, splash resistance, Colors: crystal blue, crystal purple
- Dimensions: 164.4 x 75.6 x 9.3 mm
- Weight: 198 g
- Price: TBC
Value and Affordability
We are still on the guessing game as to how much will realme 5 will be available in the country but we are sure that with all the specs and features of this phone, the realme 5 is one to compete the budget smartphone category. We assure that this phone won’t break the bank when is comes out in October in the Philippine market.